CHRISTMAS IN PROVERBS (Proverbs 30:4)
INTRODUCTION:
Last Sunday I began a series of messages that I have entitled “Christmas in the Old Testament.” In the first message we discovered the virgin birth mentioned in the opening chapters of the Bible in the book of Genesis. In the third chapter of Genesis God said that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. We learned the phrase “seed of the woman” refers to a child being conceived without a human father. This was exactly what the angel Gabriel told Mary when she asked how she could have a child since she was a virgin. We read Gabriel’s response in Luke 1:35, “The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.’ ” (Luke 1:35, NASB95)[1]
This morning I want to look at one verse of an oracle that we find in the book of Proverbs. The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary says, “Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings and aphorisms that offer guidance for everyday living. Though this poetic Hebrew wisdom literature includes no overt prophetic or eschatological content, nonetheless, one proverb does indeed offer a tantalizing prophetic glimpse of Israel’s coming Messiah.”[2] Before turning to this morning’s passage and finding Christmas in the book of Proverbs, let’s pray and thank God for His Word and ask that He would open our hearts to its teaching today.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Proverbs 30. Chapters 30 and 31 were added as appendices to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 30 is said to be written by Agur the son of Jakeh. This is the only place that this man is mentioned in the Bible and all we know about his is his name and the words he has written. This morning, we will be reading verses 1-6 but will only be looking at verse 4. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God and follow along as I read.
Proverbs 30:1-6,
“The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle. The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: Surely I am more stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son’s name? Surely you know! Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words Or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar.” (Proverbs 30:1–6, NASB95)[3]
THE CONTENT (Proverbs 30:1-3)
In the first verse the author tells us that his words are “the oracle.” The word translated “oracle” is a word that has the idea of a burden, a weighty message and is usually reserved for the words that a prophet receives from God which can either be instructive or predictive. In the prophetic books we often read the phrase, “Thus says the LORD…” and this is the indication that we are about to read an oracle. But the author here in Proverbs 30 says that what he is about to say is an oracle, an oracle to Ithiel and Ucal. These two names are also unknown to us and could possibly be Agur’s sons, whoever they may be they are the recipients of the oracle.
The book of Proverbs has as its premise that the basis of true wisdom is knowing God, and in verse 3 Agur says that he has no wisdom and no knowledge of the Holy One. He is not saying that he does not know who God is, but that his wisdom and his knowledge are nothing compared to the Lord’s. Then Agur asks four rhetorical questions. Each one of the questions has the same answer. We are going to go through each question and discover the answer based on the Word of God and at the same time we are going to find Christmas in the book of Proverbs.
WHO HAS ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND DESCENDED (Proverbs 30:4a; John 3:13)
The first question that Agur asks in verse 4 is “Who has ascended into heaven and descended?” (Proverbs 30:4a, NASB95)[4] This question cannot refer to a mere mortal man, because no human has ever ascended into the highest heaven, the dwelling place of God which is meant by this word translated “heaven” and then descended to the earth. We know that Enoch was taken into heaven miraculously and Elijah was taken to heaven in a whirlwind, but these men did not ascend and descend. The apostle Paul spoke of a man who was caught up to the third heaven, but Paul makes it clear that this was a vision or revelation from the Lord. The fact is it was not an actual ascension or descent. None of these three ascended by their own power, but were taken to heaven. This question asked here clearly refers to a physical descent and a physical ascension. Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 3. Jesus uses this very same wording to describe His birth when He was talking to the Pharisee Nicodemus who had come to see Him in the night. Jesus described His birth, the first Christmas, as a descent from heaven. Nicodemus was struggling to understand the things that Jesus was telling him. Listen to Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus when Nicodemus voices his confusion over being born again by the Spirit of God. Jesus says in verses 11-15, “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” (John 3:11–15, NASB95)[5] Jesus has told Nicodemus that he must be born again if he desires to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus used earthly terms and illustrations to try and explain this to Nicodemus and he did not grasp or believe the truth Jesus was telling him. Jesus said if you do not believe these earthly terms how will you believe if I tell you heavenly truths. Then Jesus makes a statement concerning His incarnation and He says no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. In other words, Jesus is stating that heaven was His habitation before He was born on this earth. He knows heavenly truths because that is where He is from. Before being born as a baby that first Christmas morning, Jesus existed from eternity past. He has no beginning and will have no ending. The incarnation, the coming of the God-Man, Jesus Christ was so that He could reveal to us God the Father and make it possible through His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead for our relationship with God to be restored as it was intended to be from the beginning. After paying the penalty for our sin through His death on the cross, and rising from the dead, Jesus ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house. At that time two angels appeared to the apostles and promised that as they had seen Jesus ascend into heaven, He would return in just the same way, descending again to the earth from heaven. (Acts 1:9-11) So, from the Scriptures the answer to the first question asked by Agur in Proverbs 30:4 is God in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
WHO HAS GATHERED THE WIND OR WRAPPED THE WATER IN HIS GARMENT (Proverbs 30:4b; Luke 8:22-25)
The next two questions go together, so we will look at them together. Agur writes, “Who has gathered the winds in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?” (Proverbs 30:4b, NASB95)[6] Here Agur asks a question concerning sovereignty over nature. Who has the power to control the winds? I remember when we lived in South Dakota. We lived in the town of Summit, named after the fact, that we lived on the highest point of the prairie. The wind blew all the time in Summit and there were days when I wished that I could gather the wind in my fists and have it be calm for just a few minutes. But I could not; no one can control the wind. We talk of harnessing the wind through our wind generators, but we are not controlling it we are just using the wind that is provided for us by the One who controls it, who gathers it in His fists. The phrase “Who has wrapped the water in His garment” is most likely speaking of the clouds as the garment which holds the water until the One who has wrapped them releases them to water the earth. This verse sounds much like another verse that we find in the book of Job. In chapter 26 of that book, Job is responding to the words of his friend Bildad and in verse 8 Job says of God, “He wraps up the waters in His clouds, And the cloud does not burst under them.” (Job 26:8, NASB95)[7] This phrase may also refer to God’s supreme power and sovereign control over the waters of the earth.
As I read these two questions posed by Agur I could not help but think about an event from the life of Jesus. We looked at this event not too long ago in our study of Mark, let’s look at it now in the book of Luke. Turn to Luke 8:22-25, Luke writes, “Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake.’ So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, ‘Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?’ ” (Luke 8:22–25, NASB95)[8] Agur had posed two questions that asked who is he that is sovereign over the winds and the water; Jesus answered that question when He stood up in the fishing boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and rebuked the wind and the water and they obeyed Him and grew calm. We must never forget as we think of Jesus coming in the form of a baby on that first Christmas morning that He was and is the Sovereign Lord of the universe. We must never forget that He was fully and truly God and fully and truly Man. Jesus never gave up His deity, he laid aside His glory for a time, but He never ceased being God even when He entered Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes in Colossians 2:9, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,” (Colossians 2:9, NASB95)[9] Jesus Christ was the fullness of God on earth, everything that Jesus said and did show us that He is God. He showed us His sovereignty over nature gathering the winds in His fists and gathering the water in His garment. When we look at Jesus we see God even as a baby lying in a feeding trough.
