WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:03.440 A couple of weeks ago when I was here with you it feels longer than a week ago, but I enjoy every time I get to address you. 2 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:03.440 We were looking at 1 Corinthians 12. 3 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:03.440 1 Corinthians 12, and we were looking at the gifts of the Spirit. 4 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:03.440 One of the things that we said last week: The one of the things that we pointed out is that the local church is a single unified body formed by the Holy Spirit. 5 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:03.440 I just wanted to remind you of where we were and what we were talking about because we’re going to come back to that idea pretty soon. 6 00:00:02.440 --> 00:00:11.200 God has gifted each individual and every individual in the church is important and vital to the ministry. 7 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:16.300 The church cannot function, that’s the point of that passage that we looked at. 8 00:00:16.300 --> 00:00:24.980 There’s no person in the church who God has sovereignly brought into His church that is important and vital to the ministry of the church. 9 00:00:24.980 --> 00:00:28.360 So we have to reflect on that. 10 00:00:28.360 --> 00:00:43.740 This morning, I want us to shift our thinking away from that to the Advent season, so that we can begin to think about the coming of our Savior. 11 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:57.120 In particular, the theme that has already been introduced to us through Jared and the hymn that he shows: about the longing for the coming of the Christ, the longing of the Savior. 12 00:00:57.120 --> 00:01:14.060 We sang those beautiful words: Come, long expected Jesus, born to set Your people free; From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee. 13 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:17.720 The idea of the expectation of Christ. 14 00:01:17.720 --> 00:01:20.560 So this morning, I know it’s a bit unusual. 15 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:25.540 I know that Kirby talked about Hebrews chapter 11 last week. 16 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:29.150 I wished I was able to hear that message. 17 00:01:29.150 --> 00:01:36.400 I was counting on hearing that, but something happened to our podcast last week and we weren’t able to do that. 18 00:01:36.400 --> 00:02:01.500 But he talked about faith, as I understand it, and he used Hebrews chapter 11 as this incredibly beautiful chapter that draws and builds on our understanding of what faith is from the Old Testament examples of the people of God, the prophets, and the people of God who minister in faith. 19 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:05.280 I wanted to take a verse from this chapter. 20 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:13.400 Just a single verse, and it’s toward the end of the chapter. 21 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:20.280 You wouldn’t really think of this as really leading into something that might be considered an Advent sermon. 22 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:26.340 But I think really, when you begin to think about this, it is really rather profound. 23 00:02:26.340 --> 00:02:36.880 It’s the kind of verse that you read, you kind of understand or maybe don’t understand perfectly clearly, and then we pass over to the next. 24 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:40.420 But we’re going to read verses 39 and 40. 25 00:02:40.420 --> 00:02:41.720 Hebrews chapter 11. 26 00:02:41.720 --> 00:03:03.470 This is truly God’s holy word: And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect. 27 00:03:03.470 --> 00:03:10.740 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised. 28 00:03:10.740 --> 00:03:12.520 What does that mean? 29 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:21.480 What is the writer of the Book of Hebrews talking about? 30 00:03:21.480 --> 00:03:30.860 The Bible is an incredibly wonderful book. 31 00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:40.900 It’s a book that is composed of all different types of genres of literature. 32 00:03:40.900 --> 00:03:48.000 It includes poetry, it includes history, rich in history. 