Jesus — The Fulfillment of Prophecy

In Luke 24:13-27, we read of two disciples of Christ on their way to Emmaus. Luke tells us this was the first day of the week (24:1, 13) and that it was the same day that the tomb in which Jesus had been laid following his death was found to be empty (24:3, 13). As they walked, they discussed these events. Along the way, they encountered what they supposed to be a stranger and discussed these matters with him. It is obvious from the response Jesus gave to their account that they expressed an amount of doubt in the testimony of the women that Jesus had risen from the grave and was alive. Notice what they said in verse 21, “we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel” [emphasis mine, NF]. They spoke of their hope in the past tense, “were,” indicating that those hopes had died on the cross with Jesus. And even though we cannot hear the manner in which they relayed what the women at the tomb had told them, the doubt in their voices must have been evident for Jesus rebuked them for a lack of faith. This rebuke was given because of a lack of faith in “all that the prophets have spoken.” These men should have had no confusion in these matters for the prophets of old had given them great detail concerning these matters. And so, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures …

A Prophecy of the Death of Jesus

Psalm 22 Introduction: Based upon certain evidence in the text, which we do not have the space to discuss here, we have long believed that Psalms numbers 22, 23, and 24 are a trilogy of Psalms concerning the death of Christ, his resurrection by the Shepherd who led him beside the still waters, and his ascension back into heaven where the multitudes recognize him as the King of glory. It may be that at one time all three of the Psalms were one, due to the fact that uninspired men divided our English Bibles into chapters and verses sometime about 1550 A.D. (Perhaps this can be more thoroughly discussed at a future time.) But that the Old Testament prophets saw beforehand the suffering of Jesus Christ, and the glory that would follow that suffering, as is affirmed in 1 Peter 1:11, simply cannot be denied. Two clear examples of this dual theme are found in Psalm 22, which focuses upon the death of Christ, and in Psalm 2 which speaks of the glorious honor that was bestowed upon Christ at the time of his resurrection. It is the first of these two psalms which we wish to study in this lesson. This Psalm is referred to as a “passional psalm,” meaning that it deals with the passionate suffering of Jesus Christ for the redemption of the world. It is said to have been written by David, and there is no strong evidence to prove that it was not. The New …

God’s Judgment on Judas Who Betrayed Christ

Psalm 109 Introduction: According to the heading of this Psalm, David is the composer of it, and there is not real hard evidence to set aside this conclusion. David portrays a person crying out for divine aid against a gang of merciless enemies who were attempting to bring about his destruction through false accusations and treacherous slander. The history of the life of the great King David qualified him to paint this word picture of a betrayed person who was godly in his life, because of the many confrontations that David had with various enemies while he lived on earth. This psalmist speaks of many enemies because he uses the plural number, and yet his focus is upon a single person. In describing this foremost enemy, David, no doubt, draws upon his own experiences with Saul, who pursued him to kill him, with Ahithophel, who betrayed him, (2 Samuel 15) and Shemei, who cursed him when he was fleeing from Jerusalem during the rebellion of Absalom. When one begins to interpret this psalm, there are two fundamental questions which face him. Who is the person who cries out to God for relief from attack? Who is the terrible enemy who is attacking him? There does not seem to be much within the Psalm itself to answer these two questions. Ordinarily, one would speculate that David, the author of the Psalm, was speaking of his own plight, or a former plight, but that would only be a speculation. The distinguished Apostle Peter shed some very …

