◄ Testimony Of Christ - Perfect MAN Eternal SON (13) ►

You examine the Scriptures carefully because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. Yet they testify about Me.
John 5:39

Christ’s Humanity

I remember as a little girl reading in the fly-leaf of my mother’s Bible that there are about 300 prophecies of Christ’s first coming foretold in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament. Every one was carried out to the letter – in and through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal Son of God took upon Himself human flesh and became the perfect Son of Man – but had the Man Christ Jesus been anything but fully human, He could never have fulfilled this plethora of prophecies that authenticate – to the letter, His descendancy from His father Abraham and His legitimate right to the throne of David:– His anointed position as Israel’s coming Messiah and their rightful King.

Prophesied Redeemer

Had the Lord Jesus been anything but fully human, many of the prophecies of Scripture would have remained unfulfilled for only as man’s Kinsman-Redeemer, Who was like unto His brothers in every way – (and yet was without sin), could the Lord Jesus Christ have become our Saviour, and obediently carry out the demands of a holy God, in submission to His Father – and in so doing give His life as a ransom for many.

Christ’s in Prophecy

The Bible was written by about 40 different authors, over a thousand years period in three languages, but its content can be read as one, unified whole. It is considered by some of the finest mathematical minds that the odds of Jesus fulfilling all 300 Old Testament prophecies is immeasurable – indeed it has been calculated that the probability of only 8 prophecies being fulfilled by one man is a ratio of 1:28 which is 1 : 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

Christ’s First Advent

The inerrant Word of God authenticates to the letter the fulfilment of every single prophecy of Christ’s first advent, but had the Lord Jesus not been fully Man as well being undiminished Deity, many of those prophecies could never have found their true fulfilment in Christ – for the Messiah of Israel must be born of the seed of a woman – He must be the offspring of Abraham. He must be great king David’s greater Son – a descendent Who came his loins.

Micah’s Prophecy

It was Micah who announced, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth the One to be Ruler in Israel, while Matthew in his gospel (written predominantly to the house of Israel),  gives the beautiful detail of the birth of the Lord Jesus, Who was to be called Immanuel – God with us.. and that His adoptive father was to call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. But Matthew also describes the antics of King Herod and his deceitful inquiry of where Christ should be born:- in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet Micah…. was their reply.

Isaiah’s Prophecies

Matthew also quoted the prophet Isaiah in the beautiful description of the young virgin who was to conceive and bear a Son. And he relates the anguish in the heart of her betrothed husband, when he discovered that she was pregnant. Oh indeed without Christ’s humanity He could never have fulfilled these God-given prophecies to the house of Israel. It was Matthew, who when quoting Isaiah chapter 11, writes of Christ Jesus as the Shoot, Who springs from His ancestor Jesse, the father of king David – describing the humble home in Nazareth and the early childhood of our Lord Jesus in great detail – for the Spirit of the Lord would rest upon 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 delighted in the fear of the Lord.

Israel’s Rejection

It was John who explained from Isaiah chapter 6 that the heart of Israel would be calloused towards their Messiah. Their eyes would be blind to their kinsman-Redeemer and their ears would be deaf to Him – while the other gospel writers all describe another of Isaiah’s prophecies in gruelling detail:- for  He was despised and rejected by men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as One from Whom men hide their faces.. He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

Willing Sacrifice

Were it not for the humanity of our Saviour and the blood that poured over the Mercy Seat of God, from His human heart of love… there could never have been redemption for the race of man – for only a perfect Man (a kinsman Redeemer), Who was born into the human race, could redeem fallen man from eternal separation from a holy God. But it required Him to become the willing sacrifice for sin – for the sake of all sinners. There were, indeed, about 300 prophecies of Christ’s first coming foretold in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New. Every one was carried out to the letter – in and through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Future Prophecies

But I also remember as a little girl reading in the fly-leaf in my mother’s Bible that there are about 500 prophecies of Christ’s second coming, that have yet to be fulfilled in the future – should not we all pay closer heed to the Word of God and all it teaches – for His return is very, very near – even at the very door.