GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 21 ~ ~ Isaiah 1:18 ~ ~ “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool”
THE LORD SHOWS TENDER COMPASSIONS THAT NEVER FAIL.—Lam 3:23
We’re in the New Testament Gospels in Michael Youssef’s book, “How to Read the Bible (Like your life depends upon it………because it does)
This chapter:
THE GOSPELS: FOUR STORYTELLERS, ONE STORY
Jerome of Stridon was a Christian theologian in a time of persecution. Born in the roman province of Dalmatia, he is best known for translating the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek new Testament into Latin (His translation is known as the Vulgate edition, meaning “in the common tongue”). A wealthy Roman nobleman, as well as a devout Christian, Jerome moved to Palestine so he could visit the places he read and wrote about in his bible translations.
On Christmas Eve, just after he had finished his translation of the bible, the Lord Jesus appeared to Jerome in a dream and said, “What will you give Me for My birthday?”
Jerome eagerly replied, “Lord, I will give You my translation of Your word.”
Jesus said, “No, Jerome, that’s not what I want.”
Jerome was disappointed. He had labored over his translation for four decades – yet here was Jesus telling him he wanted something else. Jerome asked, “What else can I give You? Should I give You all my possessions?”
Jesus said, “No, I don’t want any of those things.”
“Should I give you all my money?”
“No, I don’t want your money.”
“Tell me, Lord! What would give You joy on your birthday? What can I give You?”
Jesus said, “Give Me all your sins.”
The essential message of the gospels is that Jesus came to take all of our sins, from root to fruit. The root of sin is our fallen nature, which we inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. The fruit of sin is all the ways we say to God, “I will not surrender my will to You!”
This is expressed in our selfishness as well as in our addictions, anger, bitterness, lust, jealousy, envy, pride, judgmentalism, self pity, lovelessness, dishonesty, and more. Jesus’s message to us is the same as His message to Jerome:
“GIVE ME ALL YOUR SINS.”
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John 3:3
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Acts 16:31
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Mark 1:15
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Psalm 103:12
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions (sins) from us.
Isaiah 43:25
“I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.
GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 20 ~ ~Romans 10:9 ~ ~ “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Today we read the last section of the chapter on the Suffering Servant (Jesus) and the Kingdom,
Entitled,
GOD’S KINGDOM IS UNIVERSAL
BY Dr. Michael Youssef
It is possible for a church, or any group of Christians, to become exclusionary simply through fear of contamination. This is exactly why Israel became an insular, isolated culture that made no effort to proclaim Yahweh to the surrounding nations. In such an atmosphere, the Israelites could not understand and accept the Suffering Servant’s mission.
From the beginning of the Old Testament, we read that the scope of God’s rule is universal (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 54:5 and Jeremiah 32:27)
He is the only true, eternal, and living God, and all nations are invited to worship Him (Psalm 117:1), not just Israelites. Non-Jews (often called “strangers”) were treated with kindness and legal rights under the law (see Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 16:29, 17:8, and 19:34; and Deuteronomy 1:6, 10:18, 14:29, 16:14, 24:17-19).
God, through Isaiah, called all the nations, from all corners of the earth, to turn to Him and be saved (Isaiah 45:22-23). He appointed Israel, His servant kingdom, to shine the light of His salvation to all nations and peoples (Isaiah 49:6; 51:4-5). And let’s not forget the example of Jonah, the reluctant prophet God sent to Nineveh to call the Assyrian people to repentance. God intended him to be one among many Israelite missionaries who would take His message to the nations, but Jonah exemplified the Israelite mindset:
(“)Why should Gentiles repent and be saved? Aren’t the Gentile nations our enemies? Aren’t they idolaters? Haven’t the Gentiles killed countless Israelites? Why would we want to bring them into the Kingdom of God? (“)
The thought of allowing the Gentiles full participation in the Kingdom, Covenant, and worship of God was not popular in Israel. In order for God to enlarge the Kingdom to encompass the entire world, he would have to use other means.
Let us hear the Lord Jesus speak these words to each one of us:
“I will help you…..It is but a small thing for Me, your God, to help you. Consider what I have done already. What!!!! Not help you? Why, I bought you with My blood.
