Looking for Jesus (Part 2)

This time, children can be dismissed to our children's church downstairs.

If you want to make your way out now and follow the teacher downstairs, I see a teacher.

Yes, we're good.

By the way, thank you all for coming on this beautiful snowy day.

We really appreciate it.

I know it's a sacrifice.

Clear out your drive and brush off the snow on your car.

But thanks for being here to worship the Lord with us in this Christmas season.

For the Advent season, we're looking at a number of passages that point us to the coming of Jesus the Messiah.

And there is an outline if you'd like to follow along today.

If you need one, just lift your hand.

Our ushers would be happy to hand you one.

And one uh particular little boy drew a manger scene, and uh among the other animals was a large dog.

And the teacher said, A um what's what's that what's that?

What's he said, Well, it's a it's a German shepherd.

Smart kid.

That's good.

Um, after Jesus rose from the dead, and before he ascended into heaven, he said something very important to his disciples, and that was that the whole Old Testament scripture, the Hebrew scriptures, was written about him.

I'm gonna read this again.

This is kind of our theme through Advent weeks.

Um, Luke 24, 44 to 47.

Now Jesus said to them, These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

Then he opened their minds to understand the scripture, and he said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

It's funny, almost a century ago, a great New Testament scholar A.

T.

Robertson commented that Jesus was able to find himself in the Old Testament, a thing that some modern scholars do not seem to be able to do.

And I thought that, yeah, and even people in Jesus' day weren't able to see him there.

But in this Advent series, what I'm doing is using Jesus' outline he gave to the disciples of where to find him in the Old Testament: the law of Moses, the prophets, the Psalms, which also include the writings, they call the writings, three separate genres in the Hebrew scripture.

Last time we looked for and found Jesus in the law of Moses, which are the first five books of the Bible.

Today and next time, we're going to move on to look at for Jesus in the prophets, which Peter explains in his sermon in Acts chapter 3 begins with the prophet Samuel.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Listen to what he said in Acts 3, 24-25.

Uh Peter says, And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel, Samuel, and those who came after him also proclaim these days.

You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.

Now, uh, if you're relatively new to the Bible, the Old Testament prophets, there are twenty seven of them in the Hebrew Bible.

So I'm just going to start with the first one, and then uh, you know, three, four hours later, we'll be finishing up with the prophets.

No, I can't do that.

Okay.

Uh, 27 books.

They're the largest portion of the Old Testament scripture, and Jesus is found in every single one of them.

Because of the large amount of material, we're going to look for Jesus and the prophets today and next week.

Uh, we're going to have to be selective, actually, in the in the passages I looked at because there's so many, so much the Old Testament has to say about the coming Messiah, who is Jesus.

Today I'm going to look at two prophets in the Old Testament, Samuel and Isaiah.

First, let's consider something the prophet Samuel recorded for us, I think significantly that he wrote it down for us, uh, which is Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2, verses 1 to 11.

1 Samuel 2:1–11

If you remember the story, Hannah was childless, and in that culture, it was a huge shame to not have a child.

And so she prayed to the Lord, uh, meeting with the Lord and uh in the temple in the tabernacle, and the Lord answered her prayer and miraculously gave her a son, and then she wrote this song, which Samuel records for us in this in this uh passage in 1 Samuel chapter 2.

1 Samuel 2 · chapter mention

Then Samuel prayed and said, Samuel, then Hannah prayed and said, My heart exalts in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.

There is no one holy like the Lord.

Indeed, there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God.

Boast no more so very proudly.

Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and with him actions are weighed.

The bows of the mighty are shattered, and but the feeble gird on strength.

Those who were full of full who were full hire themselves out for bread.

But those who were hungry cease to hunger.

Even the barren one gives birth to seven, but she who has many children languishes.

The Lord kills and makes alive.

The Lord brings down to Sheol and raises up.

The Lord makes poor and rich.

He brings low, he also exalts.

He raises the poor from the dust.

He lifts the needy from the ash sheep, to make them sit with nobles and inherit a seed of honor.

For the pillars of the Lord are the Lord's.

Pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he set the world on them.

He keeps the feet of his godly ones, but the wicked ones are silenced in darkness, for not by might shall man prevail.

Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered.

Against them he will thunder in the heavens.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his king, and will exalt the horn of his anointed.

One of the main themes of Hannah's song that Samuel gives us is Yahweh's salvation, right from the get-go.

Hannah prayed, My mouth speaks, exalts the Lord, because I rejoice in your salvation.

