Dec 17, 2017
by: Jack Lash Series: 2Corinthians: Paul's Most Underappreciated Epistle | Category: Advent | Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:20
- Introduction
A. 2Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.
B. Review
1. First week: Eden, Abraham, Moses
2. Last week: a selection of promises made that God’s people would be restored to the promised land after the Babylonian exile
a. You see, the fact is that mankind had been in exile ever since Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden. And Jesus came to restore man to the paradise of God’s presence and favor.
b. That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear
C. Next week: the second part of the verse
D. That leaves us with this morning to finish talking about how all the promises of God find their YES in Christ Jesus.
1. This is a daunting task. You could write books about all the promises of God finding their YES in Jesus.
2. Carl Sharsmith, longtime Yosemite ranger-naturalist, "What would you do if you had only one day in Yosemite National Park?" "Madam," he replied, "I'd go sit by the Merced River and cry!"
E. So, here’s what we’re going to do: Instead of focusing on one or a few more promises, I’m going to give you a sampling of promises which we haven’t yet spoken about.
F. This technique can have two uses.
1. For those well-acquainted with the Scriptures, each one can stir up your memory of the promise.
2. For those not well-acquainted with the Scriptures, each one can be a preview of coming attractions in your reading of God's word. That's why I'm giving you a print-out.
a. The glory of these is in drilling down into them, not just listing them.
b. Pre-drilled holes to get you started
3. For most of you, it will be a mixture.
II. There are a number of different kinds of promises in the OT.
A. Messianic prophecies
1. Promises which the NT tells us were fulfilled in the coming of Christ
2. Promises which the NT tells us were fulfilled in Christ but don’t look like they were about Him
3. Promises which the NT doesn’t mention but which seem obviously to be referring to Jesus
B. Messianic themes
1. Water in the wilderness — Is.35:1-2
a. People who know the wilderness know the transforming power of water
2. Shepherd of Israel — Ezek.34
3. Healing — Is.35:4-10
4. Restoration — brought back home (last week)
5. Husband – Hosea, esp.3:5, Isaiah 54:5ff. (Tim Keller sermon, “The True Bridegroom”), Jer.2-4
C. General promises
1. Promises of divine deliverance/help, presence, etc.
2. Promises to be in relationship with His people
3. God’s promises to help and to forgive and to deliver and to shield and to take His people to Himself find their ’YES!’ in Christ Jesus. He is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises. He is God’s great ‘YES!’
4. E.g. Zephaniah 3:14–20 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. 16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. 17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 18 I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. 19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the LORD.
D. Prophet priest king
1. Prophet — Moses
2. priest
3. king
a. Zechariah 9:9–13 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. 11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. 13 For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
E. History, prophets, psalms, law
1. History
a. Stories
(1) Manna
(2) Ark
b. pictures
(1) Melchizedek
c. promises
2. prophets
a. promises
b. assurances
c. visions
3. psalms
a. suffering
b. messianic – 22, 85,
c. Every psalm is a messianic psalm
4. Law
a. Moral law is a description of Jesus.
b. Sacrifices
c. righteousness
III. Important promises (There are many free commentaries on biblehub.com.)
A. When the people of Israel were walking through wilderness, they came near Moab. In fear, Balak the king of Moab commissioned Balaam to prophecy against Israel. However, God won’t allow Balaam to prophecy against Israel. Not only does he prophecy in favor of Israel, but he prophecies of Israel’s coming messiah, who will crush the heads of all the enemies of God’s people.
1. Numbers 24:17–19 “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. 18 Edom shall be dispossessed; Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly. 19 And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of cities!”
B. Son of David (2Sam.7:16, 25-26; 1Kg.11:36; 1Chron.17:23-27; 2Chron.21:7; Ps.89:3-4; 132:10-12)
1. Story
a. David is a man with a heart after God who is anointed as king. God grants him great success.
b. Everything was OK because (unlike Saul before him) the king was right with God.
c. And then David wants to build a temple. But, through Nathan the prophet, God says, No, I want your son to build it. God says, “When you come to the end of your life, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, & I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” 2Sam.7:12-13
2. And God says many other things about this promised Son of David.
a. 1Chronicles 17:13 “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.”
b. Psalm 89:36 “His offspring shall endure forever.”
c. Isaiah 9:7 “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”
3. This promise finds its YES in Christ Jesus. He is the promised Son of David. He is the king of a holy nation, a heavenly kingdom. And Jesus is indeed building God’s temple, His church, just as God said – 1Peter 2:4-11.
