He Still Came Part 3

Today Jenny and I celebrate our 34th anniversary! Yesterday, we were reminiscing and thinking about how God has blessed us through these years. I could never have imagined having such a wonderful life with three children and now ten, going on eleven grandchildren. But I believe that God knew it all along. Psalms 139:16 says: all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How do you feel about God knowing your future? Do you believe He does? What is in God's book about your life? To 72 disciples who returned from a mission and were excited that they could cast out demons in Jesus' name, Jesus said, “Do not rejoice that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20.

What else besides your name is written there?

Today is our third week of study about the coming of Jesus the Messiah, or Christ. Two weeks ago we looked at creation and considered how God made man in His image and likeness. This, itself, is amazing. God had in mind the coming of Jesus even then. God created us to be like Him so that He could become like us in Jesus Christ, His Son. The word that was with God, who was God, became flesh and dwelt among us. Emanuel. God with us.

Then last week we looked briefly and the human family line of Jesus, God's Son. We noted that there were both faithful and unfaithful ancestors of Jesus. We see the hand of God working through both to bring His Son into this world.

Today, I invite you to consider with me some of the prophecies of the Old Testament that pointed to the coming and life of Jesus the Messiah. I have a little handout for you of some of those. There are over 300 prophecies that have been cataloged by bible scholars. If you count the sacrifices of the Old Testament as foreshadowing Jesus' ultimate sacrifice, then there are over 1000.

Listen to Jesus' own words and the preaching of the Apostles about this:

Luke 24:25-27, 44-47.

Acts 1:15-17

Acts 2:17-36

Acts 3:18, 21, 24

Acts 13:26-33, 40-41

Acts 15:14-18

The preaching of the New Testament was largely a proclamation about the fulfillment of the Old Testament concerning Jesus.

Some of the clearest come from Isaiah and David's Psalms.

Isaiah 53 is so clear that for years modern liberal theologians who did not believe in the inspiration of scriptures said that it was written after the time of Jesus. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and a full copy of the book of Isaiah was discovered that dated back to 250 B.C. a lot of crow was served to them. The new twist in modern scholarship is to say that much of the story of Jesus was made up to look like fulfillment of Isaiah 53. Unbelief is stubborn stuff.

Jesus came just as God had written it to be. Jesus is the only one with power to break the prophetic promises of God and undo the plan. He spoke about this in Matthew 26 on the very night he was arrested and taken to be tried and condemned to the cross. As Judas gave the kiss and the soldiers seized Jesus, Peter pulled out his sword which was probably just a large knife and tried to defend Jesus by whacking at the head of the high priest's servant. He got his ear, but that's all. Look at verse 52-56.

Jesus knew He could call on the Father for help, but doing so would defy the scriptures. He saw that he was walking in the Word of God and performing the scriptures just as God had spoken them through the prophets. Jesus was a man of the scriptures. Jesus came to fulfill the scriptures. And He did.

The Bible, Old and New Testaments have a very clear and similar message. The Old Testament says that Jesus is coming! He came. Now the New Testament says that Jesus is coming, again. He will!

God didn't lie the first time and He didn't lie the second time either.

Are you ready for Jesus to come... again?

Worksheet:

44 Prophecies Jesus Christ Fulfilled

Prophecies About Jesus

Old Testament

Scripture

New Testament

Fulfillment

1

Messiah would be born of a woman.

Genesis 3:15

Matthew 1:20

Galatians 4:4

2

Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2

Matthew 2:1

Luke 2:4-6

3

Messiah would be born of a virgin.

Isaiah 7:14

Matthew 1:22-23

Luke 1:26-31

4

Messiah would come from the line of Abraham.

Genesis 12:3

Genesis 22:18

Matthew 1:1

Romans 9:5

5

Messiah would be a descendant of Isaac.

Genesis 17:19

Genesis 21:12

Luke 3:34

6

Messiah would be a descendant of Jacob.