The Promise of the Coming Christ

Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. We assuredly need to believe that Jesus Christ is fully man as well in order to understand the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins. God cannot die. So if Christ is not fully man, then there is no sacrifice for our sins. Although the humanity of Jesus is questioned by some, the deity of Christ is the most often attacked. Through this three part series, we are going to discuss the unmistakable deity of Christ.

There are heretical doctrines that have tried to skew the deity of Christ since the foundation of the early church. Ebionism tried to skew Christ as only human with some unusual gifts of righteousness and wisdom. This was rooted in the Judaizers who wished to squash the worship of Jesus.

On a more subtle note, Arianism erupted which was condemned at the Council of Nicea in 325. This false teaching still persists today in the dangerous teachings of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Arian taught that Jesus was not God and was not self-existent. He taught that Jesus was created and was not transcendent. He misunderstood verses that speak of Christ as firstborn of creation to mean that Jesus was created instead of its actual contextual understanding that Jesus Christ is preeminent and above all. He missed Scriptures that point to the fact that Christ has been since the beginning as seen in John 1. Or that in Jesus Christ the fullness of God dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9).

We are going to discuss the unmistakable deity of Christ in some detail over the next three weeks. The reasoning for this is that if we are going to be prepared to share the Gospel in our community, we need to understand who our Savior truly is. We are going to encounter some skeptics that may question us on who Christ is. We need to be assured and fully understand who Jesus Christ is in order to share the Gospel with the world.

Today, our focus is going to be on the foundational promise of the coming Christ. We are going to spend some time in the Old Testament and expound upon a few of the prophesies regarding the coming of Christ. Time would fail if we went through all of these prophesies! By many counts, there are over 300 distinct Messianic prophesies in the Old Testament. We are going to zoom in and focus on four key Messianic prophesies which give a big picture view of the coming Christ.

Like all of my messages, I am going to post this entire manuscript online along with the slides and audio on our website. Don’t feel the need to take detailed notes as this will all be available for you. Just follow along and I pray the Holy Spirit illuminates the Word of God for us as we take a quick tour through some of the promises of the coming Christ.

Prayer

The first prophesy of Christ in the entire Bible is found in Genesis 3:

Read Full Scripture:

Prayer

I. The Proto-Evangelium (Genesis 3)

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

The Greek word proto means original or foremost. Evangelium is the Latin derivation of the Greek word meaning “Good News” or “Gospel.” This is the foremost Gospel, or the original Gospel.

Let’s look at the context around this wonderful promise. The fall of man has just occurred. Adam and Even have broken God’s command and eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Curse upon mankind has fallen and man will now die. Yet there is hope given here.

It is promised here that one day Christ will come and vindicate man and woman. Romans 16:20 points to the final fulfillment of this wonderful Good news. After the Millennial Kingdom, Satan will be crushed and placed into the lake of fire for all eternity (Rev 20:10)!

Yet we have hope even today in the midst of an evil world. Death has been defeated by our glorious Messiah. We have victory in Christ. This wondrous victory was promised thousands of years ago in Genesis 3.

This victory was not without a price though. We see that Christ’s heal is bruised. Satan is given the opportunity to afflict the humanity of Christ and bring suffering and persecution to His people. Friends, this is where we live today. Christ has suffered and we have chosen to follow Him. As we have discussed before, in this world we will have tribulation (John 16:33). Satan will afflict us. He will tempt us and try us. No servant is greater than his master and so as Christ suffered, we should expect to suffer as well (John 15:20). Yet, we know the one who suffered also reigns victorious. He has overcome death and the grave and now is seated at the right hand of the Father – reigning in majesty and glory. Embrace this hope and victory that is given to us through Christ. And glorify God in His sovereign control. Even when all hope seemed lost after the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, God came through. His promises always come through (Joshua 21:45).

Transition: Now that we have discussed the foremost Gospel seen in Genesis 3, let’s move further along in the book of Genesis and look at the blessing promised to the whole world through Abraham:

Scripture References: Romans 16:20, Rev 20:10, John 16:33, John 15:20, Joshua 21:45

II. The Future Blessing of the World (Genesis 12, 18, 22)

Genesis 12:3 ESV

3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 18:18 ESV

18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

Genesis 22:18 ESV

18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

We see here that all of the families and nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham.

How are all of the families and nations of the world blessed through Abraham?

Matthew 1:1 ESV

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1 – Jesus the Messiah is the son of David…the son of Abraham.

Jesus, the Savior of the entire world, would come in human form through the lineage of Abraham. Again, like the previous point we discussed in Genesis 3, we are looking at thousands of years before Christ was born that this was promised. Abraham likely received his call from God during the 22nd century BC. We are looking at over 4000 years from now and well over 2000 years before Christ.

