The Advent of Messiah

Gregory Koukl

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Profile of a Savior

He would be a man.

1.  Seed of woman 
Gen 3:15  "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."
Gal 4:4  "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law."
2.  A descendant of Abraham (a Jew)
Gen 12:3   "In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
Gal 3:14  "In Jesus the Messiah the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
Matthew 1:1-2,16
3.  A  descendant of David
II Sam 7:12-16  "I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish His kingdom...And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever." 
Matt 1:1  "Jesus the Messiah, the son of David...."
4.  Born in Bethlehem
Micah 5:2  "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah...from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler of Israel.
Matt 2:1  "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea."
5.  483 years after the rebuilding of Jerusalem 
Dan 9:25  "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks [lit. 'sevens'] and sixty-two weeks."
Lk 19:41,42,44  "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace!  But now they have been hidden from your eyes...because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
6.  Brutally executed by crucifixion
Ps 22  This entire Psalm reads like a detailed depiction of death on the cross long before such executions were practiced.   Derek Kidner says, "No Christian can read this without being vividly confronted with the crucifixion" (p.105).
Zech 12:10  "They will look on me whom they have pierced...."
Is 53:5  "He was pierced through for our transgressions."
Ps 22:16  "They pierced my hands and my feet."
Matt 27:33-56
Lk 23:33-49
Jn 19:16-30
8.  A servant who would suffer for the sins of Israel, and ultimately for mankind, but be rejected by His own people
Is 53  This long passage is worthy of being read completely.  It contains many prophesies that were fulfilled on the day of Jesus' death.
Matt 20:28  "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
9.  Be raised from the dead
Ps 16:9b-10  "My flesh also will dwell securely.  For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; neither will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay."
Acts 1:3  "To these [apostles] He presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days..." 
Acts 2:31-32  "[David] looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ....This Jesus God raised up again, to which we all are witnesses."

But He would not an ordinary man.

1.  Born of a virgin
Is 7:14  "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign; behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son."
Matt 1:18,24,25  "She was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.  And Joseph...kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus."  
2.  Not a regular descendant of Adam
If he was born of man He would be a slave to sin also.  He must have a miraculous birth.

a.  Jesus was born, or begotten, of God.

1)  Ps 2:7. cf Heb 1:5, 5:5  "He said to me, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'"
2)  Acts 13:32-33  "We preach to you the good news of the promise made to our fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'"
3)  Begotten:  bringing forth from one's self.  Jesus is God's one and only bringing forth of Himself. 
a)  Just as a human can only "beget" a human, God can only "beget" God.
b)  Jesus' claim to be the Son of God was actually a claim to deity, and the Jews knew it (see Jn 5:18).

b.  Jesus was sinless.  Even His enemies could find no sin in Him.

3.  God Himself 

a.  Micah 5:2  "His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity."
b.  Is 7:14  "...you shall call His name Immanuel" [God with us].
c.  Is 9:6 
1)  "Mighty God" [El Gibor], same as Jer 32:17-18 "Ah Lord God!  Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by your great power....O great and mighty God.  The Lord of hosts is His name."
2)  "Eternal Father"
d.  God is coming to visit this planet.
1)  Mal 3:1 "Behold I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me."
2)  Is 40:3-5 "A voice is calling, 'Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.  Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low.'"  
e.  Luke 3:4-6 John the Baptist identifies himself as the voice of Isaiah 40:3-5.
f.  John the Baptist came to bear witness to Jesus.
1)  Jn 1:30  "This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me."
2)  Jn 1:34  "I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."
g.  Specific Scriptures
1)  Jn 1:1  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."
2)  Col 1:15, 19  "And He is the image of the invisible God....For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him."
3)  Heb 1:3  "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power."
4)  Rom 9:5   "...from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever."
h.  Old Testament texts referring to Yahweh God and applied to Jesus in the New Testament:
1) Every knee shall bow
a)  Is 45:23  "I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, that to Me ['I am God' v. 22] every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."
b)  Phil 2:10  "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
2)  No other savior
a)  Is 43:11  "I, even I, am the Lord; and there is no savior besides Me."
b)  2 Pet 1:1  "...by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ."
3)  Only one rock
a)  Is 44:8  "Is there any God besides me, or is there any other Rock?  I know of none."
b)  1 Cor 10:4  "All ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ."
4)  In Heb 1:10-11 the writer quotes from Ps 102:25, which applied to Yahweh, and then applies it to Christ:
"Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth....Thou art the same, and Thy years will not come to an end."

The Kenosis, the Hypostatic Union, the Deity of Christ.

God visits the earth.