What!!! Not help you? I have died for you; and if I have done the greater, will I not do the lesser?
Help you! It is the least thing I will ever do for you. I have done more and will do more. Before the world began, I chose you. I made a covenant for you. I laid aside My glory and became a man for you. I gave up My life for you, and if I did all of this, I will surely help you now!!
In helping you, I am giving you what I have bought for you already. If you had need of a thousand times as much help, I would give it to you. You require little compared with what I am ready to give. It is much for you to need, but it is nothing for me to bestow.
Help you? Do not fear! If there were an ant at the door of your granary asking for help, it would not ruin you to give him a handful of your wheat; you are nothing but a tiny insect at the door of My all-sufficiency. I will help you.”
Oh my soul, is this not enough? Do you need more strength than the omnipotence of the united Trinity? Do you need more wisdom than exists in the Father, more love than displays itself in the Son, or more power than is manifest in the influences of the Spirit? Bring your empty pitcher here! Surely this well will fill it.
Hurry! Gather up your needs, and bring them here –your emptiness, your sorrows, your deficiencies. Behold, this river of God is full for your supply. What can you desire besides? Go forth, my soul, in this your might. The eternal God is your Helper!
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Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Psalm 72:12
For He will deliver the needy when he cries, The poor also, and him who has no helper.
John 10:10
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 19 ~ ~ Luke 4:25-26 ~ ~ “But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow”
HIS MISSION IS OUR MISSION ~ ~ Dr. Michael Youssef in his book
In the fullness of time, the servant came to announce (quoting the messianic passage in Isaiah 61:1-2) in Luke 4:18-19:
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,”
Then He rolled up the scroll of Isaiah and said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” God had promised Abraham, “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Jesus the Servant, a descendant of Abraham, was the fulfillment of that ancient promise.
Israel did occasionally make proselytes, welcoming non-Jews into its community of faith. But on the whole, Judaism never became a missionary religion as God intended. Instead, the people tended to draw ever more tightly into themselves.
So, Jesus manifested a new Israel, a true Israel, after His resurrection when He told His disciples:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
The Servant is revealed to be the King, with all authority in heaven and on Earth. Now He sends us out to make disciples.
So we must ask ourselves: Do we really understand what it means to serve the Suffering Servant? Do we take this calling seriously? Are we willing to suffer with Him in order to carry out the commission He gave us?
Or, do we merely want a Jesus who is enshrined in stained-glass images and stained-glass doctrines? Do we want a Jesus who asks nothing of us, who is our Savior but not our Lord? A Jesus who lays down His life so that we might live in comfort and ease? That is not the Jesus of the Bible. That is not the Jesus who has called us into His Kingdom.
The Jesus of the Bible calls us to take up our cross and follow Him. He calls us to lose our lives in order to find life. He calls us to pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” We cannot take part in the Kingdom of the Servant unless we are willing to follow the Servant, and pattern our lives after His.
In our culture, we see churches that preach “gospels” of prosperity or political power, churches that seem to welcome only one ethnic community, churches that are unwilling to serve the poor and outcasts, and churches that seem to draw a line between “us” and “them.” Meanwhile, most of the world is sliding into eternity without Jesus.
We say that advancing the Kingdom of God is our first priority – but can the people around us see our Kingdom values in the way we run our businesses, use our money, or show hospitality to strangers? Do we, in our churches and homes, draw boundary lines between ourselves and the world? Do we hand a “Do not disturb” sign on our church doors in order to restrict membership in the Kingdom to people who meet our strict approval?
Ancient Israel was not a welcoming kingdom. It did not preach the good news of Yahweh to neighboring tribes. It did not invite foreigners to join in worshiping the one true God. Have we in the Church become an exclusive club like that?
The church that seeks to restrict its membership and keep out the “riffraff” is not following the Servant. It is merely worshiping a small, strange god made in its own image.
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Helen Steiner Rice:
He lived in a palace on a mountain of gold, surrounded by riches and wealth untold.
Priceless possessions and treasures of art, but he died alone of a hungry heart.
For man cannot live by bread alone, no matter what he may have or own.
For though he reaches his earthly goal he’ll waste away with a starving soul.
