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Firm Foundations

Creation to Christ

Lesson 31 - God Began to Fulfill His Promises

Concerning John and Jesus

Questions for the LFC Firm Foundations Coordinator may be emailed to firmfoundations@lenoxchurch.org

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REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. What name was Zacharias to give to his son? John.

2. What was John’s work to be? John’s work would be to prepare the Jews to receive and trust in the Deliverer.

3. Of whom was Mary’s son to be a descendant? Of David the king.

4. Why did the Savior have to be born of the line of David? Because God had promised David that the Deliverer would be one of his descendants.

5. Why did the Savior have to be born of a virgin? So that He would not inherit Adam’s sin as we did.

6. What was Mary’s child to be called? Jesus.

7. What does the name Jesus mean? Jesus means Savior or Deliverer.

8. Was Jesus to be more than just man? Yes, Jesus was to be God the Son whom God planned should come down from Heaven to be born as a human baby.

9. How could Jesus be given life without a human father? God is all powerful. He can do anything He wishes to do.

10. Was Jesus to be the promised Savior? Yes, Jesus was to be the Deliverer whom God first promised in the Garden of Eden.

11. Who is the author of the New Testament? God.

When God makes a promise, He will fulfill it.

- No matter how difficult, no matter how impossible it may seem

- No matter if it takes thousands of years to bring it to pass

- God will fulfill every promise, down to the very last detail.

God did what He had promised Zacharias. Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, had a son, and they named him John, just as the angel had instructed. Can you remember some other promises God made and fulfilled?

Zacharias knew that, very soon, God’s promised Savior was coming to deliver mankind from Satan, sin, and death.

- Zacharias believed the promises which God had given to the prophets.

- God the Holy Spirit used Zacharias’ knowledge of the Old Testament to bring this message that these promises were, indeed, about to be fulfilled!

- Consider:

Each one of us must be delivered from Satan, from the sinful things that control our lives, and from death and separation from God. That is why God planned to send the Savior into the world.

Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel. Do you remember that, before Abraham went to live in Canaan, God had promised him that one of his descendants would be the Savior?

“I will bless those who bless you,
      And I will curse him who curses you;
      And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Even though thousands of years had passed since God made that promise to Abraham, God had not forgotten. God always does exactly what He says.

God the Holy Spirit gave this message to Zacharias, and Zacharias believed Him.

- Through the Holy Spirit, Zacharias was speaking about his son, John.

- John was going to be the prophet who would prepare the way for the coming Savior.

- He would announce to Israel that the Savior would soon come to them.

The Deliverer, the Savior, for whom John was to prepare the way, was to be the Lord Himself.

- No ordinary man could deliver us from Satan, sin, and death.

- The Lord is the great Deliverer of all who trust in Him.

- Recall:

Who delivered Noah and his family from the flood? Who delivered Isaac from death and provided a ram to die in his place? Who delivered Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? Who delivered Joseph from prison in Egypt? Who delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt? Who saved the Israelites from Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea? Who delivered the Israelites from death by providing them with water and food in the desert? The Lord alone is the great Deliverer.

There is no other Savior but the Lord.

- Consider:

People today like to think that they are the ones who are strong and important. They like to boast that they are the most popular or the smartest or the most talented or the greatest or the richest or the strongest. Satan wants us to think about all these things because He doesn’t want us to listen to and believe God! Even if a man were known all over the world and had great intelligence and talent and had won many awards and had a great deal of money and even ruled as president or king, he still could not deliver himself from the penalty of his sins! Only God can do that. He is the only Deliverer, the only Savior of men!

Zacharias said that, when the Savior came, He would show His people how their sins could be forgiven. God cannot and will not forgive sins unless the full price for sin is paid.

- The punishment for sin is separation from God forever.

- How then could sin be paid for?

- How can sinners be forgiven and saved from everlasting punishment? Zacharias said that the Savior would make all of that clear and plain.

The Deliverer would come like the sun rising in the morning.

- Consider:

How would you feel if you went for a walk in the woods and got lost? When the sun went down, you would be not only lost, but you wouldn’t even be able to see where you were. You would be very eager for the sun to rise in the morning so you could find your way back.

In a similar way, Adam and Eve’s sin put all of us into darkness. They had been very safe in the garden of Eden because they depended on God for everything and He gave them all they needed. But when they sinned, their sin separated them from God. They were cast out of the garden. Now they were in the dark, so to speak, in constant danger of Satan’s attack. All of their children and all of their descendants, including you and me, were born in the darkness of sin.

But God was making a way out of that darkness!

- Zacharias said that the Deliverer would come into this world to be the light to all people.

- The Deliverer would come just as the sun rises after a dark night and gives light to all people everywhere.

- Consider:

How many suns give light to this earth? Only one. The same sun gives light all over the world. How many Deliverers did God promise to send into the world? Only one.