A Prophecy of the Betrayal and Suffering of the Messiah

Psalm 69 Introduction: According to the New Testament, the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot is the subject of two prophetic psalms, namely, 69 and 109. Both of these passages focus on the terrible judgment which God would bring upon Judas, the betrayer of the Christ. Psalm 69, a portion of which we will study in this lesson, is quoted or alluded to twenty-two times in the New Testament. These references are found in John 15:25; Mark 3:21; Luke 8:19; John 7:3-5; 2:17; Romans 15:3; Hebrews 12:2; Matthew 27:34-48; Mark 15:23-36; Luke 23:36; John 19:28-30; Romans 11:9-10; Matthew 23:38; Luke 13:35; Acts 1:20; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 1:28; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; 13:8; Luke 10:20; and Hebrews 12:23. No other of the Psalms, with the exception of Psalm twenty-two, is more distinctly applied in the New Testament. Of course, we must point out that the mere quoting of a passage does not necessarily mean that it is a direct prediction of a person or an event. But the subject of this Psalm is an ideal person who represents the whole class of righteous sufferers, including David who authored the Psalm. However, the only person to live on the earth in whom is found all of the various characteristics which are set forth in the Psalm was our Lord Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Jesus is not the exclusive subject of the Psalm, unless the sins he confessed in verses five through twelve, represent the sins that Jesus bore …

The One Who Would Tell Parables

Psalm 78:1-2 Introduction: Matthew, in chapter thirteen, verses thirty-four and thirty-five, made a direct reference to the first two verses of this Psalm when he said, (34) “All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, (35) that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.’” This Psalm was written by Asaph who was a musician who lived during the lifetimes of both David and Solomon. The claim that Asaph wrote the Psalm is authenticated by the fact that the Psalm itself recounts the history of the people of God only down to the time of David. Biblical commentators often struggle in their efforts to release Matthew from using merely accommodative language when he quotes this Psalm in the passage mentioned above. One explanation is that Asaph was not only a musician but a prophet as well, and that he was here in his teaching showing how the Messiah would teach on earth. But Matthew regarded these verses as a direct prediction of the nature of the teaching of Christ during his earthly ministry. But it must be remembered that physical Israel was a type of spiritual Israel (the church) and here Asaph, as a prophet speaking in parables, is a type of Christ who would also speak in parables during his ministry upon the earth. …

Cornerstone Rejected

Psalm 118 Introduction: There can be no doubt that Psalm 118:22 is Messianic in its import because this verse is cited in the New Testament and applied to Jesus Christ.  (See: Matthew 21:9 & 42; Mark 11:9-10; 12:10-11; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11; Romans 9:33; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:4-12.) God would only have to apply this passage of Scripture to the Messiah once in order for it to testify that it was speaking of the Messiah, but he has done so on several occasions. There are other views as to who is rejected in this Psalm some of which we will list below: Some say that it was Israel who was rejected.  We cannot recall Israel ever being called a stone or a cornerstone.  Besides, God did not reject Israel until after Israel rejected his Son. The text does not speak of God rejecting anyone, but it was the “builders” who did the rejecting. Others suggest that the Psalm is speaking of the family of David, but that is exactly opposite from what God promised to do in an earlier Psalm.  (89) Others (Jewish writers) believe that it is David personally that is the rejected stone, but David is never pictured as rejected by God in any way; as a matter-of-fact he was a man after God’s own heart.  This can only apply to the Messiah! Thirteen verses of the psalm are in the first person singular, and this causes us to ask “Who is the one doing the speaking?” …

Before Bethlehem

Psalm 40 Introduction: In Hebrews 10:5-7, the writer quoted three verses from this Psalm. According to the inspired author of that book, in these verses our Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to the Father at a time when Jesus was leaving heaven to come into this world. For this reason there are very few, if any Christian scholars to doubt that this Psalm is Messianic in its import. In this Psalm, as well as in many others of the Psalms, one has a difficult time in trying to determine what is spoken by the writer, and that which is spoken of the Messiah. It would seem logical to believe if Christ is doing the speaking in verses 6-10 of the Psalm, he would be doing the speaking throughout the Psalm, but not necessarily so because in verse twelve there is a confession of sin which certainly could not be attributed to the Messiah for he was, and is, the sinless Son of God. In addition to this there are in verses fourteen and fifteen prayers which some scholars regard as incompatible with the spirit of forgiveness that Jesus demonstrated on the cross. Milligan handles this problem in the following words in his commentary on Hebrews:  “This citation is from the fortieth Psalm, and has reference primarily to David as a type of Christ; and secondarily to Christ himself as the antitype.”  Milligan goes on to say: “David speaks; but Christ, whose Spirit already dwells and works in David, and who will …

