GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 9 ~ ~Hebrews 4:12 ~ ~ “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Continuing in the book by Dr. Michael Youssef, “How to Read the Bible (as if your life depends on it,….because it does)

PROPHECIES MADE, PROMISES KEPT

The prophecies of the coming Messiah begin in the early pages of Genesis.  They continue to appear here and there throughout the early books of the Old Testament.  In the books of the prophets, Isaiah through Malachi, the predictions of the Messiah become much more precise and richly detailed.  By the time we reach the end of the Old Testament, we have a very clear and multifaceted picture of what the promised Messiah will be like and how we can recognize Him.  And yet the full identity of the Messiah awaits us in the next Testament, the New Testament.

A mysterious feature of the Old Testament is the amount of blood.  Rivers of blood.  Again and again, we see the sacrifice of animals, the spilling of blood.  It begins when God slays animals to provide clothing for Adam and Eve.  We see the spilling of animal blood in Abel’s acceptable sacrifice to God.  In Exodus, we see the blood of lambs splashed over the door at the first Passover.  In Leviticus and beyond, God sets forth a system of rites and blood sacrifices to cleanse the people from their sins.

This river of blood flows throughout the Old Testament.  Countless thousands of animals are sacrificed, and all this spilled blood seems to mean something —but what?

As we cross from the Old Testament to the New, light breaks through!  A spotlight shines upon the One who was merely a silhouette in the Old Testament.

The first words of the New Testament announce:  “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.”  Now we know the name of the Person the Old Testament  has spoken of —and the New Testament links Him to the Old Testament with a genealogy that names Him “the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Jesus the Messiah fulfills the Old Testament prophecies.  His death explains the Old Testament blood sacrifices.  The Old Testament enables us to understand Jesus, and Jesus enables us to understand the Old Testament.  As one New Testament writer explains in Hebrews 1:1-2:

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe.

During that four-hundred-year gap between the Old Testament and the New, the world held its breath, awaiting the birth of the Messiah.  The story of the Old Testament is that the Messiah is coming.  The story of the New Testament is that He has come.  He lived and taught the people, died for our sins, and rose from the dead. 

AND HE IS COMING AGAIN!

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Psalm 33:4

For the word of the Lord is right, And all His work is done in truth.

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 Psalm 12:6

The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.

Zechariah 2:5

I will be a wall of fire to her on all sides and I will be the glory in her midst.

“Faith, mighty Faith ~ ~ the promise sees, and looks to that alone:  laughs at life’s impossibilities, and cries, “It shall be done.” (unknown author)

Psalm 18:28

For You light my lamp: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.

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