But he who eats of the holy bread will always find his spirit fed.
And even the poorest of men can afford to feast at the table prepared by the Lord.
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Helen Steiner Rice:
My blessings are so many, my troubles are so few. How can I be discouraged when I know that I have you?
And I have the sweet assurance that there’s nothing I need to fear — if I but keep remembering I am Yours and You are near.
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Psalm 46:5
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
Matthew 17:20
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.
Isaiah 37:35
I will shield and save this city for my own sake and the sake of David my servant.”
Isaiah 42:1
Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased. Upon him I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations.
Isaiah 43:10
You are my witnesses—oracle of the Lord— my servant whom I have chosen To know and believe in me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, and after me there shall be none.
Isaiah 60:19
Eternal Light for Zion (New Jerusalem)
No longer shall the sun be your light by day, Nor shall the brightness of the moon give you light by night; Rather, the Lord will be your light forever, your God will be your glory.
Isaiah 44:1
Hear then, Jacob, my servant, Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 Corinthians 1:4 ~ ~ “who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
We’re in the chapter on the Suffering Servant and the Kingdom, in the book, “How to Read the Bible…” by Dr. Michael Youssef
THE MISSION OF JESUS, THE SUFFERING SERVANT
The Suffering Servant of Isaiah is interpreted differently in Judaism and in Christianity. In Judaism, the Suffering servant represents the nation of Israel. In Christianity, the Suffering servant is a literal Person, Jesus the Messiah. In both Judaism and Christianity, he fulfills two rolls – prophet and priest.
As a prophet, the Suffering servant brings God’s message of comfort, healing, peace, and salvation to the people. He prophetically proclaims God’s righteousness to the world.
As a priest, the Suffering Servant makes atonement for the people’s sins by taking upon Himself the punishment they deserve for sin. In this role, He cleanses the people of their guilt and restores their relationship with God. In fact, we can parse the word atonement to mean “at-one-ment.” The Suffering Servant, our High Priest, removes our guilt so that we can be “at one” with God.
You and I, as followers of Christ, are the “new Israel.” As disciples of the Suffering Servant, we are called to follow His example and do what He did. We are called to be prophets, proclaiming God’s righteousness to the world. We are called to be priests, leading people to God so they can find forgiveness, redemption, and salvation through Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord.
In the ancient Jewish view, suffering always follows sin. But Isaiah presented an entirely new view of the problem of pain. Suffering, he said, is often a direct result of doing God’s will. No longer is suffering mere agony without meaning. Instead, God can transform suffering into His chosen instrument of redemption. Through it, we can enter the very character of God’s Servant and share in His redemptive purpose.
The Jews did not want a Messiah who suffers. They wanted a triumphant Messiah. And are we any different? Are we willing to suffer with Him for the Gospel of the Kingdom? Or do we want Jesus to give us a life of ease?
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James 1:12
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
2 Timothy 1:8
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,
John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Mark 4:17
and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.
Romans 5:3-4
And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Romans 8:35-40
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 17 ~ ~ Isaiah 52:6 ~ ~ “Therefore My people shall know My name; Therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks: ‘Behold, it is I.’ ”
We’re starting a new chapter in the book where we’re seeing the pattern of the Bible. PART FIVE ~ ~ THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE NEW COVENANT.
What were shadows in the Old Testament have become brilliantly illuminated in the New Testament. The unnamed Messiah of the Old Testament is revealed to be Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the Living God. The old fallen kingdom of Israel has been exchanged for the new and eternal Kingdom of God. The Old Covenant that was powerless to save has been exchanged for the New Covenant in Christ’s saving blood. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.
CHAPTER 14 ~ ~THE SUFFERING SERVANT AND THE KINGDOM
Oliver Cromwell was a military and political leader in Great Britain who experienced a dramatic conversion in his late twenties and became a devoted Christian. He once wrote in a letter, “Blessed be His Name for shining upon so dark a heart as mine!!!….., the riches of His mercy!!!”
Cromwell believed God had called him to be a godly leader, and he served as Lord Protector of Great Britain from 1653 until his death on September 3, 1658. Lying on his deathbed at age fifty-nine, Cromwell called his wife and grown children around him and told them that the Covenant of God “is holy and true….Love not the world. No, my children, live like Christians. I leave you the covenant to feed upon.” Cromwell’s last thoughts and dying words were about the New Covenant of the blood of Jesus.