C. And speaking about building God’s temple, we find Cornerstone promises. Not only is Jesus the builder of the temple, but He is also the cornerstone.
1. Isaiah 28:16 Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation.”
2. Psalm 118:22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
D. Stem or rod of Jesse
1. Is.11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2. This is referring to the dynasty of David. Jesse was David’s father. And when eventually Babylon came and destroyed Judah, the dynasty was cut off, like a tree is cut, leaving the stump. But sometimes when you chop down a tree, and think it’s dead, after a while a shoot begins to grow up from that stump.
3. And in Is.11:1 God says that this is what’s going to happen to the dynasty of David. It’s going to get cut off, but then a shoot is going to come forth from the stump. (The shoot/branch is Jesus.)
E. The branch
1. Isaiah 11:1–10 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. 6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (See also Isaiah 4:2 “In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth [will] be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.” And Is.6:13.)
a. V.1 says He was the shoot springing forth from the stump of Jesse. V.10 says He is the root of Jesse. He is David's son AND David's Lord.
2. Jeremiah 23:5-6 "Behold, [the] days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 "In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, 'The LORD our righteousness.' (NASB)
3. Jeremiah 33:15 'In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth.
4. Zechariah 3:8 'Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you-- indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.
5. Zechariah 6:12 "Then say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts," Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD.
6. Stories
a. Exodus 15:25 Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and he threw [it] into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.
b. Leviticus 23:40 Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
c. 2Kings 6:6 Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw [it] in there, and made the iron float.
d. The Triumphal Entry
e. “Branch” is never used as a title in the NT. Yet there are hints of that concept’s influence, as in the familiar “vine and branches” metaphor (Jn 15:1–8), in the use of palm branches at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (12:13; cf. Mk 11:8 and parallels), and possibly in the origin of the titles “Righteous One” (Acts 3:14; 7:52; cf. Jas 5:6) and “Just One” (Acts 22:14). Some have also taken an enigmatic reference to Christ, “He shall be called a Nazarene” as an allusion to the “branch” because in Isaiah 11:1 and other references NETZER is similar to “Nazarene.” – Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (p. 377).
F. The One anointed with the HS
1. Is.11:2 the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him
2. Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him.
3. Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.
4. The HS came upon Jesus at His baptism: Luke 3:21-22 “Now it came about when all the people were baptized, that Jesus also was baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased."”
5. After this something has changed. From this point on Jesus is spoken of as being led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:1 picks up the story, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness.” Luke 4:14 says, “And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit; and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.”
6. And then in Luke 4:18 Jesus Himself says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden.”
7. Acts 10:38 "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power.”
8. Anointed One = Christ = Messiah
9. Psalm 2 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
G. Psalm 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
1. David wrote this. He had come to see that the son God promised Him, the messiah, was his Lord.
2. The LORD is Yahweh.
3. Jesus uses this to prove who He is: Matt.22:41-46.
4. Just as in Ps.2, God was promising that He would make the nations the inheritance and possession of His Son, the Messiah.
H. Isaiah 7-9 (I preached on this in 2002.)
1. Isaiah 7:14 The Lord himself will give you (Ahaz) a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
2. Isaiah 9:1–7 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 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, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
I. Is.40
1. Is.40-66 as if in the exile
2. Handel’s Messiah
3. Isaiah 40:1-5 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double (i.e. plenty) for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
J. Suffering servant
1. Isaiah 52:13–53:12 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. 14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— 15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. 53:1 He grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
K. Isaiah 49:6–7 “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” 7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
1. V.6 Light to the Gentiles (See also Isaiah 55:4–5.)
2. V.7 from despised to esteemed. What a verse!
a. It begins by telling who is speaking: Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his (Israel’s) Holy One.
b. Then it tells who the LORD is speaking to: to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers (the suffering servant of Is.52&53 above)
c. Then, it tells us what the LORD tells the suffering servant is going to happen: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves.” See Phil.2:8-11.
