THE ONLY TRULY EXPECTED MAN IN HISTORY, PART ONE

THE ONLY TRULY EXPECTED MAN IN HISTORY, PART ONE With grateful acknowledgement of these sources of direction and inspiration: the Holy Spirit; the Word of God; Norman Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics; I. Howard Marshall, I Believe in the Historical Jesus; Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict. December 7, 2003 [Additional Notes] Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Scholars agree, Jewish and Christian alike, that there are in the Old Testament scriptures nearly 300 references to the coming Messiah. Some claim there are even many more. Two important assumptions are ours as we study such prophecy: One, God is the only One who knows it all, the end from the beginning. "For I am God and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." (Isaiah 46:9-10) Secondly, God intended for everyone to clearly understand who the Messiah is upon His arrival. "I have declared the former things from the beginning; they went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. Even from the beginning I have declared it to you; before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you, lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, and my carved image and my molded image have commanded them.'" (Isaiah 48:3-5) In Romans 1:2-4, Paul taught that God "…promised [the gospel] beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. " Christmas was no afterthought. God planned from the earliest time to send His Son to planet earth to save mankind from sin-the New Testament writers even describe this plan as being "from the creation of the world" (1 Peter 1:20 et al). Jesus Himself appealed to the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah and applied them to Himself. "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life…If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?" (John 5:39-40, 46-47) Jesus once read the great messianic prophecy from Isaiah 61:1-2 about the Spirit of the Lord being on the Messiah and anointing him to preach the good news to the poor, freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind and release from oppression. This was in His hometown, Nazareth, in the synagogue. "Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:18-21) Acts 3:18 - "…God fulfilled what He had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer…" Acts 17:2-3 - (apostle Paul's ministry in Thessalonica) "Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise form the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said." And then, in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 - "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…" Every major feast in the Old Testament Levitical tradition is fulfilled in Christ, from the Passover (the foretelling of Christ's atoning death) to Pentecost (the outpouring of the Holy Spirit). Even the furniture of the Temple predicted the Messiah. Why did God go to all this trouble of prophesying in advance about the Messiah? To show that it was no accident. To show there was purpose in all of it; precisely so that it would NOT look like just another random event in history. This morning and next Sunday I'd like for us to do a study of some of the prophecies of the coming of Christ. I believe it will make our celebration of the Christmas season deeper and more meaningful. See study sheets, and refer to #'s 1, 2, 10 and 11. We'll obviously not be covering all of these scriptures, but I would like to take a couple of them, which apply most directly to the Christmas story, and comment on them. As we go along we'll make some appropriate applications. 1. (1) "And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." Genesis 3:15 This is the earliest prediction of the coming of Christ. PROTOEVANGELION - the first gospel. Age-long conflict between seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman - ultimately won by the seed of the woman. These translate to Satan who is the adversary of God and His humanity, and Jesus, the ultimate seed of Eve, who would conquer Satan, but not without cost. The historical perspective of this prophecy being fulfilled in Christ is given to us at Galatians 4:4-5 - "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." God revealed, from the earliest moments of human history His plan to "fix" the problem that sin had introduced to humanity. Even then he revealed that it would involve the appearance of a Messiah in human form. When we come to the fulfillment of this prophecy in our Christmas celebration, remember that the fulfillment involved God taking human form. While Mary is making her way to Bethlehem that night, God was enfleshed in her, relying on her placenta for nourishment, bouncing around in a sack of amniotic fluid waiting for His birth. The New Testament makes a big deal of this. God coming to us in human form, to identify with us. Hebrews 2 - "He too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil-and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death….he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." (Hebrews 2:14-18) Joe Torre had been a catcher and a broadcast announcer for the St. Louis Cardinals. Shortly after he was named manager, according to the Pittsburgh Press, New York Yankees' announcer Phil Rizzuto suggested that managing could be done better from high above the baseball field--from the level of the broadcasting booth. Torre replied, "Upstairs, you can't look in their eyes." In Jesus Christ, God also chose to come down onto the field and look into our eyes. And God foretold this incredible, dramatic story in advance. 