[Biblemat] B> Gospel Observer 2/11/07
tedwards at onemain.com
tedwards at onemain.com
Tue Feb 13 12:40:39 CST 2007
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THE GOSPEL OBSERVER
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"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching
them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20).
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February 11, 2007
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Contents:
1) The Law and the Prophets Point to the Coming of Christ
(Grover Stevens)
2) News & Notes
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-1-
The Law and the Prophets
Point to the Coming of Christ
by Grover Stevens
The Bible is the Living Word of the Living God. Jehovah, the
God of the Bible, is the only "God" known to man that is eternally
living, intelligent, all-knowing, holy and righteous, and he alone
knows the future and is able to "declare the end from the
beginning" (Isa. 46:10). His Word, the Bible, the Word of God is
just as living, eternal, all-knowing, holy and righteous as the
person of God (Heb. 4:12; 1 Pet.1:23). Prophecy, and particularly
the prophecies of the Messiah, is one of the two greatest miracles
since the creation of the world, and it, together with the
resurrection of Christ from the dead as an historical fact, is the
most conclusive and convincing of all proofs for the existence of
God, the deity of Christ, and the divine inspiration of the Bible.
The resurrection is not only an historical fact, but also has its
place in prophecy. The "law and the prophets" refer to the writings
of the Old Testament (Luke 19:26). There are specific prophecies
foretelling the coming of Christ, but also the coming of Christ is
the heart and soul of Old Testament, just as the Second Coming of
Christ is the basic message of the New Testament. We hear the
apostle Peter as he declares, "Jesus Christ...which God hath spoken
by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts
3:21). The Lord Jesus said, "...All things must be fulfilled, which
were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
psalms, concerning me" (Luke 24:44); and "search the scriptures,
for...they testify of Me" (John 5:39).
Bible prophecies concerning the coming of Christ are the most
numerous, most prominent, most specific, most extended over time,
and most remote from their fulfillment, of all the prophecies ever
made, thus the decided distinction of the Bible and Christ over all
other books and religions.
Over 300 prophecies about the Messiah (Greek: Christ; Hebrew:
Messiah) have been identified in the "Law and the Prophets," all
made from the first book in the "law" to the last book in the
"prophets," made between 1500 B.C. and 400 B.C., and all fulfilled
in Jesus of Nazareth in the first century A.D. -- 400 years after
the last prophecy. Dr. A.T. Pierson says, "One might almost as well
expect by accident to dip up any one particular drop out of the
ocean as to expect so many prophetic rays to converge by chance
upon one man, in one place, at one time. God has put especially
upon these prophecies as to His Son the stamp of absolute verity
and indisputable certainty, so that we may know whom we have
believed. Mistakes in so solemn a matter are (eternally) fatal, and
God meant that none should be possible" (God's Living Oracles, see
"The Law" on p. 26 quoted in All The Messianic Prophecies of the
Bible, Herbert Lockyer, p.17, Zondervan, 1973).
Every prophecy concerning Christ has been fulfilled except his
second Coming, the end of the world, destruction of death,
resurrection and judgment. No man can name one prophecy concerning
Christ that Jesus did not fulfill. How foolish of the Jewish people
to ignore this phenomenal fact.
Sometimes the prophecies of Christ seem to be contradictory,
but not so. Many of the prophecies represent him as a triumphant
king and conqueror (as David was), whose dominion would be
universal, and who would flourish in righteousness and peace
forever; while others portray him as one despised and rejected,
full of sorrow and grief, without esteem, oppressed and afflicted,
yet meek and forbearing, as cut off out of the land of the living,
and as pouring out his soul unto death. But, however great the
seeming inconsistency, there is an exact fulfillment of both
characters in Jesus Christ, and in no other person who ever lived.
Misunderstanding of those prophecies dealing with the conquering
king and his worldwide rule of righteousness and peace form the
basis for the false concepts of the ancient Jews and modern
Zionists and non-Jewish Millennialists. Millennialists apply the
same prophecies to the second coming of Christ that the Jews do to
the first. Both have missed the true meaning of these and other
prophecies.
