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The Mourning of An Only Son
I. God sent His only begotten Son into the world to redeem the world.
A. Jesus said that He had come to seek and to save, that which was
lost.
1. Peter wrote that we are redeemed not with corruptible
things such as silver and gold from our empty life
styles, but with the precious blood of Jesus who was
slain as a lamb without spot or blemish.
2. Because Satan knew the mission of Jesus he tried to
get rid of him even before He could be born.
a. Satan knew that He was to come from the seed
of Abraham through Isaac, and Jacob and David,
so he tried destroy the Jews.
(1) During the reign of Ahasuerus the
king of Persia a decree was actually
issued that on a certain day all of
the Jews were to be killed.
(2) God knowing the diabolical plot of
Satan had placed a beautiful Jewish
girl as queen who was able to
intercede for her people.
b. At His birth Satan tried to destroy Him by
having all of Jewish boys killed who were in
Bethlehem of the age of two years and younger.
(1) Again the Lord thwarted Satan's plot
by warning Joseph to take the baby
and His mother and flee to Egypt.
(2) By these things two predictions of
the Old Testament prophets were
fulfilled. "In Rama was there a voice
of lamentation, and weeping, and great
mourning. Rachel weeping for her
children, and would not be comforted,
because they are not. And, Hosea the
prophet had said, "Out of Egypt have
I called My Son."
c. When Jesus was ready to begin His public
ministry, Satan took Him to a high mountain
and showed Him all of the kingdoms of the
world, and declared that he would give
them to Jesus if Jesus would just bow down
and worship
him.
(1) Satan is suggesting that the painful
pathway to cross is not necessary.
The kingdom can be attained without
suffering.
B. When Peter was talking of the death of Jesus to the Jews he
said, "And you according to the predeterminate counsel and
foreknowledge of God with your wicked hands, have crucified
and slain."
1. Notice that he said predeterminate counsel. The
crucifixion of Jesus was no accident or fluke.
2. Whose predeterminate counsel, and where was it held?
a. Revelation 13:3 declares that Jesus Christ was
slain from the foundation of the world.
b. The Triune Godhead in their counsel to create
the Universe and the earth and place man upon
the earth to develop a meaningful loving
fellowship, who said, "Let us make man after
Our image and likeness." In their plan to make
man knew that he had to made a self-determinate
being if the love was to be meaningful.
There had to be the capacity of choice with
something desirable to choose.
c. God knew that man would make the wrong choice
and bring death and darkness into the world.
But that there would be many men and women,
boys and girls, who if given the chance, would
respond to the supreme manifestation of God's
love, and would choose to live in a loving
relationship with God following after the
Spirit.
d. For these who would believe if given the
knowledge and the chance, God would manifest
His love by sending His only begotten Son into
the world to give His life as a ransom for
their sins.
3. Through the centuries of man's history God was
carefully laying out His plan and revealing it in bits
and pieces to the prophets.
a. Isaiah declared, "For unto us a child is born,
unto us a Son is given, and the government
shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall
be called ----"
b. Micah declared that Bethlehem would be the
place of His birth. "And Thou Bethlehem of
Epharata-----"
c. The women of Bethlehem would be weeping for
their children for they had been slain. Rachel
was buried in Bethlehem, so the prophesy
"Rachel weeping for her child" would refer to
the women in Bethlehem.
d. He would make His entry into Jerusalem riding
a donkey.
e. When the child grew into manhood, He would
be despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief.
f. He would be betrayed by a friend for thirty
pieces of silver that would later be thrown
down in the temple and then used to buy a
potter's field.
g. He would not speak up in His own defense. As a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened
not His mouth.
h. He would then be crucified and the soldiers in
charge of the crucifixion would divide His
garments among themselves but would cast lots
for His robe.
i. He would be numbered with transgressors in His
death, i.e. crucified between thieves.
j. He would come on the scene 483 years after the
commandment went forth to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem. But upon being revealed would be cut
off, or crucified.
II. In our text we find Amos adding a interesting detail to the events of
the day that He is to give His life as a ransom for our sins.
A. "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God,
that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken
the earth on a clear day." He relates this to the mourning as
for an only son.
1. Luke and Matthew tell us that on the day that Jesus was
crucified, that at noon there was darkness over all the
earth until three in the afternoon, Luke adds that the
sun was darkened.
2. Some have sought to relate this to a full eclipse of
the sun.
but a full eclipse of the sun would be impossible at
Passover for the Passover was related to the full
moon.
3. This darkness was a special phenomena created by God as
if to symbolize the darkest moment in the history of
man.
4. Jesus had said, "I am the light of the world, he that
followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life."
5. Now wicked men are trying to put out that light. Why?
Jesus declared because they loved the darkness rather
than the light because their deeds were evil, and they
would not come to the light lest their evil deeds be
revealed.
B. The first sin was suicide. When Adam ate of the forbidden
fruit, he committed suicide, for God said, "In the day that you
eat of it, you will surely die."
1. The second recorded sin was fratricide, when Cain
killed his brother Abel.
2. This is the darkest moment in all of time, diacide,
when man endeavored to kill God.
3. To symbolize the fact that darkness was ruling the
hearts of man, God allowed the sun to be darkened at
noon. At the very time that the sun is usually shining
in it's greatest strength He darkened it.
4. What a picture this is of man who rejects the truth of
God's grace and love. He walks in darkness, he really
does not know where he is going. No real purpose for
his existence, he is just existing not really living.
5. The tragic story of so many people is that when they
are coming into the hour of their greatest shining, a
dark veil is drawn across their lives. The sad epitaph
across the tomb reads, "He loved darkness rather than
light."
C. Can you just ignore the many prophecies that Jesus fulfilled
in His birth, life and death, can you just pass them off as
fortuitous occurrences of accidental circumstances? Give me
a break. Do you know what the odds are? Just 8 of the
predictions are one to the twenty seventh power.
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