1. The promised Messiah

Jesus-Messiah-1.pdf

An overview beginning with the creation to Jesus as a teenager.
The reason why Jesus had to come as the promised savior.

Long ago God began his creation of the earth. It is not known how long ago, because according to our research, the six days of creation in the Bible are not literal 24-hour days but are prolonged periods. Periods in which extinct animals such as dinosaurs have lived.
The 7th day of creation or period was according to Genesis 2: 2 the rest day of God.
God called his creation in Genesis 1:31 good, exceptionally good.
The Earth with its plants, trees, fish, birds and animals and insects is very old, but not the people. A little over 6,000 years ago, during the 6th day of creation, the first humans were created. It was the crown of the whole creation.
In the midst of the paradise stood the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Of all trees Adam and Eve were allowed to eat, but of this tree of knowledge of good and evil they were not allowed to eat under no circumstances.
By eating of the tree of life, the aging and illness of people could be recovered.
The first human beings were also unaware of their nakedness, their mind was attuned to their Creator.

In the beginning it was for Adam and Eve delightful to stay in paradise. Paradise had a wonderful climate and lush vegetation. Genesis speaks of a mist going up from the land and watering the whole face of the ground. Paradise pleased the eyes with all the animals, birds, fish and insects. Adam and Eve were happy because they had a good relationship with God and with one another. It was also remarkable that they were vegetarian.

Unfortunately, Adam and Eve sinned by eating the fruit of the tree of ‘the knowledge of good and evil’, so they ate of the forbidden tree.
They were seduced by a powerful spiritual creature, Satan, who made use of a snake. This mighty angel was an opponent of God, a liar.
From that moment, the human family was ashamed of their nakedness and thereafter they were driven away out of paradise.
Now Adam and Eve could not eat any more of the tree of life and would certainly die after several years as a result.
Eventually, Adam died by aging at the age of +/- 930 years.
God’s plan with the people was now shattered.
But God did never let go the original plan of a human family, which could live in eternity.
The human family should get the chance again to live forever in a paradise environment.That was not something simple, there was a comprehensive plan needed and a Savior or Messiah. A Divine plan that would be carried out in steps.
Slowly but surely, Adam and Eve’s posterity was prepared on this. A number of Scriptures of the Old Testament talk about a Messiah who would come.
The quoted scriptures from the Old Testament are just a small number of these, in reality there are many more Scriptures of the Old Testament that refer to this promised Messiah.

The first announcement of the Messiah
Immediate after the sin of Adam and Eve follows the first announcement of a radical event in Genesis 3:15, which says that Satan will eventually be crushed in the head:

ESV (Genesis 3:15) 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
[See also Newsletters: 11. Recovery of the Paradise https://www.dojc.nl/?p=4211&lang=en]

Jesus is here for the first time into the picture. He would be crushed in the heel by Satan.
It is a difficult prophetic text. Adam and Eve will presumably have understood this only partly.

The Divine Plan gets a sequel:
God decided to call Abraham out of Ur, out of nowadays Iraq to the promised land of Israel.

Later, the angel of God said to Abraham that the Savior or Messiah would come out of his posterity:

KJV (Genesis 22: 16-18) 16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

With Abraham and his offspring, God chose a people for His Holy Name:

ESV (Deuteronomy 28:10) 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.

Years later withdrew God’s people during a famine to Egypt and then fell into slavery by the Egyptians after many years. Of God’s people, Moses was chosen by God to free the Jewish people from Egypt and to lead them to Israel.

God’s people were then told that the Messiah would be a prophet like Moses.

ESV (Deuteronomy 18: 15-18) 15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

The people of Israel wanted their own king on earth like all the nations. One of the first kings of Israel was David, known from the story of David and Goliath…
The prophet Nathan spoke words of ‘a son of God’ in the line of this David:

KJV (1 Chronicles 17: 11-15) 11 And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever. 13 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee: 14 But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore. 15 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.

That the Messiah would come from the line of David is repeated in Psalm 132:

KJV (Psalms 132: 11) 11 The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David;
He will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.