Yahweh is the name God gave Moses in the burning bush, which English translators render Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.

That's how you know it's not just Lord like Master, it's Yahweh being referenced there.

And Hannah refers to Yahweh eight times in her song.

It's significant because in the Gospel of John, Jesus made a point to refer to himself as the preexistent Yahweh 11 times using the Greek words I am, Ego Eme.

I am.

That's Yahweh.

Statements like we find in John chapter 8, beginning verse 53 and then 56 to 58.

John 8 · chapter mention

The religious leaders are telling Jesus, Surely you're not greater than our father Abraham, who died, the prophets died too.

Whom do you make yourself out to be?

Your father Abraham, Jesus said, rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.

And the Jews said to him, You're not 50 years old, and you've seen Abraham.

Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.

I am, Egoemi, the Greek word for Yahweh.

Well, that uh that made them even angrier.

Blaspheming.

They they referred to that as blaspheming that Jesus was doing.

When Hannah mentions Yahweh, um eleven times, the Holy Spirit, I believe, is using her words to point us to Jesus in her song.

And Hannah goes on in verses four to ten to exult in the way Yahweh saves his people.

And in doing so, what is happening, the Holy Spirit is actually giving us glimpses of Jesus' ministry.

He judges the proud, vanquishes his enemies, he feeds the hungry, he helps the poor, he rescues the weak and downtrodden, he kills and makes alive, he raises the dead.

In the last verse of Hannah's song, um, we see Jesus, Yahweh, not only coming to bring salvation, but he's also coming to judge the earth.

1 Samuel 2:10, those who contend with Yahweh will be shattered.

1 Samuel 2:10

Against them he will thunder in the heavens.

Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth, and will give strength to his king, and will exalt the horn of his anointed.

There it is.

Last verse of Hannah's song, and refers to an anointed one.

We've looked at that before.

We looked at it last week.

The anointed one in Hebrew is Mashiach.

That's where we get the title Messiah.

And this is the first time in the Bible where the word Messiah is mentioned.

Right here.

First prophet, we're looking at.

In the New Testament, Jesus claimed the title of Messiah.

In one place we see this is in Samaria when he's talking with the woman at the Jacob's well and telling him that she was telling him that she was hopeful the Messiah would come and teach them all these theological things they need to know.

And here's what Jesus said to her.

And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He.

Point blank.

Now back in 1 Samuel, as we continue, actually in chapter 2, I'm not going to talk a lot about it, but uh Eli is a priest serving there with Hannah there at the time.

But Eli has wicked sons also serving as preachers at priests and judges in Israel when Samuel was a little boy, and Samuel's witnessing this.

One day a prophet of the Lord came to Eli with a prophecy of judgment and hope.

In 1 Samuel 2, this is what this prophet says: This will be a sign to you, which will come concerning your two sons, Haphne and Phineas, on the same day, both of them will die.

But God says, I'll raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to all that is in my heart and my soul.

I will build him an enduring house, meaning kingdom, and he will walk before my anointed always.

Samuel was there as a little guy and never forgot those words.

We know that because of them, he knew when he anointed King Saul, and King Saul disobeyed the Lord's command.

Saul was not the promised king.

1 Samuel 13, 14.

But now Samuel says, Your kingdom shall not endure.

The Lord has sought on a man for himself after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people because you've not kept what the Lord commanded you.

Fast forward to the New Testament book of Hebrews, and the writer of the Hebrews tells us that Jesus is that promised, faithful priest, whom God will raise up, and he's the king who will have an enduring kingdom.

Well, fast forward a little more back in Samuel.

Samuel anointed King David to be king in 1 Samuel 16, 13, and he later told David that God is making a covenant with him to establish his reign through one of his descendants.

When your days are complete, and you lay down with your fathers, I will raise up a descendant singular after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name.

I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

Speaking of the coming Messiah.

Samuel tells David this descendant, singular, will come and he will reign forever.

A descendant of David.

Now, what's interesting is uh at Pentecost, uh in the New Testament, Peter preached that that descendant of David is Jesus who rose from the dead and lives forever.

Let me read you what Peter said.

Uh after as Pentecost, as people are witnessing Pentecost, Acts 2, 29 to 33.

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us today.

Promise didn't stop with him.

Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, David actually foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.

This Jesus God raised up, and we are all witnesses.

Therefore, being exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out on this that you of yourselves are seeing and hearing.

All right.

There's this is actually a hard task because there's so much I could do and talk about just with the prophet Samuel and what he's recording for us.

