2nd Sunday of Advent:

“Christmas Love”

Shadows of Christmas:

Abraham and Isaac

Genesis 22: 1-3 1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”    “Here I am,” he

replied.  

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a

burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him

two of his servants and his son Isaac.

Genesis 22: 12-14 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said.

“Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your

only son.”  13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a

burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that

place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is

said, “On the mountain of the LORD, it will be

provided.”

Shadows of Christmas:

Hosea and Gomer

Hosea 2: 16-20

16 “In that day,” declares the LORD,    “you will call me ‘my husband’;    you will no longer call me ‘my master.’ 17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;    no longer will their names be invoked. 18 In that day I will make a covenant for them    with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air    and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land,    so that all may lie down in safety. 19 I will betroth you to me forever;    I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,    in love and compassion. 20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,    and you will acknowledge the LORD.

Hosea 3: 1-3 1 The LORD said to me,

“Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an

adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin

cakes.”

2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.

3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate

with any man, and I will live with you.”

God’s Love in O.T. * Throughout Psalms:

- God’s “Unfailing Love” - God’s “Love Endures Forever” - Shows Love to 1,000

Generations

* “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” - Key Command throughout O.T.

* God’s “Covenant of Love” - Solomon / Daniel / Nehemiah

Isaiah 16:5 In love, a throne will be

established;    in faithfulness, a man will sit on it

—    one from the house of David — one who in judging seeks justice

  and speeds the cause of righteousness.

“I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

- Napoleon Bonaparte

John 3: 16-17“For God so loved the world

that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn

the world, but to save the world through

him.”

1 John 3:1“How great is the love

the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called

children of God! And that is what we are!”

1 John 3: 16-18“16 This is how we know what love is:

Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our

brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in

need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?

18 Dear children, let us not love with words

or tongue, but with actions and in truth.”

1 John 4: 7-12“7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love

comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God

showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we

loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so

loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God;

but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

1 John 4: 19-2119 We love because he first loved us.

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his

brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God,

whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command:

Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

John 15:9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.”