God did not promise to send different Deliverers, one for us and another for people in other parts of the world.

- God only promised one Deliverer who would make it possible for us to come to God.

- He would bring “light” to the whole world, like the rising sun!

John lived in the desert until it was God’s time for him to begin giving God’s message to Israel to prepare them to trust in the coming Deliverer.

John believed God. He knew that he was a sinner, but he came to God with the animal and blood sacrifices.

- He trusted in God to save him from the everlasting punishment.

- John trusted in the coming Deliverer.

- John was going to be the final prophet to announce to Israel the coming of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, the coming Deliverer, was to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. God had promised them that the Deliverer would be from their family. For hundreds of years, God had given His prophets messages about this coming Savior.

PROPHECY CHART:

WHAT GOD SAID WOULD HAPPEN TO THE DELIVERER:

Old Testament                                                                                    Prophecy Fulfilled

Prophecy                                                                                             in New Testament

Isaiah 9:7 David's descendant

Isaiah 7:14 Born of a virgin

Micah 5:2 Born in Bethlehem

Hosea 11:1 Flee into Egypt

Isaiah 11:2 Some of His characteristics

Isaiah 53:4,5 Suffer for others

Psalm 41:9 Betrayed by a friend

Zec. 11:12,13 Sold for 30 pieces of silver

Psalm 27:12 Accused by false witnesses

Isaiah 50:6 Smitten and spat upon

Isaiah 53:7 Silent when accused

Isaiah 53:3 Rejected by Jews

Psalm 69:4 Hated without a cause

Psalm 34:20; Zec 12:10 Not one bone broken; look on Him whom they pierce

Psalm 22:18 His clothing gambled for

Isaiah 53:12 Die with the wicked

Psalm 22:6-8 Mocked and insulted

Isaiah 53:9 Buried with the rich

Psalm 16:10 Rise again

Psalm 68:18 Go back to Heaven

We are going to use this chart to record the fulfillment of some of these things which God said would happen to the Deliverer. God planned everything that would happen to the Savior even before He came into the world.

- Explanation:

As we look at these Old Testament prophecies concerning the Deliverer, we will see that many of them are situated in the context of another subject. Very often, prophecies referred to an event that would take place immediately as well as to an event that was to take place hundreds of years later. The first fulfillment often came to pass in the lifetime of the prophet, showing the people of his day that the prophet was truly of God because what he had said came true, just as he had prophesied. The prophets themselves did not know exactly how these prophecies would be fulfilled. They simply spoke and wrote down the messages God gave them. But looking back, we can see that particular details of these prophecies had their exact fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

LOOK AT THE FIRST PROPHECY ON THE CHART:

“Will be David’s descendant,” and write Matthew 1:1 opposite Isaiah 9:7. Read the prophecy and the fulfillment.

PROPHECY CHART:

WHAT GOD SAID WOULD HAPPEN TO THE DELIVERER:

Old Testament                                                                                    Prophecy Fulfilled

Prophecy                                                                                             in New Testament

Isaiah 9:7 David's descendant
Mathew 1:1

Fulfillment is found in Matthew 1:1 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:”

This is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David and the fulfillment of the words God spoke to Isaiah.

Jesus was also to be called the Christ.

- “Christ” is a Greek word meaning “Anointed One”—one set apart by God for special duties.

- “Christ” is also the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah.”

- He was God’s Anointed One, set apart for three special duties, or high offices.

- He was to be God’s Prophet, Priest, and King.

As God’s Prophet, Jesus was going to be sent into the world to tell God’s way for all people to be delivered from Satan, sin, and everlasting punishment. God was also sending Jesus to be the final, great High Priest.

Remember that the high priest took the blood of animals into the inner room of the temple once a year so the sins of the people could be forgiven. Furthermore, Jesus was to become the ruling King, the descendant of King David. Only Jesus was promised by God to be the Christ, the Anointed One.

- No one else can rightfully claim this position.

- Jesus Christ was promised by God to be the only Deliverer of sinners.

- God was going to send only one Savior for the whole world. God keeps His promises. He alone is God. He alone can deliver men from their sins.

QUESTIONS:

1. What work did God plan for John to do?

2. What did Zacharias say the coming Savior would do?

a..

b.

c.

3. How did Zacharias know what the Savior would do?

4. Are there many different saviors for people in different parts of the world?

5. What does Jesus’ name “the Christ” mean?

6. Jesus was set apart by God for what three special duties?

7. What great Jewish king was a forefather of Jesus?

8. What does the word Messiah mean?

Suggested Daily Bible Readings:

Day 151: 1 Kings, Chapters 10 and 11

Day 152: 1 Kings, Chapters 12 and 13

Day 153: 1 Kings, Chapters 14 and 15

Day 154: 1 Kings, Chapters 16 and 17

Day 155: 1 Kings, Chapters 18 and 19