But I have to move on.

Let's talk about an easy book to talk about the Messiah.

Isaiah.

Okay, just bear with me, all right.

Actually, the prophet Isaiah has the most to say about the coming Messiah, which point us to Jesus.

No other prophet or book in the Old Testament has more to say about the coming Messiah than Isaiah.

And there's no way I'm gonna cover it at all.

So I uh commend you to read the prophet Isaiah.

And as Jesus instructed his disciples, look for him.

He's all over the place.

I'm just gonna whet your appetite.

By the way, the apostle John in the New Testament told us that Isaiah spoke of Jesus, John 12, 41.

These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory, Messiah, and spoke of him.

We begin with Isaiah's prophecy concerning, obviously, the virgin birth of Jesus.

And what you need to understand is the context of this prophecy, what God's doing in speaking to King Ahab is he's talking about the future of the house of David.

And he says in Isaiah 7, 13 and 14 to Ahab the king, listen now, O house of David.

Is it too light a thing that you should try the patience of men?

You'll try the patience of my God as well.

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign concerning the house of David.

Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Emmanuel.

And of course, in the New Testament, jumping forward, Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy.

He was God with us, as the prop as the Apostle Matthew tells us in Matthew 1.

Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, don't fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son.

You call his name Jesus, for his he will save his people from their sins.

And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet Isaiah.

Behold, the virgin will conceive and bear a son.

Call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

Isaiah goes on.

Or before that, actually, he identifies the Messiah as a child, a son, God Himself, and a king.

We know the passage, Isaiah 9, 6 and 7.

Isaiah said, A child will be born to us, son will be given to us, the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called, wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, prince of peace, and there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.

As we continue, as we Isaiah.

Isaiah identifies the Messiah as the descendant of David.

Isaiah 11, then a shoot will spring forth from the stem of Jesse, a branch from his roots will bear fruit, and the spirit of the Lord will rest on him.

We heard it this morning.

And then in Matthew 1, we read that Jesus was the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Matthew 1:1.

Matthew 1:1

Matthew says, the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Later in the book of Isaiah, he gives us an unbelievable, extensive description of Messiah who's coming.

Isaiah 42 to chapter 53.

Here's Isaiah goes through describing Messiah as a suffering servant who atones for our sin.

Isaiah 42, 1 to 3, behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one, whom my soul delights.

I put my spirit upon him.

He'll bring forth justice to the nations.

He won't cry out or raise his voice, make his voice heard in the street.

A bruised reed, he won't break.

A dimly burning wick, he will not extinguish, he will faithfully bring forth justice.

In the New Testament, Jesus basically told us he is the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy.

Mark 10, 45.

Jesus said, even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

Isaiah, then, as we I'm trying to quickly move through, uh, the prophet, like I said, there's more information about the coming Messiah in Isaiah than any other of the prophets, any other book of the Old Testament, really.

Isaiah refers to the Messiah's obedience to God.

Spends a great deal of time talking about this, even to the point of suffering physical abuse, humiliation, and death.

And you know, you've heard the passages, Isaiah 50, verses 5 and 6, talking of the Messiah.

Isaiah 50:5

Uh the Messiah speaking, the Lord God has opened my ear.

I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back.

I gave my back to those who strike me, my cheeks to those who pluck out my beard.

I will not cover my face from humiliation and spitting.

And of course, we come to Isaiah 53.

The holy of holies in the Bible, in the book of Isaiah, talking about Messiah.

Uh he was despised, forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face, he was despised, and we did not esteem him.

Surely our griefs he himself bore, 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 on him, and by his scourging we are healed.

All of us have gone, like she've gone astray.

Each of us is we've turned to our own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

Isaiah prophesies that the Messiah, you see, would not die for his own sins, but for ours.

And in the New Testament, Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy.

1 Corinthians 15, 3, for I delivered to you, Paul says, of first importance, what I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

In the same chapter describing Messiah's sacrificial death, this may surprise you.

Um Isaiah alludes to Messiah's sudden resurrection from the dead.

Um Isaiah 53, if you keep going, here's what it's here's what it says.

Messiah's gonna die.

Here's his grave.

Now listen, his grave was a sign with the wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death, because he had done no violence, there was no deceit in his mouth, he didn't have any sin.

But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief if he would render himself as a guilt offering.

Pause.

And that's exactly what Jesus did.

He, the one who's in the grave, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied.

By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong, because he poured out himself to death, was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

Did you hear this?

