(12/10) It is such an honor to be sharing the Word of God with you today on the second Sunday of Advent. This word advent means arrival or coming and is used traditionally in reference to the coming of our Lord and Messiah, Jesus Christ. The season of Advent begin the season of preparation for God’s people to fully embrace the meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ.

This is one of my favorite times of year because you can sense that Christmas is coming. Decorations are put up on many homes, the town puts snowflakes on the light posts down the street, all of the stores are playing Christmas music, and there is just so much good food to eat. All to celebrate and remember the arrival of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

This morning I am beginning a brand-new message simply entitled, "ARRIVAL," and to kick things off I want you to notice that his arrival wasn’t without announcement. In fact, several thousand years ago the prophets wrote about a future day when God would send a Savior to his people. In other words, he was making a way for all created things to be healed from the traumatic and devastating effects of sin.

And that is what we celebrate on Christmas, that long ago in a dirty stable in Bethlehem a baby was born who would change the world. In fact, the angel told Mary very pointedly,

"He will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).

And so, that is the promise, the hope of Advent, the coming of God to fulfill his promise to bless the people of God, to bless Abraham’s descendants, and through them to bless the entire world with the promise of eternal life.

This is what they had been waiting for, this was their expectation, they were looking for the Messiah, the anointed one of Israel, send to rescue and heal all of creation from the destructive consequences of sin. The prophet Isaiah had told them this was coming 700 years earlier, 700 years before the birth of Jesus, and he said,

"The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).

That was God’s promise to his people, to give them a sign for when the promised and Anointed One would finally arrive. This was meant to give them hope, something for them to look forward to, something to watch for so that their hearts would be filled with hope.

And so, hundreds of years before Mary and Joseph ever came to Bethlehem, hundreds of years before there was an overcrowded inn and a dirty old stable out back, God had spoken of this hope through Moses and Abraham. The prophets Isaiah, Micah, Hosea spoke of the coming of the Messiah, not to mention over 350 passages fulfilled in his coming, his ministry, his death, and resurrection. And that is why we read in the book of Hebrews, chapter one,

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe" (Hebrews 1:1-2).

"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven" (Hebrews 1:3).

Now, I was going to take my time with this, but I have more to say than we have time, and so I’m going to keep moving. But we need to understand that the focus of the book of Hebrews is a theme of better things. And so, we find it comparing the former with the latter, the old covenant and the new covenant, and it is really a disruptive book because he is writing to an audience who have expressed contempt for this teaching.

Now, the author begins establishing the fact that God is sovereign, that God is absolute, that God is complete all by himself, and yet in these last days, he has chosen to speak to us, revealing himself, and giving us a free upgrade. That’s what the Holy Spirit is telling us today in verse one,

"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways" (Hebrews 1:1).

I think that is so important because we often struggle to identify God, to name him, to label him, putting him in a box, but we can’t nail God down to only moving in a particular way just because that is what we are accustomed to. In fact, aren’t you glad that God spoke to us at many times and in various ways, and Jesus continues to speak to us in different ways, using different methods to communicate and get through to us?

God moves in various ways, using different methods, and he wants you to know that in the past he spoke through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

"But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe" (Hebrews 1:2).

In other words, God is still speaking, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. And so, now we find Jesus working at many times and in various ways, using different methods. And for one blind man,

"He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. And told him, "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam" (John 9:6-7).

But for another blind man, he took him by the hand and led him outside the village,

"When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, he asked, "Do you see anything?" (Mark 8:23).

The blind man said, "I can see people, but they look like trees walking around" (Mark 8:24). And so, "Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes," because he uses different methods and works in various ways at different times. "Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly" (Mark 8:25).

One person he raised from the dead very publicly, stopping a funeral procession,

"He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother" (Luke 7:14-15).

Another person he raised from the dead privately, telling the crowds to go away, and after putting everybody out of the room,

"He went in and took the girl by the hand and she got up" (Matthew 9:24-25).

In other words, the point I am trying to make is that we shouldn’t try to lock God down by our formulas or limited expectations because he works in various ways at different times. And he does that so that we don’t begin to worship his ways or methods more than we worship him.

You see, that has always been the problem with religion, traditions, and different forms of doctrine, because you can believe whatever you want, but Jesus said, "You must love one another" (John 13:34). And you must, because any time your church makes you mean and nasty, hateful, divisive, and self-centered, you have made a God out of your religion, but you don’t really love God. You may have fallen in love with his ways and his methods, but not God himself. And so, he will often test you by not showing up in the way or the manner you expected him to, just to see if you still believe even if he doesn’t do it the way you thought he should do it.

And so, you can’t base your faith on something tangible, something temporal, you’ve got to base your faith on something that is immovable and will not shake. The Bible says,

"Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God" (Proverbs 2:5).

But the truth is that each of us don’t have the same level of revelation, every person has a different level of understanding, and so you can know what on one level, but not know it on another level.

In other words, from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation God is giving us different levels of revelation, progressive revelation, revealing what was hidden from the foundation of the world. And so, it is coming in stages and in phases, through the Word, through teaching, and through experience. And the truth is that it takes a lifetime to really understand what can be known about God, because it only comes through revelation.

In other words, God cannot be known through books, debates, or arguments. He can neither be explained or proven, but he must be revealed. In fact, in Proverbs it tells us that it is the Lord who gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints (Proverbs 2:6-8, ESV).

And so, you’re not here in church today because somebody explained God to you; you’re here because he revealed himself to you. He showed himself to you and chose to let you see a glimpse of him.