The Last Adam

Psalm 8 Introduction Two of the Psalms, numbers eight and forty, focus on Christ’s “making himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.” In Psalm Eight the Messiah is set forth as the last Adam, who was made, during his earthly pilgrimage, “a little lower than the angels.” In Psalm Forty there is, as it were, a door opened so that we can hear some of the discussion which took place in heaven before the Lord came to Bethlehem as the infant son of Mary. The fact that Psalm Eight is referred to so frequently in the New Testament as being Messianic precludes any argument that it cannot be so.  As a matter-of-fact, it is quoted at least four times in the New Testament, and every time it is applied to Jesus.  Notice: When Jesus made his Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem and the Temple at the climax of his ministry the people cried out, “Hosanna to the Son David; blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”  The leaders of the Jews protested the people’s saying this because it implied that he was the Messiah, so Jesus quoted Psalm 82 which says, in part, “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise . . .”  (See: Matthew 21:1-16.) In the Book of Ephesians 1:20-22, Paul refers to the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ.  He told us that Jesus is …

The Horn and Lamp of David

Psalm 132 Introduction: Psalm 132 is Messianic in its implications, because it reflects the promises which have been made to the house of David. The ultimate implications of the promises to David reach their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. Those who sang this song-prayer in ancient Israel could not have been ignorant of what this Psalm teaches. This Psalm (132) is very closely related to Psalm 89, which we have just studied, but there is one important difference, and that is, Psalm 132 has a note of confidence from the very beginning and continuing throughout the Psalm, while Psalm 89 has a dark and pessimistic outlook in certain places. Psalm 132 is a prayer-psalm, and it is called a pilgrimage psalm because many commentators think that it was written after the children of Israel returned from their captivity. Other students of the Bible assign this Psalm to the time of the United Kingdom, making it possible for David to have written it, or for it to be written after the death of David at the dedication of the Temple of God by Solomon. However, the Psalm is more easily understood if we consider it to be a prayer of the people rather than the prayer of one of the monarchs. The portion to which we shall give the greater attention is that made up of verses eleven through eighteen, which is the second portion in which God answers the prayer that has been offered in the first ten …

The Prophecy of the Davidic King

Text: Psalm 89:3 & 20-52 Introduction: Tremendous promises were made by God to David through Nathan the prophet, as we have seen in our former lesson, and the author of this Psalm, who was probably Ethan the Ezrahite, (1 Kings 4:31) zealously believed in those promises.1 This Psalmist also foresaw a time when it would appear that God had abolished his covenant with David, a time when the Dynasty of David would fall into shameful dishonor among the governments of the world. Ethan prays to God, in this Psalm, that the days of Davidic humiliation would be shortened, and that God would absolve his Messiah. The Messianic force of this great Psalm lies in the fact that no one but the Messiah could possibly fulfill all the promises that are made to David in this Psalm. Of this Old Testament hymn, brother Hailey said, “This psalm seems to have been written at a time when the nation was cast down by its enemies and the rulers of David’s house were in a state of deep humiliation (vv. 35-52).  The psalmist was pleading with Jehovah to remember His covenant with David.  He began with a burst of praise for Jehovah’s lovingkindness, faithfulness, and mercy (vv. 1-2).  As he proceeded he quoted Jehovah, saying, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant: Thy seed will I establish for ever, And build up thy throne to all generations.’ . . . The psalmist resumed his praise of …

The Prophecy From Nathan

Text: 2 Samuel 7:12-16. (12) “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. (13) He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. (14) I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. (l5) But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. (16) And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” Introduction: We will now move from the early days of the prophet Samuel to the days in which he was dealing with the great King of Israel — David. David, after he had come to Jerusalem, and made it his capital, sought also to make that city the religious capital of the nation. In those days the Tabernacle was located at Gibeon, and the Ark of the Covenant was located in the little town of Kiriath-jearim which was about nine miles, or so, west of the city of Jerusalem. David ordered the Ark to be brought to Jerusalem and placed in a special tent that he had prepared for it. This was done, and great celebration accompanied the installation of the Ark …

