Episode 2:The promise a savior foretold

KM AUDIOBOOKS - EPISODE 2: THE PROMISE A SAVIOR FORETOLD Book: THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST* Welcome back to KM AUDIOBOOKS. You are listening to The Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Good News That Changed The World. This audiobook is brought to you by KM AUDIOBOOKS. Episode 2: The Promise - A Savior Foretold. Long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, His coming was announced. Not once. Not twice. But over three hundred times. The Old Testament, written over a thousand years before His birth, is like a trail of clues. A divine prophecy. Pointing to one man. Let's look at some of them. ONE: THE SEED OF THE WOMAN The very first promise was given in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15. Right after man sinned, God spoke to the serpent and said: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Who is this Seed? He would be born of a woman, and He would crush the head of the enemy, Satan. Even though Satan would bruise His heel. This was the first picture of the cross. Jesus would be wounded, but Satan would be defeated. TWO: BORN OF A VIRGIN Seven hundred years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 7, verse 14: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Immanuel means God with us. How could a child be God with us? Only if God Himself became that child. A virgin birth was necessary because Jesus had to be fully human from His mother, and fully God from His Father. THREE: BORN IN BETHLEHEM But where would this child be born? The prophet Micah, in chapter 5, verse 2, answered seven hundred years in advance: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." Bethlehem was a tiny, insignificant town. No one would have guessed the King of eternity would be born there. But God chose the humble place. And in Matthew chapter 2, that is exactly what happened. FOUR: THE SUFFERING SERVANT Perhaps the most stunning prophecy is Isaiah chapter 53. Written 700 years before the cross, it describes the crucifixion in perfect detail. Let me read a portion. Isaiah 53, verse 3 to 7: "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief... Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter..." Who else could this be? Who was wounded for our transgressions? Who, like a lamb to the slaughter, opened not His mouth before His shearers? Only Jesus. When He stood before Pilate, He did not defend Himself. He was silent. The perfect Lamb. FIVE: THE EXACT TIMELINE The most precise prophecy is found in Daniel chapter 9. In verses 24 to 26, Daniel predicts that from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, there would be 69 weeks of years - that is 483 years - until the Messiah the Prince would come. Historians tell us the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was given by King Artaxerxes in 445 BC. Add 483 years. It brings you to 32 AD. The exact year Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and was proclaimed Messiah. The Bible is not a book of vague predictions. It is precise. Mathematical. Why are there so many prophecies? For one reason: So that when Jesus came, we would know without a doubt that He is the One. God did not want us to miss Him. In John chapter 5, verse 39, Jesus said to the religious leaders: "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." The whole Old Testament testifies of Him. CLOSING THOUGHT So, what does this mean for you and me today? It means God keeps His promises. If He kept His promise to send a Savior after thousands of years, exactly as He said, then He will keep His promise to you. If He said, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," Romans 10:13... then He will do it. If you call on Him today, He will save you. The Savior who was promised has come. This was Episode 2: The Promise. In Episode 3, we will meet the Person Himself. Who is Jesus Christ? Fully God and Fully Man. Thank you for listening to The Gospel of Jesus Christ. This has been a production of KM AUDIOBOOKS. If this episode strengthened your faith, please follow KM AUDIOBOOKS on Spotify, leave a 5-star rating, and share this with someone searching for truth. Until next time, God bless you.