All right, well next Sunday we are going to be starting a new series working through the Gospel of Luke.
But before we get to that, I wanted to take a moment this Sunday to look back into the Old Testament Scriptures.
What did God say before Jesus came about the Messiah?
What were some of the expectations that people might have had about the Messiah in Jesus' day
if they were carefully listening to the Scriptures of the Old Testament?
The Old Testament Scriptures point to Jesus in countless ways.
But for this morning, we're just going to be doing a little sampling of some of them,
some of those passages, specifically the ones that talk about the coming of the Messiah.
We start here.
What does the title Messiah even mean?
The word Messiah comes from the Hebrew, Mashiach, and that word means anointed one.
To anoint someone was to pour oil over their head.
And doing that signified that they were being set apart from other people for a special role.
At God's command, Moses anointed his brother Aaron and Aaron's sons to serve as God's priests at the tabernacle
just after God led Israel out of Egypt.
Pouring a special oil onto their heads was a visible and tangible symbol
that God himself had chosen these men to serve in a particular unique way.
But anointing was also practiced in ancient times at the installation of a king.
There's a reference to an anointing ceremony in the period of the judges
after Israel had come to rest in the land of Canaan.
And this particular reference from Judges chapter 9 was not a good anointing.
There were some men in Israel and they anointed a man named Abimelech and they crowned him as their king.
But Abimelech was a treacherous and murderous man.
And God actively opposed him.
This man governed Israel for about three years.
And then he was killed.
This was a case of some of the Israelites choosing a man for themselves.
But he was definitely not God's choice for his people.
Though this is the first time in the Bible that we see this act of anointing,
pouring out oil in connection with the selection of a king.
Well, sometime after this in Israel's history came the prophet Samuel.
This is about 1000 BC.
And God chose Samuel to speak on his behalf to the people of Israel from the time Samuel was a boy.
Maybe you know the story.
You can read about it in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.
And there are several references in those books to the anointed one of God.
And none of these references have to do with the priests.
They all have to do with a king.
In fact, by the time we come to 1 Samuel, we see that the men serving as priests in Israel are corrupt.
They're doing all kinds of wicked things.
And the eyes of the people in Israel have wandered away from God and away from his tabernacle.
And they're looking instead at the gods of the nations around them.
Nations, and they have rulers, and they have kings.
God hints at what is soon to take place in those days through the prophetic prayer of Samuel's mom.
Just after the birth of Samuel.
We can read her prayer in 1 Samuel 2, verse 8.
She's praying to the Lord and she says this.
He, that's God, raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.
He seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.
So who receives a throne of honor?
The poor man that God raises up from the dust.
She continues on.
He will guard the feet of his faithful servants.
But the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.
It is not by strength that one prevails.
Those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
She concludes her prayer with these words.
He, that is, the Lord Most High, will give strength to his king.
And he will exalt the horn of his anointed.
The people of Israel, up until this point in the story, have been under the attack.
They've been under the dominion of various kings of the surrounding nations for the past 400 years or so,
since the death of Joshua.
And by God's grace, he raised up champions for them.
Men who led and judged the people of Israel and even some women.
And some of these guys were regional.
All of them were temporary and short-lived.
Abimelech might have been anointed and named king by those scoundrels who ran with him.
But he wasn't much of a king.
More and more, the people in those days wanted to have a great and powerful king of their own.
Like they saw the other nations around them having.
They wanted to be like the nations around them.
Yet even as Samuel is born, Hannah, his mom, prays prophetically at the tabernacle.
She says,
For anyone with ears to hear, God was speaking through Hannah that day.
He was promising that there was coming a king of God's choosing.
A king whom God would anoint.
For his people.
Well, just a little later on in the story, after Samuel has grown up a bit,
God sends this man without a name, at least not in the scriptures,
to Eli, the priest at the tabernacle.
And these are his words to Eli.
He says to Eli, this is God speaking through the man,
I will raise up for myself a faithful priest
who will do according to what is in my heart and mind.
I will firmly establish his priestly house and they will minister before my anointed one.
Always.
There was no king in these days.
And yet God says, I'm going to deal with the corrupt priests.
I'm going to replace the whole family of the priests
that are currently in charge with a man who will be faithful and his sons.
And they will serve before my anointed one.
Again, God speaking of a man of his choosing who is coming.
Well, as the story of Israel continues,
in the days of Samuel, we see Israel's first king rise to power.
A man named Saul.