The Prophecy of the Faithful Priest

Text: 1 Samuel 2:35, “Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.” Introduction: By way of a background setting, it must be pointed out that Jehovah, at Mount Sinai, said that the nation of Israel was to be a kingdom of priests.  (Exodus 19:6 and compare 1 Peter 2:1-10 regarding the church.) The statement by God in Exodus 19:6 appears to be a further development of the prediction that God gave to Abraham that he was to be a blessing to other people and nations. And so it came to be that Israel became a priestly nation which was to be a blessing to the rest of the world. Now, within the general national priesthood, God ordained a specific family, that of Aaron to officiate as priests (Exodus 29:9). And toward the end of the wanderings in the wilderness, God made a covenant with Phinehas of an everlasting priesthood (Numbers 25:12-13).  (Phinehas was the son of Eleazar, and the grandson of Aaron.) But in our text, God announced that he would remove the priesthood of Aaron and bring into existence a new priesthood which would be under the leadership of a faithful priest. Aaron, who was the first High Priest under the Levitical system, was survived by two sons whose names were Eleazar and Ithamar. God ordained that Eleazar should succeed his father, Aaron, as High Priest (Numbers …

The Prayer of Hannah

Text: 1 Samuel 2:10, “The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed.” Introduction: “The Book of Joshua relates the thrilling story of the Israelite conquest of Canaan.  The book covers about twenty-seven years (1407 -1380 B.C.).  Though rich in spiritual lessons and typology, the Book of Joshua contains no personal Messianic prophecy.”1 From the Apostle Paul, in his discourse at Antioch in Pisidia, (Acts 13:14-41) we learn that God gave the children of Israel Judges for about four-hundred-and-fifty years, from the time of the death of Joshua until the coming of the prophet Samuel.  The dark days of the Judges are recorded in the book by that name, and in the first seven chapters of the Book of 1 Samuel. As Briggs says, “The period of the Judges was ill adapted for the development of the Messianic idea.  The conquest of the Holy Land and the settlement of the tribes in the midst of the conquered Canaanites whom they had failed to drive out, resulted in breaking up the national unity, in lowering the spiritual tone through the influence of the people of the land, and in the decay of the religious life of the nation.  It had been impossible to observe any of the Mosaic codes during the wanderings in the wilderness.  It was also impossible to realize …

Jesus, the Object of Angelic Worship

Text: Deuteronomy 32:43. (LXX) “Rejoice, you heavens, along with him, and let the sons of God worship him. Rejoice, you nations, with his people, and let all the angels of God ascribe might to him. For he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.” (Dr. James E. Smith’s rendering of the verse from the Septuagint.) Introduction: As we can see, the rendering of this passage in theSeptuagint version of the Old Testament is somewhat different from the common translations that are known today.  For example, the NKJ reads as follows: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.” Nothing is said in our common translations of this text about the angels worshipping the Messiah. But, “On the basis of Hebrews 1:6, Deuteronomy 32:43a must be regarded as personal Messianic.  The writer of Hebrews was utilizing the Septuagint text which differs somewhat from the traditional Hebrew text which simply reads, ‘Rejoice, O you nations, with his people.’  A pre-Christian Hebrew manuscript discovered at Qumran makes clear that at this point the Greek translation represents the original text.” (James Edward Smith, What the Bible Teaches About the Promised Messiah, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, 1993, p. 71.) “In accordance with divine direction (31:19) Moses composed a prophetic poem (32:1-43) which he recited to the people just before his death. The written record …

The Prophet Like Unto Moses

Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-18. Introduction: 1.         As the tremendous stream of Messianic prophecy flows on, we come to the profound prophecy of Deuteronomy Chapter Eighteen, a prophecy that has both excited and bewildered men for years. 2.         In this prophecy, God points out that the Messiah would be a prophet as well as the great leader of the people. 3.         This prophecy takes us back to Mt. Sinai when the people were overcome with fear because they had heard the voice of God, and they desired that Moses go up on the mountain and speak with Jehovah on their behalf, because if they were to hear the voice of Yahweh again, they would die. 4.         God put his stamp of approval on the attitude of the people so far as his awesomeness was concerned, and revealed to Moses privately his intention to bring a very special prophet into the world. 5.         The revelation was made public some forty years later during the second discourse of Moses in the plains of Moab.  This discourse is recorded in chapters five through twenty-six of the Book of Deuteronomy, a book whose name means, “the second giving of the law.” 6.         In this discourse Moses dealt with the obligations of the people toward their judges, or kings, (16:18 ¾ 17:20), with their priests (18:1-8), and with their prophets (18:9-22). a)         The section dealing with the prophets opens with Moses setting forth a strong prohibition against the use of occult activities. b)         The Israelites were forbidden under the penalty of death to attempt to see into the future …