2. (2) "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14 From the dawn of time we jump to the 8th century BC. The prophet Isaiah is speaking words of judgment and hope to the kingdom of Judah while they are being threatened with annihilation by two kings, Rezin (of Aram) and Pekah (of the northern kingdom of Israel) who are threatening invasion of Judah. King Ahaz of Judah is scared out of his wits and refuses even to ask the Lord for a sign as to whether or not they would survive. So Isaiah says that a young girl nearby would soon become pregnant and have a child, and before that child was weaned, the two kings Ahaz was worried about would be dead. They wouldn't have to worry about them. Of course, Isaiah also added the Lord's warning that He would whistle and the great Assyrian army would come and wipe them out because of their faithlessness and sin. As is often the case, the prophecy had an immediate fulfillment and an ultimate, or second, fulfillment. God intended both. 700 years later a virgin girl named Mary would be miraculously impregnated with a child who would save the world. And it would be a sign for the whole world of God's deliverance. Matthew 1:18-23 - "…she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit . . . Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, and angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph so of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us." Americans are three times as likely to believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus (83 percent) as in evolution (28 percent)….Not only do 91 percent of [American] Christians say they believe in the Virgin Birth, but so do an astonishing 47 percent of U.S. non-Christians. Nicholas D. Kristof, "Believe It, or Not," N.Y. Times (8-15-03 "The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation." J.I Packer Here is what we cannot, must not miss: God planned this whole thing out, and predicted it would happen 700+ years before it did! He wanted to show us that it was He who did this-that it wasn't a fluke in history, a random event, a religious surprise! 3. (10) "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting." Micah 5:2 Isaiah, Hosea, Amos and Micah were the four eighth century prophets who represented God to His people. Micah was more of the "country boy" prophet, as he was from the outlying regions where shepherds lived in small rural villages. It was different from Isaiah, who carried on his ministry in the "big city" of Jerusalem. While Isaiah was used by God to speak to the political and military intrigue of the nation, Micah's concerns centered on the plight of poor people who were being mistreated through injustice. The richer, land-grabbing elite were buying up the Judean hillsides and forcing the poor shepherds and farmers who relied on the land to move around, pay taxes and bow to the whims of the proletariat. Micah, like Isaiah, was given a picture from God of a time when there would be a new beginning. The new rulers in Jerusalem would be from the Davidic line and would be faithful to the will of God in terms of justice and righteousness. He spoke of the corruption of the current leaders, and how wrong it was that they should remain in power. He announces God's plan that things will one day be different. God would return to His original plan of a king in the line of David, one from the clan of Ephrathah and the town of Bethlehem. In fact, he says, the ultimate ruler of Israel would be born in Bethlehem. He doesn't give a specific time frame. His book does foretell what the other prophets were saying, that there would be a terrible time of captivity for the people as they were disciplined for their sins, but afterward would come the new age. Carried along by the Spirit of Yahweh, Micah speaks to the little town of Bethlehem, "though you are tiny and insignificant compared to the other towns in Judah, you are destined to greatness, because the Ruler of Israel will come from you." This Ruler, he adds, will be One who is eternal ("whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.") Seven hundred years later everyone in Judea is familiar with this prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6; John 7:42). (See Colossians 1:15-20) What is fascinating is that, in advance, God planned the birth of the Messiah to occur in this little village, born of a humble Galilean girl. All earthly wisdom would reject these ignoble beginnings. Why not let Messiah be born to the daughter of Caiaphas the high priest in Jerusalem. Let Him be brought up in the mansion of this impressive man. Jesus wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of convincing people of His importance in God's plan. It would be obvious to everyone. But God delights in surprises by using the small and insignificant to accomplish the greatest things. I was reflecting earlier this week on the genealogy list in Matthew. It's the list of the human ancestors of Jesus. Did you realize that among the grandparents of Jesus there were murderers, deceivers, liars, a prostitute, and wicked kings? "God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." (1 Corinthians 1:27) How about another prophecy about Jesus? This one is from David, the patriarch, king and poet of Israel. Now, when we turn to David, we are turning back the prophetic clock to about 1,000 years before Christ. 