The Importance of Biblical Prophecies

Introduction

Good morning. At the 9 o’clock hour this morning, we discussed the idea of why we should and could believe in God, the Creator. Of course, the question for many is one of science. For some it’s one of faith. For one, some it’s of the Bible. We have different answers, and we all come to our understanding of God in different ways. Now, of course, there has to be some standard if there is one God, and we find that in Hebrews chapter 11. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11 and verse 6, but without faith it is impossible to please him. But you must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Faith is necessary. Understanding God is critical and crucial. But this morning, unlike at the 9 o’clock hour, where we discussed, how would you explain to someone why you believe in God, perhaps especially apart from the Bible message, this morning we’re going to discuss why you should believe that the Bible is the Word of God. We’re going to study this morning the importance of biblical prophecies, and in particular, examine prophecies of Jesus. For all the things that can be said about Jesus historically, we do have a few things relatively down, and I need just one to match with the Bible record and to show you that prophecies will help us conclude conclusively, if you like that, conclude conclusively, that the Bible is indeed the inspired word of God, and no one could know the things about Jesus that they did unless it was from God.

Of course, the accepted fact is that Jesus lived around what we might call the turn of the calendar or the turn of the century when you say from BC to AD. Assuming that Jesus lived in that first century, then, we can prove through the prophecies that there was something about God in Jesus. First of all, only God can truly know the future. If you look with me in Isaiah chapter 41, you’re going to see that not only the Bible, but God, through the pages of the Bible, claims to be God. He claims to be God on the basis of a provable claim. He says that God can know what is going to happen. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 41, God invites a challenge. He says, You Israelites who are worshiping other gods, you give these false gods this challenge.

Look with me in Isaiah 41. See the challenge, and then we’ll follow it to understand who is God. In Isaiah 41 and verse 21. Set forth your case, says the Lord, bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob, verse 22, very important. Let them bring them and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome, or declare to us the things to come. Tell us what is to come hereafter that we may know that you are gods, do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing. An abomination is he who chooses you. I stirred up one from the north, and he has come.

From the rising of the sun, he shall call upon my name. He shall trample on rulers as on mortar, as the potter treads clay. Who declared it from the beginning that we might know and beforehand that we might say he is right? There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words. I was the first to say, Zion, behold, here they are, and I give Jerusalem a herald of good news. But when I look, there is no one, among these, there is no counselor who, when I ask, gives an answer. You see the challenge in verse 21. Set forth your case. What is the case? In verse 22 and 23, we are to do what? See that the gods can tell us what has happened and why, and tell us, most importantly, in an attestable way, what is to come.

If something is God, if a being is God, whether it’s an idol or the true Jehovah God, God, who operates outside the boundaries of time, can tell you what is going to happen. And while the prophets in the Old Testament were more than just fortune tellers or future tellers, as we often sometimes degrade them to, they were spokesmen for God. They did in many cases identify future events that cannot be explained unless it was from God. In Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 1, you see one prophecy that does not have to do with Jesus. Thinking of Isaiah as prophesying around 739 to 690 BC, around 740, you might say, for round purposes to 690 BC. He correctly identifies a ruler who would take care of God’s people.

Isaiah 45 and verse 1. Thus says the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him, that gates may not be closed. Guess who it was that over a hundred years later would allow the Israelites to return from their captivity? God’s servant, who he had the right hand by the name of, you guessed it, King Cyrus. God knows the future. We’re going to set forth our case as God has told us to, and to test the spirits, as according to 1 John and 4 and verse 1, to see if what they say is so, if it is right. If God has identified what is to come, we can trust him.

1. Jesus Born in Bethlehem

We must obey him and submit to him. And of course, his prophecies, if proven true, stand for themselves. So we’re going to look at seven pivotal prophecies of Jesus. Why should we believe the Bible is from God? Not just because it claims it, although it does, not just because in 2 Peter chapter 1 and 2 Timothy chapter 3 and Ephesians chapter 3, God claims, and his messengers claim that it’s inspired, but because the Bible shows us through fulfilled prophecy that we can believe. The first one of these is Jesus being born in Bethlehem. If you’ll turn your Old Testament with me to Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, I really hope you have your Bibles, whether electronically or paper. We’re going to be going through a lot of prophecies this morning.

