Our Lord Jesus Christ
including the main messianic prophecies
[the differentia of Christianity]
...
We start with the great doctrine of God and how God has revealed himself and men and his need and so on. But obviously, we come to this which, as I say, is the core and the centre of biblical doctrine.
This truth concerning him is the biggest, the most astounding and stupendous event of all. Not only that, we have seen several times already that all history points to him and to this event. Everything until this event points forward to it. Everything that has happened since points backward to it. It is indeed the turning point of history and that is recognised, were it merely by our calendars, we are meeting in AD 53, in 1953. And thus, dividing up history into BC and AD, we pay tribute to the fact that this is undoubtedly the central and the most stupendous event that has ever taken place.
That is the thing that separates the Christian faith from all other religions. In the other religions, the names associated with them, the names of men associated with them are not absolutely essential to them. If the Buddha had never existed, you could still have Buddhism. If Mohammed had never lived, you could still have Mohammedanism. The leaders, the founders, while important in such religions, are not absolutely essential to them. In other religions, it is the teaching that matters, and the person is not absolutely essential. Other persons might have done it equally well, and the teaching would remain unaffected. But that isn't the case with the Christian faith.
This is something that I shall have to go on to emphasize, of course, time and time again.
I mean by that the people who think that "a Christian is just a good man." Well, obviously, you can be a good man without even mentioning the Lord Jesus Christ. But in Christianity, this person is absolutely vital and essential.
And if the truth concerning him is not the truth, the whole position vanishes. Now, this is something that one cannot obviously overemphasize. The Christian faith is entirely concerned about him, who he is, what he has done, and what he has made available and possible.
And therefore, you see the vital importance of our being absolutely clear in our minds and absolutely right as to who he is and as to what he has done. Now, I make no apology at all for putting it as dogmatically and as bluntly as that. To me, a man who apologizes for saying a thing like that is a very doubtful Christian if he's a Christian at all.
And we must say the same thing. This truth is clear, it's well defined, it's perfectly definite. And we must be certain, therefore, with regard to what we believe about him.
It isn't enough to say I believe in Christ. What do we believe about Christ? What is the teaching about Christ? That's the thing we are concerned about in our consideration of this doctrine of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, as I say, the New Testament itself exhorts us to do this.
There were all sorts of false stories current at the time in the first century. They were apocryphal gospels. Things were being ascribed to him and his person. And he was reported to have done and said things which he never had done nor said. And the Gospels are written in order to define the truth, in order to exclude certain things, and in order to state these other things plainly and fairly. Now, Luke, in the introduction to his gospel, says that. (Luke 1:1-2)
And you'll find that John, at the end of chapters 20 and 21 in his gospel, virtually says exactly the same thing. These things are written that he might know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That's the reason why they're written.
And that was to counteract a heresy, a false teaching that was current. The teaching that denied that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh. That Docetism*, that false doctrine.
And therefore, I say I make no apology for not only calling your attention to this doctrine, but also for defining certain things clearly and pointing out certain errors which we must avoid. I warn you, before we go any further, we are not only dealing with a great and a mysterious subject. We are dealing one which makes demands upon us and upon our thought. And upon our attention. But it is essential. And I am anxious that I should deal with the case of anybody who may be present and who may think and say, well, "I really haven't much time to be interested in doctrine like this. I'm just a simple believer in the Lord Jesus Christ."
Docetism taught that Jesus only seemed (Greek: dokein, “to appear”) to have a real human body and physical nature. It directly matches the error confronted in 1 John 4:2–3 and 2 John 7, where John warns against those who deny Christ’s true incarnation.
My friend, if you take up that position, you're utterly unscriptural. So, it was because such simple Christians were ready to believe false teachers and did believe false teachers, that so many of these epistles had to be written with their stern warnings against the terrible danger to the soul of believing these wrong teachings and false ideas concerning the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It is not enough to say I believe in Jesus Christ. The New Testament asks you a question when you say that. It asks you, what do you believe about him? Is he man only? Is he God only? Has he really come in the flesh or hasn't he? What did he do? What's the meaning of his death? The New Testament is concerned about definitions.
And there is nothing, I suggest, that is further removed from the teaching of the New Testament itself than to say it's all right as long as you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter very much what you say in detail. The detail, as I'm hoping to show you, is all-important and absolutely vital to our whole position.