The Star and The Scepter

Introduction: 1.         As strange as it might seem, the great books of Exodus and Leviticus have no specific predictions of the coming, and the work of Jesus Christ. 2.         The sacred record that we call the Bible, reveals only three Messianic prophecies that date to the time period in which Moses lived. 3.         One of these came from the mouth of Jehovah himself, one came from the hypocritical prophet Balaam, and one from the great lawgiver Moses.  None of these are found in the Books of Exodus and Leviticus, but are found later in the writings of Moses. 4.         The utterance of our text, namely Numbers 24:17, was the fourth prophecy that was spoken by the soothsayer Balaam when he was employed by Balak, king of the Moabites, to curse the children of Israel when they were camped in the plains of Moab. 5.         It can be dated to the fortieth year after the Exodus from Egypt, and therefore, was given about 1407 B.C. 6.         Three times Balaam tried to pronounce a curse upon the people of God, but each time Jehovah turned his curse into a blessing.  Before he left Balak, Balaam volunteered to portray the future of Israel prophetically. 7.         In this last oracle by Balaam, the personal Messianic element appears. Through the mouth of the two-faced prophet, Jehovah continued to develop the theme of the royal Messiah which is found in Jacob’s prediction regarding Shiloh’s rule in Genesis 49:10. 8.         That this is a prophecy of the coming royal Messiah is supported by the following facts: a)         The …

Shiloh the Peacemaker

Text: Genesis 49:8-12 Introduction: 1.         The fourth and final prophecy dealing with the Messianic theme to be found in the Book of Genesis is found in chapter forty-nine, verses eight through twelve. 2.         This is in the context of Jacob’s final predictions regarding his sons just previous to his death. 3.         If we are counting correctly, this prophecy can be dated somewhere about 1860 B.C. 4.         “Jacob fathered twelve sons. With the prophecy of Genesis 49:10 eleven-twelths [sic] of the lineage of Jacob was eliminated from being the line through which the Messiah would come.”[1] 5.         Up to this point God, through his prophets, has told us that the Messiah would be born of a woman (Genesis 3:15); that he would be divine and dwell in the tents of Shem (Genesis 9:26); that he would come from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12:3 et al); and in the prophecy of Genesis 49:10, God narrows the tribe from which the Christ would come to that of Judah. 6.         It was normal in the days when these great Patriarchs lived upon the earth for the eldest son to have a special position at the time the inheritance was divided at the death of a father. 7.         However, this was not the case among the descendants of Abraham as we see from noting that Isaac was not the first-born of Abraham, that Jacob was not the first-born of Isaac, since Esau was born some minutes before his twin brother Jacob. 8.         Under the guidance of the blessed Holy Spirit …

God’s Divine Promise to Abraham

Texts: Genesis 12:1-3; 22:15-18; 26:4, 23-24; 28:1-5,14-15; 35:9-12. Introduction: 1.         As Dr. James E. Smith, so beautifully put it: “About the year 2092 B.C. God initiated a new stage in the drama of redemption. God called Abram to leave his hometown of Ur of Chaldees to embark upon a pilgrimage in search of that city whose maker and builder was God (Heb. 11:10).  No one can precisely compute the time lapse between the Flood and the call of Abram.  If there are no gaps in the genealogy of Genesis 11, the minimum figure between these two events would be 427 years. . . . In a cluster of predictions during the Patriarchal era God defined clearly the chosen line through which Messianic blessing would come into the world.  It becomes clear in Genesis 12 – 28 that the channel of blessing would be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Toward the end of the Patriarchal period Jacob singled out Judah as the chosen one among his twelve sons.”[1] 2.         God made this promise to Abraham on six different occasions. a)         Genesis 12:1-3,7. b)         Genesis 13:14-18. c)         Genesis 15:4-5, 13-18. d)         Genesis 17:1-8. e)         Genesis 18:17-19. f)          Genesis 22:15-18. 3.         God renewed this promise to Isaac, the “only begotten son,” of Abraham on two different occasions. a)         Genesis 26:4 b)         Genesis 26:23-24. 4.         God also made this same promise to Jacob on two different occasions. a)         Genesis 28:14-15. b)         Genesis 35:9-12. 5.         God had made a seven promise statement to Abraham while he was yet in Haran, and after he left Haran and entered into the land of Canaan God added an eighth.  They …