In this study we will only be able to look briefly at a few of
the most remarkable of these striking prophecies. It is plain from
a casual reading of the Scriptures that they foretell the coming of
a distinguished person who was to be Savior and Lord, as is
expressed by the Samaritan woman in John 4:25. This personage was
to be "the seed of woman" (a virgin); the "seed of Abraham in whom
all nations should be blessed"; "from the tribe of Judah"; from the
"seed of David according to the flesh," yet God was to be his
father and he was to be the Son of God; a "king" whom God would
"set upon His holy hill of Zion" on the "throne of David" in spite
of raging opposition of the people and rulers who made a "covenant
with death" to prevent it; a "Prince of Peace" whose rule would be
"forever"; a prophet like Moses (a deliverer and lawgiver); a
"priest forever after the order of Melchizedek"; "the anointed one"
or "Messiah"; the righteous "Branch"; "the corner stone"; "the
Shepherd of Israel," etc.; even the fact that he would be "from
everlasting" (Mic. 5:2).
There were prophecies of his birth; the time and place of his
birth; descriptive names he would bear; of his character and work;
of his dual nature of both God and man (God with us, Isa. 9:7); of
his death and resurrection. Scores of prophecies concerning the
Messiah and his coming, nature and work are to be found in a host
of TYPE and SYMBOL throughout the law and the prophets.
God's promise and prophecy of a Savior was first given as soon
as a Savior was needed, back in the Garden of Eden when sin first
entered into the world bringing death (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 5:12; 6:23;
etc.). In pronouncing the sentence of death upon Adam and Eve, God
continued by saying, "And I will put enmity between thee (the
serpent/Satan) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it
(seed of woman) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel" (Gen. 3:15). "Seed of woman" refers to the virgin birth of
the Savior. Isaiah, reaffirming this fact, said, "The Lord shall
give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isa. 7:14). The only person in
the history of the world that was born of the "seed of woman," and
not the seed of man and woman as all other people have been since
Adam and Eve, was Jesus Christ. Seven hundred years later Matthew
and Luke tell us that this "sign" was given (prophecy fulfilled)
when Jesus was born of the virgin Mary (1:23, 34-35), and the
apostle Paul refers to this prophecy in saying, "When the fulness
of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman...that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4).
Further, this "seed" was to be called Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, "God with us." How foolish of some, even today, to
contend that Jesus Christ was not God while he was in the flesh.
Further, the fact that woman has seed was written by Moses over
3000 years before it was discovered by modern science. Satan
bruised Christ's heel when he was crucified; and Christ bruised the
serpent's (Satan's) head when he was resurrected from the dead
(Heb. 2:14-15; Rev. 1:18).
The genealogies given in Matthew and Luke show that both Joseph
and Mary were descendants of David and therefore God's prophecies
regarding Christ being of the "seed of woman" and the "seed of
David according to the flesh" was literally fulfilled in spite of
the fact that the royal line of David had fallen into obscurity for
the past five hundred years (Acts 15:15-17). In his summary of the
Bible, the Risen Christ declares "I am the root and offspring of
David" (Rev. 22:16).
God further promised David that while he was "sleeping in his
tomb...that He would set up his seed in his kingdom on his throne
forever" (2 Sam. 7:12-14). God was careful to specify that the
particular "seed of David" whose kingdom and throne he would
establish forever was one to whom "I (God) will be His Father, and
He shall be My Son." This prophecy is quoted by the God-inspired
writer of the book of Hebrews and there declares to have been
fulfilled "when He (Christ) had by himself purged our sins (died on
the cross for our sins), and sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high" (Heb. 1:3-5). And this is precisely what the Holy
Spirit inspired apostle Peter says in Acts 2. Peter says, "Men and
brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that
he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us unto this day."
(Hence, David's body is in the grave, sleeping with his fathers.)
"Therefore being a prophet (inspired of God), and knowing that God
had sworn with an oath to him (David), that of the fruit of his
loins, according to the flesh (that is, seed out of his fleshly
body), He (God) would raise up Christ to sit on his (David's)
throne; He (David) seeing this (that God would raise up Christ to
sit on his throne -- He seeing this) before spake of the
resurrection of Christ, (when he said in Psalm 16 which Peter had
just quoted, v. 27) "that His soul was not left in hell (hades),
neither His flesh did see corruption." David had also referred to
this promise of God to him in Psalm 132.