Not only is all that stated in the New Testament, you read the subsequent history of the Christian church and you'll find that the first three to four centuries in the life of the church was taken up very largely in discussions and meetings and councils concerning this question of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Heresies kept crowding in and the church had to meet together and to define, to reject certain things, to condemn them, and to try to give a definition. Those first great councils of the church were almost exclusively engaged in safeguarding this great central doctrine of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Very well. We must do this as we value our souls and their salvation in addition to desiring to be clear in our conceptions and being able to give a reason to others for the hope that is in us. Well now then, let us start by looking at it like this.
[the fulfillment of the prophecies]
Well, here's the first. It says that
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.
They come to a focus. They come to a point in Him.
The teaching of the Bible is he is the seed of the woman that did that. Likewise, the promise that was given to Abram, Genesis 17 once more, about the seed. Not to seeds as of many, says Paul in the third of Galatians, but "to thy seed", one, Jesus Christ.
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be
It's a tremendous promise that and the most vital statement.
And you see how this was literally fulfilled in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a fact of history that the scepter and the lawgiver did remain with Judah until A.D. 70. And then with the destruction of the Jerusalem and the casting out of the Jewish nation amongst the nations, that has no longer been the case.
The scepter and the lawgiver remained there until he came, and then it departed in that external sense. And likewise, this statement, and to him shall all the nations come. Obviously, here is something once more that has been fulfilled and only fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Though born according to the seed of David, according to the flesh, all nations have come to him. He is the Savior of the World.
Then look at the prophecy in Daniel 9, and I'm going to read from verse 24 to verse 27.
Daniel 9, 24 - 27. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.
The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (KJV)
The most vital prophecy once more. Now, it's always agreed that weeks here mean weeks of years. And therefore, we are told that there shall be this 70 weeks of years, meaning altogether 490 years.
The street shall be built again, and the wall even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (KJV)
First of all, we are told, you see, that there will be seven weeks of years, 49 years before the city would be rebuilt. And so it happened exactly. Then that there should be 62 weeks, which comes to 434 years after the rebuilding of the city, the Messiah would appear.
Work it out and you'll find tit coincides with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then we are told that there is to be a period of one week, seven years, and that halfway through this, he should be cut off three and a half years. Now, there you see again is another great prophecy. Not only pointing to him, but obviously and clearly fulfilled in him.
Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom he seeks shall suddenly come to his temple.
Even the messenger of the covenant whom he delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
The most significant one. I'm going to refer to it again in a moment.
Even the messenger of the covenant whom he delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
Now, it's not an unusual thing that a young married woman should have a child. That wouldn't be a sign. But if a virgin has a child, it is unusual and it is a sign.
So apart from the meaning of words, the whole context makes it perfectly clear that it must be a virgin. And if you believe that the scriptures are inspired and we agreed about that weeks and months ago, well, you're told specifically in the first chapter of Matthew that that indeed was a prediction and a prophecy that our Lord should be born of a virgin. I'll come back to the fact in a subsequent lecture.
And this is most important if you're ever discussing this matter with a Jew. Because the fact is that
And yet, this is the extraordinary thing:
He is not only to be a king and a conqueror. He is also to be despised and rejected of men, and men of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Isaiah 53:3
Now, it was because they failed to realize those two things that his own countrymen didn't recognize him when he came. They were looking for the king only, they'd forgotten this other aspect. But the prophecies combine the two aspects. They combines the two aspects.
But it was said many times in the prophecy of Isaiah 42, Isaiah 50. You'll find it in many, many places. It is fulfilled in Christ.
We are told in Isaiah 53 that his death is to be vicarious (replacement). And when we come to look at the doctrine of the atonement, God willing, we shall see that it was vicarious and substitution.
We are told that he will enter into the city of Jerusalem riding on an ass. We are told that in Zechariah 9:9. You remember how it was fulfilled.
We are told that he is to be sold for 30 pieces of silver. And that with his price a pot is to be purchased. Zechariah 11, 12 and 13.
We are told that his garments were to be parted by a lot in Psalm 22.
We are told that he would be given vinegar to drink in his supper.
We are even told that he would utter certain words on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 22 again.
We are told in Zechariah 12, 10 that his side was going to be pierced. We know that it was.
And we are told in Isaiah 53 that he would make his grave with the wicked and with the rich. And we know that he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
That was said to Moses. And from there on the children of Israel were looking for that prophet. And the question was often asked whether Christ was that prophet.