So find Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 with me. Micah chapter 5 and verse 2. As you’re finding that little small book in the minor prophet section of the Old Testament, consider that one fact that we accepted that there is a historical Jesus, and he lived in the first century A.D. This is of crucial importance. Because not only did many of the minor prophets speak hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born. There’s one thing that even proves that if you don’t like the Bible or you don’t like the way we’ve dated it, there’s something called the Septuagint translation of the Bible. That was taking the Hebrew Old Testament, including Micah and Isaiah, and translating it into Greek. And that happened generously over a hundred years before Jesus was ever born.

Some would argue two, three, possibly four hundred years before Jesus was born. But we’ll be generous and we’ll be kind of skeptical, and we’ll say just a hundred years before Jesus was born, the Old Testament Hebrew scripture was translated into Greek. That’s critical because that means it could not be changed or made up as we go. You see the importance beginning in Micah 5 and verse 2. But you, O Bethlehem, Iphritha, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from on old, from ancient days. Where would this ruler come from? Bethlehem. We would expect to find the ruler of Israel to come then from Bethlehem.

Do we in the New Testament? Look with me in Matthew chapter 2. Keep in mind this prophecy would have been sealed and translated into a different language before the historical Jesus was ever born. And Matthew chapter 2, note what Matthew says about Jesus. Matthew chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. Matthew chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled. And all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

Verse 5, how did they know where he would be born? Why did they go to worship him? Verse 5, they told him, and Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet, and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. Matthew records that as the wise men were having this discussion with Herod, as Herod is trying to identify where will Jesus be born, where will the one who is described as in verse 2, the king of the Jews, going to be born? Where did they look at? Prophecy of Micah, chapter 5, and verse 2. Even being generous and ignoring the fact that Micah likely wrote hundreds of years before Jesus.

If we pretended that the translation of the Greek Old Testament from the Hebrew was when it was written, whoever wrote Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 knew that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem over a hundred years before Jesus was ever born there. That poses a problem for anyone who looks at the Bible and tries to examine its worthiness. If that is true, if that’s what they took at the time, and that’s how we understand these to work together to say, we have a dilemma. Either the word of God is inspired, whoever wrote Micah chapter 5 was inspired by God to know these events that were to come in the future. Remember, that was the challenge in Isaiah 41. And God has inspired the Old Testament scripture and inspired it, and Jesus came as God had foretold hundreds of years before.

Or Jesus got to choose where he would be born in order to fix the prophecy to be right. Perhaps you’ve heard that. The criticism of biblical prophecy is maybe the apostles and Jesus just went back and looked at that record that had been sealed of prophecies and just made it to where they did what it said. I’m going to show you this morning that Jesus could not have done that and he would not have done that. And first of all, Micah chapter 5, Jesus, if he was just a man, could not have chosen where he was born. Who can choose where they’re born, though? God could. If we want to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God and has the power to choose where he’d be born to match the prophecy, I’ll even give you that.

But that means also that just as Jesus said in the book of John, I and the Father are one. It would prove that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is God. But the truth of the matter is that’s not what to take. What to take is that Micah knew hundreds of years, a hundred years before Jesus could have ever been born, he knew he would be born in Bethlehem, and the people contemporaneously of Jesus’ birth knew it too. Did you see that reasoning when Herod’s trying to find him? They said, We know the prophecy. Did you see that they called him King of the Jews? That they wanted to know where the leader of Israel would be. They knew to check the Old Testament scripture.

