Advent Prophecies:
Yesterday we just got to celebrate our Lord’s first coming to the earth, which is known as the first advent. We had just checked out a movie from the library called Messianic Prophecy Fulfilled. It was a really good Christian movie, and a real clear presentation of the gospel. It was about a Jewish family one year after Christ had been crucified, raised and ascended to the Father. This family, one year later, was celebrating the next Passover meal, and the eldest brother of this family, Yuda, was a rabbinic priest by training, but had believed Yeshusa is the Messiah, the fulfillment of scriptures. And in the movie, he leads his family and relatives through the Passover Seder, and describes how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Seder.
This was a very encouraging movie, only 50 minutes, but an excellent explanation of the gospel and how Jesus is God’s predicted Messiah.
Today many people talk about Jesus and seem to like the example of his life. In fact, heretical emerging church leaders, Dan Kimball wrote a book called They like Jesus but they Don’t like the Church. But the person these people are talking about is not a Jesus described in the Bible, but a new age Jesus who is a teacher only. Many new-agers, including Oprah Winfrey, tell us that Jesus came to show us how to reach the spark of divinity that is within all of us. He came to teach us that we are all God, they say.
But He didn’t come for that. He did come to open a way to be rightly restored in our relationships to God, but He did it in accordance with God’s Law given under the Old Covenant, or Testament, and in accord with the prophecies given by the Jewish prophets of old, who gave us the Old Testament. Romans 3:21 says 21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.
When Jesus came the first time, he fulfilled many of the prophecies of Messiah, but not all of them. This is the reason why so many of the Jews did not believe Jesus was the true Messiah. He was not the political deliverer that they expected to deliver them from the Roman empire.
Let’s look at some of the prophecies that he did fulfill. Turn to Isaiah 7:14.
Virgin Birth
14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel . Isaiah 7:14 (NASB95)
- Jesus is described in the Gospels as being born of the young, virgin girl Mary, and being the Son of God. So it can literally be understood that He is “God with Us.”
Born in Bethlehem
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." Micah 5:2 (NASB95)
- Matt. 2:5-6 credit Christ’s birth in Bethlehem as a fulfillment of Micah’s prediction.
Born of the tribe of Judah:
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. Gen 49:10
- Being born of the tribe of Judah is shown fulfilled in Luke 3:23-24 and in Matt. 1:1-16.
Messiah a Descendent of King David
"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. Jer. 23:5
- We see this fulfilled in the genealogies in Matthew in Luke. Some scholars think Matt. is Jesus’ legal line through his adoptive father Joseph, while Luke is through his mother Mary.
It was prophesied that He would work many Miracles: 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. Isaiah 35:5-6 (NASB95)
Fulfillments:
John 4:46-54 – Healing of Royal Officals son
Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:33-37 – Healing of a Demon Possessed Man
Matt. 8:1-3; Mk. 1:40-42 – Healing a Leper
Matt. 9:1-8; Mk. 2:1-2; Lk. 5:18-26 – Healing of a Paralytic
So we see some of the predictions that Christ fulfilled with his birth and life. There are more fulfilled by his death on the cross, such as Ps. 22 that speaks of his crucifixion and the gambling for his clothes, Ps. 16:10 that speaks of his resurrection, and probably one of the greatest that is not completely fulfilled yet, is Isaiah 52:13 through the end of 53, which foretells in some detail of his substitutionary death on the cross, and the justification of many sinners through this act on the cross. This is probably the greatest prophesy of the Messiah as what is known as a “suffering servant.” The Jews could not reconcile how their Messiah could be a king and political ruler, ruling with such impressive majesty and justice over the entire world, and yet be a suffering servant, suffering affliction at the hands of sinful men. And when the Jewish rulers of his day looked at Jesus, they did not see a king who was earnest to establish Jewish rule.
But we are blessed, who live at the end of the ages. We look around us, and see all the prophecies being fulfilled leading to the Messiah’s second coming. If you remember the time-line I made for you, showing the events leading up to the Messiah’s final return according to the Bible. Scripture indicates a war that will set Israel above the enemy nations around her, give Israel security, and expand her borders. This is Psalm 83. It could be the same as the famed “battle of Magog,” which scholars down through the centuries have believed will be Russia coming out of the north, allied with Muslim countries to rule Israel. The groundwork for Ezek. 38 is quickly falling into place as well. So it could turn out to be one Ginormous battle of the ages, to usher in a brief time of peace unknown to the Jews for centuries, ruled by one man we know as Antichrist.
So let’s look at some of the prophecies containing the Messiah’s second advent, or coming. Turn with me if you will to Micah chapter 4:1-4:
Micah 4:1-4
Isaiah 9:6-7
Zechariah 8:1-8, 20-23
Zech. 14:9-11
We can see in these passages why the Jews had such trouble believing that Yeshua was Messiah, or why his disciples were confused why He didn’t restore the kingdom from Roman rule. These passages speak of a glorious reign of Messiah over the nations in peace and righteousness, and for the most part, most of the world will follow Messiah’s rule. Isaiah 11 also describes the conditions living under the rule of Messiah, and verse 10 tells us:
10 Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious. Isaiah 11:10 (NASB95)
Under the rule of Messiah Yeshua, we see that the effects of the curse are largely going to be reversed. We are told in Isaiah 65:20-22
20 "No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. 21 "They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 "They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. Isaiah 65:20-22 (NASB95)
But earlier in the chapter, He speaks of those who forsake His ways, and do not regard His word:
11 "But you who forsake the LORD,
Who forget My holy mountain,
Who set a table for Fortune ,
And who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny , 12 I will destine you for the sword,
And all of you will bow down to the slaughter.
Because I called, but you did not answer;
I spoke, but you did not hear.
And you did evil in My sight
And chose that in which I did not delight."
Isaiah 65:11-12 (NASB95)
And as is fitting, the last chapter of Isaiah closes with a summary picture of the Messiah’s rule, and the dreadful fate that awaits those who have not been born-again by the Lord’s grace. There is a picture of Hell unparalleled in the scriptures:
23 "And it shall be from new moon to new moon
And from sabbath to sabbath,
All mankind will come to bow down before Me," says the LORD. 24 "Then they will go forth and look
On the corpses of the men
Who have transgressed against Me.
For their worm will not die
And their fire will not be quenched;
And they will be an abhorrence to all mankind ."
Isaiah 66:22-24 (NASB95)
The LORD’s return is near, though none of us are promised tomorrow. Last weekend Tara and I almost lost little Elijah!
If you have never been born again, you need to seek the LORD in His word, and pray that He might save you from the eternal terrors of hell. Jesus Himself said that “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God!” The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And God demonstrates His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! “Every man who is in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone, behold, all things have become new!” (2 Cor. 5:17) One who is born again can say, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me nad gave Himself for me!” Gal. 2:20.
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