Jesus: A Life Predicted #2

Hello, my friend, and welcome to another episode of The Truth Pulpit.

We're so glad that you joined us. And I know that many of you have recently signed up for the podcast looking for the series that I told you about called Building a Christian Mind, and that series is going to start on February the 5th. February the 5th for Building a Christian Mind. Until then, here's the next episode of our teaching as we look to God's Word and as we continue our commitment to teaching God's people God's Word on The Truth Pulpit. God can predict with perfect accuracy exactly what's going to happen centuries in advance and then guarantee the course and the flow of human history so that what he said comes perfectly to pass.

We're so glad you've joined us on The Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hello, I'm Bill Wright, and we're continuing our series The Wonder of Jesus with part two of a message titled Jesus, A Life Predicted. Last time Don showed us five prophecies of the coming Messiah from the Old Testament.

He would be born of a virgin. He would be a descendant of David, be born in Bethlehem, enter Jerusalem in triumph on a donkey, and he would be betrayed. Today, Don will take us to the scriptural fulfillments of those prophecies. It's just another way the Bible stands as absolute truth in a manner beyond dispute. We'll start in the book of Matthew, so turn there now as Don Green teaches God's people God's Word from The Truth Pulpit. And so we have five different prophecies of the coming Redeemer of the Messiah of Israel's King by which they would recognize him laid out before us. And as we come to our second point, we see these prophecies about Christ fulfilled. We see these prophecies fulfilled in the Gospel of Matthew. And so turn over to Matthew chapter 1 with me and we'll parallel back to the way that we have outlined these prophecies. We could call this point the prophecies of Christ fulfilled. The prophecies of Christ fulfilled, recognizing that these are prophecies made 500 and 700 years in advance. You know, what do we remember about history from 500 or 700 years ago? Maybe a faint shadow of a figure in church history? As time moves on, here is God fulfilling his Word given through the prophets in perfect detail and recording it by the Spirit for us to see 2,000 years after the life of Christ.

Just the sheer chronology of this is stunning. Well, what can we say? First of all, Jesus was born of a virgin. Jesus was born of a virgin. Look at Matthew chapter 1 in verse 18, and I'll read some a little more extended passages as we go along now.

In Matthew chapter 1 verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now, all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Quoting from Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14, behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.

And Joseph awoke from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus. Beloved, look, we believe that the Bible is the inerrant inspired Word of God, right? That's what we believe. We understand that Isaiah prophesied some 700 years before the time of Christ. We believe that the Apostle Matthew wrote the Gospel of Matthew under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in order to guarantee its perfect truthfulness and accuracy to us and to believers of all time, right?

That's true. When I say right, and I ask the question, I'm not giving you liberty to disagree. We're not at liberty to disagree with the Word of God. What Scripture is teaching you is to look at the Old Testament and see what was prophesied, and then gives us the account of Christ and says this is the fulfillment of that which was prophesied 700 years earlier, and these prophecies were made in advance of the predetermined plan of God. What that is supposed to do to you is, one, it should impress you with the majesty of the foreknowledge and the sovereignty of God to be able to conceive of a plan and then execute it to perfection. And then, along with that, to point you to Christ in such a way that there is no doubt in your mind whatsoever that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that only those who believe in him can ever be saved from their sins. And so this is meant to bring you to a sense of recognition of Christ, to bring you to a sense of worship, of awe, of fear, of reverence that would compel your sinful and sluggish heart to come to Christ for your redemption, to realize that this is no ordinary man who walked on earth 2,000 years ago. This is the one who was the apex, who was the climax of the plan of God. He was born of a virgin, and Scripture ties the two together. Now, continue on in Matthew chapter 2, and you see that Jesus was born in Bethlehem just as the prophet had said. Matthew chapter 2, verse 1. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him, gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

This was a matter of great consequence in the day. Where was the Messiah to be born? Where would we find this one whom the magi are seeking? And in verse 5, the religious leaders gave him the answer. They said to him in Bethlehem of Judea, For this is what has been written by the prophet. Then they quote from the prophecy we saw from Micah chapter 5, verse 2, And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Micah said 700 years in advance the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Matthew says Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and understand Matthew says that this was to fulfill that prophecy made 700 years earlier. And so the cumulative power of these things starts to weigh in on our hearts. A miraculous birth born without a human father, born in Bethlehem, just as was said centuries ahead of time.