But years later the people of Israel became disobedient and were given into captivity to Babylon. During this exile in Babylon, Daniel was a prophet of God.

In the book of Daniel is prophesied the point of time when Jesus the Messiah would appear:

ESV (Daniel 9: 25-26) 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing.

After the return from Babylon, there was among the Jews another important prophet, Isaiah.

Isaiah has written much about Jesus the Messiah, who should come. [See Isaiah Chpt 53]
The Messiah’s name would be quite appropriate Immanuel, which means “God will be with us”:

ESV (Isaiah 7: 13-14) 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

This name, ‘God will be with us’, was clearly an indication that the Messiah would have God’s approval:

ESV (Isaiah 9: 6-7) 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The following Scripture describes that Jesus would be a descendant of Jesse, who in turn was the father of David:

ESV (Isaiah 11: 1-5) 1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

And in the next section is described that Jesus would come to Zion, the current Jerusalem. To make this clear, we will first describe Jerusalem. Jerusalem has two main mountains, Mount Moriah, or Temple Mount, and Mount Zion, where the fortress of David stood. Sometimes the name Zion is also applied to all Jerusalem:

KJV (Isaiah 59: 20-21) 20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. 21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.

Even the birthplace of the Messiah has been revealed to the Jewish people:

ESV (Micah 5: 2-4) 2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

The 4 Gospels

In the Bible, four persons have described Jesus life, which are the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Gospel means good news or good message.
John begins his Gospel about preparing Jesus by God in his mission as spokesman on earth. In John is therefore spoken about the Word that became flesh:

ESV (John 1: 1-3, 14) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made…. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Gospel of Matthew begins with the ancestry registry of Jesus, in which is stated that Jesus was born in the line of David and of Abraham:

ESV (Matthew 1: 1-15) 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

And then a number of announcements follow in Israel by angels. The angel Gabriel announced the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah and Elizabeth. John the Baptist would be the messenger to prepare the coming of Jesus. We can all read this in…

ESV (Luke 1: 5-7) 5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

And subsequently:

ESV (Luke 1: 17-20) 17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” 18 And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

To finish with …

ESV (Luke 1: 23-25) 23 And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. 24 After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25 “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”After about six months, the angel Gabriel then announced the birth of Jesus to the virgin Mary:

ESV (Luke 1: 26-38) 26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

After the announcement of the angel, Mary went visiting her cousin Elizabeth:

ESV (Luke 1: 39-45) 39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Mary was grateful for her election as the mother of Jesus and praises God:

ESV (Luke 1: 46-56) 46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Then followed the birth of John the Baptist, Zechariah still could not talk:

ESV (Luke 1: 57-63) 57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered.

The story continues with Joseph who had great difficulty with the pregnant Mary. An angel of the Lord visited Joseph to persuade him to take the pregnant Mary with him. The story continues with Joseph who struggled with the pregnant Mary. An angel of the Lord visited Joseph to persuade him to take the pregnant Mary with him:

ESV (Matthew 1: 18-24) 18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,

After this we read that Jesus was born:

ESV (Luke 2: 1-7) 1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The shepherds looking for the newborn child and the angels praise God:

ESV (Luke 2: 8-20) 8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Thereafter, we go to the circumcision of Jesus and the meeting with Simeon and Anna:

ESV (Luke 2: 21-38) 21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. 22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” 33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The wise men of the east seek the young child:

ESV (Matthew 2: 1-12) 1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

After this we further read about the flight to Egypt:

ESV (Matthew 2: 13-15) 13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

To prevent that the newborn king of the Jews would claim his position, Herod decided to the infanticide in Bethlehem:

ESV (Matthew 2: 16-18) 16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

After this King Herod was dead, – of the Herod family came still more kings – Joseph, Mary and Jesus could come from Egypt to Nazareth:

ESV (Matthew 2: 19- 23) 19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 32 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

When Jesus was twelve years, He visited the temple in Jerusalem, the house of His Father:

ESV (Luke 2: 41-52) 41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Till so far the birth and younger years of Jesus in Part 1.
In Part 2, we will continue with the adult life of Jesus and the divine plan that Jesus came to tell.

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