And Saul is indeed anointed by God in the sense that God has Samuel,
his prophet, go and pour oil over his head.
But as the story goes on, we start to see that Saul is more of a king of the people's choosing
than of God's.
God allows him.
God puts his choice behind the choice of the people.
But we start to see that this man is more of a reflection of the people,
the kind of king that they are desiring in their faithlessness
and not the kind of king that God has in mind for his people.
And so there comes this moment when after Saul disobeys
and disregards God for the last time when God rejects Saul as king.
And even though Saul continues to be on the throne of Israel
and sit there as king,
God begins to raise up the king of his choosing.
God sends the prophet Samuel to the little town of Bethlehem.
And Samuel is there for the express purpose of anointing Israel's next king.
But even Samuel is surprised.
When he comes to the end of Jesse's sons,
having considered all of them,
some of them fine-looking men,
and God says,
Nope.
Do not consider his appearance
or his height,
for I have rejected him.
The Lord does not look at the things people look at.
People look at the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks at the heart.
So none of them are the ones that I have chosen,
says the Lord.
It's the last,
the last son,
the youngest son,
the least son,
the one who is left out in the fields
to tend the sheep.
So Jesse sent for him,
the youngest son,
and had him brought in.
He was glowing with health
and had a fine appearance
and handsome features.
Then the Lord said to Samuel,
Rise and anoint him.
This is the one.
So Samuel took the horn of oil
and anointed him
in the presence of his brothers.
And from that day on,
the spirit of the Lord
came powerfully on David.
Think back to the words of Hannah
as she prayed
when Samuel was just a little baby.
He raises the poor
from the dust,
seats them with princes
and has them inherit
a throne of honor.
There David was,
sitting in the dust
with the sheep,
quite literally.
And the rest of 1 and 2 Samuel,
these books of the Bible,
is the story
of how God raised David
up from the dust
and seated him
on the throne
of Israel.
And so this is the backstory
of this title,
Messiah.
David was God's anointed one,
God's Messiah
in his day.
He was the chosen king of God
and his kingdom
became very great.
From that time on,
every time we read
that title,
anointed one or Messiah
in the Old Testament,
almost always it refers
to David
or to another kingly figure.
There's a couple exceptions
to that,
maybe a chosen prophet
or a special servant
of the Lord
here and there.
But mostly,
that word,
anointed one,
refers to some kind
of king.
And that gets us
thinking maybe,
where did this whole idea
even come from
or start in the first place?
Of God giving a king
to his people.
We might think back
to the Garden of Eden
where God commanded Adam
to subdue the earth
and rule over
every other living thing.
We see there
that God's intentions
and plan for man
were noble.
But we know the story.
Adam disobeyed God
and he plunged humanity
into sin
and rebellion.
Later on,
we see that God
begins to build
for himself a people
as he makes
great promises
to a man named Abraham
and his offspring.
Abraham is promised
to become
the father of nations.
And at times,
God subdues
and humbles kings
under Abraham.
And yet,
at the end of Abraham's life,
he's still very much
a shepherd
and a nomad
living amongst
a settled people
in Canaan.
Well,
Abraham fathers Isaac
and Isaac fathers Jacob.
And to Jacob,
God gives the name Israel.
Israel becomes
the father of 12 sons.
And on his deathbed,
Israel blesses his sons.
By the Spirit of God,
he speaks a blessing
to each of them.
And these were his words
to Judah.
The scepter
will not depart
from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff
from between his feet
until he
to whom it belongs
shall come
and the obedience
of the nations
shall be his.
Amen.
Could it be
that some 800 years
before David,
that little boy
in Bethlehem
was even born,
that little boy
born in Judah,
God was already
planning something amazing.
a king
who would rule
over a great kingdom.
And then 400 years
after that,
as Israel was first
entering the promised land,
God spoke
through Balaam,
who was not even
an Israelite,
about a coming king.
Balaam said,
I see him,
but not now.
I behold him,
but not near.
A star
will come out
of Jacob.
Jacob,
a scepter
will rise
out of Israel.
He will crush
the foreheads
of Moab,
the skulls
of all the people
of Sheth.
This was all
part of God's plan
long before
any of it came to be,
to give a king,
for God to choose
a king
for his people.
And David
was a fulfillment
of all these prophecies
that God gave.
But then,
God adds even more
to the promise
in David's day.
Not just of a king
who will rule,
David was that.
