God's Story (Advent 2024)
Notes
Transcript
Finding “Hope” In God’s Story
Finding “Hope” In God’s Story
As we think about the Advent season this year, we have to acknowledge that for us (believers) there are 3 distinct but different areas to rejoice in.
Advent is a season of waiting, expecting and hoping. The word “advent” implies a “coming” or “visit”, and appropriately, at Christmas we prepare for “Christ”. Advent encompasses a rich tradition of remembering Israel’s hope for the coming of God’s Messiah to save, forgive and restore. But we also remember our hope of the second coming of Jesus, and our need for a Savior to save us from sin. Lastly, I prefer to think of Advent as a way to prepare to welcome Jesus into my “world” and determine how I can most effectively share the gift I have been given.
“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.
So, how do we make sure our Hope is in the right place?
Better yet, can we be certain that our Hope has not been misplaced?
To best answer that question, let’s look at the Messianic prophecies and how many of those Jesus fulfilled.
The Bible is full of Messianic prophecies: promises of what a messiah would do. Mathematician Peter Stoner counted the probability of one person fulfilling even a small number of them. And he concluded, the chance of a single man fulfilling “just” 48 of the prophecies found in the Tanakh (Old Testament) would be one in (10 followed by 157 zeros)!
In other words, that’s an unimaginable – to me – number! And how many prophecies did Jesus fulfill? Let’s find out.
What if He was the Messiah that was prophesied? After all, Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) fulfilled not just the 48 specifically Messianic prophecies. In fact, He fulfilled more than 324 individual prophecies that related to the Messiah! The first calculation was amazing enough for me. So, the probability of one man fulfilling 324 prophecies must be a number beyond comprehension for anyone!
***Video***
15 Messianic Prophecies Jesus Fulfilled
15 Messianic Prophecies Jesus Fulfilled
Here is a list of important Messianic prophecies that Yeshua fulfilled. Additionally, see their corresponding New Testament references:
Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem.
See Micah 5:2; fulfilled in Matt. 2:1-7; John 7:42; Luke 2:4-7
Messiah is to be preceded by a Messenger.
See Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; fulfilled in Matthew 3:1-3; 11:10; John 1:23; Luke 1:17
Messiah is to enter Jerusalem on a donkey.
See Zechariah 9:9; fulfilled in Luke 35-37; Matthew 21:6-11
Messiah is to be betrayed by a friend.
See Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14; fulfilled in Matthew 10:4; 26:49-50; John 13:21
Messiah is to be sold for 30 pieces of silver.
See Zechariah 11:12; fulfilled in Matthew 26:15; 27:3
The money for which Messiah is sold is to be thrown “to the potter” in God’s house.
See Zechariah 11:13; fulfilled in Matthew 27:5-7
Messiah is to be born of a virgin.
See Isaiah 7:14; fulfilled in Matthew 1:18-2:1; Luke 1:26-35
Messiah is to be hated without cause.
See Isaiah 49:7; Psalm 69:5; fulfilled in John 15:24-25
Messiah is to be silent before His accusers.
See Isaiah 53:7; fulfilled in Matthew 27:12
Messiah is to be executed by crucifixion, by having His hands and feet pierced.
See Psalm 22:16; fulfilled in John 19:28
Messiah is to be given vinegar to quench His thirst.
See Psalm 69:21; fulfilled in Matthew 27:34
Messiah is to be executed without having a bone broken.
See Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:21; fulfilled in John 19:33-36
Messiah is to be buried with the rich when dead.
See Isaiah 53:9; fulfilled in Matthew 27:57-60
Messiah is to be raised from the dead.
See Isaiah 53:9-10; Psalm 2:7; 16:10; fulfilled in Matthew 28:1-20; Acts 2:23-36;13;33-37; 1 Corinthians 11:4-6
Messiah is to be executed by crucifixion as a thief.
See Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 53:5, 12; fulfilled in Luke 23:33; John 20:25; Matthew 27:38; Mark 5:27, 28
As mentioned in the beginning, mathematician Peter Stoner applies the modern science of probability to just eight of these prophecies. This lead him to conclude that the chance of the prophesied Messiah fulfilling all eight is one in 100,000,000,000,000,000.
In order to comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates:
“…we take 10^17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover the state two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly. Blindfold a man and tell him that he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one?”
“Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing just eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote in their own wisdom… This means that the fulfillment of just eight prophecies alone proves that God inspired the writing of those [eight] prophecies to a definiteness which lacks only one chance in 10^17 of being absolute.”
It seems to me that the evidence is both astounding and overwhelming. Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies which in my estimation is a miracle. It is safe to say that if you have placed your Hope in Jesus, you have made a wise decision. If you haven’t, then the question has to be…Why not?
What does it mean to say that Jesus is my hope? Hope is a strange thing. Listen to this definition: It is the confidence that, by integrating God’s redemptive acts in the past with trusting human responses in the present, the faithful will experience the fullness of God’s goodness both in the present and in the future.
Biblical faith rests on the trustworthiness of God to keep His promises. The biblical view of hope is thus significantly different from that found in ancient Greek philosophy. The Greeks recognized that human beings expressed hope by nature; however, this kind of hope reflects both good and bad experiences. The future was thus a projection of one’s own subjective possibilities. Biblical hope avoids this subjectivity by being founded on something that provides a sufficient basis for confidence in its fulfillment: God and His redemptive acts as they culminate in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We’re approaching Christmas and you might hear someone say something like this...”I hope I get a new ______” insert newest, shiniest, most expensive thingamabob. And for most of us, that is our view of hope. That is how the Greeks viewed hope. We wish for something but have little to no confidence it might happen.
Jesus is my Hope! And my confidence comes from His proven track record. He does what He says He is going to do. That’s what all those fulfilled prophecies mean.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
I’m going to close with 2 verses. Remember the nation of Israel patiently waited for the Messiah to come the first time. That was the first advent. But now we await His second advent. The second coming of Christ.
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
This is biblical hope. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, He is our living Hope. This is the gift that the Father gave to the world, to humanity. And this is the gift that we have to give to every man, woman, boy and girl that we come in contact with. Jesus Christ is the messiah. He was born of a virgin. He is risen from the dead. He has ascended to the Father. He is going to return for all who trust in Him. And all who trust in Him will live eternally in God’s Kingdom.