2. Jesus Is the Son of God

Consider, secondly, with me that Jesus is the Son of God was part of the biblical prophecy. In the book of Psalms, in the book of Psalms, in Psalm 2, the second Psalm. Consider this prophecy in Psalm 2 and verse 7. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Who would that be possibly about? The good news is, even though this was sealed and translated over a hundred years before the New Testament was written, or even the events in it, transpired. Look at Matthew chapter 3. We don’t have to doubt who was the only begotten Son of God, who was it? How do we understand who he is to be? In Matthew chapter 3, we have the answer.

In Matthew chapter 3 and verse 17, consider the words of the New Testament writer. Matthew chapter 3 and verse 17, as you have Jesus before the Lord in verse 13 beginning. Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to John to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and you do come to me. But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, he immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven came saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

3. Born in a Particular Lineage

Who is the begotten Son of God? Jesus. Who did the New Testament writers understand him to be? Jesus. When Jesus tells John the Baptist in verse 15, I am here to fulfill all righteousness, who did he understand that he was following in the footsteps of? God who sent him. God who through the prophetic writers had inspired the future to tell, to point out who would the Christ be, who would be the Son of God. And again, the question is asked whoever wrote Psalm 2? Whoever would write Psalm 2 and verse 7, the seventh verse, as we have it translated. Who would know about Jesus? Who would know that this would come to pass unless they were from God? Consider five more with me. That Jesus would be not only born in a particular place, but that he would be born in a particular lineage.

Here’s the other thing that’s problematic about this. Not only could Jesus not choose unless he was God where he could be born, he also couldn’t choose whose lineage he would be in. And a problem for an imposter would be guess who kept very diligent records? The Jews. The Jews kept incredibly diligent records because it was important to them to know who was not only in the lineage of Abraham to be a Jew themselves, but who was in the royal lineage. If whoever this is, as we know from the Old Testament, is going to sit at the right hand of God, going to sit on David’s throne in passages we’ll examine in a moment, they had to be from whose lineage? From the lineage of David. And Genesis chapter 12, going all the way back into the first book of the Bible, in Genesis chapter 12, we have these three promises that are made to Abraham.

In Genesis chapter 12, beginning in verse 1, the Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse, and notice this last part. In you, Abraham, all families of the earth will be blessed. Not surprisingly, in Galatians 3 29, we recognize if you are Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. What promise? That through the seed of Abraham, all families of the earth will be blessed. Jesus, being the Son of God, born in Bethlehem, being from the lineage of Abraham, was the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

He was in the lineage of Abraham. Also in Isaiah chapter 11, we see that whoever this ruler would be, whether you call him Jesus of Nazareth or not, would have to be from David’s lineage. Go back to the book of Isaiah, and again, likely written seven centuries before Jesus was born. In Isaiah chapter 11 and verse 1. There shall come from a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from its roots shall bear fruit. 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. 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, 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. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. In verse 1, it says, It will be the shoot from the stump of Jesse, who was David’s father. Whoever this would be, they would come from the lineage of Abraham and David. Jews kept careful record. Matthew’s gospel was for the Jews. Let’s see what we find. In Matthew chapter 1, the very first verse of Matthew’s account. In Matthew 1, we don’t have to read all the names. We don’t have to track the entire genealogy because it was so important to the Jews that whoever be the chosen Messiah, that they come from Abraham and David, guess where Matthew put it right away.

Matthew 1 and verse 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham. Of course, he even starts with Abraham and works his way down, of course, through David all the way to Jesus. But as you see, Jesus was born not just in Bethlehem as was foretold, that would be impossible for humans to do on their own. But Jesus was born in the family of both Abraham and David, men who predated him by thousands of years. When you think about the Bible record and you think about prophecy, we have to understand if Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and he was from the linge of Abraham and David. What other explanation is there than that God, through the prophets, foretold of Jesus the Christ, and that our God is to be worshipped and praised, and Jesus is the promised Messiah.

4. Where Jesus Would Speak

On that note, we see that Jesus would be born of a virgin in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. And when we look at Luke chapter 1, verses 34 and 35, Jesus was born just so from Mary. We remember the story of Mary and Joseph, and they weren’t married, and yet Mary was pregnant with Jesus. So Jesus was born of a virgin. But consider the following. Where Jesus would speak again. We have this issue in Isaiah chapter 9. I hope you’re still in Isaiah 11. In Isaiah chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. Consider this powerful verse that normally we think of verse 6 and 7 for Jesus, but verse 1 and 2 alone. But there will be no gloom for her who is in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun in 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, or Galilee of the Gentiles. This is where Jesus would speak. We expect to find him the exact place that Isaiah said he would, or he is not the Christ, or this is not inspired by God. But we find just so in Matthew chapter 4. Turneth me back to Matthew chapter 4. We have just three prophecies left. In Matthew chapter 4, beginning in verse 12, where is it that Jesus would prophesy? Where did he begin his ministry? You guessed it, just where Isaiah said he would. In Matthew 4 and verse 12, now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

And leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light. And for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. We see again that Isaiah, the Old Testament prophets, knew who Jesus would be, where he would be born, whose family he would be born into, and where in his adult life and ministry, as we call it, he would even speak and teach. And of course, by the way, going back to Matthew, who found it so important to write this gospel that you might say is tailored to the Jews, says, You know the passage that Jesus fulfilled.

5. Jesus Would Be Crucified for Our Sins

You know that this has been on the records. Where was Jesus going to prophesy? In the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. What would Jesus do in that land? He would be speaking the words of life. In verse 17, by the way, from that time Jesus began to preach what important message? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. If Jesus is the prophesied Lord, that had a lot of implications for the Jews, and it certainly has a lot of implications for us. But consider with me two final prophecies. One, that Jesus would be crucified for our sins. If I was to ask somebody, and we’ll turn to Isaiah chapter 53, as you’re turning, if I were to ask someone, what is the most well-known prophecy of Jesus, it would probably be that he would be crucified on the cross for our sins.

As we think about Isaiah 53, though, and we read about that Jesus would die in our place, in our stead. I said this morning you could conclude through prophecy that Jesus could not fulfill prophecy unless he was with God or was prophesied by God, and he would not, unless he was God or submissive to God’s will. Because when you see in Isaiah chapter 53 what Jesus did, ask yourself as we’re reading these words about our Savior who died in our stead, would anybody do this for a hoax? Would anybody do this? The sealed prophecy from likely hundreds of years, but again, we’ll be kind and say over a hundred years before. Would they do it just to match, just to throw people off? Would they do this for a hoax?

And Isaiah 53, beginning in verse 4. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we assumed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. 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. 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. 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 before its shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away and asked for his generation who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.

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. 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 prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand, 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 iniquity. 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.

Jesus died on the cross in one of the most cruel, wicked, and vile ways that man has ever devised to put someone to death. Jesus took on himself.

Either because he was the prophesied Messiah and Savior, who died, who was oppressed on our behalf, who esteemed himself stricken so that we might be guilt free. Or he died for a hoax. We know that Jesus was put to death. That Jesus did die. Did he die just to check off the box? So that he would delude people for generations and centuries. So that 2,000 years later that he could say from his place beyond the grave, I lied and they fell for it. Not at all. In fact, the very opposite. When we read like in Matthew 26 and 27, the crucifixion account of Jesus, how he faced Pilate, and even though he was guiltless, he was accused of many terrible things. How he was beaten. He was scourged, a process that in and of itself often left its victims for dead.

He then carried his cross, following under the weight of it all the way to the cross where he hung and was crucified because of my sin. And because of your sin. Did he do that for a hoax? To mess with people, to convince us of a lie? Of course not. He could not have chosen to choose where he’d be born and what family he’d be born into unless he was God, and he would not have chosen to be crucified for the sins of the people who hated and despised him most, even if he could, unless he was God and from God. You think about Romans chapter 5, the passage that was read this morning, but God demonstrates his own love towards us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

In the midst of that passage in verses 6 through 10, you have the idea that a good man would be someone worth dying for, or maybe even a good man would die for somebody they loved. But Jesus didn’t just die for people who loved him or whom he loved. He died for the sins of the whole world, people who were actively, according to verse 6, 8, and 10, sinners, enemies, weak and ungodly, Jesus died for me. Even when I didn’t know who he was, and when I would reject him with my life. If Jesus is God, and this prophecy is true, we know that God inspired the prophets. We know that Jesus is the Son of God, and we need to praise God that we can be forgiven.

Amen. We serve a powerful God who has made forgiveness possible. It is life changing and is life altering to accept that the Bible is inspired by the words of God, and that these are the words of life through Jesus and his great sacrifice.

6. Seated at the Right Hand of God

In Psalm 110 and verse 1, look with me at the 110th Psalm in verse 1. We see, where is Jesus now? Who could possibly know that? Who could make such a claim? In Psalm 110 and verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Sound familiar? Those words are found in Acts chapter 2. Consider what Peter does in preaching to many a Jew who were contemporaneous of Jesus and even knew that he was crucified. Consider in Acts chapter 2. Consider how absurd what Peter says in Acts 2 would be to a group of people who would have known about historical Jesus, that Jesus was crucified. Think about the audacity of the claims of Peter was lying, but then otherwise think about the truth and the magnification of the glory of Jesus if what Peter says is true in Acts 2 and verse 29.

He says, Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried in his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ. That he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh seek corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, here it is.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool, and look at verse 36. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain. Know for sure this Jesus whom you saw crucified, this Jesus who Peter says God resurrected, know for certain that God has made him what? Both Lord and Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified. There’s a sense in which what Peter says here is figurative. Not everyone there put Jesus’ hands on the cross. Likely no one there was involved in the scourging, although it’s possible. Certainly no one there seems to include Pilate. But Peter recognized that these are people who knew about Jesus. They knew his claims, they’d have heard of his miracles, and many rejected and hated him because of his following and because of the truth with which Jesus spoke.

Conclusion

Peter says, not only was Jesus crucified and you crucify him, not only did God resurrect him, but this Jesus is both Lord and Christ. And where is he seated? At the right hand of God. That’s crucially important to us this morning, because as we take two conclusions, if the prophecies are true, then the Bible is the word of God. And if prophecy has no other answer, then we have to decide that this prophecy is from a mind greater than ours, that it is from God Himself. The Bible is true. And that means also that Jesus is our King. In Colossians 1 and verse 13, Paul says that God has transferred us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of who? His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus is our King. If the Bible is really the words of God, if prophecy demands that conclusion be reached, as we’ve set forth the case and we found that God shines through, that we need to submit to God, and we need to submit to Jesus, who is our King, who is the one whom God made both Lord and Christ. Who Peter said in Acts 2, verse 36, whom you crucified. If the Bible is the word of God, I am bound by it. If Jesus is my king, I am bound to his kingdom. I can choose just like in any nation to rebel against my king. I can see that there is a God and reject him. But we know that that doesn’t mean he stops existing.

That doesn’t mean he never was there. And it also doesn’t mean he’s not waiting, with his arms outstretched for a willing and disobedient people to return home, just like the prodigal father in Luke 15. Consider this morning that the Bible is true, not because it says it’s true, not because people think it’s true, but because God inspired these words of life. And if we recognize that God inspired these words of life, I have to change all that I am, all that I’ve thought I could be, and recognize that I need to conform myself to the image of his son. If you’re here this morning, you’ve never become a Christian, recognize Jesus is our King. He was the crucified Messiah from the lineage of Abraham and David.

He is at the right hand of God. Choose to submit to him today. Believe. Repent of your sins of rejection of him. Confess him as Lord and Christ, and be baptized into his kingdom, submitting to our King, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Maybe you’re a Christian here who’s lost your way, you’ve been doubting, you’ve not had the faith that is required to please God. Believe that he is. Believe that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. If you’ve lost your way, we can pray with you, we can pray for you. We’re walking together as we diligently seek to please our God. If we can help you in any way, come forward now as we stand and sing.