Christ and The Early Church #1

How does that Old Testament expectation carry over into the New Testament and what we read about Christ and the way that Christ was preached by the Apostles after His death and resurrection? He's going to begin a look at the relationship between Jesus Christ and the early church, and how the things Jesus said and did prove unequivocally that He and the Messiah of the Old Testament are one and the same. Well, Don, surprisingly, so many believers today haven't quite connected those dots, have they?

Well, maybe not, Bill, but I guess that's why we are airing this broadcast today. My friends, the record about Jesus Christ is historical fact, not fiction. When the Apostles preached Christ after His resurrection, they did something very fascinating. They appealed to events which were public knowledge to their audience. Jesus had performed miracles in public that many witnesses had attested to, had seen in person. His resurrection was a known fact with over 500 witnesses. And, beloved, that means this. It means that the Apostles could not possibly have preached fiction to their contemporary audience because no one would have believed it.

No one would have received it. But the Apostles did receive the truth, they did preach the facts about Christ, and the message that they preached is true. Stay tuned for more as we study God's Word together today on The Truth Pulpit.

Thanks, Don. Right now, friends, let's get into today's lesson with part one of a message called Christ and the Early Church from The Truth Pulpit. So, first of all, I just want to speak about the Old Testament expectation of a coming Messiah. That's the first point, the Old Testament expectation. And as you read throughout the Psalms and in the Old Testament prophets, you see that the Old Testament speaks about a coming future ruler for the nation of Israel.

And I'm just going to quote some verses for you, not necessarily familiar verses, but you can jot these verses down and look them up later. In Psalm 72, verse 11, the scripture says, let all the kings bow down before him, let all nations serve him. There was a coming ruler to whom all nations and all kings would bow, one who was supreme above all others, one who was king of kings, in other words. Later in Psalm 72, it says of that coming ruler, may his name endure forever, which obviously speaks beyond a human king. In Psalm 89, verse 27, it says that this Messiah would be the highest of the kings of the earth.

And in Daniel chapter 2, verse 44, it says his kingdom will endure forever. And so as you read through those and as you read through the 12 shorter prophets, sometimes called the minor prophets, you get this repeated picture developed over centuries of a future one who would reign, a future one who would come to the nation of Israel, who would deliver them. And so this Old Testament picture over the progress of Revelation unfolding over the course of centuries created this, this burning expectation in the hearts of Jews, so much so that Jesus was asked, are you the are you the coming one or should we look for someone else as as it was spoken to him?

And as they saw, they looked and they asked, are you the one that has been forecast for us by the prior prophecies of the preceding two millennia? Now, with that said, turn to Psalm 2, Psalm 2 in your Bibles. You'll remember from our study of the Ten Commandments that God said you shall have no other gods before me, that there is no one other than the true God to whom worship was to be given.

Well, when it comes to the son, this this predicted coming one, there's a distinction that is made. The nation and all peoples were to have no other God but Yahweh. And yet they were commanded to give worship and to do homage to this son who was coming. At verse 10 of Psalm 2, look at that with me. And again, the the greatest rulers of the earth are called to account. They're called to listen in Psalm 2, verse 10. We read now, therefore, O kings, show discernment.

Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the son. That he not become angry and you perish in the way for his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him.

And so we see in this in this psalm that is critical to it's one of the two pillars of entrance into the entire Psalter. We see in this psalm that the Messiah would be more than merely a national leader. He would be one entitled to the worship that is reserved for God alone. He would rule over kings and he would also provide spiritual deliverance to his people.

As shown by the last sentence in verse 12, where it says, How blessed are all who take refuge in him. Now, so there is this picture of a coming ruler who is entitled to worship. That is addressed as the Messiah, the anointed one. Scripture, Scripture paints a picture of that what this Messiah would do so that in Genesis chapter three, you can look back to Genesis chapter three with me in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, after the fall of man and God is cursing the serpent through whom Satan spoke and deceived Eve. It says in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, God says, 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. This Messiah would deliver a crushing blow to Satan and reverse the curse ultimately that Satan brought upon the human race. This Messiah, as you continue to read in the book of Genesis, is one who would come through a human genealogical line that would be traced through Abraham and then his son Judah and ultimately through David.