d. Finally, it tells us why this radical shift from humiliation to glorification takes place: “because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
e. Jesus was indeed "deeply despised" and "abhorred by the nation" of Israel. However, in the end, every knee will bow and every tongue confess, even the knees and tongues on kings, princes and rulers. “This worthless, stinking slave becomes the astonishment of kings, who stand up from their thrones in awed respect, and princes, who prostrate themselves before the true King...What will account for this dramatic change in the end? It is because of the faithfulness of the Holy One of Israel, the one who had called and chosen his Servant. It is not because the Servant himself has accomplished anything by himself; the Servant will not serve his own glory; he will always point to Another.” – Oswalt
L. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2
1. Great statue with four parts, representing four kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.
2. Daniel 2:34–35 A stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet, and broke the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold in pieces, and the wind carried them away. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
3. Daniel 2:44–45 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.
M. Son of Man in Daniel 7:13–14 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
1. The Son of Man is the title which Jesus used most frequently to refer to Himself.
N. Joshua the high priest in Zechariah 3:1–10 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by. 6 And the angel of the LORD solemnly assured Joshua, 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”
1. The high priest Joshua (representing Israel) is clothed in filthy garments. (V.3)
2. Satan the accuser is accusing him. (1)
3. The Lord rebukes Satan and orders the filthy garments removed and replaced by pure ones. (4)
4. This is a sign: I’ll bring my servant the Branch and remove the iniquity of the land in a single day. (8-9) (And remember that Joshua [Yeshua] is Hebrew for Jesus.)
O. Malachi 4 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts. 4 Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
1. Last words before Jesus
2. Talking about a day coming when the wicked will be destroyed but those who fear the Lord will rejoice.
3. Mary bounding down to Elizabeth’s house: v.2 But for you who fear my name, you shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
IV. Application: All the promises of God find their YES in Jesus.
A. The OT leaves us with more loose ends than a mountain of shoe laces.
1. This verse tells us that they are tied up by the coming of Jesus.
2. When you consider the OT promises of future redemption, it’s hard to imagine how they could all be fulfilled by one person. It’s just more than one man can be, more than one man can do. But, of course, Jesus is more than a man.
3. And the fact is, that ALL the promises of God find their YES in Jesus.
B. Jesus is the yes to God’s promises and also the YES to all our needs and deep desires.
1. Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring
C. Jesus is the One we were made for.
1. We are born to be loved. And we look for love in all sorts of places. But ultimately it can only be found in Jesus.
2. The one who has Jesus has life, and the one who doesn’t have Jesus doesn’t have life.
D. If I call a plumber, it’s not because I want the plumber. It’s because I want something fixed. The plumber is just the tool to get the job done. The plumber is the means to the end.
1. That’s not like it is with Jesus.
E. Most people in our society see religion as a tool to find inner peace (inner peace being the goal).
1. I’m not against inner peace, but Christianity isn’t for finding inner peace, it’s for finding Jesus.
2. Jesus isn’t a tool for getting what you really want, whether it’s healing, husband, heaven, or help being a good person!
3. Jesus is the prize and the goal! Jesus is the means and the end!
F. Jesus saves?
1. The word save implies some kind of danger that one is saved from. But Christ’s salvation is much more than just being saved from hell. It’s being saved to Him.
2. Yes, Jesus is the one who saves us, but Jesus is also our salvation. We are saved by Jesus unto Jesus.
3. Salvation is Jesus.
4. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. — Phil.1:21
5. It’s not even all about forgiveness. Forgiveness is all about fixing our relationship with Jesus.
6. Paradise is having Jesus. Misery is not having Jesus.
7. If you don’t like Jesus, you wouldn’t like heaven.
8. Salvation is obtaining Jesus.
G. All God is for us is found in Jesus.
1. Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God.
2. Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
3. John 14:9 Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father.
a. Jesus is God showing Himself to us!
4. All God has for us, all God is for us is summed up in Jesus.
H. This is why Paul’s famous prayer in Eph. 1:16-21 is a prayer to open the eyes of believers to how rich they are because they have Jesus.
I. We have looked briefly at a few of the OT’s stunning masterpiece portraits of Jesus.
1. Our subject matter this morning has been the same as during the walk on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:12-35.
2. I hope this examination of Christ in the OT makes your heart burn as it did for those two disciples.
3. Some people would have been bored on the road to Emmaus. They need the eyes of their hearts opened!
4. The portraits of Jesus are even more spectacular and plentiful in the NT.
5. And yet it’s so much greater than all this! John 21:25 “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.”
6. What a rich picture the Bible paints of Jesus! What a Savior!
J. All the arrows of the Bible point us to Jesus.
1. This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to Him! Worship Him! Rely on Him!
2. What are you going to do? Listen to Him? Worship Him? Rely on Him? Look to Him? Cry out to Him to open your eyes?
3. Or be bored with the One who came from heaven? Ignore the water of life? Move on without Him who is love? Run away from hope?
4. Jesus holds out His arms to you. Come to Him! Run into His arms! Give yourself to the One who gave Himself for you!