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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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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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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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evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520
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