As we transition from the Old Testament to the New, it’s as if someone flicks on a dazzling halogen lamp. Suddenly, everything that was dark and shadowy in the Old Testament comes into brilliant focus. The mysterious Old Testament prophecies of a coming Kingdom and a New Covenant are embodied in a Person.
And the name of that Person is Jesus of Nazareth.
THE SUFFERING SERVANT IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS
Jewish scribes and teachers in Old Testament times admitted being baffled by the prophecies of Isaiah 53, which described a “Suffering servant” who would be “despised and rejected by mankind” and “pierced for our transgressions” (sins), and “led like a lamb to the slaughter.” Finally, Isaiah says that the Suffering servant would be raised from the dead: “After He has suffered, He will see the light of life and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). These prophecies are so detailed and precise, it’s as if Isaiah wrote a biography of Jesus some seven hundred years before He came and lived it.
The prophecy of the suffering Servant in Isaiah highlights the truly unexpected, even paradoxical nature of the Kingdom of God. It’s not an earthly kingdom established on military triumphs, like the Roman empire or the Persian empire, or Alexander the Great’s kingdom of Macedon. No, the Kingdom of God is established through the humiliation, suffering, and death of its King. God confounds human expectations by establishing His Kingdom through the Suffering Servant.
But the suffering of the Messiah is only the beginning of the establishment of the Kingdom. The pathway to His triumph leads through suffering. Both the suffering and the victory are foretold throughout the Old Testament.
Isaiah describes this Servant in many passages. He will bring light and liberty to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6-7). He will intercede with God’s own Spirit (Isaiah 42:1). He will proclaim the good tidings of God’s redemption (Isaiah 61:1-3). He intercedes with God day and night for the victory of His purpose (Isaiah 62:1 and 6). He willingly accepts His mission, though it is certain to bring Him suffering (Isaiah 50:4-5)
This was a strange and troubling concept to the Jews, who associated suffering and death with the curse of sin. How could the Messiah suffer and die like a common sinner?
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah gazed into the very mystery of the Godhead to receive the answer: God does not save the human race through ritual atonement or the strict observance of the Law, (nor yet through sacraments, repetitive prayers and church rituals and rules). NO. He redeems the human race through the suffering of His Servant. In the prophecies of Isaiah, the Old Testament leaps forward in time and links arms with the New Testament.
The Servant is the personification of the true Israel. Though the nation of Israel was rebellious, the Servant, the true Israel, will be obedient to God’s calling (see Isaiah 49:1-6). All that the true Israel was and is converges in Him.
The Suffering servant is the “new Moses” that God promised through Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to Him.” This new Moses will be the true and loyal Israel and the leader of His people. All of these promises are fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
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1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”;
1 Corinthians 3:11
For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Joel 2:32
And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved…..
Hebrews 4:12 ~ ~ “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Dr. Youssef goes into a general discussion of the prophesies he has listed previously in his book, “How to Read the Bible……”
In “The Case for Christ,” Lee Strobel presents an interview with Louis Lapides, a Jewish Christian scholar who has taught Biblical Studies at Biola University. Laptides was raised in a conservative Jewish family where the name of Jesus was never spoken. (he was taught that Jesus was a “god of the Gentiles”). He grew up with the impression that the New Testament was “a handbook on anti-Semitism: how to hate Jews.”
In the 1960’s, Lapides was drafted and sent to Vietnam. He survived the war, but searched for meaning in marijuana, LSD and Eastern religion – and he was even tempted for a while toward Satanism.
In 1969, Lapides got into a discussion about God with a Los Angeles street preacher. The preacher gave him a Bible and challenged him to read it for himself.
Being Jewish, he was reluctant to accept the challenge. “I’ll read the Old Testament,” he said, “but I’m not going to open up the other one.”
“Fine,” the preacher said. “Just read the Old Testament and ask the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the God of Israel – to show you if Jesus is the Messiah.”