He is a king who would be born in the city of Bethlehem, we read in Micah chapter five, verse two. And so there is this great historical preparation that is taking place incrementally, slowly, invisibly, but inexorably taking place as God unfolded history through his chosen people. And the beauty of the gospel and the beauty and the power of scripture is, is that all along from God who knows the end from the beginning, God was stating in advance what was going to happen. And it is though he painted this this remarkable masterpiece on a canvas and just painted the outline in the early days of Revelation. And then as centuries went on, more and more details were put into place as the, as the master artist put the strokes of his eternal plan of redemption and painted it into place.

So that when Christ came, there was an ultimate fulfillment and the picture became clear with a perfect resolution. Well, one aspect of this Messiah is that he would suffer in order to achieve the forgiveness of the sins of his people. Look at Isaiah Chapter 53 with me. Isaiah Chapter 53 in verses four through six.

Isaiah 53 verses four through six. Isaiah writing centuries before the life of Christ says in verse four, surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray.

Each of us has turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. And so there was this there was this coming king who would reign. There was this coming servant who would suffer. And Israel was conditioned and Israel was taught and instructed by the prophets over centuries to expect such a one to arrive for them. A part of the beauty for us as Gentile people here today and for Gentiles throughout the centuries is that ultimately these promises of a of a coming deliverer were not simply for the nation of Israel alone. The Messiah would come through the Jewish line, but God had promised that this coming one would be the one through whom all nations would be blessed. You see that stated repeatedly in Genesis. In Genesis chapter 12 and 15 and 17 and 22 that through Abraham and his seed all the nations would be blessed. So this coming one was one who was often referred to or considered to be the anointed one. The one who had been, in other words, set apart for the divine call of this great office that was being set forth over the centuries to the people of Israel. And so what we see is is that this Old Testament created an expectation of a person, of one who would come, one who was utterly unique and unlike any other. That that one would be the fulfillment of all of these promises, of all of these promises, of all of these predictions, and this one would be the fulfillment of all of the hopes of of Israelites who were looking for the kingdom of God.

It's a great and massive theme to consider. When Christ came, you know, he came after 400 years of prophetic silence. The last prophet was Malachi and then there was no prophetic voice for 400 years, which for us would be like going back to the day of the arrival of the of the Mayflower. That long of a sense of history having gone by since there was a word from a known prophet of the Lord. And so there were 400 years of silence and the expectation and the tension and the need for this deliverer continued to grow as they came under Roman domination.

And so this was embedded in the mind of of every Jew. Now, the question then becomes, how does that Old Testament expectation carry over into the New Testament and what we read about Christ and the way that Christ was preached by the apostles after his death and resurrection? How did that Old Testament expectation impact the understanding of the apostles?

And what does it tell us about the truth of Christianity, which is our theme for this little series? And that brings us to our second point, which we can simply refer to as the New Testament fulfillment. The Old Testament predicted the coming of this anointed one.

There was an expectation created as a result. And as you read the pages of the New Testament, you find historical fulfillment being accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so point number two, the New Testament fulfillment. Now, just a quick word about the about the term Christ. Without the benefit of study, you become accustomed to the name Jesus Christ. And you think that Christ is simply his surname, as if it was Smith or Jones or something like that.

You know, they just join those two names together like you and I have have a first name and a last name. But understand that that is not at all the significance of the term Christ at all. The term Christ was a term that referred to the one who was expected to fulfill the hopes of Israel for an end time deliverer to join the name of Jesus, the son of a carpenter. To the term Christ was utterly earth shaking. This was an explosive combination of terms to make, because if Jesus, the man from Nazareth, was indeed the Christ promised in the Old Testament, then that meant nothing less than the eternal son of God had come to earth.

That meant nothing less than the fact that the Messianic age had been inaugurated with his coming. In Matthew 16, we read in verse 13, Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples, who do people say that the son of man is? So his disciples answered him there in verse 14, Well, some say John the Baptist and others Elijah, but still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

The common opinion of Christ was that there was some kind of prophetic significance to him, but they viewed him on a level with the Old Testament prophets that had gone before. Jesus said to them in verse 15, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the son of the living God.

