The story of Jesus unfolds in the New Testament, from his birth in the manger to his ascension into heaven.
But did you know the whole Bible is actually about him? Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg looks at how the New Testament clarifies what the Old Testament prophesied. Can I invite you to turn to Isaiah chapter 9?
We'll set the context for our study in verse 6 by reading the opening seven verses of Isaiah 9. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles by the way of the sea along the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Amen. In prayer, as we come to the Bible, make the book live to me, O Lord. Show me yourself within your Word. Show me myself, and show me my Savior. And make the book live to me, for Christ's sake.
Amen. Well, it's good for us to remind ourselves, when we study not least of all in the Old Testament, that the Bible is a book about Jesus. And very quickly, we will lose our way in the study of the Bible if we take our eyes away from Christ. In every part of the Bible, we will find that it is pointing either backwards or forwards to him. And in the Old Testament, he is predicted, and in the New Testament, he is revealed. In the Old Testament, expectations and anticipations abound. In the New Testament, we discover that they are fulfilled. It's been said that what is concealed in the Old Testament is then revealed in the New Testament, or what is contained in the Old is explained in the New. And there is a sense in which—and we've said this to one another quite routinely—there's a sense in which we're helped by reading the Bible backwards, by working from the end towards the beginning, simply because of the way in which the story unfolds.
Indeed, even as I say that, I think in the first service a number of people were feeling that they might have done better if I had preached my sermon backwards, simply because of the clarity that I hope was present at the end, that it wasn't apparently, as I could tell from their eyes, necessarily there at the beginning. You're a much brighter group, and so we want to have that problem, but I do think that you need to understand that in the process of things, my task is the task of a waiter in many ways to go into the kitchen and to bring out the food and put it in a manageable way upon a plate. I can't force you to eat it. I don't force-feed you.
I simply try and make it as palatable as I can. And some days there are more vegetables than others. And I want you to know that in the early part of this sermon there are quite a few vegetables.
Actually, there's a significant amount of broccoli and Brussels sprouts. But if you stay the course, you should be all right by the time we get to the end. I want to try and teach you this morning, along lines that we've been before, but in order that you might have a real understanding of your way around the Bible. We've begun to look, those of us for the last couple of Sundays, at the sixth verse of Isaiah 9, where in the prophecy of Isaiah we are introduced to this child, the son who is born, and the names that are given to him provide an accurate description—a designation, if you like—of the nature of this child, both his being and his character. There's no anticipation in this that this child, when he grows, will actually be referred to by any one of these designations. In fact, there's nowhere in the New Testament that we discover that happening. But the prophet is encapsulating, seeking to summarize the wealth, the grandeur, the significance of the arrival of this child. And we see that he is introduced to us as the child who is born and as the son who is given. It's interesting that the word for child is yeled, which is actually the word for a male child. So it's quite interesting that it then says, For to us a male child is born, to us a son is given. Every male child is a son.
So clearly, the reference to son is a very significant reference. His birth speaks to his human parentage, and the fact that he is given speaks to the fact of his divine origin. And Isaiah includes himself with the company of those who are the recipients of the blessing that the son's birth will bring. That is the significance of it saying, For to us a child is born.
To us, to whom? To all who are the recipients of the blessing that this child will bring. You don't actually think of children being born to corporate groups of people, do you? You don't say that a child is being born to a group. You say a child is being born to his mother or a child is being born into his family. But this child is no ordinary child. It is to us this child is born. It is to us that this son is given.
Who are the us? Well, Isaiah includes himself. You find a similar thing, interestingly, when the angels come and announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem, don't they? Because what do they say to them? They sing out from heaven, and they say, For to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
What? Born to shepherds? Born to shepherds? To you is born a Savior? Yes, to you?
To you? This is no ordinary child. This child is the one on whose shoulders rests the very government of the universe. He is the one who comes to us. He is the one Immanuel in 714 who is with us, and he is, as we will see, the child who is for us.
If this child be for us, who can be against us? When we considered the designation Wonderful Counselor last time, we noted that this is the child with a plan. If you like, here is the one who has the best ideas in the entire universe. People say, I like people with ideas. I like ideas people.
I like meeting people who have good ideas. Well, here we're introduced to the one with the best ideas of all. We're introduced to the one who has the answers to life's ultimate questions. Here in the Wonderful Counselor, we discover someone who can answer all of our whys and all of our wherefores. And since he is not only Wonderful Counselor but Mighty God, we discover that he has the power to accomplish his plan.