33 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.980 It includes prophetic texts that are apocalyptic. 34 00:03:52.980 --> 00:04:01.740 It has in the Bible it has passages that are epistolary; they’re basically letters written. 35 00:04:01.740 --> 00:04:08.140 And yet, it is a Bible with one big idea. 36 00:04:08.140 --> 00:04:12.680 We lose our focus and our understanding of what that means. 37 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:18.540 There was a well-known Bible teacher in the early part of the 20th century. 38 00:04:18.540 --> 00:04:24.240 He was taught at Oxford for a number of years. 39 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.740 He was Wycliffe Hall in Oxford. 40 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:33.400 He was the principal of Wycliffe Hall for some years. 41 00:04:33.400 --> 00:04:34.560 His name was W. 42 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:34.860 H. 43 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:50.160 Griffith Thomas. 44 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:55.600 He wrote a book on how to interpret the Bible. 45 00:04:55.600 --> 00:05:01.200 In that book he gave an interesting illustration. 46 00:05:01.200 --> 00:05:04.320 What I thought I’d do this morning is just use his illustration. 47 00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:14.940 I just want to think about this idea that he introduced in that little part of his book on the Old Testament. 48 00:05:14.940 --> 00:05:25.220 He says, “Suppose that you gave someone who knew nothing at all about the Bible, a copy of the Old Testament.” 49 00:05:25.220 --> 00:05:27.340 They diligently studied it. 50 00:05:27.340 --> 00:05:35.120 They came to it and read it carefully, trying to seek to understand truly every line that they came to. 51 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:45.720 So they read it multiple times, and as they read the first time they read it, they come to passages, and I want to expand on this so that we can think about it. 52 00:05:45.720 --> 00:05:54.320 They recognize that in the Old Testament there are prophecies concerning someone who is to come. 53 00:05:54.320 --> 00:06:01.140 There are prophecies in the Old Testament that have to do with a coming deliverer. 54 00:06:01.140 --> 00:06:05.360 You don’t have to go very far to be able to discover that. 55 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:21.340 In fact, if you turn your Bible to Genesis chapter 3, there’s a very well-known verse, you probably know what I’m going to turn to most of you. 56 00:06:21.340 --> 00:06:25.520 But it’s interesting where it comes in, the place that this comes. 57 00:06:25.520 --> 00:06:38.260 It comes after Adam and Eve have sinned, and they’re called out by God, and God is pronouncing judgment. 58 00:06:38.260 --> 00:06:41.360 He’s pronouncing judgment on Adam and Eve. 59 00:06:41.360 --> 00:06:50.360 You remember Adam and Eve were formed of the earth, and so the judgment falls upon the earth itself because of that binding connection. 60 00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:54.220 And also on the serpent. 61 00:06:54.220 --> 00:07:08.080 So in verse 14, the text says the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you’ve done this, cursed you are more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 62 00:07:08.080 --> 00:07:09.800 And then the next verse. 63 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:14.360 This is considered the first evangelism, the first gospel message. 64 00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:25.140 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel. 65 00:07:25.140 --> 00:07:27.560 It’s a very interesting verse. 66 00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:38.360 The verse is interesting because a person is described as the seed of a woman, and it’s a male person based on the pronouns that are used. 67 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:41.760 And it’s singular, not a plural seed. 68 00:07:41.760 --> 00:07:44.360 It’s one person. 69 00:07:44.360 --> 00:07:47.460 And there’s a powerful imagery here. 70 00:07:47.460 --> 00:08:00.360 This adversary, this serpent, there’s going to be enmity between the two of them, and He will crush the head of the serpent. 