This is a staggering claim. This is no minor statement. This is a statement by Peter, prompted in his mind by the Spirit of God, as we'll see in a moment, that Jesus, this man in front of them, was the fulfillment, that he was the embodiment of every hope that had been cultivated by the Old Testament prophets for the nation of Israel. Peter said, You're the one. You are the one we have been looking for.

You're the one that our nation has been longing for for centuries and millennia. You are the one and you are right here in front of me in human flesh. Verse 17, Jesus affirmed the statement. Jesus accepted the title that Peter ascribed to him.

Verse 17, Jesus said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Peter, you have just been given divine revelation. Your lips have spoken divine truth of eternal significance.

You are blessed that God let you be the instrument to say such profound truths. Now, Peter, having recognized Jesus as the Christ and as events unfolded, Christ was crucified, Christ was raised, Christ was ascended into heaven. What we find is this when you read the book of Acts, that this theme about Jesus being the Christ, Jesus being the Messiah, the man Jesus being the one who was the Messiah himself, this theme is stressed everywhere in the book of Acts. It's stressed everywhere in the book of Acts. And what I want you to do, I realize that we're kind of treading some deep water here with what we're saying.

Just stay with me and understand that we're building up to a climax that is going to be very, very powerful. Jesus, the man Jesus of Nazareth, is the Christ of God, this man who walked the face of the earth 2,000 years ago, who had no place to lay his head, who was despised and rejected by men. He was the Christ. The apostles emphasized this in multiple cities as they preached throughout the known world at that time. So turn to the book of Acts.

I want to show you a half dozen different passages along this line. In Acts chapter 2 verse 36, Acts chapter 2 verse 36, Peter is preaching after the resurrection of Christ, and he says to hostile Jews at the time, Acts chapter 2 verse 36, he says, Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. He tells the Jews in the city of Jerusalem, the Jesus that you had so recently crucified was the Christ. In other words, he's telling the Jews, you just crucified your own Messiah. You killed your own Messiah?

What is wrong with you? How great is your guilt that you rejected and crucified the one that God himself sent? Know it for certain.

This is an undeniable fact. And so, understand that what he's doing is he's preaching to people who knew everything about the recent historical events of the crucifixion of Christ. And Peter equates Jesus with the Christ. Look over at Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 9.

Now they are in the city of Damascus. And in verse 19, Paul, having been recently converted, for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue, so he's preaching to Jews, and he says, This man Jesus is what? He is the Son of God. So in Jerusalem and in Damascus, the account of the human Jesus is tied to the titles of deity, tied to this expectation, this expectation of a coming deliverer, this coming of the Messiah. This Jesus is the Christ. This Jesus is the Son of God.

You go on. You read in Acts chapter 10, in the city of Caesarea, geographical points are important for what we're saying here. In Acts chapter 10, verse 40, Peter preaching in the city of Caesarea.

In fact, let's go back to verse 37, okay? You yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed. He's appealing to the knowledge of his contemporary audience of recent history, and he says you all know this. This is a matter of public record, he says.

You all know this. Verse 38, you know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all the things he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up on the third day and granted that he become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is to us, who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead, and he ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Verse 43, of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins. Now, think about what we just read in that extended text. He appeals to contemporary knowledge of immediately recent events and says you all know about this man who had just been living in your midst, and then he interprets for them the significance of his life, the significance of his death. He asserts his resurrection and shows what it means that this man who had just been in their midst was the son of God appointed to judge the living and the dead. Can you imagine what that must have been like? The force of the power of that preaching, irrefutable facts that you know to be true for yourself as you are in that audience hearing the preaching, irrefutable facts being interpreted for you that this man who was so recently with you had cosmic God significance as proven by subsequent events, by his resurrection, by his ascension, by the power of the preaching that was now in front of them.

This is greatly significant, greatly impactful. They're preaching the same message. The man Jesus was the Christ. We've seen it in Jerusalem. We've seen it in Damascus.

We've seen it in Caesarea. That's Don Green bringing today's lesson to a close. Well, friend, if you'd like to share this important teaching with a friend or loved one, just direct them to our website. That would be TheTruthPulpit.com. Once you're there, you'll find this message along with all of Don's Bible study materials right at your fingertips. Again, visit TheTruthPulpit.com. And that's all the time we have for today. I'm Bill Wright inviting you to join us next time as Don Green again teaches God's people God's Word on The Truth Pulpit.