Jesus Is Coming: As The Prophets Foretold Series

Jesus is Coming…As the Prophets Foretold

Intro:

It’s hard to believe that we are entering into the Christmas season already. It seems like summer just ended and already the lights are out and the decorations are hung and before we know it, Christmas morning will be here again. I love this time of the year. I can remember as a kid how long the wait for Christmas seemed.

First Snow Ill.

We were ready for Christmas when it came, we had been eagerly looking forward to it. I love the family traditions, I love the Christmas Carols, I definitely love the Christmas Cookies and other treats. I also love the Christmas story all the different characters and events that unfolded around the time of Christ’s birth. The single event that has changed the history of the world like no other, the coming of the Son of God to Earth and the circumstances that surrounded that birth are a story that never gets old for me. One of my frustrations as a youth pastor was not getting to preach during this time of the year. I would always get to preach the Sunday after Christmas when everyone else wanted a break and when the Christmas series was over and done with and there were about 9 people that showed up for church! So, I’m excited to begin this series for the next few weeks as we explore the story of Christmas and the meaning of the gift that God gave us on that first Christmas morning. My hope is that all of us will be ready for Christmas when it comes, that we will all eagerly look forward to it, that we can overcome the chaos and enjoy the celebration of God’s greatest work of love to us.

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to build up to Christmas morning by looking at the theme of “Jesus is Coming!” We’re going to look at the different meanings that that had for different people and what it is that he came to bring. We’re going to look at Mary, at the Shepherds, and at Simeon and Anna.

This morning, we’re going to start our series by looking at some people that we seldom associate with the story of Christmas, the prophets. It was the prophets that told us where to look and under what conditions the Messiah would be born. It was the prophets who pointed through the years of history to that one morning in Jerusalem and the message that they had to share about that first Christmas morning was how the world wouls forever be changed. And in the birth of that little child was found the fulfillment of these prophet’s words that were centuries old. Jesus is Coming, As the Prophets foretold.

I. Who They Were:

I want to begin our look at the prophecies and the prophets who made them by looking at who they were, clarifying what exactly a prophet of God is and what role they are called on by God to play. The prophet was a person who was selected by God and appointed by God to speak a message to the people. He was God’s spokesman to God’s people.

He was not a priest. A priest in those days was the mediator between God and His people. He was God’s people’s spokesman before God. It was more of a position. A prophet was more of a function, a unique calling to be the deliverer of God’s words to His people. The prophets central function was to be God’s mouthpiece.

The prophet was to speak the words of God, just as he was given, to the people God sent him to.

JER 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

“Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, `I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth

There is little room for doubt after reading God’s call to Jeremiah, who did the sending and where the words of the prophet came from. The purpose of the prophet was to deliver a message from the one True God.

As you search through the words of God’s prophets in Scripture, you see many themes that pop up again and again. The prophets message was to: