Our Messiah

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, December 19th. The Old Testament is filled with God's promise to send a Savior. Today's podcast shows clearly how those scriptures were perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As the angel proclaimed, the coming of the Messiah was, and still is, good news of great joy.

It was one of those normal evenings. The stars were out and the shepherds were doing just what they had been doing for centuries. In fact, what David had done centuries before, they were guarding their sheep. And the scripture says that all of a sudden, without any warning whatsoever, this awesome light shattered the darkness and standing in the midst of that glowing light, which was the Shekinah glory of God, the same light that had shown before Moses at the burning bush. In the midst of that, the angel made a statement that shattered all of time and eternity.

Four hundred years of silence was suddenly shattered with this statement. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is the Christ, the Lord. When the angel said that, there rose in the hearts of those shepherds this awesome sense of overwhelming joy. The Christ, not only that, but the angel said, the Messiah was born today in the city of David.

He's here and you can go and see him. And so I want us to look at the message in Luke chapter two, the second in this series on the good news of great joy. First of all, our Savior, now our Messiah, beginning in verse eight of Luke chapter two. And in the same region that is around Bethlehem, there was some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flocks by night as their beloved King David had done many, many times hundreds of years before. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them.

No warning, just suddenly he was there. The glory, the brilliance, the radiance of the presence of God was there. The glory of the Lord shone round them and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them something that Jesus, the Messiah, would say oftentimes in his ministry, do not be afraid. Isn't that wonderful? Don't be afraid. Fear not. For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy, which shall be for all the people.

What's that? For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a babe, a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased. In John chapter 1, you'll recall that Jesus had met John the beloved, the youngest apostle, and Andrew.

And they'd spent some time with the Lord Jesus Christ. And as soon as they left Jesus, the Scripture says in verse 40, one of the two who heard John, that has heard John the Baptist prophesy and speak and identify Christ as the Lamb of God, one of those who heard him and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. Verse 41, he found first his own brother Simon and he said to him excitedly, we have found the Messiah. He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, you are Simon the son of John.

You shall be called Cephas which translated means Peter. Now if you'll turn over to chapter 4, you'll recall that one of the most beautiful sermons Jesus ever preached, he preached to one woman, the woman at the well. In the course of their conversations, Jesus is explaining what true worship is to her. He said to her in verse 24, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming, he who is called Christ. When that one comes, he will declare all things to us. Look at Jesus' response. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. A clear unmistakable identification by the Lord Jesus Christ to one woman that he was, that he is the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies of the coming of the Messiah.

Now what I'd like to do for a few moments is I want us to examine some. There are some 40 prophecies, specific definite identifiable prophecies of this Messiah in the Old Testament and the fulfillment of those prophecies in the New Testament. One thing this should do for you, first of all, if you have any reason, my friend, to doubt that Jesus Christ is indeed the Messiah, you're going to see in just a few moments how precise and exact God is in making the prophecy and fulfilling it in the person of Jesus Christ.

It should also give us boldness and assurance and confidence. As you and I share the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are sharing the prophesied, ordained and anointed Redeemer who came as the Messiah to mankind. Now, I want you to keep your Bible handy because I want us to look at some of these references and I'll give you the Old Testament prophecy and then the New Testament fulfillment and identify what that prophecy is. So let's begin back in Genesis chapter three for just a moment.

In this particular verse, the scripture says, in between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head, you shall bruise him on the hill. That is, Jesus Christ would come to the earth in a very special and unique fashion. Now if you'll go to Galatians chapter four for a moment, a very important verse in God's great scheduling timing of redemption. The scripture says in the fourth chapter of Galatians verse four, but when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. Now, Jesus Christ was born in the fullness of whose time?

In the fullness of God's predetermined calendar of time. And in this verse of scripture, it says, born of a woman. In the first prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, the seed of a woman.

You and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, a unique birth. All right, if you will turn back to Genesis chapter 18 for a moment and let's look at another verse here. In the 18th chapter of Genesis, God again in expanding upon the covenant promise with Abraham.

Listen to what he says in this 18th verse. Since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Now listen, the promise of the Messiah is coming through Abraham.

How are all the nations going to be blessed? Now here is how God the father has guarded precisely and exactly these prophecies. Look how Matthew begins his genealogy of Jesus. Chapter one, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of whom? The son of Abraham. It was very important that David and Abraham be a part of that genealogical line because the Old Testament prophecies said that the Messiah would sit upon the throne of David, a kingdom which has no end. Now if you'll turn to Micah chapter five.

Listen to what the scripture says. But as for you Bethlehem, Ephrathah, too little, too insignificant, too minute to be among the clans of Judah. From you, one, that is capital O, one will go forth for me, for God, to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, but that could be someone who is 100 years of age, but he says, from the days of eternity. And the prophet Micah is saying, from revelation from Jehovah God, there will come one born in the little city of Bethlehem 700 years later, one whose life could only be traced to eternity past because he has no real beginning. He will be born in the little town of Bethlehem. Now, if you will look back in Matthew chapter two, in the gospels, Matthew chapter two, and notice what the scripture says in this chapter.

Chapter two. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the exact, listen of all the places in the world he could have been born. Listen, all of these things precisely the providential work of God. For where did his parents live? They lived in Nazareth. How could he be born in Bethlehem if his parents lived in Nazareth? God engineered, God engineered a taxing, and the taxing brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. The scripture says, for example, his son would come out of Egypt.