1.  In form:  theophany
a.  God reveals Himself in some outward, physical manifestation, either voice or apparition, sometimes referred to as "the Angel of the Lord," though not the very substance of God Himself (ISBE, Vol..4, p.829).
b.  Some examples are the Lord appearing to Abraham at the Oaks of Mamre (Gen 18:1), Moses and the burning bush (Ex. 3:2), and Jacob wrestling with a "man" (Gen 32:24-30).
2.  In substance:  incarnation
a.  Micah 5:2 says He was to be born in Bethlehem (humanity), yet He was from everlasting to everlasting to everlasting (deity). 
b.  John 1:1,14 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [deity]....And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory [humanity]...."

The kenosis:  the choice of the Son to empty Himself of His divine rights by becoming a man, and also emptying Himself of His human rights by becoming a servant .

1.  Phil 2:5-8
"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
2.  Jesus never ceased being God.
a.  Jesus laid aside only His privileges of deity, not His divine nature.  He had to learn like we do, to grow in understanding and knowledge (Lk 2:52).  Some contend, as I do, that on earth Jesus did not make use of His own powers of diety; others contend that He did. 
b.  Because of His humbling and obedience, God the Father highly exalted Jesus:  "...that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord...." (Phil 2:9-11).
3.  As one of my students put it, "God, what a man!  Man, what a God!"

The hypostatic union:  In the one person of Jesus the Messiah there were two natures:  undiminished deity and true humanity.   Jesus was fully God and fully man.

1.  Isaiah 9:6 suggests the dual nature of Jesus: 
a.  His humanity:  "A child is born."
b.  His deity:  "A Son is given."
2.  Jesus, however, was a different person from the Father.
a.  Sometimes He spoke in reference to His deity:  "I and the Father are one ['one essence,' lit.]." (Jn 10:30)
b.  Sometimes He spoke in reference to His humanity:  "...the Father is greater than I"  (Jn 14:28).
c.  "In Jesus' humanity, He is subject to the Father because the Father is greater than His humanity.  But in His deity, He is co-equal with God the Father because He is of one essence with Him" (Lindsey, p.81).
D.  The Trinity
1.  St. Augustine's definition is the classic one:  "So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and yet they are not three Gods but one God."
2.  The term "Trinity" is a 2nd century term not found in the Bible, but is used to explain specific statements made about God that are taught in the Scripture.   The Trinity is not a problem; it's a solution.

The Messiah's Heralds

*Note the themes emphasized:

Angels

1.  Gabriel
a.  Appears to Zacharias (Lk 1:8-20)
Referring to John the Baptist:  "He will be great in the sight of the Lord...and be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.  And he will turn back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God.  And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children,  and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (15-17).
b.  Appears to Mary (Lk 1:26-38)
"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.  He will be great and be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end."
2.  Heavenly host appears to the shepherds (Lk 2:10-11)
"And the angel said to them, 'Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord.'"

Zacharias

John the Baptist's father (Lk 1:67-79) prophesies in Messianic terms:  "redemption for His people," "horn of salvation," "remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to Abraham," "the forgiveness of sins," "to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death."  

Mary (Lk 1:53-55) "The Magnificat"
Mary reflects back on the blessing of Abraham that was promised:  "He has given help to Israel His servant, in remembrance of His mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever." (54-55)

Simeon (Lk 2:29-38)

1.  "Now Lord, you can let your bondservant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the gentiles, and the glory or Your people Israel."
2.  Identifies Jesus as the Messiah.  "He saw by the Spirit that the child would be the touchstone of destiny for men."
3.  "...and a sword will pierce even your own soul...." (v35)

Anna (Lk 2:36-38)  "She...continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.  (v38)

The Magi (Matt 2:1-12) "Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?  For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." (Matt 2:2)

The Coming of Messiah

All of creation waits as this solitary life unfolds.  All of history is orchestrated for this moment when God steps out of eternity into time.

1.  Jesus, the humble servant

a.  Born in a manger, among lowly people and gentiles.
b.  Recognized by the finer side of Israel's piety, like Simeon and Anna (Harrison SLC, p. 53).

2.  Jesus, the promised Messiah The message is clear that Jesus came into the world first of all as the promised Messiah of Israel.  Gabriel, Mary, Zacharias, the heavenly host, Simeon, Anna, and the magi all center around that message.  Later even the demons will be compelled to shriek this truth.  (Mk 1:24)
3.  Jesus, the Savior of the world!
4.  Even our Christmas carols capture the excitement. 

a.  "Long lay the world, in sin and error pining, 'till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.  A thrill of hope the weary world  rejoices, for yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn.  Fall on your knees!  Oh, hear the angels voices.  Oh, night divine, oh, night, when Christ was born!"
b.  "Oh come, oh come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. Who sleeps in lonely exile here until the Son of Man appears.  Rejoice!  Rejoice!"
c.  "Oh, little town of Bethlehem, how still we see the lie.  Among your deep and dreamless sleep the silent clouds go by.  Yet in your dark streets shineth the everlasting light.  The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight."