Emmanuel is Coming
Tonight on this first Sunday of Advent the theme is Hope. Hebrews 11:1 says:
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
What we hope for is the Lord’s return. We can have the assurance of this hope because what God promised in the past, He fulfilled in the Messiah’s first coming. So this evening we are going to look at three fulfilled prophesies that will embolden our hope of the Lord’s coming.
Promise #1
Jer 33:14-16
14 "’The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ’when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
15 "’In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.’
NIV
1. You could almost reword verse 14 to say, “The days are coming when I will fulfill the promise of grace.”
2. The prophesy is that Messiah will come from David’s line.
3. The fulfillment is found in Matthew 1:1 - A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham
Promise #2
Mic 5:2
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
NIV
1. The prophesy is that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
2. The fulfillment is found in Matthew 2 & Luke 2.
Promise #3
Isa 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
NIV
1. The prophesy is that a virgin will be the mother of the Messiah
2. The fulfillment is found in Luke 1:26-36
26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
NIV
So what is our hope? That we will be with the Lord.
The promise:
John 14:1-4
14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
NIV
The promise:
2 Cor 5:8
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
KJV
The promise:
1 Thess 4:16-17
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
NIV
We have the confidence that just as God promised and delivered in the Messiah’s coming to a virgin in the little town of Bethlehem, He will deliver on these promises. In that we have our hope.