Now good people, there you have it, clearly stated, from an
inspired apostle of the resurrected Christ! That Christ was
resurrected to sit on David's throne as prophesied by God some
thousand years earlier. That this prophecy was fulfilled by Christ
when he was resurrected "to sit on David's throne" is too plain to
misunderstand. Too bad for the Millennialists that Peter and David
said that God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-14 referred to
the resurrection of Christ, and not to the second Coming of Christ.
And, Peter's conclusion in verses 33 to 35 clinches this point
beyond all argument: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all
are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted
(Christ was then, and is now, "exalted" on David's throne), and
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He
(Christ) hath shed forth this which you now see and hear (the Holy
Spirit). For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith
himself, The Lord (God the Father) said unto my Lord (Christ), Sit
thou on my right hand, Until I make Thy foes Thy footstool." Here
the inspired Apostle Peter tells us that Christ was then, is now,
and will continue "being by the right hand of
God...exalted...sitting on David's throne...until God makes His
foes His footstool," that is, till the end of time. Referring to
this same prophecy, the Divinely inspired Apostle Paul says, "For
He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet, and the
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:25-26). The
"sitting" and the "reigning" are co-extensive. Christ began
reigning on David's throne when he began sitting on David's throne,
and he will sit and reign on David's throne until the last enemy,
death, is destroyed, and that will be at the second coming of
Christ which will be the end of time (1 Cor. 15:23-26, 51-55).
Furthermore, when Peter says, "And having received of the Father
the Promise of the Holy Spirit" he is saying that Christ had
already -- at that time, the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, when
Christ was "raised up to sit on his (David's) throne," that Christ
had already -- received this promise -- that is, the promise that
the Holy Spirit made through Nathan the prophet to David as we read
in 2 Samuel 7:12-14.
Peter's sermon on Pentecost also shows the fulfillment of many
other prophecies concerning the coming Christ, such as Psalm 2
(See: Acts 2:23; 4:25; 13:33; Heb. 1:5; 5:5); Psalm 110 (See: Heb.
5-7, note: 5:5-6); Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:1-12 (See: Rom. 15:12,
Acts 15:16-19; Eph.3:4-6; Rom. 11:5; John 1:17; Eph. 3:26-29);
Isaiah 28:14-18 (See: Acts 2:23; 4:25-28; 1 Pet. 2:4-10; Rom.
9:33); Isaiah 2:2-4 (See: Acts 2:17; Luke 24:46-47; Eph. 2:13-22);
Dan. 2:44; etc.
The betrayal, trial, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ
were foretold in such detail that unbelievers refuse to believe
that these prophecies were written 400 to a thousand years before
the fact. There is plenty of evidence that these books were written
at the time assigned to them, but the fact that a translation of
these books, known as the Septuagint, was made between 285 and 247
B.C., more than 250 years before Christ came, makes it absolutely
certain that they are given by divine inspiration, so why argue
over just how many more years before their fulfillment that they
were written. Indeed, the "law and the prophets" point to the
coming of Christ.
-- Via Guardian of Truth XL: 1 p. 2, January 4, 1996
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-2-
News & Notes
Let those who can pray be remembering James Bell in prayer. He
has been diagnosed with melanoma that has gone into his spine and
is causing him much difficulty.
The surgery for R.J. Evans went well last Tuesday (2/6). The
doctors were able to take care of the two adhesions that had formed
a blockage in his small intestine, "snipped" several others, and
added something to hinder more adhesional development. Initially,
R.J. was told that he might be able to go home by Sunday -- but he
went home sooner on Friday. He is doing well, but sore from the
surgery -- for the incision was made in the same place as
previously. His stitches and staples are to be removed next Monday
(2/19). His wife, Jackie, asks that we keep him in our prayers.
We were glad to hear that Lindsay Dawn Fleeman (Rick and
Kelli's baby) was also able to go home last Friday, after having to
remain in the hospital about 15 days after her birth. Her physical
problems have all cleared up; and in an update I received from Rick
just a few moments ago, "All indications are 100% healthy."
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MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST
1022 Myrtle Street
Denham Springs, LA 70726
(225) 664-8208
Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM
Wednesday: 7:00 PM
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520
e-mail: tedwards at onemain.com
web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go
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