Christ Before Bethlehem - pt. 6

Introduction

Christ Before Bethlehem - pt.1

I. Christ, the Founder

Before the World, there was Christ (Joh. 8:58; 2Tim. 1:9; Joh. 1:1)

Christ is Elohim (Joh. 1:1; Heb. 1:8)

Christ is Eternal (Joh. 1:2; Mic. 5:2)

Because of Christ, there was the World

Jesus is Creator of All Things (Joh. 1:3; 10; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:2; Eph. 3:9)

Christ is Outside of Time

II. Christ Foreordained

Consider the Ramifications:

Before Creation, was Knowledge:

Of Man; His Choice to Sin; God’s Plan of Redemption - One of Necessity, not Choice; Christ’s Willingness to Pay It

Christ Before Bethlehem - pt.2

I. Salvation Through Faith in Christ

The Constant Throughout the Bible (Heb. 11)

II. Christ Foreshadowed

Explicit Connections

Jacob’s Ladder (Gen. 28:10-22; Joh. 1:51); The Bridge Between Two Worlds

John 1:51 “And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

Bread from Heaven (Ex. 16:4; Joh. 6:31-35); Sustenance in the Wilderness

John 6:35 “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

The Rock in the Wilderness (Ex. 17:5-6; 1Cor. 10:3-4); The Stricken who Supplies

1 Corinthians 10:3–4 “And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”

Melchesidec (Gen. 14:18-20; Heb. 5:6-10; Heb. 6:20-7:28); The Priestly King

Christ Before Bethlehem - pt.3

I. Christ Foreshadowed (cont.)

Explicit Connections

The Passover Lamb (Ex. 12:1-14; 21-23; 29-31; Joh. 1:29-30; 1Cor. 5:7; 1Pet. 1:18-19); The Sacrifice for Salvation (1Pet. 2:24; 2Cor. 5:21)

A Specific Lamb (v5); A Spotless Lamb (v5); A Slain Lamb (v6); A Substitute Lamb (v7;12-13)

Jonah (Jon. 1:17; Mat. 12:38-40); The Risen One (Mat. 28:1-8)

The Brazen Serpent (Num. 21:4-9; Joh. 3:14-15); Those with Faith to Look will Live (Joh. 3:16)

Sin Brought Judgment (Rom. 6:23); Faith Brought Salvation (Rom. 3:23-25)

Christ Before Bethlehem - pt. 4 - LAST SUNDAY NIGHT

I. Christ Foreshadowed (cont.)

Explicit Connections

The Tabernacle (Ex. 25-30; Heb. 9:1-14); The Complete Picture

One Door (Ex. 27:9-19); A Blood Sacrifice (Ex. 27:1-8); The Sanctifier (Ex. 28:17-21; 38:8; Joh. 13:1-17); One Path (Joh. 14:6); Plain Exterior, but Beautiful Interior (Isa. 53:2); One Light; The Basis for Fellowship; The Interceder; The Separator between Man and God; A Vessel for the Divine; A Sufficient Covering

Christ Before Bethlehem - pt. 5

I. Christ Foreshadowed

Implicit Connections

A Singular Salvation (Gen. 6-8)

One Ark (Gen. 6:13-14); All Sufficient (Gen. 6:15; 19-21); One Door (Gen. 6:16b); One Pitch / Sealant (Gen. 6:14); One Window (Gen. 6:16a); One Salvation (Gen. 7:19-23)

A Spotless Substitute (Gen. 22:1-14)

Judgment Pronounced (Gen. 22:2); God Provided Sacrifice (Gen. 22:7-8); A Unearned Provision (Gen. 22:13)

A Selfless Succorer (Ru. 1-4)

He’s Qualified (Ru. 2:20); He’s Able (Ru. 2:1); He’s Willing (Ru. 3:11; 4:6)

I've spent considerable time showing you Christ Foreshadowed. Today I hope to round out two other ways that Jesus is seen in the Old Testament, but in quicker succession. Therefore these will be more brief in scope but I encourage you to flesh them out as you have time.

After this today we will move on to Christ after Bethlehem and the many lessons we can learn from the life of Christ.

That being said we're going to look, number one, at Christ Foretold.

I. Christ Foretold

Prophesies of Christ

Logistically Impossible

What I mean by that is when you look at the specificity of some of these prophecies, they are so detailed that it would be logistically impossible had it not been for God.

The Suffering Saviour

Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”

Psalm 22:7–8 “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”

Psalm 22:14–18 “I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, And cast lots upon my vesture.”

The Suffering Servant

Isaiah 53 (Lookup)

Not to mention the specifics of the plan of salvation found there!

Entry into Jerusalem

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; Lowly, and riding upon an ass, And upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Time would not permit going into the detail of each one of these but it's obvious for anyone that cares to look that the only way, the only logical answer for one person to fulfill these prophecies is by the hand of God, who is outside of time.

He is logistically impossible any other way

Statistically Impossible

I’ve heard and used this illustration before, but it’s so powerful, it bears quickly repeating.

8 prophesies:

Born in Bethlehem:

Micah 5:2 “But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

Preceded by a Messenger:

Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

Triumphant Entry:

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; Lowly, and riding upon an ass, And upon a colt the foal of an ass.”

