Advent - The Fulfilment of Prophecy
Today is the second Sunday of Advent, the word Advent comes from the Latin verb ‘venio’ - to come - and ‘advenio’ - to come towards.
Advent helps us to remember and celebrate the amazing truth of John 3:16-17, “This is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”
In the birth of Jesus, God declares you and I are worth something significant to Him, Father God declares His love for us and His willingness to save us from our sin.
God loves you and me so much that He was willing to be incarnated, to come to earth so that He could save us from our sin, He came to rescue us, and when we place our trust in Jesus we are saved.
Woven throughout the pages of the Old Testament is the prophetic promise that the Messiah would come, the promise that His advent would take place.
This month as we continue in our series Dare to be Different we are focussing on Different Fulfillment.
Advent is a perfect reminder of the fulfilment of those prophecies.
The promise of the messiah, the Saviour has been fulfilled.
The messianic prophecies in the Old Testament were made hundreds, even thousands of years before Jesus Christ was born.
From Genesis to Malachi, there are over 300 specific prophecies detailing the coming of this anointed one.
786 years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 11:1 “Out of the stump of King David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.”
The fulfilment of that prophecy is found in Matthew 1:1 “This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham”
Listen to the words of Micah 5:2, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.”
Around seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the Prophet Micah prophesised exactly where the Messiah would be born.
Micah also makes reference to the eternal nature of Christ’s existence, “a ruler whose origins are in the distant past”,
Jesus, part of the eternal Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, existed before He was incarnated as a baby in Bethlehem.
Remember God also declared through His prophet in Isaiah 7:14 the Lord Himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call Him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
This prophecy fulfiled in Matthew 1:22-23, All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through His prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’
Isn’t the word of God amazing, when God says something will happen, it happens exactly the way He said it would.
Let me give you another example of a fulfiled prophecy, Zechariah 9:9, Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.
Matthew 21:1-5, As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. “Go into the village over there,” He said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.” This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said, “Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.’”
Just 3 examples from the 300+ prophecies from the Old Testament fulfilled by Jesus.
Our time together this morning does not allow us to fully unpack all of the prophecies detailing Jesus’ virgin birth,
His birth in Bethlehem,
His birth from the tribe of Judah,
His lineage from King David,
His sinless life,
His atoning work for the sins of His people,
or His death and resurrection.
All of those prophecies were recorded in the Old Testament long before Jesus Christ actually fulfilled them.
Before we come to our time of Communion, I want us to consider Psalm 22, which is a prophetic picture of the death of Christ for our sins.
As I read Psalm 22 to you, it is important to remember it was written by King David about a thousand years before Jesus was crucified.
Psalm 22 is incredibly accurate about what would happen to Jesus a thousand years later:
The Messiah’s bones will not be broken.
His hands and feet will be ‘pierced’.
Men will cast lots for the Messiah’s clothes.
Even the words of Jesus on the cross, recorded in Mark 15:34, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’
are the same words as Psalm 22 verse 1.
Listen to Psalm 22 from the New Living Translation:
1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
Why are you so far away when I groan for help?
2 Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer.
Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 Our ancestors trusted in you,
and you rescued them.
5 They cried out to you and were saved.
They trusted in you and were never disgraced.
6 But I am a worm and not a man.
I am scorned and despised by all!
7 Everyone who sees me mocks me.
They sneer and shake their heads, saying,
8 “Is this the one who relies on the Lord?
Then let the Lord save him!
If the Lord loves him so much,
let the Lord rescue him!”
9 Yet you brought me safely from my mother’s womb
and led me to trust you at my mother’s breast.
10 I was thrust into your arms at my birth.
You have been my God from the moment I was born.
11 Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near,
and no one else can help me.
12 My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls;
fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in!
13 Like lions they open their jaws against me,
roaring and tearing into their prey.
14 My life is poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax, melting within me.
15 My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay.
My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth.
You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.
16 My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs;
an evil gang closes in on me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
17 I can count all my bones.
My enemies stare at me and gloat.
18 They divide my garments among themselves
and throw dice for my clothing.
19 O Lord, do not stay far away!
You are my strength; come quickly to my aid!
20 Save me from the sword;
spare my precious life from these dogs.
21 Snatch me from the lion’s jaws
and from the horns of these wild oxen.
22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters.
I will praise you among your assembled people.
23 Praise the Lord, all you who fear him!
Honor him, all you descendants of Jacob!
Show him reverence, all you descendants of Israel!
24 For he has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy.
He has not turned his back on them,
but has listened to their cries for help.
25 I will praise you in the great assembly.
I will fulfill my vows in the presence of those who worship you.
26 The poor will eat and be satisfied.
All who seek the Lord will praise him.
Their hearts will rejoice with everlasting joy.
27 The whole earth will acknowledge the Lord and return to him.
All the families of the nations will bow down before him.
28 For royal power belongs to the Lord.
He rules all the nations.
29 Let the rich of the earth feast and worship.
Bow before him, all who are mortal,
all whose lives will end as dust.
30 Our children will also serve him.
Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord.
31 His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born.
They will hear about everything he has done.
A powerful prophetic picture of the suffering of our Lord and Saviour, with accurate details only God could know a thousand years in advance.
In verses 19-21 the reference to the resurrection of Christ, the prayer for deliverance “from the lion’s mouth” is a metaphor for Satan.
Then in verse 22-24 a song of praise and thanksgiving to Father God for hearing the prayer and delivering Him.
Can I encourage you to spend some time reading Isaiah 53 later today?
Isaiah 53 is a messianic prophecy written around 700 years before the incarnation of Jesus.
Yet again there are many prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus:
His death for the sins of His people.
His rejection by the people.
His silence in front of His accusers.
His burial in a rich man’s grave.
Because of his suffering, because of what Jesus endured for you and for me, He has made it possible
for us to be counted as righteous, he has carried the punishment for our sins.
Friends in this season of advent, we can remember that Christ has come, and He has fulfiled all of the prophecies written about Him in the Old Testament.
He was born, He lived, He died, and on the third day, He rose triumphant from the grave having conquered the power of sin and death.
Jesus was the Son of God, He was fully aware of all of the prophecies about Him, He was fully aware of what would happen to Him.
He knew what He would have to experience and endure and He did it, so that prophecy would be fulfilled and so that you and I could be saved.
Knowing what He would face Jesus went to the cross for us.
He carried the weight of the sins of everyone who would ever trust in Him as Lord and Saviour to the cross.
A weight of sin so great, so terrible, God the Father turned His face away from Him.
Jesus dealt with all our sin all of the guilt, all of our shame in full at the cross.
Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the old covenant and established a new covenant in His blood and broken body.
Friend, Jesus extends His hand to you,
He has fulfilled everything that was necessary for you to be saved.
God does not force Himself upon you.
You can choose to refuse Him, you can choose to reject Him.
Invite Jesus into your life and He will be your protector, your provider, your guide, your Lord and your Saviour.
By grace we are saved, God offers you forgiveness and salvation but you have to accept it, you have to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour so that you can benefit from what He has done.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, Jesus is the promised Messiah.
Every aspect of His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection were prophesised years before they actually happened.
Dare to be different, and accept Him as your Messiah, love Him as your Lord and trust Him as your Saviour.
Amen
Audio for this sermon available here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/advent-fulfilment-of-prophecy-series-dare-to-be-different/id1016102507?i=1000459006564 and here: https://sermons.estuaryelim.church/20191208_ram_dean_courtier(adventfulfilment).mp3