Not just of a great kingdom,
David had that,
but he adds the promise
of an enduring kingdom.
To David himself,
God says this,
he says,
when your days are over
and you go to be
with your ancestors,
I will raise up
your offspring
to succeed you.
one of your own sons,
and I will establish
his kingdom.
He is the one
who will build
a house for me,
and I will establish
his throne
forever.
I will be
his father,
and he will be
my son.
I will never take
my love away from him
as I took it away
from your predecessor.
I will set him
over my house
and my kingdom
forever.
His throne
will be established
forever.
And so,
even though we have
a Messiah,
an anointed one,
David,
God's saying,
it's going to continue,
it's going bigger than this.
There's a son of yours
that's going to come,
and he's going to rule
as king
forever
over an enduring
kingdom.
I will be a father
to him
and establish
his throne.
The immediate
fulfillment of that
word was Solomon,
the son of David,
and his kingdom
was truly greater
than his father's.
Solomon expanded
the kingdom
by the wisdom
that God gave him,
but then after
Solomon died,
the kingdom of David
and the kingdom
of Solomon
became fractured
and divided,
and it spiraled
down.
The kingdom
of David
and Solomon
became as a memory
of the good old days,
that golden century
to which we long
to return.
Nations
and powers
rose around
Israel,
empires rose up,
in fact,
God even says,
he even takes
the credit
for raising
them up
and for using
them to punish
the people
of Israel
for their
unfaithfulness
to him.
The words
of the prophets
spoken through
those days
are difficult.
They are heavy.
God was very
angry at how
his people
turned away
from him
to all manner
of wickedness,
and yet,
because God
is merciful
and compassionate
and faithful,
he was not
finished
with Israel.
God did not
intend to go
back on his
word.
Even through
the prophets
in those
dark days
of the kings
and through
the time
of the exile
and even
afterwards,
through the
prophets,
God spoke
again and
again of a
coming anointed
one,
a coming
Messiah.
Listen to the
words God spoke
through the
prophet Micah.
This is like
hundreds of
years after
David lived.
Marshal your
troops now,
city of
troops,
for a siege
is laid
against us.
They will
strike Israel's
ruler on the
cheek with a
rod.
But you,
Bethlehem,
Ephrathah,
though you are
small among
the clans of
Judah,
out of you
will come for
me one who
will be ruler
over Israel
whose origins
are from of
old,
from ancient
times.
Therefore,
Israel will be
abandoned
until the
time when
she who is
in labor
bears a
son and
the rest of
his brothers
return to
join the
Israelites.
He will
stand and
shepherd his
flock in the
strength of
the Lord,
in the
majesty of
the name of
the Lord
his God,
and they
will live
securely,
for then
his greatness
will reach
to the ends
of the earth.
So there's
another ruler
coming,
there's another
king of
God's choosing,
and he's
coming out
of the little
town of
Bethlehem.
He's a
king whose
very existence
goes back to
older times,
to ancient
times.
for the
present,
Micah says,
Israel will
be abandoned
for a
time.
Punishment
for sin
will come,
but then
a woman
will give
birth to
a son,
and this
son of
hers
will stand
and shepherd
his flock.
You think
back to
David,
he was a
shepherd.
shepherd,
he will
shepherd his
flock by
the power
of God,
and his
flock will
live securely.
Why?
Because his
greatness,
the greatness
of this
son born
to a woman
in Bethlehem,
his greatness
will reach
to the ends
of the earth.
We're talking
a global
kingdom.
Listen to
the words
God spoke
long ago
through the
prophet
Zechariah,
again,
centuries
after David
lived,
still centuries
before Jesus
came.
Rejoice
greatly,
daughter
Zion.
Shout,
daughter
Jerusalem.
See,
your king
comes to
you,
righteous
and victorious,
lowly,
and riding
on a donkey,
on a colt,
the foal
of a donkey.
I will
take away
the chariots
from Ephraim
and the
war horses
from Jerusalem
and the
battle bow
will be
broken.
He will
proclaim
peace
to the
nations.
His rule
will extend
from sea
to sea
and from
the river
to the
ends
of the
earth.
So God's
going to
make the
wars
cease.
He's going
to bring
lasting
peace.
He's going
to do it
through a
king who
will rule
over all
the earth
and that
king is
the one
who will
come to
you,
Jerusalem,
in a
lowly
manner,
riding on
a donkey.
Not a
war horse,
but a
donkey.
Consider the
words that
God spoke
long ago
through the
prophet Isaiah.