71 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:09.060 The imagery is a person stomping on the head of the serpent, and in the stomping, their heel is bruised. 72 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:11.120 That’s the imagery. 73 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:17.620 It’s kind of open-ended and vague, but still interesting. 74 00:08:17.620 --> 00:08:28.680 It’s interesting because there is a person who’s coming, who’s going to bring judgment and deliverance. 75 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:34.380 And this person is prophesied this early. 76 00:08:34.380 --> 00:08:40.300 So you’re reading through the Bible, you come across this verse, and you recognize that there is someone to come. 77 00:08:40.300 --> 00:08:48.380 And as you continue reading, that’s, that, that begins to be narrowed down with more and more definition. 78 00:08:48.380 --> 00:08:54.600 You know, this could be any man born in the world who’s going to fulfill this. 79 00:08:54.600 --> 00:09:00.200 But when you get to Genesis chapter 11, God calls out Abraham. 80 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:18.880 And he calls out Abraham and he tells Abraham, he tells Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and through you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.” 81 00:09:18.880 --> 00:09:24.100 And so we know that redemption is coming through Abraham. 82 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:26.760 God is going to send His person through Abraham. 83 00:09:26.760 --> 00:09:35.840 And it becomes even more and more clear as you go through Genesis, as you read through Genesis, you get to chapter 17. 84 00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:41.860 When you come to chapter 17, that promise is confirmed to Abraham again. 85 00:09:41.860 --> 00:09:47.600 Abraham wants his son Ishmael to be the fulfillment of this promise. 86 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:53.220 And God says, “Not Ishmael, I’m going to give you a son.” 87 00:09:53.220 --> 00:10:03.180 “You’re an old man, Abraham, but I’m giving you a son, and in Isaac your seed will be called.” 88 00:10:03.180 --> 00:10:10.720 And so it’s coming through not just Abraham, but through the line of Isaac. 89 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:15.320 And so Isaac has children. 90 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:18.040 You remember Jacob and Esau? 91 00:10:18.040 --> 00:10:32.900 And as you continue reading in the Old Testament, in Genesis, you come to chapter 22 and it’s not, it’s not Esau. 92 00:10:32.900 --> 00:10:34.940 No, it’s Jacob. 93 00:10:34.940 --> 00:10:38.900 Jacob is the one who receives the blessing. 94 00:10:38.900 --> 00:10:42.080 And Jacob has 12 sons. 95 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:49.180 And when you get to chapter 49, you come to a really interesting verse. 96 00:10:49.180 --> 00:10:54.380 Turn to chapter 49 really quickly. 97 00:10:54.380 --> 00:11:00.900 Jacob is giving his blessings, his prophetic blessings, to his children. 98 00:11:00.900 --> 00:11:04.560 God is speaking through Jacob. 99 00:11:04.560 --> 00:11:13.220 And as you’re reading this, he comes to bless his son Judah. 100 00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:23.760 And in verse 9, I’ll just read from verse 9: Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. 101 00:11:23.760 --> 00:11:31.240 He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares to rouse him up? 102 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:41.000 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. 103 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:48.600 The idea is that Shiloh is coming, and He’s coming and reigning through Judah. 104 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:57.080 Judah is the one who is the ruling person, and the Messiah who is coming is the one who will rule. 105 00:11:57.080 --> 00:12:04.680 So it’s narrowed down further to the tribe of Judah, through these people, the Messiah is coming. 106 00:12:04.680 --> 00:12:09.620 God is promising someone, and He’s giving us this description. 107 00:12:09.620 --> 00:12:21.240 And this description is, as He’s giving us this description, it’s getting more and more focused, more and more definite. 