Some of you may not even have recognized his voice, but he spoke to you, you didn’t know where it came from, but he gave you a sneak peek and he revealed himself to you. Maybe he spoke to you through a preacher or through a song, or you weren’t even in church but all of a sudden you find yourself being convicted about things that you weren’t convicted about before. And whatever it was that you heard, your habits are changing, your behaviors are changing, because you have received revelation.

It’s not even something that you can explain, it’s mysterious, it’s supernatural, and the Bible says,

"Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who for sake the path of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness" (Proverbs 2:9-13, ESV).

The revelation of God is difficult to describe and yet often in the church we do one another an injustice by expecting each other to act like we are all on the same level of spiritual maturity. And so, we don’t leave room for the development that is necessary for Christ to be formed in us. Like a baby in a mother’s womb, that is what is happening to us, and that’s what the Bible says,

"Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).

And so, in the church, none of us are the same, we’re all at different ages and different stages, different levels of development, and God has chosen to reveal himself to us in all kinds of ways.

Throughout the Scriptures he shows up at many times and in various ways, just giving us quick glimpses and glances of him, giving us shadows of who he is, and we should pay attention, because the Bible tells us,

"We have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19).

And so, we praise him for revealing himself, we praise him for revelation, because he has given us these glimpses of himself. Each one of us are to keep walking with him, keeping in step with him, coming through different levels and stages of revelation so that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence, receiving mercy and finding grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). And we can trust him in that, trusting him for that revelation, because we have received revelation when we believed.

In other words, as the prophet Isaiah said,

"Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-6).

"He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

And so, we know that Jesus was the Lamb of God, he was the animal that was slain, the garment that covered Adam’s nakedness in the beginning. We didn’t understand its significance until we got to Exodus and saw the Lamb slain and its blood applied to the door posts of the believer’s home.

Now we know from Isaiah, that the Lamb is really a man, but we didn’t know which man it was until John the Baptist was baptizing in the Jordan River. It was there on the banks of the Jordan River when John pointed him out and said,

"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

And so, this was the revelation of Jesus, this is the Lamb of God being revealed, and if you are here today, it’s because he revealed himself. Jesus said, to those who were following him,

"The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you" (Mark 4:11).

The secret of the kingdom was hidden in times past, but now has been revealed to God’s people. Jesus spoke of it as a mystery, a secret he was revealing to his disciples, but not to everybody. Not to those on the outside, not to the world, because they can handle it. He said,

"They may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding" (Mark 4:12).

In other words, they’re not supposed to know what you know, because they won’t believe, and they don’t believe what you believe. But the Bible tells us,

"The Lord confides in those who fear him" (Psalms 25:14).

In other words, the Good Shepherd knows his sheep, he knows who are his, he knows who can handle greater revelation, and those are things that he will only reveal to those that love him.

And so, if you’re here this morning, if you’re watching online, you ought to praise God, because he revealed himself to you. You’re not here because you’re such a good person, you’re not here because you don’t have sin, you’re here because God revealed himself to you. Your brother or sister didn’t get it, but he showed himself to you, he let you see himself, because you received the revelation.

You see, they didn’t get it, because they don’t see what you see, they don’t understand what you understand, and you’ve got to be okay with that. You’ve got to be okay with being different because,

"You do not belong to the world," but Jesus said, "I have chosen you out of the world" (John 15:19).

And so, as long as you feel like you need to fit in with everybody, to be liked by everybody, keeping up with the latest trends, you’re only going to end up discouraged, lost, broken and disappointed.

You’ve got to be okay with being different, being set apart from the world, just being who God created you to be, because he created you in his image, and the better you see him, the better you see yourself. I believe that is what King David meant when he said,

"I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken" (Psalms 16:8).

In other words, the greater the revelation, the better you see him, the smaller your problems get. And so, when I fix my eyes on Jesus, fixing my focus on Jesus, the better I see him and the stronger my faith gets. The better I see him the more stable I am, the more secure I am, the more confident I am, because he promised,

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13).

And so, today as we celebrate this Advent season, moving toward Christmas day, celebrating the arrival of the Christ, I hope you didn’t come to church this morning just for the sake of going to church. I hope you didn’t come here to meet with me, because I came here to meet with Jesus and to have an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

In other words, I’m no different than you, no better than you, and we’ve all got to know Jesus. We all need greater revelation of Jesus, because when you get sick, he is your healer. When you need forgiveness, he is your Savior. And if you get down and discouraged, it’s only Jesus who can raise you up. And if you are broken, only Jesus can fix you.

And so, all I can do is point you in the right direction as David said,

"Lead me to the rock that is higher than I" (Psalms 61:2).

You see, he is our rock, our fortress, and our deliverer. And he has revealed himself in the flesh, he was incarnate, and born of a virgin. He is Immanuel, God with us, so that we could get to know him through Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (Hebrews 1:3).

I don’t know how to make that any clear to you, but I trust the Holy Spirit to take my words and give you a greater level of revelation. Because he is the radiance of God’s glory, the brightness of that eternal light, the exact representation of his being. He is God’s love made flesh, God loving us through the flesh. And so, when he came, he needed a womb to be a tabernacle for him, and he chose Mary because she was faithful, available, and pure. No man had touched her yet, and that which was within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She was the tabernacle, all human, but the glory of Immanuel, was God with us.

My prayer is that you would get revelation deep down in your spirit, so that we are no longer infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching, but that your feet would be firmly planted. I declare to you today that I have found him whom my soul loves. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of his being. I know who my God is, because I have seen him, he revealed himself in his arrival.

Read past sermons by Pastor John Talcott