The Messiah and His Future Reign
(from Isaiah 1-12)
Goals of today’s message:
<1. To expose you to Bible truth you need to know (though you may deny its relevance; if you want to understand the Bible, you need to grasp the Big Picture....)
<2. To renew your confidence in Scripture (and "wow" you) ; remebering Isaiah was written before 600B.C., note how it anticipated Jesus; You will see how COHESIVE, PROPHETIC, AND BEYOND CONINCIDENCE Scripture can be...
<3. To motivate you to dig into the Old Testament for an understanding of the New...
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4. To help you appreciate the Jewish Roots of Christianity and to recognize how the Nation of Israel fits into God’s end time events...
MAIN THOT: Between 6 and 700 years before Christ was born, Isaiah tells about (1) The Messiah Himself, and then (2) about His Kingdom (the yet future Millennium). Contemplating these areas can help us grow in our understanding of God and how He works.
I. The Messiah
Passages in Isaiah 1-12 related passages to note
1. Virgin Born: 7:14, 8:3 Matt. 1:23
In Isaiah’s time, we see a less literal fulfillment. A woman who was a virgin got married, became pregnant, and gave birth to a son (mentioned in chapter 8). By the time he was a toddler, Israel’s current enemies would be powerful no more.
In the New Testament, we see a more literal fulfillment: A virgin actually conceives (while yet a virgin) and bears a son who is literally "Emmanuel" --God with us. This coincides with the promise of Gen. 3:15-17, that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head; not the seed of the man & woman, but the woman.
Why the Virgin birth? So Christ could be fully human, yet not inherit the sin-nature of Adam AFTER the Fall. He was fully human and fully divine, but Christ’s humanity was a pre-fallen humanity.
2. Rejected & more: 8:13-18 Is. 28: 6; I Pet. 2:8; Heb. 2:13;
This passage speaks about how much of Israel stumbled over the Messiah rather than receive Him. If Israel would have received Jesus en masse in the first century, He would not have been the true Messiah. One proof of His Messiahship is that Israel, by and large, rejected Him.
3. Deity: 9:6-7
This passage clearly asserts that the Son Whom God gives us is Himself the "Mighty God." See Zech. 12:9-10, or Zechariah 2:8-10 to show that, even in the Old Testament, God is more than one person. God refers to Himself as both "I’ and "he."
4. (Note Is. 6:1-11 with John 12:39-41; it was God the Son that Isaiah saw on the throne is Isaiah 6)
This passage is fascinating for many, many reasons. Although no one has actually seen God, people have seen visions or representations of God, as in the case here.
It is worth your while to examine this Isaiah text and then look at John 12:39-41; you will conclude that Isaiah not only saw a vision of the Lord, but it was specifically God the Son He saw, before He became incarnate as Jesus Christ.
II. His Kingdom (the Millennium)
1. Background verses: I Cor. 15:25-28; Rev. 20:1-3,7; Is. 24:21-22
2. 2:2-4
During the Millennium, Satan and his demons will be bound for a 1,000 years. Although the duration of this imprisonment is not mentioned in Isaiah 24:21-22, this Isaiah passage is the foundation of Rev. 20:1-3,7. So Revelation may add details, but the concept of Satan being bound when the Messiah reigns is not original to Revelation. "The powers in the heavens above" refer to Satan & his hoards, who is the prince of the power of the air and generally dwells in the atmsopehre.
3. 4:2-6 Luke 3:16
To be "baptized by the Spirit" to be witnesses (Acts 1:8) puts us in the position of "usability."
note the term "Branch" used commonly for the Messiah (Jer. 23:5; Jer. 33:15; Zech. 3:8,etc.)
The picture here is this: the remanant of Israel that survives the Tribulation comes to faith in the Messiah; they are cleansed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, called here "a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire." This phrase is foundational to the New Testament expression about being baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
The tongues of fire in Acts 2 are an expansion of this imagery.
4. 11:1-10
This is a beautiful picture of the Millennial Kingdom Christ will initiate when He returns. He will judge the nations, change the order of nature, and exalt the nation of Israel.
This is what the apostles were hoping for in Acts 1, when they asked if Christ was goign to restore the Kingdom to Israel.
Jesus’ answer indicates that the time of this event was not to be revealed to them, but that they should be concerned with a separate event near at hand, namely, receiving the Spirit’s power and then witnessing.
This shows that the coming of the Spirit on Pentecost did NOT fulfill the aspect of the Kingdom that is yet future, for Christ DID tell about when the Spirit would come -- but when the kingdom would be resotred to Israel -- that He said was NOT for them to know.
