Scripture: Matt. 2: 4When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ[c] was to be born. 5“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
15b … And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
Observation: Only the true Messiah could have fulfilled all the prophecies that Jesus did, and only God could have orchestrated such an elaborate set of events.
Application: The scripture for today is noting three prophecies that were fulfilled by events in Christ’s infancy. These are only three, but as we read through the gospels, and especially Matthew’s account we find many such statements. Things like, “this was done so that what was spoken by the prophet would be fulfilled,” are found throughout the narratives of Jesus’ life. As I read through the scripture today I started wondering, just how many there are, and a little research indicates that there are at least four hundred prophecies in the Old Testament that are fulfilled by Jesus Christ in the New Testament.
It’s interesting to note that there were many attempts to pinpoint a Messiah before Jesus, there were pagan societies who worshiped saviors modeled after the prophesied Christ of the Old Testament. Many of these near misses were said to have been born of a virgin, performed miracles, had twelve disciples, were crucified, and resurrected. They were like Christ, but none of them perfectly fulfilled ALL of the prophecies except Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
In the fulfillment of such a vast number of prophecies, Jesus did a couple of things. First he proved himself to be the one and only true Messiah for which God had foretold through the prophets. Second in fulfilling all the prophets of the Jewish scriptures, He established that the God of Israel is the one and only true God, because only God could have orchestrated the events of a single life in such a manner to match perfectly every prophecy.
You can think of it this way, the vast number of prophecies fulfilled by Jesus are like an elaborate address on an envelope. In an address, you start with the name, lets use Billy Joe Smith Jr. as an example.
Billy Joe Smith Jr. 1234 Cooper Road, Smithville, TN BR549 (Hee Haw!) United States of America, North American Continent, Northern Hemisphere, Planet Earth.
Yes I know I went way too far on the address but I did so to make a point. On the Planet Earth, how many Billy Joe Smith Jr’s could there be? There might be several, a hundred possibly, OK, lets narrow it down, how many in the Northern Hemisphere, that might knock out a few, going further, how about just those in the North American Continent, or narrowing down even further, just those in the United States. Now we’re really starting to get down to a much smaller group, if we started with 100, on the whole planet, we’re probably down to at least half that by now, if half of the Billy Joe Smith Jr’s on the planet live in the USA we’re down to 50. Ok so now out of 50 states, how many in TN, possibly still several, what about Smithville? maybe a few, but how many might live on Cooper Road in Smithville? Probably only one, maybe two. If you go to the specific address of 1234 Cooper Road, you have more than likely found the one specific Billy Joe Smith Jr. that the letter was intended for, and you’ve narrowed it down out of a possible many, to a singular one.
This is how the prophecies of the Old Testament narrow down the person of the Messiah and pinpoint Jesus Christ of Nazareth as God’s only begotten Son who came to be The Lamb of God, and Savior for you and me. There is but one who perfectly fulfilled the prophecies concerning His coming, and there is but one God who gave the knowledge to one nation, a chosen people, a people set aside to be the heralds of His merciful love and grace. We are now living in an age of His grace and we have the records of this great knowledge, although hidden to many who have been blinded by the world, for those who have ears to hear, and eyes to see it is, for us, life everlasting.
Prayer: Almighty God,
Thank you for the records of the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. Open the eyes of those who read these words today and help them to see how you have moved through history, through many ages, and many of your servants to reveal your perfect plan and your perfect Son Jesus Christ. You orchestrated the life of Jesus to perfectly fulfill your will and purpose, and I have no doubt that you are the great conductor of my life and my fate, as well as all my friends, family, and all of your children. Help us all to follow you with our whole hearts and learn to lean on, and trust in you for guidance in this life so that we may enter into everlasting communion with you when we have finished our physical journey here.
Love Michael
Yield: I know that God is running the show – I give over my thoughts that I am the director of the play that goes before my eyes, and submit to the instructions of The Father.
Pastor Michael's Journal 