When is the last time you saw something about to happen and you knew it would? At that moment, you were looking into the future and seeing the outcome of events that were yet to take place. God has made us spiritual creatures like himself. We make plans, we set goals, we write out our schedules and carry our calendars, and without these plans, life as we know it would be a mess. (Do you have a Christmas list yet?) We depend on the past and look toward the future to live in the present and make meaning of it. Who we are right now is all caught up in who we have been in our past. Where we go from here is all caught up in the direction and momentum of our lives and the choices we will make. But only God can see from one end of time to the other and know it completely. And only God has the power to control and determine the ultimate future. And He has created us in such a way that each of us has power to choose our eternal destiny. Jesus coming was part of the plan to make this possible for us.
As we introduce Luke’s gospel and begin this series of lessons about Jesus, we first need to lay the ground work of the gospel by surveying the prophecies of Jesus’ coming.
Of the four gospel accounts, Luke gives us the fullest picture of those people and relationships surrounding his birth. But the story doesn’t start here. God had been pointing to this historic event by prophecy for a long time before it ever came. He saw it. He made it happen.
God is a planner. Would you like to see his calendar? As we look through the scriptures he has shown us some of it. Prophecy is the way he reveals his plan and power over the future. Today we look back into the pages of the Old Testament and see how God planned and proclaimed Jesus coming so that when Jesus was born we could know who he was. That’s why the early Christians used the Old Testament scriptures to prove that Jesus is the Christ.
Just listen to some of the prophets of old who lived centuries before Jesus birth and hear the ring of prophecy about the one to come…
Zech 2: 10 "Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares the LORD.
11 "And many nations will join themselves to the LORD in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.
Micah 5: 2 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity."
3 Therefore, He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren Will return to the sons of Israel.
4 And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth.
Isaiah 9:1 But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.
In verses 6-8 we read: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…
Later in Isaiah, God rebukes Israel for consulting idols instead of listening to him and God points out that all their idols are mute and worthless and that he is the only one who can tell them what will happen.
Isaiah 41: 21 "Present your case," says the LORD. "Set forth your arguments," says Jacob’s King.
22 "Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come,
23 tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.
24 But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable.
25 "I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes-- one from the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay.
26 Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say, ’He was right’? No one told of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you.
27 I was the first to tell Zion, ’Look, here they are!’ I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.
28 I look but there is no one-- no one among them to give counsel, no one to give answer when I ask them.
29 See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.
(Now notice the prophecy of Jesus).
42:1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4 he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope."
Again in Isaiah 43
8 Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf.
9 All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of them foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, "It is true."
10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed-- I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "that I am God.
13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?"
It was through prophecy that God revealed his will and that he is God. From the very beginning we find words in the scriptures that point to Jesus and find their fulfillment in him. Let’s just survey a few of them.
The earliest is Genesis 3:15
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel."
The head of Satan and the heel of God met on the cross. The injury to Jesus was like a blow to the heel. But the head of hell received permanent damage. Satan will never recover!
Jesus is seen in the acceptable sacrifice of Abel. The first and best of the flock.
Jesus is seen in Noah’s ark and God’s rescue of Noah and his family from the flood.
Jesus is seen in the promises of God to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 to bless all nations through him. And in 17: 19 But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
Jesus is seen in Jacob’s prophecy about Judah: Genesis 49: 10 "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Jesus is seen in the Passover where the blood of the lamb brought deliverance from death and not a bone of the lamb was broken. Jesus died on the cross giving his blood to bring deliverance to us all. Also, when the thieves’ legs were broken to cause them to die, we remember that Jesus was already dead and they did not break his legs. Just as Psalm 34:20 prophecied… 20 He keeps all his bones; Not one of them is broken.
Jesus is seen in the prophecy of Balaam in Numbers 24: 17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, And a scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.
Jesus is seen in the priesthood, sacrifices and Dynasty of Israel.
I have a chart of 23 references in the Psalms where events in Jesus life are prophesied and later fulfilled in the New Testament. Psalms 22 has four clear prophetic statements concerning Jesus’ death.
Isaiah, particularly chapters 9 and 53, hold some of the clearest references to Jesus coming and sacrifice for us.
Jesus himself said: John 5: 39 "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
40 "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
41 "I do not receive honor from men.
42 "But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.
43 "I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
44 "How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
45 "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you; Moses, in whom you trust.
46 "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.
47 "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?"
And Luke’s gospel ends with Jesus opening their minds to understand all that the scriptures said about himself: Luke 24: 44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me."
45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
46 Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
47 "and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 "And you are witnesses of these things.
Peter said: Acts 3: 18 "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
20 "and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
21 "whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
22 "For Moses truly said to the fathers, ’The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.
23 ’And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
24 "Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
We who already believe in Jesus are not surprised by these things and, in fact, we can become so accustomed to our faith that we may forget the wonder of amazement that God in his power and grace performed his holy purposes for us!
As Paul begins to write the Ephesian letter, listen to his reflections on the divine accomplishment of God’s purposes for us in Christ. He looks back in time and projects forward what God has done for us.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love
5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,
8 which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight
9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him
11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