He was.
The teacher that had been promised.
We are told that he also is to be a priest.
Then you find that in Isaiah 53 and in some of those verses I read from Daniel 9.
And we are told that he is to be a king. Read again the great prophecy in Daniel 2:44-45. "A stone not cut with hands that comes out and that conquers the whole world, smashes every other kingdom, and that fills the whole world."
A prophecy of our Lord as one who was to come as a king. So his work is prophesied. Prophet, priest, and king.
[Reconciliation]
Then another great reason. And this is a new section. There I've been dealing with the prophecies that point to him and have shown that he is the fulfillment of the prophecies.
But the Bible also exhorts us to consider him because he is the only one by whom we can be reconciled to God and by whom we can know God. We read in Hebrews 12, 24 that he is the mediator of the new covenant. He said himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but by me.
Anyone who says a thing like that must be looked at and considered. Any man who values his salvation and wants to know God must listen to such a person.
No man cometh unto the father but by me, he said. Then do you remember what we are told he said after his resurrection? You read Luke 24:46-47 and you'll find this.
Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Nothing can be clearer than that. And then do you remember what Peter claimed for him when he was on trial? He says in Acts 4:12,
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Save this name of Jesus of Nazareth.
And then you remember the statement made by Paul in 1 Timothy 2:5. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. That then I say is the claim that is made for him everywhere. That it is in him and in him alone that we know God and are reconciled to God in him alone therefore can we be saved.
[Lord]
The third great reason the Bible gives us for considering him is this one. That he is the one in whose hands all things are. All power has been given to him in heaven and in earth.
He has all might and dominion and authority and power and is raised up over every other right and dominion and authority and power. Everything has been given to him. In Revelations 5 we are told that he is the only one who can control and unfold history.
There was no one who was strong enough to break the seals of the book of history except the lion of the tribe of Judah, the lamb that once was slain. But he can do so and does so. He is the Lord of history.
And God hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
This is a staggering and a stupendous thought that all history is in the hands of this person. Everything that happens in this world is under him and under his control. Everything.
Without any exception, he is the Lord of glory and the Lord of history. And all things are under his feet, under his head.
[judge]
He sits at the right hand of the authority and the glory of God. And then the final reason which the Bible gives us for considering him is this: That he is the one by whom the world is going to be judged.
And this is where we are all vitally concerned. He claimed this himself. Take John 5:27 for instance.
And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Paul in preaching to the learned Athenians says as recorded in Acts 17:31 that God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the whole world in righteousness by the man whom he had ordained, of which he says he has given notice, in that he had raised him from the dead. The Lord of history will be the judge of the whole world.
The father has committed judgment unto him. And you have read the book of Revelation to see the same thing again. Portrayed in its symbols and in its wealthy imagery.
[incarnation]
Consider Jesus. Look at this person. Very well, we accept the invitation.
And therefore we say we are going to look at him. What does the Bible tell us about him? Well, here we come to the first great subdivision in the biblical doctrine concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It is what is commonly called The Doctrine of the Incarnation.
And I want just to lay down some of the general principles. Here we come to the greatest mystery of all time. The mystery in which we are told that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Or if you prefer another translation, that the Word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. It's the same thing.
Now, the Apostle Paul, you remember, states this selfsame thing in 1 Timothy 3:16.
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
In these great words, and without controversy, he says, great is the mystery of God the Lord. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into God.
Now, what does this mean? What does this doctrine state? I'm simply going to give you my definition tonight. And next Friday, God willing, we'll go on to break it up and show what it does say and what it doesn't say more in detail. But let's be clear about the comprehensive statement.
I am not saying that when Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem, that a new personality came into being. That is wrong, that is not true. That's error, that is rank heresy.
The doctrine of the incarnation says that the eternal second person in the blessed Trinity entered into time, took unto himself and into himself human nature, and was born as a babe, lived a life as a man, and appeared in the likeness of sinful flesh. Now, there I am making the most vital statement of all. I say I shall go on to break it up and to show you the importance of making this statement and safeguarding it against various errors.
We have the assurance that it's going to be done in the covenant, and all the covenant points to this person. He's at the center of this book. The book asks us to consider him for the reasons I've given.
And so, we shall be plunging right into the midst of this most wonderful and most glorious doctrine concerning the mystery and the marvel of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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HU