Betrayed for 30pc silver:

Zechariah 11:12 “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.”

Money bought the potters field:

Zechariah 11:13 “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.”

Hands & Feet pierced

Psalm 22:16 “For dogs have compassed me: The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: They pierced my hands and my feet.”

Silent Before His Accusers:

Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, Yet he opened not his mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, So he openeth not his mouth.”

Betrayed by a friend:

Psalm 41:9 “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, Which did eat of my bread, Hath lifted up his heel against me.”

Stoner estimated that for 1 person to fulfill just these 8 prophesies, the odds are 1 in 10-17p - which (Ill.) visually, if you were to fill Texas w/ silver dollars two feet deep and yet mark just one, if you could reach down and pickup the 1 marked in the first try are the odds

Skeptics will say it’s possible, but what church are the odds of that?

We've looked at Christ foretold. Lastly, we'll look at Christ foreseen

II. Christ Foreseen

Not only do we have countless pictures of Christ in the OT

Not only do we have countless prophecies of Christ in the OT

We have several actual appearances of Christ in the OT

Pre-Incarnate Appearances of Christ (Christophanies)

These are instances where God Himself visited men on various different occasions.

Now we know it was Christ for these reasons:

The Father is never seen: John 1:18 “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”

Jesus is God: John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Therefore, any visible appearances of God in the OT were appearances by the pre-incarnate Christ

There are numerous of these but I want to just take a look at a few of them today, And one lesson each that we can glean from today about our Lord.

Jesus in the Burning Bush (Ex. 3)

(Read Ex. 3:1-6; 14)

John 8:58 “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

Here God appears in the flaming bush that was not consumed.

He’s the Fiery Commander.

He is the Glorious Commander

He is Holy (v5)

He is Deliverer (v8)

He is Commander (v10)

He is Present (v12)

He is Constant (v14)

He is Able (v17)

And of course if you know the story of the children of Israel, you know that he is all these things and more.

Jesus in the Fiery Furnace (Dan. 3)

Now we look over to Daniel chapter three and we see Jesus in fire again but it's a whole different situation taking place.

If you're unfamiliar with Daniel 3, please read it - it’s one of my favorite narrations of a wonderfully powerful story! (Tell the story)

Nebuchadnezzar was the Babylonian king that had the children of Israel in subjection. He set up a golden idol statue of himself. When the music played, everyone was supposed to stop what they were doing and bow down unto it. And everyone did… except for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (cont. till read Dan. 3:19-30)

We see Jesus in the Fiery Furnace

He’s the Companion in the Flames

When you are suffering unjustly

When you are enduring trials and tribulations, though no fault of your own

There's one that will be right there in the midst of it with you! His name is Jesus!

And he'll bring you through those trials. He'll bring you through those tribulations and you'll come through on the other side, not a hair on your head singed and without the slightest stench of smoke.

He truly is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother!

He’s the Companion in the Flames

Jesus in the Wilderness (Gen. 16:6-14)

Here we see the story of Hagar - the handmaid of Sarah. Sarah and Abraham tried to do the work of God and messed it up…

Hagar got pregnant, Sarah got jealous and Hagar ran off: (Read Gen. 16:6-14)

He’s the Seeker of the Runaway

Regardless of your social standing

Regardless of your sin

Jesus loves you and will seek after you! We see this in Gen. 3:8-10.

Listen God is not hiding from you, God is seeking you!

If you're lost, he wants a relationship with you.

If you're saved he wants a closer relationship with you.

It's our natural tendency to run away from God for we are sinful beings but we have a good God who's gracious unto us, who loves us enough to run after us and seek us though we may be hiding from Him, He’s not hiding from us!

He’s the Seeker of the Runaway

Jesus in the Ring (Gen. 32:22-32)

This is the time when Jacob wrestled with God (Read the text)

He’s the Touch that Changes

What we learn from this encounter is that when Jesus touches you, you'll never be the same.

You will be blessed.

You will be different.

It will be noticeable to others.

But note that that came at a cost with Jacob. He wrestled with the Lord. He fought for those blessings.

There's a lot of Christians that want the blessings of God but they are not willing to fight for it. They want to withdraw the exceptional but only are willing to deposit the ordinary.

When Jesus touches you, it changes things.

Jesus the Compassionate Friend (Gen. 18)

Genesis 18:1 “And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;”

In this passage of Scripture we see three men approach Abraham. Abraham immediately recognizes divinity, and acts accordingly.

In the first part of the encounter we see the Lord blesses Abraham and foretells that he and Sarah will have a child according to the time of life.

The second portion of this encounter is what I want to focus on today. After they rise up from the food and the council, we see this: (Read Gen. 18:20-26, then summarize the rest)

He’s the Patient Listener

After about two of these I would've become exacerbated with Abraham. But we find no indication that Christ is like that with him. Jesus patiently listens and answers Abraham's request.

Have you ever been around people that you just can't stand to hear talk too long? I'm glad no matter what your voice may be like or how petty your petitions may seem to be, we have a God that cares enough for us that he patiently listens to the pleas of his children.

Fear not to bring your requests unto the Lord. We have a good God.

Jesus is a compassionate friend.

Conclusion