Today we light the candle that represents the old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah. This is where the story of Christmas begins. The prophecies of His first advent are found throughout the Old Testament. There are hundreds of verses in the Old Testament that point to or describe or reference the coming Messiah. Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies in His earthly ministry. Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament is an amazing thing. He is shown as so much more than just a good man or a prophet. He is shown to be the true Messiah. He Himself told us who He was and how He was revealed throughout the Old Testament. There is a passage in Luke that tells us about this.
After Jesus had been crucified and risen from the dead, He met two men traveling from Jerusalem to Emmaus which was a seven mile walk. The men did not recognize Jesus, but as they walked He asked them what they had been talking about. What they had been discussing how disappointed they were that this Jesus guy was not the Messiah they had hopped he was. Three days ago He had been killed on a roman cross, and now some women had spread a rumor that His body was gone from the tomb. Things had not turned out they way they wanted, because they wanted this miracle working Jesus guy to overthrow the Roman government. Jesus has this reply. Luke 24:27 “25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Like I said earlier, the Old Testament is full of prophesies about the coming Messiah and Jesus fulfilled those prophesies. We tend to associate the beginning of the Christmas story with Luke 2 and the birth of Jesus, but that is not the beginning. The story of Jesus begins prophetically back in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. It’s right after the sin of Adam and Eve. God has a conversation with Adam, Eve and the Serpent/Satan. Genesis 3:15 “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This is the first prophesy of Eve’s Offspring who will defeat the work of Satan that caused the fall of mankind. Jesus is the One who did that. Did you notice the first thing God said He would do? “I will put enmity between your offspring and the woman’s offspring. If Jesus is the offspring of Eve in this passage, who is the offspring of Satan? If we jump over to the New Testament we will see. John 8:42-44 “42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Jesus said the religious leaders of His day were the offspring of the Devil. Jesus brought His kingdom to earth to defeat the corrupt religious system. The Pharisees had taken the law of Moses and turned it into an impossible system of works. They were doing this because they did not seek the truth, but their own selfish desires for money and power. They were doing the will of their father...the Devil. Galatians 4:4-5 “4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” As a man, Jesus was born under the same law we are born under. The law of sin and death. Sin carries the penalty of death.
Romans 5:12 “12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” But here is what makes Jesus more than just a man...He is God and therefore, had no sin, so He wasn’t subject to the law. How was Jesus born under the law but yet not subject to it? Let me say it like this. As an organization FUEL is in a country that requires taxes to be paid. Everyone pays taxes, if not, you go to jail, right? Well, not us, or any other church, because we have a special tax exemption because we are a non-profit organization. That exemption means we don’t worry about the penalty of not paying taxes. We are under a law, but we are not subject to it. In the same way, Jesus was born under the law, but because He had no sin, He was exempt from the law of sin. Jesus had no sin, so He was exempt from the penalty of sin, which is death. Now this brings us to a difficult situation. If death is the result of sin and Jesus has no sin...he can’t die. But, Jesus has a mission to be be the sacrifice for our sins and that requires His death. Do you see the problem? How does Jesus solve this dilemma? He willingly takes on our sin and thus becomes subject to the law of sin and death. Satan thought he had defeated Jesus when He was crucified. But it was just the opposite. Hebrews 2:14 “14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,”
Let’s look at another prophesy about Jesus that shows His dual nature as both God and man even more. Isaiah 9:6-7 “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,” This is one of the most famous prophesies about the Messiah. I want to look at the two phrases that begin this passage. “For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given.” On the surface, this two phrases seem to just be saying the same thing. If we view them through the lens of modern American language, there is nothing special about them. They seem to just be saying that there will be a baby born and that baby will be a boy. But these two descriptions of Jesus tell us much more. They tell us about His dual existence as being both fully God, and at the same time fully a man. The phrase “unto us a child is born,” speaks of His humanity. A child like us has been born into this physical world. Philippians 2:6-8 “6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” John 1:1 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus was The Word in this verse. Now look a few verses later.
John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The phrase “to us a Son is given,” speaks to Him being the Son of God, given as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. John 3:16-17 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” In this passage, Jesus is talking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus who had come to Jesus secretly to find out who He really was. The Pharisees recognized that Jesus was doing miracles and they couldn’t ignore it, because so many people had started following Him. The heart of the pharisee’s question was “Are you the Messiah?” While talking to Nicodemus, Jesus referred to himself as the Son of God. It wasn’t just Jesus who called himself the Son of God. God the Father spoke directly to Jesus as His Son. Mark 1:9-11 “9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” God the Father spoke directly to Peter, James and John calling Jesus His Son.
Mark 9:7 “7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” We can see clearly that Jesus is both God and man. Let’s go back to the Isaiah passage that started this topic and see what else is in there that describes Jesus as the Messiah. Isaiah 9:6-7 “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,” The government shall be on His shoulder. What government? His government, His kingdom. He is the King. His kingdom is not of this world. That is why He taught us to pray...“Your Kingdom come, Your will be done. On earth as in Heaven.” Jesus has come re-established the Kingdom that God originally instituted in the garden of eden. It will be fully completed when He returns to create a new heaven and a new earth. The next line says, “and His name shall be called...” The list that follows is more of a description of who He is and what His role is to be. It’s not just the literal names of Jesus. Let’s go through them. Wonderful Counselor. The word wonder denotes something that is extraordinary and unusual. Something that is an amazement and difficult to comprehend. Council is advice or teaching. Thus, His teaching is extraordinarily amazing and hard to understand...based on the worlds system that we are accustomed to living in. Mighty God. Mighty is a description of great strength or power. As God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, of all things
seen and unseen. He is the Word spoken into the vast nothingness of time and space in order to bring the universe into existence...and as such, His strength and power are unmatched. By His word all things continue to be sustained. Everlasting Father. In what way is Jesus the Everlasting Father? This idea is much the same as we would say that George Washington is the father of our nation. It’s the idea that He established it and rules over it. Jesus has established His kingdom and rules over it eternally. Prince of Peace. Jesus is the Prince, which denotes being the captain, chief or governor. His rulership over peace is established by His position. The peace He brings is safety, soundness, welfare and completeness. Peace reigns, because we are no longer at war with God through our sin. He has brought us to a place of peace. The last line of this passage says this: Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end. It’s basically a summary of the previous statements. His kingdom and all of the attributes of His rule are eternally established and will remain forever. Let’s read it again. Isaiah 9:6-7 “6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,” This is the prophesy and description of this child...our King Jesus, from the Old testament. In every way He has, and does fulfill everything in this passage.
There is nothing beyond His reach. There is nothing beyond His knowledge. There is nothing beyond His power. There is nothing beyond His forgiveness and there is nothing beyond His love. This person, Jesus Christ being both fully God and fully man is the One who was sent by God the Father to defeat the work of Satan. And in the process, free us from the penalty of our sin. It’s not just the prophecies...the entire bible is about Jesus. There is so much more that could be said about who Jesus was, who He is and who he will be forever. There is so much more that could be said about the other 500 verses that reveal Jesus as the prophesied Messiah. But John, in his gospel, summed it up best by making this extraordinary claim. John 21:25 “25 Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”
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