Who can do this? Let's compare it with ourselves in our own lives. In fact let's turn there just by way of comparison to James chapter 4, just to set in contrast our weakness with the great strength of God, our uncertainty with the certain fulfillment of God's eternal decree. In James chapter 4 verse 13, here we are, here's our life, here's our reality in verse 13 of James chapter 4, Come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit, yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Brothers and sisters, men and women, boys and girls, understand that you cannot with certainty predict what your life will be like tomorrow, let alone what's going to happen centuries from now. God on the other hand can predict with perfect accuracy exactly what's going to happen centuries in advance and then guarantee the course and the flow of human history so that what he said comes perfectly to pass. We are dealing with something that is utterly transcendent, something that is beyond this realm when we talk about the life of Christ and the fulfillment of prophecy. Now go back to Matthew if you would as we can continue to make a point-by-point comparison with the prophecies that we've selected with their fulfillment in the Gospel of Matthew. And Matthew opens chapter 1 verse 1 in this way. Jesus was a descendant of David we could say.

He was prophesied to be one and here is Matthew saying Jesus was a descendant of David. The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now would you like me to read the continual genealogy in the next 15 verses?

I'll leave that to yourself to do. I would stumble over those Hebrew names probably more than a couple of times. Simply to say that the Matthew opens his gospel with a genealogy that proves by historical record the direct line from Jesus to David just as the prophets foretold. And if you go all the way back to the prophecies or to the covenant that God made with Abraham in Genesis that it was through his seed that all the nations of the world would be blessed, here's the connection to Abraham as well 2,000 years before the time of Christ.

This is supernatural. We are dealing with things that are beyond our realm. God is truly great and this was truly God's plan and we see him declaring it in advance and then fulfilling it centuries, millennia later in a way that is utterly beyond our ability to conceive let alone to do in our own lives for tomorrow. Fourthly, the prophecies of Christ fulfilled. Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph just as the prophet said that he would in Matthew 21. Matthew 21. Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph, Matthew 21. Matthew 21. When they had approached Jerusalem, Matthew 21 verse 1, when they had approached Jerusalem and come to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her.

Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say the Lord has need of them and immediately he will send them. This took place to fulfill what was through the prophet. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt the full of a beast of burden. Skip down to verse 8.

Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of him and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest! And when he had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred saying, who is this? And the crowds were saying, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.

The prophecy fulfilled once again and Matthew specifically tells you so that you cannot miss it that this event occurred in fulfillment of the prophecy found in Zechariah 9. Finally, we see that Jesus was betrayed as you know so well in Matthew chapter 26 and 27. Let's look at these verses. And even though it was foretold in advance, Judas did this wicked deed out of the motions of his own heart and bears forever the responsibility that he was a disciple of Christ and betrayed him unto crucifixion.

His guilt is immeasurable. Matthew chapter 26 verse 14. Then one of the twelve named Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said, what are you willing to give me to betray him to you?

And they weighed out 30 pieces of silver to him. And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus. And in Matthew 27 verse 5, if you'll skip over there, I think I said verse 5.

Let's just start at the beginning of the chapter. Chapter 27 verse 1 of Matthew. Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put him to death, and they bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor.

As you contemplate Christ in the realm, in the context of fulfilled prophecy, isn't this just the most incongruent thing that's ever happened in human history? That the creature binds the creator and leads him off to crucifixion? Verse 3. Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that he had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirtieth pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. But they said, what is that to us?

See to that yourself. And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed, and he went away and hanged himself, thus showing that he felt remorse but not genuine repentance. Verse 6. The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, it is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury since it is the price of blood. And they conferred together and with the money bought the potter's field as a burial place for strangers, an event that is alluded to in Jeremiah 19 as well.

For this reason, that field has been called the field of blood to this day. Then, that which was spoken through Jeremiah, the prophet was fulfilled. See it again, prophetic fulfillment.

It's all in caps because it's a quote from the Old Testament, and they took the 30 pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field as the Lord directed me. But just to summarize briefly and simply this way, from the birth of Jesus to his crucifixion, fulfilled prophecy stamped his life, and Scripture intends us to see that, believe it, and to not miss it. The eternal God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, decreed the life of our Lord before time began. He announced it in time over the course of centuries before it occurred, bit by bit, progressively revealing what this life of Christ would look like. And now, as we read the Gospels, we find that Christ fulfilled those prophecies. In the culmination of a great predetermined plan of God, God has established for all time, in a way that no one could miss, who would simply open their Bible and read it, that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God. He is the promised Redeemer.