God in the Tents of Shem

Genesis 9:24-27 Introduction: 1. The second stage of the development of messianic prophecy in the book of Genesis is found in this passage of Scripture. 2. This prophecy has long been overlooked by those of our brotherhood who have studied the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. 3. Perhaps that was done while hastening to get to so many of the great prophecies of the book of Isaiah, or perhaps for some other reason, but we feel that we will do ourselves a great injustice if we fail to stop and take a careful look at the blessing that Noah spoke to his son Shem, and see what that blessing has to say regarding the Messiah. 4. Let us begin by reading the text: Genesis 9:24-27, (24) “So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. (25) Then he said: ‘Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren.’ (26) And he said: ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. (27) May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be his servant.” 5. Now let us make some pertinent observations relating to the time that went by between Genesis three, and Genesis nine. a) There is no way of telling exactly how many years passed by between the prophecy of Genesis 3:15, and the one of Genesis 9:24-27. b) If the genealogies of Genesis Five are accurate representations of the time that passed, and they …

The Seed of Woman

Text: Genesis 3:9-19; (Emphasize vs. 15.) Introduction: 1. The story of redemption has its beginning, and that not by mistake, in the first book of the Bible ¾ Genesis. 2. In order to understand the story (scheme) of redemption we must understand what happened in the very outset of human history. 3. God had created Adam (man) and Eve (mother of all living), and placed them in an indescribable paradise called Eden, which means, “a place of delight.” 4. In Eden God placed man under law both positive and negative. The positive law can be found in Genesis 1:28; 2:15-24. And the negative law is found in chapter two verses sixteen and seventeen. a) Both the positive law, and the negative law (commands of God) were very simple, and were fully understood by the inhabitants of Eden. b) So long as they were obedient to this law, they lived in a state of tranquillity, peace, and beauty which are hard for those of us living in these miserable times to imagine, and are impossible for us to understand. 5. Enter the serpent, (Nahash, the most common word in the Old Testament for “snake”) who Moses described as being “more subtle,” that is, more crafty, more deceitful, more cunning, than any other, “beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” (Lord God here refers to Jehovah, or Yahweh and is not the plural name Elohim which is used in chapter one, verse one, and some verses following.) 6. The serpent asked Eve a question which was intended to raise doubts in her …

An Introduction to A Study of Messianic Prophecy

When we were children in our Bible classes, our teachers sought to teach us the meaning of some of the words with which we would become very familiar, if we studied our Bibles as we should have. We were told that a “Priest” was a man who spoke to God on behalf of man. Later we learned that a priest did much more than simply speak to God on behalf of man, but he also, under the law of Moses, offered sacrifices, and engaged in many rituals, according to the divine commands of God, that were designed to draw man closer to God. Thus we came to appreciate the priest in the Old Testament system which, in turn, gave us a greater understanding of, and appreciation for the priesthood in which we serve under the New Testament dispensation. We understand that as Christians each one of us is a priest, and we serve in our priesthood under Jesus Christ our great High Priest, who is after the order of Melchizedek. In those same Bible school classes we learned other definitions of other important words such as the word “Prophet.” We learned that a prophet was one who spoke to man on behalf of God. In the Bible classes, in which I studied as a boy, we were taught these simple definitions that need to be taught again and again with each succeeding generation. I have learned that many Christians want to define the word “Prophet” to mean one who predicts, …