108 00:12:21.240 --> 00:12:30.660 In 2 Samuel, it tells us that He’ll come through David. 109 00:12:30.660 --> 00:12:35.960 David was the great king of Israel. 110 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:51.460 In David’s day, David took a nation that was almost insignificant, and he turns it into basically a world power by the end of his life. 111 00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:56.780 Incredible wealth and power at the end of David’s reign. 112 00:12:56.780 --> 00:13:20.440 And in Samuel, it tells us that He’s going to be, 2 Samuel tells us that the line comes through David. 113 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:31.460 Verse 16: Your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever; your throne shall be established forever. 114 00:13:31.460 --> 00:13:37.680 In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. 115 00:13:37.680 --> 00:13:44.440 David’s house is an eternal house, his kingdom is an eternal kingdom. 116 00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:49.420 His line will rule forever and ever. 117 00:13:49.420 --> 00:14:00.550 So it becomes focused, and it becomes remarkable because of all these passages. 118 00:14:00.550 --> 00:14:12.680 It tells us in Jeremiah that, Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up David a righteous Branch.” 119 00:14:12.680 --> 00:14:19.620 He’ll be a king, acts wisely. 120 00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:37.660 So it’s very specific, and in the specificity, in Peter, Peter alludes to the prophets, to Isaiah and the other prophets in the prophecies that they’re giving of this coming Messiah. 121 00:14:37.660 --> 00:14:42.940 He points out that they’re seeking to understand. 122 00:14:42.940 --> 00:14:46.760 There’s things here that they don’t quite get. 123 00:14:46.760 --> 00:14:57.420 And you start working your way through these prophecies in the Old Testament, and they’re incredible and remarkable, and sometimes seemingly contradictory. 124 00:14:57.420 --> 00:15:00.560 He’s going to come as a great king. 125 00:15:00.560 --> 00:15:05.460 He’s going to come with power and bring peace to His people. 126 00:15:05.460 --> 00:15:14.200 And yet, He’s going to come as a suffering servant and die for His people, as Isaiah 53. 127 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:15.740 How can those two things split together? 128 00:15:15.740 --> 00:15:18.400 How can that possibly be? 129 00:15:18.400 --> 00:15:20.560 It had to be confusing. 130 00:15:20.560 --> 00:15:27.180 He’s going to sit on David’s throne and rule forever. 131 00:15:27.180 --> 00:15:28.260 A son of David. 132 00:15:28.260 --> 00:15:37.520 And yet, Jehoiakim—you go through David’s line: David, Solomon. 133 00:15:37.520 --> 00:15:40.520 Solomon has two sons. 134 00:15:40.520 --> 00:15:44.880 You know, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and the kingdom is divided. 135 00:15:44.880 --> 00:15:48.280 And then you have all of these kings in the line of David. 136 00:15:48.280 --> 00:15:55.180 And then you come to the last king of the line of David, and his name is Jehoiakim. 137 00:15:55.180 --> 00:16:01.320 So you come to Jehoiakim, and you find out that God put a curse on him. 138 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:09.040 And He told him, He promised him that no one would rule from his line. 139 00:16:09.040 --> 00:16:12.000 And he is the ruling line. 140 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:16.290 He is the ruling line of David. 141 00:16:16.290 --> 00:16:24.780 And so he has children, but none of them rule. 142 00:16:24.780 --> 00:16:27.320 His uncle takes the throne. 143 00:16:27.320 --> 00:16:31.280 His uncle takes the throne who is not of the line of David. 144 00:16:31.280 --> 00:16:37.640 And that was the end of the Davidic kingdom. 145 00:16:37.640 --> 00:16:43.780 And yet the Messiah is going to be of the line, the royal line, of David. 146 00:16:43.780 --> 00:16:45.460 How can that possibly happen? 147 00:16:45.460 --> 00:16:46.560 It can’t happen. 148 00:16:46.560 --> 00:16:52.100 You look in the Old Testament, you can imagine how they would struggle over something like that. 149 00:16:52.100 --> 00:16:55.080 How could these two things come about? 