He is the King of Israel. And Scripture teaches us that he offered his magnificent, precious, sinless life as an atoning sacrifice for sinners just like you and me. And the question is, what are we to make of all of this? What are we to make of this supernatural attestation of the Lord Jesus Christ? What are we to make of fulfilled prophecy?

How are we to think rightly about it? Well, it wouldn't surprise us that Scripture leads us specifically and guides us clearly in that matter. Look at Acts chapter 10, if you will. Acts chapter 10, verse 34, as Peter announces the gospel to the Gentiles. In verse 34, opening his mouth, Peter said, I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality.

But in every nation, the man who fears him and does what is right is welcome to him. The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. You yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed.

Stop and mark it there. This is a historical fulfillment in time and space. In geography and in chronology, Christ is literally fulfilling these things in history, in real time, in real flesh, on a real earth. We're not simply proclaiming philosophies and human morality. The gospel is that Jesus Christ literally lived, literally died, literally rose again.

All in time and space, this is based on historical fact predicted centuries beforehand. Verse 38, Peter tells him, 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. And verse 39, he says, 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, here it is again, that is to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. Now, all of that is context for the question, what are you and I to do with this Jesus?

Verse 42, what are we to make of the supernatural attestation of Christ? Peter says 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. This cannot be disputed, this is not up for discussion or argument or question, Jesus Christ is the one uniquely appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. And it is appointed, Hebrews 9 verse 27 says, that man would die once and after this comes judgment. Every man under the sun is due for an appointment before this Christ. Verse 43, of him, speaking of Christ, of Christ, all the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sin.

And so the question becomes this, my friends, are you ready for that solemn day of judgment? Have you believed in Christ to receive forgiveness of your sins? I'm asking whether you have believed in Christ to receive the forgiveness of your sins. That's what we do with this prophetic attestation of the Lord Jesus Christ, we understand that the prophets announced in advance his coming so that we would all understand that everyone who believes in him receives the forgiveness of their sins.

So, I'm not asking you to consider what your friends or family might think, their opinion is irrelevant. The question is, have you believed in Christ to receive the forgiveness of your sins? I'm not asking about your past spiritual experience, I'm not asking if maybe in another place, in another time, you spoke in what you thought were tongues.

I'm not asking about any of that stuff at all. The question is, have you believed in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins? If you have, you have done so in the fulfillment of an eternal plan of God which should bring great joy to your heart and cause you to praise and worship him and thank you for this supernatural attestation which he has given to Christ. If you have not believed in Christ, if you remain cold and indifferent to him, if you prefer the things that you do over a serious contemplation of who this Christ is, beloved, let me just tell you, you are on the wrong side of the eternal decree of God as you sit here today. You stand in rebellion against the prophets, you stand in rebellion against the history of the course of humanity that led to Christ, you stand in rebellion to the Gospel of Matthew, you stand in danger of the worst of eternal judgment. For Scripture makes clear that those who hear the gospel and do not respond to Christ in faith face a terrifying expectation of judgment. There is nothing else to be said to you.

There is nothing else that can help you. If you walk away from Christ in defiance or indifference, you walk away from the only hope of your soul. And so we ask one last time, have you believed in Christ to receive the forgiveness of your sins? Metaphorically speaking, the prophets of God line the walls of this room as Christ is exalted on the foundation of their testimony given in advance. And beloved, God will hold you accountable for your response to this one of whom they prophesied. Have you believed in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins?

Have you? Jesus, A Life Predicted, has been the title of Pastor Don Green's message the past couple of days. On our next broadcast, Don will look at how our Lord's death was also foretold in the Old Testament. It's all part of our current series, The Wonder of Jesus, and we hope it's edifying and exciting for you. Keep studying with us here on The Truth Pulpit. Right now, here again is Don with some exciting ministry news. Well, my friend, today I have an opportunity to offer you something for free that goes beyond what we've done on our radio broadcast. It's a 10 message CD album titled The Bible and Roman Catholicism.

It's a series I recently completed at Truth Community Church, taking scripture and evaluating what Catholics teach and believe about the pope, about Mary, about the mass, and about the whole nature of salvation. It's a resource that you really need to have in your hands, either for yourself or for your friends and loved ones, to know how to interact with them. And it's available for free at the place that Bill's going to point you to right now. Just visit us at thetruthpulpit.com and click on radio offers to learn more. That's thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright, inviting you back next time as Don Green continues to teach God's people God's word from The Truth Pulpit.