So as Wonderful Counselor, he has a plan which actually stems from all of eternity, and as Mighty God, we need be in no doubt that he is able to achieve the plan as introduced. Now, when in air traffic control there is a transition from one controller to another, the transition period is called by some getting the picture. And for our comfort, we should know that somebody does not simply clock out at 10.15 and walk away and leave his computer screen with aircraft all over the sky. But no, he or she stays there until the person who is replacing them comes and stands beside them or sits beside them for a transitional period.
And it is in that transitional period that the one who is taking over seeks to get the picture, so that when the person vacates the seat, the one who now is in the seat will be clear as to what altitude the various aircraft are on. Now, I mention that because in seeking to deal with the bold statement Mighty God, you have to say to yourself, I'm gonna have to sit here a while to get the picture. I'm gonna have to find the points, as it were, on the compass that allow me to do something with this. Now, if you imagine what it's like—and some of you experience this, you teach—but last Sunday, after a wonderful counselor, Monday came, and on Monday I took a fresh sheet of paper, and I wrote at the top of it, Mighty God. And there was nothing underneath.
There was nothing underneath by the end of Monday either. Tuesday I took a day off, and Wednesday I came back to my page with Mighty God written at the top. And then I just crumpled up that paper. I thought if I write it again at the top of another page, maybe something will happen.
But I wrote at the top of the next page, and still there was nothing there at all. And I want you to feel something of the pressure of that and to feel the tension of that and the discovery as you say, O Lord God in heaven, help me to speak about you, the Mighty God, in a way that would be clear and concise and helpful. Well, of course, the Mighty God to whom we're introduced here is found throughout the pages of the Bible. And we could stay in the Old Testament, but we won't.
I want to go to the New. But we should notice that, for example, in the Psalms—and I'm not going to make you turn to these passages, but I'll reference them for you—in Psalm 45 and verse 3, this Mighty God is clothed with splendor and majesty. In Psalm 50 and verse 1, it is the Mighty God who speaks with absolute authority. And in Psalm 45 and also here in Isaiah chapter 9, it is this Mighty God who establishes his victory. Now, that doesn't tell us everything that we need to know about this Mighty One, but at least it gives us three points of reference, as it were. He who is enthroned in majesty and in splendor speaks with absolute authority and can call the nations and the earth to himself, and he is the one who establishes victory and reigns victoriously. And that, of course, we've noticed, haven't we, when in verses 4 and 5 of Isaiah 9, he is the one who shatters the yoke that burdens the captives, the bar across their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressor. How is it that he is able to do this? How does he remove the burden from the shoulders of the captive? Well, he does so because on his shoulders rests all of the government of the universe.
Only someone who is supreme and authoritative and kingly and God can intervene in this way. And it is perhaps of interest as a cross-reference that when you think about being yoked and burdened in that way, Jesus then works as a carpenter and works with Joseph and builds things and manufactures bits and pieces. And who's to know but they might have had as their slogan outside their carpenter's shop, My yokes are easy? In other words, you can come and get these. They won't chaff the neck of your oxen.
Maybe. Certainly we know that Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, And you'll find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Because, as mighty God, the government rests upon his shoulders, he is able to remove the burden and the oppression of the captive and replace it with the lightest of burdens—a life lived in obedience to his kingly rule. Now, what we need to get a hold of this morning, if we're going to move properly from this prophecy or from any prophecy into the New Testament, is the notion of expectation and fulfillment. So, for example, the whole idea of authority and kingly rule and the government being upon his shoulders—many of you will fast forward right to the end of Matthew's Gospel in your minds, and you will remember that when Jesus sends out his disciples into all the world to proclaim the Gospel and to baptize people in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, he precedes his command to them with a statement, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given unto me. Therefore go into all the world.
The reason that Christians have evangelized, do evangelize, and will evangelize is because this child is the mighty God, and there is no other, because he is the authority, because he is the only supreme counselor, and therefore the only hope of salvation in the entire world. Now, when you think along these lines and you realize what Isaiah and the other prophets were doing, I wonder, do you say to yourself, I wonder how much of this did Isaiah get? Because here he is, writing these things down, you know, having the equivalent of a cup of coffee, talking with his wife. She's saying, How are you getting on? He says, Well, I just finished the first half of chapter 9. What was that about? Well, I wrote about the child who's going to be born. And his wife said, And exactly what did you mean by that?
He said, Well, I'm not sure I really get it all. Well, of course, we know that that's the case, because the New Testament clarifies what's cloudy in the Old. First Peter, chapter 1, Peter is explaining what is happening in the use of the prophecies of the Old Testament. And he says, chapter 1 and verse 10 of 1 Peter, concerning this salvation, the prophets—Isaiah being one of them—who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the suffering of Christ and the glories that would follow. So, for example, let's go forward to Isaiah 53, and he takes his pen and he writes, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was pierced for our iniquities. The chastisement that brought us peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. Peter says that when Isaiah wrote something like that, he was searching intently, he took the greatest care, trying to find out what the Spirit of Christ was doing in predicting these things, and it was revealed to them—that is, to the prophets—that they were not serving themselves, but you, who is the you, the readers of 1 Peter, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you. You see how it all fits?