150 00:16:55.080 --> 00:17:13.320 You might remember, we have a New Testament perspective, which is pointing it out, but the Angel, Angel comes to Mary and says, “Nothing is impossible with God.” 151 00:17:13.320 --> 00:17:14.820 He can do anything. 152 00:17:14.820 --> 00:17:20.190 So if you remember in the New Testament, there are two genealogies. 153 00:17:20.190 --> 00:17:32.050 The first genealogy in Matthew comes and traces the line through Jehoiakim to Jesus. 154 00:17:32.050 --> 00:17:41.560 He’s the son of David through Jehoiakim, tracing it to Joseph, the husband of Mary. 155 00:17:41.560 --> 00:17:48.860 And then in Luke, you have a genealogy where it’s worked backwards all the way to Adam. 156 00:17:48.860 --> 00:17:56.660 And in that line, Jesus is a son of David, but not through Jehoiakim. 157 00:17:56.660 --> 00:18:08.460 He inherited the right to rule through his father Joseph, who was not his natural father. 158 00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:10.820 But he got the legal right to rule. 159 00:18:10.820 --> 00:18:17.940 He was a natural son of David, but not through Jehoiakim. 160 00:18:17.940 --> 00:18:20.120 Extraordinary thing. 161 00:18:20.120 --> 00:18:23.100 Who else could fulfill this? 162 00:18:23.100 --> 00:18:35.780 Show me, I mean, you look through all history or you look into to the future when Israel, anybody who rejects our Savior, who could fulfill this? 163 00:18:35.780 --> 00:18:44.200 Go back to the prophecy I read earlier about the scepter that is given to Judah. 164 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:53.660 In the early church, kept incredible detailed records of genealogies. 165 00:18:53.660 --> 00:18:58.920 Incredibly detailed, far more detailed than even what we have in scripture. 166 00:18:58.920 --> 00:19:00.960 They kept them in the temple. 167 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:08.200 In 70 AD, when Rome destroyed the temple, these genealogies were lost. 168 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:15.130 So it was said in Israel, “The scepter has departed from Judah, and the Messiah is not come.” 169 00:19:15.130 --> 00:19:18.780 Ah, but He had come. 170 00:19:18.780 --> 00:19:21.140 He had come. 171 00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:23.240 There’s only one answer. 172 00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:29.760 It all points to one person. 173 00:19:29.760 --> 00:19:42.400 So He’s the Son of David, and these things, it becomes so, so, so incredibly specific, so remarkably specific. 174 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:48.460 And then all the details of the prophecies, you can remember some of them. 175 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:56.040 There are literally hundreds, hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to His coming. 176 00:19:56.040 --> 00:20:02.780 It tells us that He would be born of a virgin, in Isaiah chapter 7. 177 00:20:02.780 --> 00:20:13.340 Born of a virgin, and you’d call His name Immanuel, which means God with us. 178 00:20:13.340 --> 00:20:15.260 It’s an incredible prophecy. 179 00:20:15.260 --> 00:20:29.480 Looking back as we celebrate Christmas, just as a side here, we celebrate Christmas and we can get really sentimental over our celebrations, and we focus on the baby in the manger. 180 00:20:29.480 --> 00:20:35.520 And all that’s okay, but the wonder isn’t that there’s a baby in the manger. 181 00:20:35.520 --> 00:20:42.240 And it’s not even, it’s an incredibly amazing and wonderful thing that the baby was born of a virgin. 182 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:44.120 That’s an extraordinary thing. 183 00:20:44.120 --> 00:20:47.080 You want to know what Christmas is about? 184 00:20:47.080 --> 00:21:06.620 It’s that meaning of that phrase, God with us, Immanuel, because God took upon His own self human nature as well, and He becomes the Messiah. 185 00:21:06.620 --> 00:21:09.560 So He’s born of a virgin. 186 00:21:09.560 --> 00:21:13.120 God is born of a virgin. 187 00:21:13.120 --> 00:21:18.540 And He is Immanuel. 188 00:21:18.540 --> 00:21:20.560 So it goes on. 189 00:21:20.560 --> 00:21:30.380 You might remember in Micah, it prophesies that, that, that in Bethlehem He would be born. 190 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:39.860 The prophecies, that dozens and dozens and dozens of prophecies concerning the life of our Lord Jesus in incredible detail. 