weekly sermon

  6-29-08

I Have Come!

How were we to know? What was a hint? Did we have a clue?

You are probably wondering what the heck I am talking about. I am talking about Jesus Christ. How were we to ever know that He was coming. Were there clues or hints that someone would walk this earth, that would become the Son of man; the Saviour of the world.

Well let me tell you that we had many clues and prophecies that predicted that a child would in fact be born and He would be God in the flesh on earth.

Go back in time with me if you will. The time will be around 792-722 B.C. We will walk down the cobbled trails and meet a man named Isaiah.

Isaiah was a man, to whom, God revealed many prophecies, signs, and wonders. A compilation of these prophecies were recorded in a book by the name of the author, Isaiah.

The book of Isaiah has been considered a miniature Bible. The reason that it has been considered a miniature Bible is because of how it was written. There are 66 chapters in this book, with 39 of those chapters, in the first section, referring to law and judgment and the remaining 27 chapters, in the second section, referring to comfort and salvation through Jesus Christ.

How does this make this book be considered a miniature Bible? Well, there are 66 books of the Bible. Of these 66 books, there are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament. The Old Testament refers to laws, the first 5 books, and judgment. The New Testament refers to the birth of Christ and how He was sent to comfort and save His people.

Now that we have some knowledge of Isaiah let us turn to his book and see what kind of clues he gave us about the future, almost 800 years later.

Isaiah 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

If we look at this passage, we see that Isaiah stated that a sign would be given, a virgin would conceive, a son would be born, and his name would be called Immanuel.

Some would say ok that is fine and good but how do we know that Isaiah really knew what he was talking about. Let us jump into the future to about 58-63 A.D. Here we will meet two men, one named Luke and the other named Matthew. Luke was a physician that quit his job as a doctor to become one of the most loved disciples that ever followed after Jesus. Matthew was once a tax collector, who also kept great records of his accounts, before he left to follow Jesus.

Let us see what Luke had to say when he recorded his travels. Turn with me to Luke 2:8-11, "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. (9)And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. (10)And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. (11)For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

As we can see from Luke, there were shepherds in a field watching over their flock. What does it say happened? An angel of the Lord came to them. The angel told them that a child had been born and that His name was Christ the Lord.

Now if we look at a verse that Matthew recorded it reads as this. Matthew 1:18, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost."

I pulled this verse from Matthew for one reason only; that it would show that when Mary was married to Joseph, "before they came together", she was "found with child", or already pregnant. The "before they came together" part means that they had never been intimate with one another. If she had never been intimate with her husband, the only man she had ever been around, then how was it she was already pregnant?

Ok let us wrap all this into a point where we can fully understand what it is that I am trying to show. Isaiah said there would be a sign, the angel appearing to the shepherds; that a virgin would conceive, Mary never being intimate with anyone, yet being pregnant; a son would be born, Jesus being HIS name; and His name would be called Immanuel.

None of these passages refers to His name being called Immanuel, if it was not noticed. Well let us look deeper into that too. If you look up the word Immanuel in the dictionary, it states the Immanuel is another name for Jesus and also means God with us. If you remember the second paragraph, I stated that we would look at a prediction of a child being born that would become God in the flesh on earth. Immanuel meaning 'God with us' is in fact God in the flesh.

From everything that we have read in this message, we can see that Isaiah did in fact predict the exact birth of Jesus Christ some 800 years before He was ever born.

How can a book that makes these types of predictions be wrong? There are many other predictions in the Old Testament that are actually happening in our life time that we will study further on, that will give more proof that our book, the Bible, being the number one best seller ever, is in fact a true book of revelation into our futures.

This child was born, became a great servant to the world, and then became the Saviour of all mankind.

If you do not know this Saviour, then please look deep in your heart and know that He is already there, you just need to accept that He is there for you and the condition of your soul. If this sounds like something you would like to accept then please say a simple prayer with me.

Say this simple prayer with me, Dear Lord, take over my life and forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of everlasting life. Amen.

If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
 

With Love in Christ,

Pastor Stone