This is no Child!
What Child Is This
December 1, 2019
Rev. Gabe Sylvia
This Advent sermon connects Christmas to Isaiah 61's Jubilee promise, showing Jesus as the Spirit-anointed Messiah sent to bring good news, liberate and heal, restore worship, and invite us to receive these blessings by faith.
Summary
The sermon frames Advent and Christmas as a foretaste of Israel's Jubilee—a year of grace and new beginnings—and reads Isaiah 61 to show the Messiah's divine mandate: he is anointed and Spirit-filled to proclaim good news to the poor, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to captives, declare the Lord’s favor and vengeance, comfort mourners, and restore worship. The manger is presented as the beginning of this mission, not the end; listeners are urged to hear and receive the delivering message by faith (not by works), to be made righteous and renewed in the joy that comes in Christ, and to live in the freedom and worship he provides.
Key Points
- Advent and Christmas are a special, anticipatory time that recall God's Jubilee of grace.
- Jubilee was a once-every-50-years sign of deliverance and a type of the Messiah's blessings.
- Isaiah 61 is central for understanding the Messiah's roles and mission.
- The Messiah is divinely chosen, anointed, and given the full measure of the Spirit.
- The manger was the start of the Messiah’s work, not its completion.
- The Messiah’s fivefold message: proclaim good news to the poor; bind up the brokenhearted; proclaim liberty to captives; declare the year of the Lord’s favor (and his vengeance); comfort those who mourn and restore worship.
- The gospel is a delivering message offered to us by faith, not earned by payments or works.
- Believers are called to receive righteousness, rest, and renewed joy through Christ.
- The sermon concludes with prayer asking the Spirit to renew joy in Christ.
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