Stop for a moment and think about how many things had to occur as they were supposed to in order for this blessed Messiah to be born. If we take a quick glance at this passage in Matthew 1 mentioning the lineage of Christ we see a few glaring details:

i. Judah had to survive a famine and was delivered by his brother Joseph despite the difficulties in their family relationships! (3)

ii. Rahab, a pagan prostitute, was spared in the destruction of Jericho because of her kindness to the Israelite spies. (5)

iii. Ruth, a Moabite woman, had to travel with her mother-in-law after her husband died to a land she did not know in order to become part of this lineage with Boaz who was the son of Rahab! (5)

iv. David’s great grandfather was Boaz! And then David went on to do wonderful things until he sinned in a mighty way with Bathsheba and has her husband killed and takes her as a wife. In the future, after repenting, he fathers Solomon who becomes part of the lineage of Jesus as well. (6)

I could keep going on and on and expounding upon all of the details that had to happen for Jesus to come through Abraham. But I hope you get the big picture here. God is sovereign. Even in the midst of a sinful group of people, God keeps His promises. He continues to preserve this line of people so that the coming Messiah would come.

Brothers and sisters, when life seems to get crazy and it seems out of control. Don’t miss the application here. The same God who can orchestrate this incredible lineage, is definitely in control of the problems in your life. Trust Him. He is faithful and worthy of your worship and trust.

Transition: We have mentioned the foremost Gospel (or proto-evangelium) and the coming blessing of the world through Abraham – now we will discuss the:

Scripture References: Genesis 12:3, 18:18, 22:18, Matthew 1

III. The Future Sacrifice Provided (Isaiah 53)

Isaiah 53:3–5 ESV

3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

Listen to the vivid description of the crucified Christ as I highlight a few of these verses. This is by no means a thorough evaluation of this but I want us to see God’s glory at work here. These words are written by Isaiah in the 7th or 8th century BC – many years before Christ was even born.

i. V3 – despised and rejected by men

ii. V4 – he has born our griefs and carried our sorrows

iii. V5 – but he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

We deserved death after the fall. Yet the promise of the future sacrifice was coming. We saw this promised in Genesis 3 and then later in Genesis with the promises to Abraham. And now we see this in even greater detail promised in the book of Isaiah.

We see the Gospel fleshed out here in a mighty way. Christ bore our punishment. He took all of our sins on the cross so that we didn’t have to face eternal punishment in the lake of fire, namely Hell.

This is the best news we could ever imagine. The penalty for our sins has been paid. Let’s take this knowledge and spread it to those around us. People do not have to go to Hell. There is hope in the name of Jesus. Let’s share the Gospel and ask God to draw people to Himself!

Transition: To summarize, we have thus far seen the promise of the coming Christ up to his earthly life and crucifixion. For our last prophesy today, we see Christ after His resurrection and in His full reigning through His second coming!

IV. The Everlasting Domain (Daniel 7:13-14)

Daniel 7:13–14 ESV

13 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Here we see the reference of Jesus’ favorite name of Himself while on earth – “Son of Man.” We see the reference of “son of man” many times in the book of Ezekiel. In fact this phrase is mentioned 93 times in the book of Ezekiel! Yet, each of these references emphasizes the humanity of Ezekiel. Many may falsely attribute Jesus’ reference to the “Son of Man” to the book of Ezekiel. Yet this does not make sense when looking at the context that Jesus uses the phrase. The times that Jesus refers to Himself as the “Son of Man” in the New Testament are more in line with His second coming and judgment:

A couple of examples of “Son of Man” in relation to the Second Coming:

1. Luke 17:22, 26, and 30

2. Mark 13:26

ii. A couple of examples of “Son of Man” in Relation to Judgment and Dominion:

1. Matt 16:27, 24:30, 26:64

We don’t have time to expound upon each of these verses but if you look at the context we can obviously see that Christ understood Himself to be God. This ruler, namely Christ, has an everlasting dominion that will never pass away. His kingdom will never be destroyed. We see here in Daniel 7, that Christ will be over all. All will serve him. This beautifully shows the Second Coming and the eternal reign of Christ.

Revelation 21:23 ESV

23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Christ will be reigning in such a way that His glory will be the light of day. The sacrificial Lamb will be lifted up for all eternity.

We will go into more detail about this in our last message in this series regarding the promised reign of Christ, but be sure to understand that all of this was prophesied well before Christ was even humanly begotten. Let us understand the glory of the God we serve.

Scripture References: Ezekiel, Luke 17:22, 26, 30; Mark 13:26; Matthew 16:27, 24:30, 26:64 , Revelation 21:23

Conclusion

Today we have had a whirlwind sermon. And we have only lightly touched on four of the over 300 Messianic prophesies in the Old Testament! My goal for us today has been for us to understand Jesus in a greater way. I want us to be able to share the Gospel with more knowledge and understanding. And more than anything, I want us to fall more in love with Jesus Christ. When we truly love Him, we want to know more and more about Him. As we learn more and more about Him, we are going to be much more willing to share the good news of the Gospel to others! Friends, let’s get out into this community and share the wonderful news of the Gospel. Christ is God and has existed for all eternity. His promised deliverance from sin was planned before the foundation of the world and promised as early in Scripture as Genesis 3! And His faithfulness to that promise was fleshed out through His death on the cross and His resurrection.