WHO HAS ESTABLISHED ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (Proverbs 30:4c, Isaiah 45:18; Colossians 1:13-20)
The final rhetorical question of Agur deals with creation and who is the Creator and Sustainer of the Earth and all that is on it. Agur is seeking to know who this is that has created the earth, set it in motion, who has filled it with life and causes it to continue day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year. Who created it and why? Again, we have a question that can only have one answer and that answer is God. We find the answer to this question addressed by God Himself in the book of Isaiah. In verse 18 of Isaiah 45 Isaiah quotes God when he writes, “For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), ‘I am the Lord, and there is none else.’ ” (Isaiah 45:18, NASB95)[10] There is no doubt from this verse that the One who created and established the earth is God and He created it to be inhabited by life. But let’s not stop here because Paul sheds even greater light as he answers this question in his letter to the Colossians. This morning’s Scripture reading came from Colossians chapter one, and I want us to turn to that passage again and look at it more closely. In this passage Paul teaches us the supremacy of Jesus Christ, he teaches that Jesus Christ is the Sovereign, Supreme Lord of all. Let’s start back in verse 13 and go through verse 18. Paul writes, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” (Colossians 1:13–18, NASB95)[11] In these verses Paul further answers Agur’s question concerning who established the earth. Paul clearly states that the Creator and Sovereign of all is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has created all things and establishes all things right down to the thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities of both the physical word and the spiritual world and He reigns sovereign over it all. But notice that He is not just the Creator and Sovereign but the reason it was created was for Him. And also, He is the Sustainer of His creation. He came before the creation, because He has no beginning and all things in His creation hold together in Him. The answer to Agur’s question of who the creator and sovereign of all the earth is God, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
WHAT IS HIS NAME OR WHAT IS HIS SON’S NAME? (Proverbs 30:4b)
After asking these four rhetorical questions that each have the same answer, Agur asks two more questions: What is the name of this God who has done all these things or what is His Son’s name? While this fifth question is not rhetorical it would be obvious to any Jewish person because God had revealed Himself centuries before Agur or his readers by giving them His name, His covenant name with Israel. The name God gave was Yahweh, this is the name that He revealed to Moses when He spoke to him out of the burning bush, this name could be translated “I AM,” it is a reference to the truth that God is the Self-existent One. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The sixth and final question is less obvious: What is the name of His Son? The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary says, “The answer to that question would remain shrouded in mystery for God’s people until the first century and the Messiah’s first advent.”[12] For you and me, however, we know the name of God’s Son because it was revealed to the world the first Christmas. His name was first revealed to Mary when the angel Gabriel visited her to announce that she would be the virgin mother of God’s Son. “The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.’ ” (Luke 1:30–33, NASB95)[13] His name was revealed a second time to Joseph who was engaged to Mary and was planning to divorce her quietly when she was found with child before they were married, but an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20b–21, NASB95)[14] So, in the book of Proverbs we have another glimpse of the first Christmas.
CONCLUSION:
The fourth verse of Proverbs 30 ends with the phrase, “Surely you know!” (Proverbs 30:4e, NASB95)[15] The author believes the answer to all his questions is so obvious that we must surely know them; at least the first five questions and he may have thought that it would be obvious that the sixth answer could at least be understood to be the promised Messiah, the Son of David.
Again, The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary says, “It is encouraging to note that nestled snugly within myriad nuggets of truth designed to direct the reader toward godly wisdom is one proverb that provides a prophetic glimpse at the greatest truth of all—God’s Son.”[16] Why is this the greatest truth of all? Because if it were not for God’s Son that was born that first Christmas and laid in a manger, then we would not be here this morning; God’s Word would not be trustworthy and God would not have fulfilled His promises that give us hope and assurance that the rest of His prophecies and promises will be fulfilled. Jesus Christ came in fulfillment of God’s promises to give us the greatest gift ever offered to mankind, the forgiveness of our sins, a restored relationship with God, and the promise of eternal life. Do you know Jesus this morning? Do you know His Father? You can by repenting and believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead on the third day after His death.
For those of us who have already received this free gift from God, what does this passage of Scripture teach us? I believe that this Scripture is a reminder to us that we must not be so focused on the baby in the manger that we forget that He was and is so much more than a baby, but that He was and is the Creator and Sovereign of all. We must never forget that Jesus never ceased to be God and any point of His incarnation. He was God before the creation of the world, having eternally existed, He was God at every point of the incarnation, and He is God right now and will be forever. We must never forget that the man Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[2]LaHaye, Tim and Hinson, Ed, editors, The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary. Eugene, Ore. : Harvest House Publishers, 2006.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[12]LaHaye, Tim and Hinson, Ed, editors, The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary. Eugene, Ore. : Harvest House Publishers, 2006.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. 1995. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
[16]LaHaye, Tim and Hinson, Ed, editors, The Popular Bible Prophecy Commentary. Eugene, Ore. : Harvest House Publishers, 2006.