191 00:21:39.860 --> 00:21:44.300 Remarkable detail of His life, His coming into Jerusalem. 192 00:21:44.300 --> 00:21:50.560 The fact that, and His birth, there would be the slaughter of the innocents. 193 00:21:50.560 --> 00:21:53.260 It’s prophesied in the Old Testament. 194 00:21:53.260 --> 00:22:16.120 You have all sorts of passages like that that, you know, the details of His life, the details particularly of His, of, of being declared to be the Messiah, the Palm Sunday, and all that He experienced on the cross, the sufferings that He had. 195 00:22:16.120 --> 00:22:20.100 These things are in the Bible, with incredible detail. 196 00:22:20.100 --> 00:22:40.400 You might remember in Zechariah, you have some remarkable passages that talk about Him being abandoned by His disciples, prophesied that, and being sold for 30 pieces of silver, and that money being spent on a potter’s field. 197 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:42.540 That’s pretty specific. 198 00:22:42.540 --> 00:22:44.040 That’s pretty incredible. 199 00:22:44.040 --> 00:22:49.260 This isn’t the kind of prophecy that you get in other religions with mythologies and things. 200 00:22:49.260 --> 00:22:55.320 You see, that’s one of the remarkable differences between Christianity and religions and mythologies in the world. 201 00:22:55.320 --> 00:23:01.500 In mythologies, you have fanciful things that’s not rooted in history at all. 202 00:23:01.500 --> 00:23:18.000 But when you study Christianity and in in in the Old Testament and Israel, you’re talking about a history of a people, and it’s outlined with things like the nation of Rome, and and other, and you can correlate your study with the historical, what we know in history. 203 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:24.920 It’s a history, it’s rooted in history because God wrote it in history. 204 00:23:24.920 --> 00:23:31.460 He wrote the story as he worked out things in in history itself. 205 00:23:31.460 --> 00:23:49.300 And so all these things, in the Psalms, that he, they gave Him gall and vinegar to drink, that His hands and feet were pierced, prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the Lord Jesus. 206 00:23:49.300 --> 00:24:10.140 The incredible passage in Isaiah 53, which describes Him as a suffering servant, and exactly what He did on the cross, laying down His life, being, taking the place, your sin and my sin upon Himself, and being the sacrifice for our sin. 207 00:24:10.140 --> 00:24:12.700 And so you have all of that. 208 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:17.540 You have all these things, and they’re incredibly remarkable. 209 00:24:17.540 --> 00:24:20.480 And then Thomas’s illustration. 210 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:24.280 You come to the end of the Old Testament. 211 00:24:24.280 --> 00:24:32.380 You get to the end of the Old Testament, and you come to Malachi chapter 4, and you know what? 212 00:24:32.380 --> 00:24:36.240 None of these prophecies have been fulfilled. 213 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:44.000 You read, if all you had was the Old Testament, and you read about this remarkable person who’s going to come with all this detail. 214 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:51.140 You come to the end of the Old Testament, and nothing is fulfilled. 215 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:54.240 Nothing’s fulfilled. 216 00:24:54.240 --> 00:25:03.560 All these, the text in Hebrews 11 says, And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised. 217 00:25:03.560 --> 00:25:05.200 They didn’t see it. 218 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:07.380 It didn’t happen in their lifetime. 219 00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:14.920 You come all the way to the end of the Old Testament, and you don’t have any, any fulfillment of any of these things. 220 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:17.600 It’s incredible. 221 00:25:17.600 --> 00:25:23.220 And then in his illustration, he has the guy go back again. 222 00:25:23.220 --> 00:25:32.880 And he reads this time, paying noticing in Genesis chapter 4 that the introduction of the sacrifice. 