Again,
centuries after
David lived,
still centuries
before Jesus
came,
Isaiah said
this,
nevertheless,
there will be
no more gloom
for those
who were
in distress.
In the
past,
he humbled
the land
of Zebulun
and the
land of
Naphtali,
but in
the future,
he will
honor
Galilee
of the
nations
by the
way of
the sea
beyond
the Jordan.
The people
walking in
darkness
have seen
a great
light
on those
living in
the land
of deep
darkness,
a light
has
dawned.
You have
enlarged
the nation
and increased
their joy.
They rejoice
before you
as people
rejoice at
the harvest,
as warriors
rejoice when
dividing the
plunder.
For as in
the day of
Midian's
defeat,
you have
shattered
the yoke
that burdens
them,
the bar
across their
shoulders,
the rod
of their
oppressor.
Every
warrior's
boot
used in
battle,
and every
garment
rolled in
blood
will be
destined
for burning,
will be
fuel for
the fire.
For to
us,
a child
is born.
To us,
a son
is given.
And the
government
will be
on his
shoulders.
And he
will be
called
Wonderful
Counselor,
Mighty
God,
Everlasting
Father,
Prince
of Peace,
of the
greatness
of his
government
and peace.
There
will be
no end.
He will
reign on
David's
throne and
over his
kingdom,
establishing and
upholding it
with justice
and righteousness
from that
time on
and forever.
The zeal of
the Lord
Almighty
will accomplish
this.
So God's
going to
make the
war cease,
he says,
so much
so that
the warrior
will burn
his old
blood-stained
uniform that
he was
saving in
case he
needed to
go to
war again
sometime.
The peace
just keeps
going.
Don't need
this anymore.
Let's burn
it.
Why?
The peace
keeps going
because to
us,
a child
is born.
To us,
a son
is given.
And he
will rule.
The government
will be on
his shoulders.
He will
take up
the throne
of David.
He will
establish it.
He will
uphold it
from that
time on
and forever.
And it's
going to be
a kingdom
of justice
and righteousness,
he says.
No more
government
corruption.
And the
light
of this
is going
to peak
over the
horizon
where?
In
Galilee.
By the
little path
that goes
along by
the sea
north of
the Jordan
River.
That's
where it'll
first break.
Listen to
the words
God spoke
long ago
centuries
after David
lived,
centuries
before Jesus
came.
Also from
the lips
of Isaiah,
Isaiah chapter
11.
A shoot
will come
up from
the stump
of Jesse.
From his
roots
a branch
will bear
fruit.
The spirit
of the
Lord will
rest on
him.
The spirit
of wisdom
and of
understanding.
The spirit
of counsel
and of
might.
The spirit
of the
knowledge
and fear
of the
Lord.
And he
will delight
in the fear
of the
Lord.
He will
not judge
by what
he sees
with his
eyes or
decide by
what he
hears with
his ears.
But with
righteousness
he will
judge the
needy.
With
justice he
will give
decisions
for the
poor of
the earth.
He will
strike the
earth with
the rod
of his
mouth.
With
the breath
of his
lips he
will slay
the wicked.
Righteousness
will be his
belt and
faithfulness
the sash
around his
waist.
The wolf
will live
with the
lamb.
The leopard
will lie
down with
the goat.
The calf
and the
lion and
the yearling
together and
a little
child will
lead them.
The cow
will feed
with the
bear.
Their young
will lie
down together
and the
lion will
eat straw
like the
ox.
The infant
will play
near the
cobra's
den.
The young
child will
put its
hand into
the
viper's
nest.
They will
neither
harm nor
destroy on
all my
holy mountain
for the
earth will
be filled
with the
knowledge of
the Lord
as the
waters cover
the sea.
Do you
hear this?
God's going
to bring a
righteous and
just ruler
to power,
one who will
deal with the
wicked,
one who will
bring a
peace so
deep to
this earth
that even
the dumb
animals can
feel it.
Even the
animals won't
dare to
harm each
other or
to harm a
child because
that's how
full of the
knowledge of
the Lord
they will
be when
this king
comes and
his presence
fills the
earth.
There will
be justice,
true justice,
even for the
poor and the
needy,
the weak and
the powerless.
No more
bribes,
no more
corruption,
and who
will bring
all this
about?
A branch
which springs
up from the
stump of
Jesse,
the father
of David,
a man whom
God himself
will put his
spirit upon.