You say, well now wait a minute, and you imagine how confused they must have been. That he'd be a Nazarene, he'd be born in Bethlehem and come out of Egypt. How in the world can somebody be a Nazarene born in Bethlehem and come out of Egypt?

Very simply. God orchestrated the whole thing. His parents who lived in Nazareth were brought by taxing to Bethlehem and he was born.

When they heard that Herod wanted to kill all these children, they took flight into Egypt, and he stayed there until God told him it was all right to go back to Nazareth. You see, to us it's all beautifully orchestrated by God. Probably confusing to them, but simple and clear to us. The exactness and the preciseness with which the Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.

Then you would think, why in the world would this be significant? But I want you to turn on over to Zechariah, Malachi, back to Zechariah chapter nine, and look if you will in this simple verse. If you recall how the Lord Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem in his triumphant entry on the way to the cross thereafter very soon, he could have come in several ways. He could have been riding in a chariot that was drawn by six white, great, beautiful stallions. He could have come carried on the shoulders of one of his apostles.

But the scripture says in the Old Testament in Zechariah chapter nine, verse nine, could not be an indication but anything other than the Messiah. Listen, rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you.

He is just and endowed with salvation. Humble and mounted on a what? On a donkey.

You say, well now, wait a minute, wait a minute. God the Father so orchestrated the entry of Jerusalem by the Lord Jesus Christ in a humble fashion on a donkey. Prophesied hundreds of years before. He's just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a coat, the fowl of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, the horse from Jerusalem, and on he goes. A prophecy of that. Now if you'll turn to John chapter 12. Look how exact God is in what he said. Here at the feast time, listen to what he says in John chapter 12, verse 12. On the next day, the great multitude who had come to the feast when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of palm trees and went out to meet him and began to cry out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. That's what the prophecy said.

Now look at this. And Jesus finding a young donkey, sat on it. As it is written, fear not, daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming seated on a donkey's colt. Precise and exact, exactly like God the Father had prophesied hundreds of years ago through the prophet Zechariah. There were many messiahs who came through that day. Many teachers, many prophets.

Only one fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. It is interesting that Jesus gave us a warning before his return. Listen to what he says in these verses in Matthew.

Signs of the end of the age before the Lord Jesus comes again. Verse 4, Matthew 24. And Jesus answered and said to them, see to it that no one misleads you for many will come in my name saying, I am the Messiah and will mislead many. Verse 11, and many false prophets will rise and will mislead many. Verse 23, then if anyone says to you, behold, here is the Christ, the Messiah.

Oh, there he is. Do not believe him for false Christ, false messiahs, and false prophets will arise and will show, listen, will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I've told you in advance, if therefore they say to you in the near east, in the far east, in the south, in the north, behold, he's in the wilderness, do not go forth or behold, he is in the inner rooms, do not believe them. My friend, we are living in a generation that is looking for fulfillment and answers.

All of their boredom, all of their emptiness, all of their meaninglessness in life, no sense of purpose in life, full of anxiety, full of fear, full of uncertainty about the future, looking for someone to deliver them from all of this. They were looking for someone to deliver them from Roman rule. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, comes to deliver men from all of those things we just mentioned and everything else that hinders us from being what God wants us to be, but I want to tell you something. The more desperate an age becomes, the more desperate a society becomes, the more willing they are to accept a false prophet. He says in this passage that even the elect, those who have been saved by the living God, those who are the revelation of God, he says, because of the signs and wonders and powers of false prophets in our day and time and in the years to come, even the elect will be thrown off guard. Jesus said, watch out, they're coming. Well, what does all that say to you and to me?

Here's what it says. Our heavenly Father, who in his love and adoration for you and for me, kept meticulous tabs with preciseness and exactness on every single prophecy he gave so that you and I would never have a reason, listen to that, never have a single biblical reason for ever doubting that God Almighty, Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, we would never have a single reason to doubt that if God Almighty makes a promise, God Almighty will see to it in his sovereign power, that promise is kept exactly and perfectly and fully. As he broke forth out of nowhere, shattered the night and shattered the silence on the hillsides of Bethlehem, one of these days, he's going to shatter the night, shatter the sun, shatter the day. He's going to break forth where amidst all and above and beyond all the noises of the world with the sound of a trumpet and the shout of the archangel, the heavens are going to open and the people of God are going to be redeemed once and for all. The question is, are you ready?

And my friend, if you're ready, who are you telling it? Who are you talking to about the Lord Jesus Christ? Who are you boldly proclaiming that the Son of God, the Messiah, my Christ is man's only hope?

That's why Jesus has left us here to tell it. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a wonderful Savior, the prophetic Messiah, the reigning Lord. And when he comes back, will you be ready? Father, we thank you. Hallelujah to your precious name. Glory and honor and adoration and praise be to you, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Messiah, our Savior and our Lord. Father, I pray for all of us who know, all of us who are fully convinced that we will shout it louder than ever before, that the excitement, the enthusiasm, the motivation of the Holy Spirit within us will not allow us to be quiet, but oh God, through this Christmas season, we'll be telling the good news. The Messiah has come. And hallelujah, he's on his way back. And while we wait, we work.

And while we look, we love. For we want everyone to know that he's coming and his coming will be the beginning of life at its best. And this I pray, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's podcast, Our Messiah. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.