223 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:37.360 And he says to himself, “What does that mean? 224 00:25:37.360 --> 00:25:39.860 What killing an animal mean? 225 00:25:39.860 --> 00:25:41.680 How could that mean anything at all?” 226 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:55.800 And then the sacrifices, these ceremonies develop and become more and more elaborate, but in the Old Testament, hardly anything is given as a way of explanation for them. 227 00:25:55.800 --> 00:26:02.760 And so you have, you have all of these sacrifices and and and these things coming about. 228 00:26:02.760 --> 00:26:10.680 And how, how do they, what do they mean? 229 00:26:10.680 --> 00:26:23.880 And so by the time he gets to the end of the Bible, reading at the second time, he says, “Not only is the Bible, a book, the Old Testament, a book of unfulfilled prophecies. 230 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:29.060 It’s also a book that’s filled with unexplained ceremonies. 231 00:26:29.060 --> 00:26:31.460 We don’t know their meaning. 232 00:26:31.460 --> 00:26:33.560 We don’t know what it’s about.” 233 00:26:33.560 --> 00:26:54.440 And then he reads the book again, and he reads the Psalms and paying attention to all the Old Testament, the longing hope for the future that is stirred in their hearts, the the the desire of the presence of God that they experience in part, but is lacking, is not fulfilled. 234 00:26:54.440 --> 00:27:05.590 And he says, “It’s also a book that has unfulfilled expectations and longings.” 235 00:27:05.590 --> 00:27:07.420 And all that is true. 236 00:27:07.420 --> 00:27:18.560 And then he says, “When you open the pages, the very first page of the New Testament, you find that it is written, so that it may be fulfilled.” 237 00:27:18.560 --> 00:27:29.320 It’s written so that you may be, that it may be fulfilled, and you realize that Jesus, the prophet, fulfills in His life all the prophecies. 238 00:27:29.320 --> 00:27:35.880 And that Jesus, the priest, explains in His death all the ceremonies. 239 00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:46.280 And that Jesus, the King, gives fulfillment to all, all of the longings. 240 00:27:46.280 --> 00:27:54.720 They’re satisfied in His resurrection and in our future resurrection. 241 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:59.320 So Jesus is the key to the Bible. 242 00:27:59.320 --> 00:28:06.220 It’s the subject of the Bible from beginning to end. 243 00:28:06.220 --> 00:28:18.640 Jesus, it says in Galatians 4, “When the fullness of time had come, He sent His son, born of a woman, born under the law.” 244 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:21.560 And so these things are remarkable. 245 00:28:21.560 --> 00:28:23.900 They’re true. 246 00:28:23.900 --> 00:28:34.540 They’re the fulfillment, and they show the continuity and the, the incredible unity of scripture. 247 00:28:34.540 --> 00:28:38.940 All the Old Testament points to Jesus. 248 00:28:38.940 --> 00:28:40.040 Points to Him. 249 00:28:40.040 --> 00:28:44.720 Philip in the Gospel of John, chapter 1. 250 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:47.800 Philip meets Jesus. 251 00:28:47.800 --> 00:28:57.000 He meets Jesus, and he goes to Nathanael, and he says, “We found Him. 252 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:02.880 We found Him of whom Moses spoke.” 253 00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:05.340 He’s the fulfillment. 254 00:29:05.340 --> 00:29:25.700 And Jesus, talking to the Pharisees and Jews of His day, and He said, “You search the Scriptures, because in them you believe you find eternal life, but they are they which speak of Me.” 255 00:29:25.700 --> 00:30:41.980 He is the fulfillment of the word of God. 256 00:30:41.980 --> 00:30:44.820 The Bible’s about Him. 257 00:30:44.820 --> 00:30:50.680 All the prophecies, all the Scriptures, have to do with Jesus. 258 00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:59.720 When you understand that Jesus is the focus, all of a sudden the Old Testament is really rich. 259 00:30:59.720 --> 00:31:04.700 You understand the Old Testament, you can far better understand the New. 260 00:31:04.700 --> 00:31:09.600 You can’t really understand the New very well without the New Testament. 261 00:31:09.600 --> 00:31:20.320 The Old Testament is simply something that is unfulfilled, unsatisfied, revelation from God, but not complete. 