Peter's now writing his letter. He says, When the people explained the gospel to you, they explained the gospel on the strength of what the prophets had written. What the prophets wrote, they wanted desperately to discover. They stood on their tiptoes trying to figure it out, but they never saw the fulfillment of it all. Well, were they simply writing their own ideas?
No, actually, they weren't. They were writing as normal men. They were writing in relationship to their personality, to their history, and to their context. But as he says in 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 21, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture ever came about by the prophets' own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
We can't delay here, but this is just a reference to the dual authorship of Scripture—what we refer to as the dual authorship of Scripture. Isaiah wrote it, and God wrote it. Did God write it on his own? No. Did Isaiah write it on his own?
No. Who wrote it? Isaiah wrote it.
God wrote it. And the same is true of every book of the Bible. Now, we know from the words of Jesus himself in Matthew that this was the great distinguishing feature between those who had gone before and the disciples themselves.
And I'll just reference this for you, because it does actually fit. And that is in Matthew chapter 13, and in verse 16, Jesus, having quoted Isaiah the prophet—if you're in a cloudy section in your mind, don't worry, this will become clear—having quoted Isaiah the prophet in the preceding verses, he then says to his disciples, verse 16 of Matthew 13, blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but didn't see it, and to hear what you hear but didn't hear it.
Including Isaiah. And in fact, Matthew's Gospel serves, of all the four Gospels, as the best bridge between the predictions of the Old Testament and the fulfillments of the New. And just as verse 6 of Isaiah 9 gives to us four names to encapsulate the wonder of this child, so in the New Testament we actually have four Gospels essentially achieving the same thing. Isaiah is writing prospectively, and he says, unto us a child is born, a son is given, the government will be upon his shoulders, and his name will be called this and this and this and this and this. What is all that about?
What is all that going to mean? You fast-forward through your Bible, you come into the Gospels, and you discover that Matthew says, I'm gonna write a Gospel and make it clear that all of the stuff that is unfolding is on account of what the prophets said. Mark says, I'm gonna write a Gospel and make it clear to everyone who reads it that Jesus Christ came as a suffering servant, as a ransom for the sins of many. Luke says, I'm gonna write a Gospel, and I'm gonna make clear the absolute universality of the Gospel, established in the words of Simeon, And now my eyes, let your servant depart in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation.
A light to lighten the Gentiles and the consolation or hope for my people Israel. That's what he's doing. And in John's Gospel, John is establishing with absolute clarity, the great evangelistic appeal of this mighty God. Three words, majesty, authority, and victory. That is our mighty God. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg in a series titled, A Child is Born. At Truth for Life, we are committed to teaching the Bible in a straightforward manner, so you can apply God's word to your daily life. We trust God works through these daily messages to bring unbelievers to saving faith, to establish the faith of existing believers, and to strengthen local churches and their pastors. That's our mission at Truth for Life. And if this sounds like a mission that you endorse, we want to invite you to join your fellow listeners who are called Truth Partners. Truth Partners are people just like you who come alongside us through prayer and provide monthly giving. When you sign up to become a Truth Partner, you join a team that brings Alistair's teaching to listeners all around the world.
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It's our way of saying thanks for your ongoing support. And you should know, we choose these books with great care and with our mission in mind. Today we're recommending a book titled Piercing Heaven, Prayers of the Puritans.
The Puritans are known for their scripture-centered worship. They were devoted students of the Bible and their prayers reflect their understanding of God as he is revealed to us in scripture. Piercing Heaven is a rich collection of hundreds of carefully selected prayers from dozens of Puritan writers, people like Richard Baxter, John Owen, and John Bunyan, just to name a few. These prayers are organized under various topics such as teach me to pray or help me through my doubts or help me give the gospel to others.
There are prayers to help you begin each day, to end each day, and for every moment in between. Give your prayer life a boost. Request Piercing Heaven, Prayers of the Puritans when you sign up to be a Truth Partner at truthforlife.org slash truthpartner. Or you can ask for a copy when you make a one-time donation at truthforlife.org slash donate. You can also call us if you'd like at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, part two of today's message, we'll hear the evidence that identifies an outcast infant as the Lord of the universe. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-07-08 18:20:05 / 2023-07-08 18:28:56 / 9