INTRODUCTION
Last week we started a three week journey to Bethlehem. The Scripture
not only promises the Messiah, but it does so in such a way that we can
precisely identify Him.
Who cares?
 If you are a believer
you should be encouraged to know the solid ground on which you stand.
If
you are a seeker, hopefully this evidence will be that which brings you
to the point of embracing
Jesus
Christ as your Savior.
You
can know that the Bible is true - everything in it!
At some point after Creation, Adam and Eve chose to follow the suggestions
of Satan through the serpent, and sin entered the human scene. Immediately,
alienation and fear and pain and death entered the human scene as well.
Though it has many forms, the foundational cause of mankind’s problems
is sin.
Immediately after Adam’s sin, we saw our first Road Sign regarding God’s
remedy to man’s sin problem. Genesis 3:15 prophecies hostility and struggle
between the seed of the serpent and the seed of woman.
“And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between
your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall
bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis
3:15, NKJV, 1450 BC)
Everyone here this morning is here as a result of the seed of a man. In
fact, every human being that has ever been born or ever will be born is
the result of the seed of a man - except One.
Why is that significant? The Bible teaches us that human beings have
a sin nature because of Adam’s sin. That sinful nature is passed from one
generation to the next by the seed of men.
For God to become part of the human race to be our Savior, He could
not
come as the seed of a man because He is sinless and, to be God, he had
to remain sinless. So this Promised Messiah of necessity would be the seed
of a woman. To be God, He would have to be born of a virgin.
Last week we saw how this struggle between the seed of the woman and
the seed of the serpent began with Eve’s first two boys, Cain and Able.
Able represented the godly seed, the line of the Savior, while Cain represented
the ungodly seed, the line of Satan.
 Road
Sign Number 2: The Line of Seth—The Godly Seed
Later Eve gave birth to another son and named him Seth to replace Abel.
"And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and
named him Seth, 'For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel,
whom Cain killed.' And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he
named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.(Gen.
4:25-26, NKJV, 1450 BC)
Notice that in Genesis 4:26 we read, "Then, men began to call upon the
name of the Lord." The then refers to the logical consequences of
the birth of Seth and the establishment of the godly line of men from which
the Promised Messiah would come.
Let’s move forward about 2,000 years.
We turn next to the time of Noah, and again we see the hatred and the
path of destruction and deception in human history. Once again Satan attempts
to stop the promise of Genesis 3:15.
So God destroyed the human race with the flood, except for Noah and
his family. Now it’s obvious the Promised Savior would come through Noah.
But Noah had three son -- Shem, Ham, and Japheth -- who became the fathers
of the entire human race. Which one would be the godly line, the one from
which the Deliverer would come?
Road
Sign Number 3: Blessings on Shem
“Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem, And may Canaan be his
servant. May God enlarge Japheth, And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant." (Gen.
9:26-27, NKJV, 1450 BC)
Shem’s descendents would become the godly line. From him would come the
Deliverer and the means of blessing to the other brothers (Gen. 9:27).
We see two key developments as we continue to look for identifiers for
the promised deliverer.
-
The descendants of Shem became the Semitic people, many of whom dwelt in
the east around the land of Babylon.
-
As time moved along, the nations revolted. (Gen.
10:8-10, NKJV, 1450 BC). The Tower of Babel (Gen.
11:1-9, NKJV) became Satan’s first attempt at a one-world system of
government by which man sought unity and prosperity apart from God. It
was clearly an anti-God, humanistic kingdom.
Again we see the hatred between the godly and ungodly lines at work. Let’s
move on down the corridors of time and look for more road signs.
Road
Sign Number 4: The Call of Abram
“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And
from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will
show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And
make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless
those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you
all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen.
12:1-3, NKJV, 1450 BC)
The whole world had fallen in with Satan’s system. But God always has His
man and His remnant. Faithful and sovereign, God will fulfill His promises
and purposes.
So,
God called a man by the name of Abram.
In this text, several new tidbits of information are given.
-
A specific portion of land is now in view, one that will become the
center of the world as God views it.
This Promised Deliverer will come out of a special parcel of land,
the land of Canaan, later to be known as Israel.
-
A specific nation is now in view, one that would come out of Abram.
So we look for a nation that will arise out of the descendants of Abram.
-
Universal blessings are promised for all the nations.
Abram’s seed would become a channel of blessing to all the world.
This means we look for the Redeemer and promised Seed to come from Abram’s
people.