4. (11) "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts." Psalm 72:10 (also Isaiah 60:6) Of course, this prophecy was fulfilled in the arrival of the "wise men" from the east, probably eastern Arabia (which is where Seba and Sheba were), when Jesus was about 2 years of age. They weren't kings-that idea was added later, but isn't in the Bible. There weren't necessarily three of them-the Bible only mentions there were three gifts. This message in Psalm 72 was originally about Solomon. But look what happens in that psalm as you read further. Verses 11-19 Matthew 2:1, 11 - "Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem . . . and fell down and worship Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him." Can you imagine how these wise men felt as they drew nearer their destination? First, attracted to the star; then, led to Herod the king of Judea; then on to Bethlehem (?!); then the star reappears for them and they are led to a simple little house. Knowing they had found the great King, they bowed and worshiped Him. Most of us found Jesus in a similar way. From childhood we had been looking for God, in whom we believed we would find the answers to our deepest questions. And we were led, not to the great discoveries of science (although they consistently point to the Creator who is to be praised). We were not led to the great ideas of learning and literature (although all true Truth points to God). And we did not find God in the things the world esteems as important: wealth, pleasure, success, fame. We came to know that these things were not to be our fulfillment; they are only the illusions of men's shallow dreams. No, we found our answers in a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a feed trough. We found our salvation, not in the great ideas and philosophies, but in the stark reality of a man brutalized on rough timber for our sins. We found our hope, not in education or entertainment or social emancipation, but in the simple, powerful symbol of Christ's victory over death a stone rolled away from the mouth of a tomb! And we are reminded again that the one who deserves our praise and adoration, our gifts and our allegiance, doesn't live in Taj Mahals of comfort, luxury and power, but in the dirty corners of the sinful world he came to save, like stables and human hearts. When the wise man meets Christ he realizes that his vain efforts to find what glittered was only the folly of human wisdom. Wise men meet Jesus not in palaces but in the poverty of their need, not in their minds, but in their hearts. A woman was doing a final check of the "things-to-do-before-Christmas" list and discovered she had forgotten to send any Christmas cards. The time was short, so she rushed to a store and found two boxes of cards - fortunately already marked 50 percent off. Without reading or even really looking at them, she feverishly began addressing and signing the cards. Dashing to the post office, she shoved them onto the counter just as the clerk was reaching for his "This window closed" sign. On Christmas day, when things had quieted down a bit and some semblance of order had been restored, she noticed that one of those last minute cards had been left over. She wondered, "What was the message I sent to my friends?" Opening the card, she stared unbelievingly at the words: 'This card is just a note to say ... A little gift is on the way." ... I have a pretty good idea what she was going to be doing on the day after Christmas." Christmas was not an afterthought on the part of God. His was a deliberate plan from the commencement of this world to bring to us the One brought from the seed of woman, conceived in a virgin, born in insignificant little Bethlehem ad worshiped by wise men. Conclusion Larry Walters, a 33-year-old man decided he wanted to see his neighborhood from a new perspective. He went down to the local army surplus store one morning and bought 42 used weather balloons. That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair, to which several of his friends tied the now helium-filled balloons. He took along a six-pack of beer, a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land. Walters, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared more than 16,000 feet into the sky--smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport. He had just begun shooting the balloons when he lost his grip on his pellet gun, and it dropped from his hands. He stayed airborne for more than two hours. Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him three questions: "Were you scared?" "Yes." "Would you do it again?" "No." "Why did you do it?" "Because," he said, "you can't just sit there." When we come to realize the importance of Immanuel's arrival in human history, precisely as God told us He would, to save us from our sin, we can't just sit there!   [Back to Top]