The Rescuer

The Promise of a Savior

Genesis 3:15 LSB

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The promise of the seed that would defeat the enemy and save humanity from sin and destruction was given to Adam and Eve

The Misunderstood Promise

Adam and Eve's two sons: Cain and Abel.

Eve's belief that Cain was the promised seed.

Naming of Cain and Abel.

Cain which means aquired as in she has aquired the promise seed.

Able which means vanity or empty.

Eve was wrong in her assessment as God regarded Able over Cain.

Cain's act of jealousy and murder disqualifying himself as the promised seed.

Cain out of anger and jealousy kills able disqualifying himself and able as the seed that was promised by God.

Fast Forwarding Adam and Eve have a third son

The Birth of Seth

The birth of Seth, the righteous line.

They call him Seth which means appointed as he was the one who carried the righteous line

Genesis 4:26 LSB

26 And to Seth, to him also, a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of Yahweh.

Introduction to Noah, the only righteous man during his time.

The world was filled with violence and God put a stop to that evil with a flood that killed everyone.

Except Noah and his family.

God's covenant with Noah and his descendants.

God establishes a covenant with Noah and with his seed after him.

The lineage of Shem leading to Abram.

Through Noah we get his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Through the line of Shem we later get Abram aka Abraham

God calls him from Ur soon to be Babylon and brings him back towards Eden.

God's Covenant with Abraham

The covenant with Abraham: Land, Lineage, and Lord.

God establishes a covenant with Abraham that promises land, lineage, and Lord

The promises associated with the covenant.

Land: Promises a permanent place to the descendents of Abraham. We know that land to be the promised land

Lineage: Through Abraham will come a son and through that son will come a nation we now know them as the Jews or Israeli people

Lord: In that land and through those people would come the Lord

The ultimate purpose of paving the way for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Prophets' Prophecies About the Messiah

Various prophets' prophecies regarding the coming Messiah.

Through many hardships the Jews would eventually establish the Nation of Israel that God would send many prophets that would prophecy the coming of the savior that was promised back in Genesis 3:15

Expectations for the Messiah's reign and character.

Among these were the prophet Isaiah, Daniel, Zechariah, and David that spoke about the coming of the messiah as one who establish his reign forever.

Psalm 50:3–6 LSB

3 May our God come and not be silent; Fire devours before Him, And a storm whirls around Him. 4 He calls the heavens above, And the earth, to render justice to His people: 5 “Gather My holy ones to Me, Those who have cut a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” 6 And the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is judge. Selah.

Isaiah 9:6–7 LSB

6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this.

Isaiah 66:18 LSB

18 “And I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.

Daniel 7:13–14 LSB

13 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And came near before Him. 14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not be taken away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

Zechariah 12:10 LSB

10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

Zechariah 14:4–8 LSB

4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 5 And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; indeed, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then Yahweh, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! 6 And it will be in that day, that there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 7 And it will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh, neither day nor night, but it will be that at evening time there will be light. 8 And it will be in that day, that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.

Daniel 7:14 LSB

14 “And to Him was given dominion, Glory, and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations, and men of every tongue Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not be taken away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

Jewish Beliefs About the Messiah

When we read these they sound more like his second coming

Jewish expectations during the Second Temple Period.

When we read these they sound more like his second coming

To the Jewish people this is what they believe the messiah’s first coming.

Desires for a political Messiah to free them from Roman oppression.

In the time of the second Temple Period (Herod’s Temple), messianic hope was very strong.

The Jewish people looked for a political Messiah who would deliver them from the iron heel of Roman occupation and oppression.

It was during this time that Jesus Christ lived, but according to Jewish teaching He did not fit the description of the promised Messiah.

For the Jew, Messiah

Was to be from the family of David

A military and political leader who would rule as king

He was to bring everlasting peace to Israel.

Jesus did not fit the Jewish description of the Messiah.

Jesus, on the other hand,

born into a poor family; with no known physical father,

never became king of Israel

nor did He bring peace to Israel

crucified by the Romans.

The Modern Interpretation of the Messiah

Modern Judaism's reinterpretation of the messianic hope.

After the second Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70, Jewish people were scattered throughout the world.

Suffering discrimination and persecution in Asia, Europe, and Africa, the Jewish people clung to the hope that a personal Messiah would soon come and bring redemption from their suffering, reestablish them in the land of Israel, and bring everlasting peace.

Modern Judaism (Reform branch) has reinterpreted the messianic hope.

The concept of a "Messianic Age" brought about through humanist progression.

Instead of a “personal Messiah” there will come a “Messianic Age” that is brought about through the humanist progression of world leaders negotiating for peace.

When universal peace, righteousness, and justice is established in the world, then Israel will enjoy peace in her land forever.

The Danger of Misplaced Hope

Comparison between the Jewish misunderstanding of the Messiah and potential misunderstandings among Christians.

Ladies and Gentleman though we have seen Jesus for who he really is which is Lord and savior we are like the Jews in this way:

Some of us put to much faith in the rapture than in the savior.

Let me make this clear, the second coming and the rapture will happen. What I am referring to is the way that his second coming will be fulfilled.

The Jews believed in a messiah that would come and save but misinterpreted their own scriptures which gave them a false idea of who the messiah was supposed to be and the role he was going to play on earth.

The importance of focusing on the heart and character of God.

They missed the point folks. They put their hopes on what the messiah was going to do for them on earth instead on who the messiah was. They missed the heart and character of God.

The priority of saving humanity from sin and death.

God’s priority was to save the nations from sin and death who is a greater enemy to us than any worldly oppressor could ever be.

They focused on the physical salvation and looked over their need for spiritual salvation.

God’s desire is to reconcile us back to himself through the payment and forgiveness provided thought Christ by his death, burial, and resurection

Colossians 1:20–22 LSB

20 And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross—through Him—whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And although you were formerly alienated and enemies in mind and in evil deeds, 22 but now He reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

We are similar in the sense that some put their hopes in the idea that God will rescue us from the calamities to come

Is that a guarantee though. Is it clear enough in scripture that we should relax in knowing that we’re good.

What if we’re wrong?

Does God allow his church to go through suffering?

He promised we would

John 15:18–21 LSB

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

I’m not trying to convince wether we will be raptured before the tribulation or after.

No one truly knows what will truly happen

which brings me to my point:

Hope in Christ and His Promises

The emphasis on Christ and what He has already done.

Don’t place your hope and faith on what might not happen like the Jews did.

They were wrong and they knew scripture far better than all of us in this room combined.

The hope should be placed on Christ and what he has already done and… The promise of His return

The promise of His return and the need to trust in His plan.

Not on being rescued from our circumstances.

A reminder to comfort one another with the words of 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18.

1 Thessalonians 4:16–18 LSB

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Conclusion:

The central message is not the rescue but the rescuer, Jesus Christ.