262 00:31:20.320 --> 00:31:23.040 Jesus Christ completes it. 263 00:31:23.040 --> 00:31:24.520 He’s the theme of the Bible. 264 00:31:24.520 --> 00:31:30.220 He’s the, He’s the purpose of all the revelation. 265 00:31:30.220 --> 00:31:36.800 And every part of the Bible directs our hearts to Him because He’s the Redeemer. 266 00:31:36.800 --> 00:31:45.040 There’s no one under heaven, no other name given among men by which we must be saved. 267 00:31:45.040 --> 00:31:47.880 That’s the message this morning. 268 00:31:47.880 --> 00:31:50.680 You want to know what Christmas is? 269 00:31:50.680 --> 00:31:57.280 Christmas is that God keeps His promises in Jesus. 270 00:31:57.280 --> 00:32:00.700 They waited, they heard these prophecies. 271 00:32:00.700 --> 00:32:03.980 They waited so long, and many of them got discouraged. 272 00:32:03.980 --> 00:32:07.420 There was the remnant of faith. 273 00:32:07.420 --> 00:32:13.040 There were the priests, Anna, who was looking for the Messiah. 274 00:32:13.040 --> 00:32:25.500 But so many people after thousands of years, not conceiving it, began to doubt it, thinking maybe this is just a myth. 275 00:32:25.500 --> 00:32:28.560 But God keeps His word. 276 00:32:28.560 --> 00:32:32.000 He doesn’t repent when it comes to His promises. 277 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:34.680 And it’s been 2,000 years since Jesus came. 278 00:32:34.680 --> 00:32:36.660 And He promised to return. 279 00:32:36.660 --> 00:32:42.460 People lose patience, lose their faith. 280 00:32:42.460 --> 00:32:46.320 God never backs up on His promises. 281 00:32:46.320 --> 00:32:49.730 He will do what He says. 282 00:32:49.730 --> 00:32:52.100 We can trust Him. 283 00:32:52.100 --> 00:32:57.260 So just as they looked for His coming, how, you know, that’s all that is true. 284 00:32:57.260 --> 00:33:05.080 And how rich, how wonderfully rich we are having the history and what we’ve been given in the New Testament. 285 00:33:05.080 --> 00:33:09.840 That’s, that’s what Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews, is saying. 286 00:33:09.840 --> 00:33:14.220 You know, we have something precious that they didn’t have. 287 00:33:14.220 --> 00:33:17.920 We have the Gospel, and we know how it works. 288 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:21.760 We know that it all points to Jesus. 289 00:33:21.760 --> 00:33:26.520 And it’s glorious. 290 00:33:26.520 --> 00:33:28.340 Let’s set our hearts on Him. 291 00:33:28.340 --> 00:33:30.160 He’s our Savior. 292 00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:33.840 He’s the glorified King of kings and Lord of lords. 293 00:33:33.840 --> 00:33:35.760 That’s what Christmas is about. 294 00:33:35.760 --> 00:33:38.300 Who He really is. 295 00:33:38.300 --> 00:33:46.800 Let’s pray to Him now and ask that He helps us to worship Him this, this Christmas season. 296 00:33:46.800 --> 00:33:56.920 Father, as we, as we reflect on these things, we thank You, Lord Jesus, for the truth of Your word. 297 00:33:56.920 --> 00:34:06.720 We thank You, dear Savior, that You sent Your precious Son to us. 298 00:34:06.720 --> 00:34:09.600 You sent Him to be a Redeemer. 299 00:34:09.600 --> 00:34:13.480 You sent Him to do the thing that we cannot do in ourselves. 300 00:34:13.480 --> 00:34:24.500 We couldn’t live the perfect life that He lived, and we dared not die and experience the judgment that He died in our place. 301 00:34:24.500 --> 00:34:50.180 We thank You, Father, for and we pray, Father, as we, as the, as the hymn says that that He would be the focus of our heart, that, that He would, as we reflect on Him, that we would have the assurance of His presence within us. 302 00:34:50.180 --> 00:34:59.300 Father, that we would be able to rejoice in the power of the Holy Spirit that He gives us to live the life that You want us to live. 303 00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:01.900 Thank You, Father, for salvation. 304 00:35:01.900 --> 00:35:04.940 Thank You that it is in the Lord Jesus. 305 00:35:04.940 --> 00:35:11.380 Thank You, Father, that it is offered to us and given to us by Your sovereign will. 306 00:35:11.380 --> 00:35:17.200 We ask, Father, for Your blessing this morning as we reflect on these things. 307 00:35:17.200 --> 00:35:21.620 Make these things precious in our heart, we pray, in Jesus’ name. 308 00:35:21.620 --> 00:35:23.620 Amen.