March 12, 2022
We have spent the last year going through the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation, but before moving on to our next series, it was suggested to me that I do an umbrella type sermon to wrap up our “My Favorite Thing About” journey, so, now I have to put on my nuclear-powered thinking cap…..
What is my ONE favorite thing about Scripture? Well, really….. who can choose just one thing? In the Old Testament alone we get:
• God’s search for humanity
• The Patriarch’s
• God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt
• God wandering with Israel for 40 years
• The Fall of Jericho
• The Hesed of Ruth and Boaz
• David and Goliath
• Mount Carmel
• The 3 Friends in the Fire
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Daniel in Lion’s Den
• Esther
• The Rebuilding of Jerusalem
One thing? You must be kidding……..
In Isaiah 55:8-9, God tells us - "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” …. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We sinful and broken humans have no ability to understand God or His ways. This truth creates an immediate problem. How can we be expected to love, trust and obey - have a deep abiding relationship with - someone we have no capacity to know?
Which brings us to My Favorite Thing About the BIBLE ---- Jesus.
In the book of John, Jesus revealed a surprising truth:
• John 1:18 - “No one has seen God at any time…..”
• John 5:37 - “And the Father Himself ….. you have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form”
God the Father has had no direct involvement with humanity, but what about all those Old Testament “meetings” between God and humans {a theophany}?
• Genesis 3:9 - “Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’
• Genesis 18:1 - The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.
• Exodus 25:1-2, 8 - The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering….. "Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.”
• Exodus 33:11 - “So the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend”
• Joshua 5:13-15 - Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?" The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.
• Daniel 3:24-25 - Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, "Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?" They replied, "Certainly, O king." He said, "Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
(See also Genesis 2:16-17; 6:13-14; 12:1; 17:1; 18:1; Exodus 3:4-6; 24:9-11; 33:22-23; Numbers 12:6-8; Deuteronomy 4:33; Jeremiah 1:4-10).
There were pretty extensive God/human interaction going on in the Old Testament, but if it wasn’t God the Father, then Who was it?
In John 8:56-58, it is Jesus, Himself, who reveals who the God of the Old Testament was: “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
By identifying Himself as “I AM”, Jesus was literally claiming to be the Eternal God of the Old Testament - the God of Abraham and Moses, and the One who led Israel out of Egypt {see Exodus 3:14}.
The Jewish mob knew exactly WHOM Jesus was claiming to be because the very next verse tells us that they picked up stones to stone Him……
Years later, the apostle Paul reinforced Christ’s identity as the God who led Israel in the wilderness:
• 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 - “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”
Let’s go back even further - before Adam and Eve - before sin - before the need for an “Old Testament” ……….
Before His human birth, Jesus Christ was the One through whom the Godhead created all things:
• John 1:1-3 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
• Colossians 1:16-17 - For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
• Hebrews 1:1-3 - In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word…..
God the Father and Jesus the Son exist in total harmony. What Jesus IS God IS.
They share the same character of love, truth, justice, mercy and grace. They think alike, and because they do, Jesus was speaking the truth when he said:
• John 10:27-30 - My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."
• John 14:9-10 - Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”
Jesus created and sustains all things. He interacted with humans in the Old Testament. He walked the roads of Palestine in order to make God the Father known.
• John 15:15 - I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
But Jesus is more than that:
Of the nearly 9000 promises found in Scripture, 85% of them {7,147 to 7,487 - depending on whose counting} are promises from God to humans and according to 2 Corinthians 1:20 - No matter how many promises God has made, they are "YES” in Christ….
The never-ending Love of God = YES in Christ:
• Romans 8:38-39 - For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Forgiveness = YES in Christ:
• 1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
The gift of His own Righteousness = YES in Christ:
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 - God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Eternal Life = YES in Christ:
• John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Every Promise of God is YES in Jesus including the prophetic promises of the coming Messiah.
There are over 300 prophetic promises in the Old Testament regarding the coming Messiah.
Of those, there are 45 that pertain exclusively to the Messiah’s life and death and Jesus fulfilled them all!
• Will be preceded by a Messenger ---- Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; fulfilled in Matthew 3:1-3; 11:10; John 1:23;
Luke 1:17
• Will be born in Bethlehem ---- Micah 5:2; fulfilled in Matt. 2:1-7; John 7:42; Luke 2:4-7
• Will be born of a virgin ---- Isaiah 7:14; fulfilled in Matthew 1:18-2:1; Luke 1:26-35
• Will enter Jerusalem on a donkey ---- Zechariah 9:9; fulfilled in Luke 35-37; Matthew 21:6-11
• Will be hated without cause ---- Isaiah 49:7; Psalm 69:5; fulfilled in John 15:24-25
• Will be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver ---- Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14; fulfilled in Matthew 10:4; 26:49-50; John 13:21 / Zechariah 11:12; fulfilled in Matthew 26:15; 27:3
• Will be silent before His accusers - Isaiah 53:7; fulfilled in Matthew 27:12
• Will be executed by crucifixion, by having His hands and feet pierced ---- Psalm 22:16; fulfilled in John 19:28
• None of his bones will be broken ---- Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:20; fulfilled in John 19:33-36
• Will to be executed as a thief among thieves ---- Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 53:5, 12; fulfilled in Luke 23:33; John 20:25; Matthew 27:38; Mark 5:27, 28
• Will be given vinegar to quench His thirst ---- Psalm 69:21; fulfilled in Matthew 27:34
• Will be buried with the rich ---- Isaiah 53:9; fulfilled in Matthew 27:57-60
• Will be raised from the dead ---- Isaiah 53:9-10; Psalm 2:7; 16:10; fulfilled in Matthew 28:1-20; Acts 2:23-36;13;33-37; 1 Corinthians 11:4-6
John 5:39 - You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me…..
Jesus is the Hero of the whole Bible - Genesis to Revelation.
• J.C. Ryle - Read the Bible with CHRIST constantly in view. The whole book is about Him. Look for Him on every page. He is there. If you fail to see Him there, you need to read that page again.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