He will see it, he will justify many, he will be allotted a portion with the great, he will divide the booty with the strong, he will, he will, he will.

This is after he dies for our sins.

It's not done.

He will, he will, he will.

Of course, the New Testament, we know we're we're in a privileged position.

I hope you realize this.

We know this, the full story to this point.

Jesus did actually rise from the dead, and he is seeing it to this day.

The results of that death.

Finally, in Isaiah, the last description of Messiah that we see in Isaiah is that the Messiah is again called God's anointed one, Meshiach, who will bring good news.

The gospel.

Isaiah 61, verse 1.

Isaiah 61:1

Uh, Messiah is saying, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me, Mashiach, to bring good news to the afflicted.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to prisoners.

Now, you need to remember this because in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, Jesus goes into worship in a synagogue, and on the Sabbath, and he's handed the scroll of Isaiah to read.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

And he read Isaiah 61, verses 1 and 2.

Isaiah 61:1

And when he was done, this is what Jesus said.

Isaiah 61, 1 and 2.

Jesus said, He began to say to them, Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Well again, the initial response to that was not too friendly.

Jesus said that passage refers to him, again identifying himself as the Meshiach, the Messiah, the promised Messiah.

And throughout his ministry, Jesus cites passages in Isaiah.

If you look through the Gospels, he's citing Isaiah, said this.

Isaiah said, all of which point to him.

In Samuel's record of Hannah's Psalm, we see the first reference to the word Messiah or anointed one in the Bible.

From the prophet Isaiah, um it just blows your mind.

We're given a very full picture.

This is later now, this is like uh 700 uh BC.

So we're 700 years out from Messiah's birth.

And Isaiah at this point, we're getting close.

We still have some more prophets to look at, but Isaiah literally gives us this full picture of the expected Messiah's birth, his life, his servant ministry, his atoning death for sins, and even his sudden resurrection from the dead and his return as king.

The whole spectrum is in the prophet Isaiah.

And like last week, I'll say it again, I've only been able to scratch the surface.

Hopefully, it will encourage us all to get into the Old Testament and follow Jesus' directive that he gave his disciples.

Look for me.

I'm all over it.

And I I just wanted to do that this year for Advent because it's we're the Old Testament prophets, the Old Testament saints anticipated his coming.

And when he did come, it was so difficult for people to actually see.

I think part of the problem is they were expecting a different kind of Messiah.

But even Isaiah prepares us for all of this at the beginning of Isaiah, the beginning of his prophetic record, he kind of sets, he sets us up to prepare for what's coming.

Um he tells us this is he tell he basically gives us God's invitation to reason with him about our need to be cleansed from our sin, and our need to have a right and real and vital relationship with God.

So let me read it.

This is how he begins, and look at it as God's it is God's invitation, before he even gets to the virgin birth, the Davidic king, the suffering servant, and all the rest.

He begins to pique our curiosity with these statements, these questions.

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.

Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be white as snow.

Though they are like crimson red crimson, they'll be like wool.

If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.

Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Of course, there was application in Isaiah's day, but I think there's a timeless application for everyone as we see the Messiah unfold in his prophecy.

I think the principle is we have a choice.

We can consent and obey in terms of realizing Jesus is the promised Messiah, which many in Israel fail to do.

Or we can refuse and rebel and just go our own way and think, I'll be okay.

Each choice has consequences: enjoy the best from God or be judged for our sins by God.

The choice to believe in Jesus Messiah, when we finally put it together as God puts it together for us in the New Testament, it's screaming at us.

Can you hear this?

The choice to believe in Jesus Messiah is a choice to receive Him as our Savior and receive the forgiveness of sins and his actual Holy Spirit in us.

And that can be done by anyone anywhere today.

That's the New Testament cry.

In fact, if you can't think of any time personally you've done that, express to God, I I consent.

I believe Jesus is the Messiah.

I invite you to, as I close in prayer just in a minute, to just tell God that I believe in Jesus, the Messiah, as He's my Savior, and I welcome Him into my life to receive forgiveness of sins and the promise He gave us of eternal life.

Do that.

It's the most important decision you'll ever gonna make, and it can be yours right now.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you that we can see Jesus in the prophecies of Scripture.

We can see why He was born.

Thank you that you sent Jesus to wipe away our sins by when he died for them for our sins on the cross.

And I pray now, would you help us like Hannah to exalt in your name for the salvation you've provided through Jesus the Messiah?

In his name I pray.

Amen.