In subsequent sections in Genesis, God amplifies and enlarges on these
promises, but now we know in what family and in what land we should look
for Him. We won’t look in China, in Babylon, in Assyria, in India, in Western
Europe, in Italy, in Turkey, or in the Americas. No, we are to look
for this Deliverer from a small piece of ground along the Mediterranean
Sea, the land of Israel.
But as we journey on down the pages of Scripture, we soon learn that
many nations would come from Abram, so many that God even changed his name
to Abraham meaning "father of a multitude."
"As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you shall
be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called
Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I will make you the father of
a multitude of nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I
will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. And I will
establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you
throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to
you and to your descendants after you." (Gen.
17:4-7, NASB, 1450 BC)
To whom do we look now? As we continue our trek down the pages of Scripture,
we find another sign.
Road
Sign Number 5: In Isaac and His Descendants
'But God said, 'No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son,
and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with
him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.'" (Gen.17:19,
NKJV) "But God said to Abraham, 'Do not let it be displeasing in your sight
because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said
to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.'"
(Gen.
21:12, NKJV, 1450 BC)
We are to look for the Deliverer in the descendents of Isaac.
But wait! Isaac would have two sons and two nations would come from
him. Which nation would be the channel for the promised deliverer? Would
it be Esau, the father of the Edomites, or Jacob, the father of the Jews?
Road
Sign Number 6: In Jacob and His Descendants
“But the children struggled together within her; and she said,
“If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
And the LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples
shall be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than
the other; And the older shall serve the younger.” (Gen.
25:22-23, NKJV, 1450 BC)
"And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: 'I am the LORD
God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you
lie I will give to you [Jacob/Israel] and your descendants. Also your descendants
shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west
and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all
the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" (Gen.
28:13-14, NKJV, 1450 BC)
The younger of the two sons was Jacob and the nation he began was Israel.
Again, God’s road signs, placed carefully along the pages of Scripture
and the corridors of time, guide us and the line is narrowed.
Still, as we continue our travels, we find that Jacob had 12 sons (Gen.
35:22-27, NKJV, 1450 BC). From which son do we look for the
deliverer and source of blessing to the nations. Is it Reuben, Simeon,
Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph or Benjamin?
As always, God does not leave us guessing.
Road
Sign Number 7: In The Tribe of Judah
In Genesis 49 Jacob pronounces blessing on each of his sons and in
the process narrows the line to the tribe of Judah.
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, Until Shiloh (Heb. sent - the Messiah) comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. (Gen.
49:10, NKJV, 1450 BC)
Made on his death bed, this is a prophecy of Jacob describes the future
of Israel. In this prophecy, God narrows the field again.
As we travel on down the pages of Scripture and history, we find the
tribe of Judah increases by many thousands. Again we look to Scripture
to see who would be the carrier.
Road
Sign Number 8: In the Family of Jesse
"Now the LORD said to Samuel, 'How long will you mourn for
Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn
with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have
provided Myself a king among his sons.'" (1
Sam. 16:1, NKJV, 1000 BC)
"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall
grow out of his roots. And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek
Him, And His resting place shall be glorious." (Is.
11:1, 10, NKJV. 700 BC)
But Jesse had eight sons. Which one would be the line of the Messiah?
Road
Sign Number 9: In the Person of David
"So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful
eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, 'Arise, anoint him;
for this is he.' Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the
midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David
from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah." (1
Sam. 16:12-13, NKJV, 1000 BC)
"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the
government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase
of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David
and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will
perform this." (Isaiah
9:6-7, NKJV, 700 BC)
"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. He shall build a house for My name, and I will
establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 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. But My mercy shall not
depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you.
Your throne shall be established forever."(2
Sam. 7:12-16, NKJV, 1000 BC)
In these prophecies and in the lineage of Messiah we see several things:
-
We see that which is miraculous and impossible apart from the intervention
and work of a personal God in human history.
-
We see how God kept the line of identification clear so no impostor
might be mistaken for Messiah.
-
We also see how God minutely fulfilled His Word in the face of the hatred
of Satan and the sinful acts of men.
Next week we will see that the prophecies become even more precise, so
we not only know in what line, but when, where, and
how. When we come to the lineage and birth of the Savior, the accuracy
of Scripture and its uniqueness is absolutely incredible and intriguing!
We will see that our journey to Bethlehem leads unmistakably to Jesus of
Nazareth as the promised Savior of the world.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life."
John
14:6 (NKJV)
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