He began reading the Old Testament – and when he got to Isaiah 53, he was shocked. The entire chapter was an unmistakable description of a Messiah who would suffer and die for the sins of the world.
Isaiah’s description of Jesus was so detailed and perfect that Lapides suspected Christians had tampered with the Old Testament text, so he obtained a Jewish Bible and read its translation of Isaiah 53 – it was identical in its description of the suffering Messiah.
Laptides continued reading all the prophecies of the Messiah throughout the Old Testament, and was forced to his knees. On a trip to the Mojave Desert with friends, he went out alone and prayed:
“God, I accept Jesus into my life. I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do with Him but I want Him.”
The prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament are so numerous, specific, and compelling that a Jewish unbeliever can be led to Christ purely by reading them. As Scottish minister Alexander McLaren (1826-1910) observed, “Great tracts of Scripture are dark t us till life explains them, and then they come to us with the force of a new revelation. So it is with the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled.
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How wonderfully does the Lord find His chosen! Jesus is a seeking Shepherd as well as a saving Shepherd. Though many of those His Father gave Him have gone near to hell’s gate, the Lord, by searching and seeking, discovers them and draws near to them in grace. He has sought us out: let us have good hope for those who are laid upon our hearts in prayer, for he will find them out also.
The Lord repeats this process when any of His flock stray from the pastures of truth and holiness. He will, by providence and grace, pursue them into foreign lands, into abodes of poverty, into dens of obscurity, into deeps of despair; he will not lose one that the Father has given Him. It is a point of honor with Jesus to seek and to save all the flock, without a single exception.
Ezekiel 34:11
For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.”
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Isaiah 45:23~ ~ “I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.” (Old Testament Prophesy)
This is what the verse above means…….and what must come true in the future to fulfill it:
Romans 14:10b-12 ~ ~ “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written:
‘As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.’
So then each of us shall give account of himself to God”
More prophesies that came true, this time prophesies of MESSIAH’S RESURRECTION AND VICTORY, from the book by Dr. Michael Youssef, “How to Read the Bible (Like your life depends on it…..because it does!)”
Job 19:23-27, Psalm 16:9-11, and Psalm 118:17-18 all predicted the Messiah’s resurrection; They were fulfilled by the resurrection of Jesus in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20.
Isaiah 25:7-8 prophesied that Messiah would destroy death; that was fulfilled in 1 Corinthians 15:54
In 1 Samuel 2:35, Messiah is described as “a faithful priest” who will do the will of God; fulfilled in Hebrews 2:17.
Isaiah 44:3 prophesied that Messiah would pour out His Spirit on His people; this was fulfilled in John 20:22 and Acts 1:8.
Jeremiah 31:31 promised that Messiah would initiate a New Covenant between God and His people; It was fulfilled in Matthew 26:28.
Again, this is just a sampling of the many Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. In Old Testament times, these prophecies baffled the scribes and religious teachers. They could not understand how the Messiah could be both a Suffering servant and a conquering King of an everlasting Kingdom. Only with the benefit of hindsight and the record of the New Testament does it become clear that Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the Suffering servant – and He will fulfill the prophecies of the conquering King when He returns.
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“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Matthew 24:29-31
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”
(Read all of Chapter 53 prayerfully for an experience that’ll change you.
We are looking at Prophesies of the Coming King, and particularly today, prophecies of His betrayal and execution.
There were between 300 and 400 prophecies received by the prophets and written down between 700 and 1000 years before Jesus was born, about His birth, life, death, Resurrection, Ascension, and return as King. Of those that are past, EVERY ONE was fulfilled perfectly in detail, many in very small details. Not only that, but there are NO “extra’s” that the were incorrect. …100% success rate. Only God could do that. An expert said that the chances of that number of predictions coming true, are ~ ~ if you could imagine the entire state of Texas filled with 50-cent-pieces three feet deep. You have ONE chance to pick the correct one…… Those are the same odds as ALL of these prophesies coming true perfectly like they did.)
Could we possibly have reason to doubt, even a little bit, the perfection of the Bible, and therefore the assurance of the truth of the Book of Revelations, which we are living out right now, that tells of His second coming to punish the evil-doers and collect His true ones to be with Him?