Listen to the
words God
spoke long
ago.
Centuries
after David
lived and
centuries before
Jesus came,
also words of
Isaiah from
Isaiah chapter
42.
Here is my
servant whom
I uphold,
my chosen one
in whom I
delight.
I will put my
spirit on him
and he will
bring justice to
the nations.
He will not
shout or cry
out or raise
his voice in
the streets.
a bruised
reed he
will not
break and
a smoldering
wick he
will not
snuff out.
In
faithfulness he
will bring
forth justice.
He will not
falter or be
discouraged till
he establishes
justice on
earth.
In his
teaching the
islands will
put their
hope.
This is what
God,
the Lord
says.
God's going
to bring
something truly
amazing about
on this
earth.
Not just
justice for
Israel but
justice for
the nations.
And not
some sick and
twisted form of
justice like
that proclaimed
by a wicked
tyrant who
simply exterminates
everyone who
disagrees with
him and rules
by terror.
but this
servant of
God will
bring forth
justice in
faithfulness.
He will be a
ruler who
deals gently
with the
weak and
the hurting.
He will be
the hope and
light of the
nations.
This passage
goes on.
I the Lord
have called
you in
righteousness.
I will take
hold of your
hand.
I will keep
you and will
make you to
be a covenant
for the
people and
a light for
the Gentiles
to open
eyes that
are blind,
to free
captives from
prison,
and to
release from
the dungeon
those who
sit in
darkness.
He himself
will be a
covenant
between God
and man.
He will be
the hope and
light of the
nations.
Who will he
be?
He will be the
servant of
God's choosing.
The one in
whom God
delights.
The one
upon whom
God puts
his spirit.
He will be
one who
opens the
eyes of
the blind.
One more
from the
prophet
Daniel.
Daniel had
a great
vision given
to him by
God.
Again, this is
centuries after
David lived and
this is centuries
before Jesus
came.
What did
Daniel see in
this vision?
In my vision
at night, I
looked and
there before me
was one like a
son of man
coming with the
clouds of
heaven.
He approached
the ancient of
days and was
led into his
presence.
He was given
authority,
glory, and
sovereign power.
All nations
and peoples of
every language
worshipped him.
His dominion is
an everlasting
dominion that
will not pass
away and his
kingdom is one
that will never
be destroyed.
So someone's
going to have
dominion over
all the nations
and peoples of
every language.
It's a
dominion that
will last
forever.
It's a
kingdom that
will never
pass away or
be destroyed.
And on the
throne of this
kingdom is
someone who
has been
given authority
by God.
A sovereign
of God's
choosing.
Who is it
that will
rule and
reign?
It is a
son of
man whom
God will
give this
to.
A king of
his choosing.
A man of
his choosing.
I think we
all know who
that person
is.
But in the
weeks and
months ahead
we're going
to be working
our way
through Luke's
account of
all that
happened with
Jesus when
he first
came.
We're going
to hear it
and see it
from Luke's
well-ordered
account.
And we're
going to see
how Jesus
really is.
That one
that was
foretold.
The Messiah
that we've
been waiting
for.
The one
who came
and fulfilled
much of
what was
promised.
And the
one who
will come
again and
fulfill the
rest of
what God
has promised
someday.
Can you
imagine what
it must have
felt like in
Israel for
the faithful in
Israel who
had heard all
these words of
God spoken
through the
centuries?
Can you feel
the longing that
they would have
had for all
of this to
finally come
true?
for God's
chosen king,
God's Messiah
to come.
And the
years went
by.
Decades
turned into
centuries.
After the
prophet Micah
spoke were
400 years
of silence.
No word
from God,
no word
from the
prophets.
But then
finally as we'll
hear next
Sunday,
God breaks
the silence.
let's pray.
Father in
heaven,
only you
can tell
the future
and then
bring it
about.
It's
amazing when
we look back
over your
story,
how you
were hinting
at what you
were going
to do.
You were
telling of
it
thousands
of years
before it
happened.
And that
there's still
more to
come.
We're in
awe.
We long
for that
kingdom that
we read
about,
Lord.
And we
know that
it will be
your son
on the
throne.
I pray that
we would all
know that,
that we would
trust it with
all our
hearts,
and that
we would
live in
light of
that.
Give us
strength.
Give us
understanding.
Give us
wisdom.
Bless us as
we go from
here today,
Lord,
into the
world with
the news of
this king.
In Jesus'
name,
amen.
Amen.