Doubt will be deadly for eternity if it delays your accepting Him as your Lord and personal Savior, for the forgiveness of your sins. It’s a free gift………….accept it before it’s too late! Anyone could die at any time..then it’s too late)
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Isaiah 53:4-6
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
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We are looking at Prophesies of the Coming King, with Dr. Michael Youssef in the book, “How to Read the Bible…..(As if your life depends on it, …….because it does!)
More than twenty Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled within a mere twenty-four hours at the time of Jesus’s crucifixion. Here are some of them:
Psalm 31:11 and Zecharia 13:7 predicted that Messiah would be abandoned by His friends; that was fulfilled in Mark 14:50.
Psalm 31:13 predicted that Messiah’s enemies would conspire to kill Him; That was fulfilled in Matthew 27:1
Isaiah 53:7 (part of that beautiful chapter predicting the details of the crucifixion) predicted that Messiah would not defend Himself before His accusers: fulfilled in Matthew 27:12-14.
The Passover ceremony described in Exodus 12:21-27 symbolizes the Messiah as our Passover Lamb; this was fulfilled by Jesus’s death on the cross. See also 1 Corinthians 5:7.
Genesis 3:15 predicted that the Messiah would destroy Satan’s work, crushing his head while suffering a wound in His heel; this was fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ, as related in Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19; See also 1 John 3:8.
Psalm 41:9 predicted that Messiah would be betrayed by a close friend who shared His bread; fulfilled by Judas in John 13:18 and 26-27.
Zechariah 11:12 predicted that the Messiah would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver; this was fulfilled by Judas in Matthew 27:6-10.
Leviticus 17:11 specified blood sacrifices to make atonement for sin, a picture of the sacrifice of the Messiah; fulfilled by Jesus who said, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
Exodus 12:46 specified that none of the Passover lamb’s bones should be broken, symbolizing the fact that Messiah’s bones would not be broken when He was sacrificed; this was fulfilled in John 19:31-36.
Psalm 22:1 PREDICTED THAT Messiah would be forsaken; That was fulfilled in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34.
A thousand years before Roman crucifixion was invented, Psalm 22:16 predicted that Messiah’s hands and feet would be pierced: That was perfectly fulfilled in Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:33, and John 19:18.
Psalm 22:15 predicted that the Messiah would suffer thirst; that important detail was fulfilled in John 19:28.
Psalm 69:21 predicted that Messiah’s executioners would offer Him vinegar mingled with gall; That telling detail was fulfilled in Matthew 27:34.
Psalm 22:18 predicted that Messiah’s executioners would cast lots for His clothing; How could anyone know that detail? But it was perfectly fulfilled, about a thousand years later, in John 19:23-24.
Psalm 31:5 prophesied the Messiah’s last words before His death. Those words were indeed spoken by Him around a thousand years later and recorded in Luke 23:46.
GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 13 ~ ~ Isaiah 9:1b-2 ~ ~ “By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
In Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.”
FULFILLED in Matthew 4:12-14~ ~ “Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet Isaiah….”
Continuing with the minor prophets in the book, How to Read the Bible ~ ~ as if your life depended on it ~ ~because it does!
PROPHECIES OF MESSIAH’S MINISTRY
Moses, in Deuteronomy 18:15-16, predicted that God would raise up a prophet like Moses, an early prophecy of the Messiah; fulfilled in John 5:45-47.
In Exodus 12:5, the Old Testament sacrificial animals had to be unblemished as a symbol of the unblemished life of Jesus; fulfilled by Jesus in Hebrews 9:14. Also, compare Psalm 40:6-8 with Hebrews 10:5-10.
Psalm 78:1-2 predicted that Jesus would teach in parables; fulfilled by Jesus in Matthew 13:34-35.
Isaiah 6:9-10 predicted that the parables of Jesus would not be understood; fulfilled in Matthew 13:13-15.
Isaiah 35:5-6 predicted that the Messiah would perform miracles of healing; fulfilled in Matthew 11:2-6.
Isaiah 53:3 predicted that the Messiah would be a Suffering Servant, despised and rejected by those he came to save; fulfilled in Luke 4:28-29 and elsewhere.
Isaiah 8:14 pictured the coming Messiah as a stone that causes people to stumble; fulfilled in 1 Peter 2:5-8
Isaiah 9:1b -2 predicted that Messiah’s ministry would begin in Galilee; fulfilled in Matthew 4:12-17
Isaiah 11:10 promised that the Messiah would attract the nations to Himself; fulfilled in John 12:18-21, Acts 9:15 and elsewhere.
Zechariah 9:9 predicted that Jerusalem would rejoice to receive the Messiah as a King, riding upon a donkey; fulfilled by Jesus on the first Palm Sunday in Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9, Luke 19:37-38, and John 12:13.
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Ex 12:5 ~ ~ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. (Prophesy)
Hebrews 9:14 ~ ~ how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Fulfillment).
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Ps 78:2 ~ ~ I will open my mouth in a parable [to instruct using examples]. I will utter dark and puzzling sayings of old [that contain important truth]— (Prophesy)
Matthew 13:34-35 ~ ~ All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables, and He said nothing to them without [using] a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
“I will open My mouth in parables;
I will utter things [unknown and unattainable] that have been hidden [from mankind] since the foundation of the world.” (Fulfillment)
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Isaiah 35:5-6 ~ ~ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness And streams in the desert. (Prophesy)
Matthew 11:2-6 ~ ~ And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.” (Fulfillment)
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Isaiah 53:3 ~ ~ He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Prophesy)
Luke 4:28-29 ~ ~ So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. (Fulfillment)
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Isaiah 8:14-15 ~ He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken.” (Prophesy)
1Peter 2:5-8 ~ ~ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture:
“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. (Fulfillment)
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John 4:25
The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
Isaiah 53:1
Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Psalm 2:1
Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?
GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 12 ~ ~ Micah 5:2 ~ ~ “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
In the book, How to Read the Bible by Dr. Michael Youssef of Leading the Way Int’l Ministries, we’re looking at the Prophecies of the Messiah (Jesus’) birth and early years—prophesied in the Old Testament, many hundreds of years earlier.
PROPHECIES OF THE MESSIAH’S BIRTH
In Isaiah 7:14, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, who told King Ahaz of Judah, “therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.” The fulfillment of this prophecy is found in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38, the two gospel accounts of Jesus’s virgin birth. Matthew’s account explains,
“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). (VS 22-23)
Many prophetic passages have two interpretations – one for the present and one for the future. The prophecy of the virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14 is one of these dual-interpretation prophecies. In this passage, Isaiah tells King Ahaz of Judah that God has promised to destroy Judah’s enemies. As a sign that this promise was true, Isaiah predicted that a virgin or young woman (in Hebrew, “almah”) would give birth to a child.
History only records one genuine virgin birth, and that is the birth of Jesus – which was the second and more important interpretation of Isaiah’s prophecy. This more profound fulfillment would not be understood until after Jesus was miraculously born.
A complete list of all the messianic prophecies that we fulfilled in Jesus Christ would be too long for this book. As we noted earlier, Bible scholar Alfred Edersheim identified 456 Old Testament verses that Jewish rabbis viewed as messianic prophecies. Let’s take a brief overview of just a small number of them.
PROPHECIES OF MESSIAH’S BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD
Micah 5:2 predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem; fulfilled in Matthew 2:4-6.
Hosea 11:1 predicted that the Messiah would be called out of Egypt as a child; fulfilled in Matthew 2:14-15.
PROPHECIES OF MESSIAH’S FORERUNNER, JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Isaiah 40:3-4 promised that a forerunner would come to announce the Messiah; fulfilled by John the Baptist in Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 1 and John 1.
Malachi 4:5-6 promised that the Messiah’s forerunner would come in the spirit of Elijah; fulfilled by John the Baptist in Matthew 11:10-15.
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Hosea 11:1 ~ ~ When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. (prophesy)
Matthew 2:14-15 ~ ~ When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (fulfillment)
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2 Chronicles 20:15
Do not be afraid nor dismayed……for the battle is not yours, but God’s
1 Corinthians 8:6
…We exist for Him…
Job 5:9
He who does great and unsearchable things – marvelous things without number.
Isaiah 65:24
It will also come to pass that BEFORE THEY CALL I will answer while they are still speaking, I will listen.
