January 29th, 2017
ICA Sunday Pulpit Message
Bulletin : PDF(English)
Transcription : Word(English)
Praise Christ Who Was Prophesied Since Long Ages Past (Gen 3:15, Mal 3:1, Heb 1:1-3)
(Intro)
It is good to see you. Greet those around you. Today’s title is, “Praise Christ who was prophesied since long ages past”. Do you guys like movies? I do. One of our sisters is a musical director. A lot of people love movies. We have Hollywood here in the US. When we look at the logistics of the film industry, it transcends billions of dollars. It brings in a great mass of money. In order to have a great hit, you need a lot of ads as well, like movie trailers. It’s a short clip that highlights the film. It’s not the entire movie, but only highlights. Why do people make this? They are trying to draw in a lot of viewers. In other words, they are trying to spark interest within the audience. God, who is Almighty, also released trailers for the Gospel. We have said that Christ is the essence of the Gospel. Before Christ came, God showed trailers. This began from long ages past. He showed that to us through many people. When we use the biblical terminology, that is the prophecy given. Today, there is a reason why we listen to the word. It is because we need to understand the reason why He was prophesied for a long time and it was fulfilled. We need to confirm that and have a correct posture. We can have deep roots in the Gospel and enjoy it.
1. God gave us the word, from long ages past, that the Christ would come
(1) Through numerous prophets, He was prophesied over hundreds of times (Heb 1:1)
(2) Through people, events and places, He was prophesied indirectly numerous times (Rom 1:20)
(3) Finally Jesus Who is the Christ, the Son of God came to this world (Mt 1:21, John 1:14)
In what form was He prophesied? This is shown in today’s scripture of Hebrews 1. It reads that God spoke to our ancestor many times in various ways. In the Old Testament alone, there are numerous events of this. There are countless number of times when Jesus Christ was prophesied by countless prophets and other people directly and indirectly. God spoke to us through His Son in Hebrews 1:2. It means that He came to this Earth. Let us look at the Bible. What is the first book? Genesis. If you look at the beginning of Genesis 3:15, Christ is the offspring of woman. What does that mean? In the Bible, it says that children are born through the male. They take credit for the birth. The offspring is from the male. So, the Offspring of Woman is a child conceived by the spirit. He will crush the head of the serpent. In other words, it says that Satan, who brought all problem, will be crushed. In Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, it says in chapter 3:1, “"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.” He will come to the Mount of Olives. Christ was prophesied throughout. When I said that He was indirectly prophesied, what does that mean? God said that there will be light, and there was light. When the light shines, darkness will flee. That light is the prophesy of Christ. John said that He is the light of the world. This is the light of Christ. In Genesis, God creates Adam within His image. What does that mean? The image of God is Christ in 2 Co 4:4. It is telling us that the first man Adam is not an evolutionary creation, but he was created with the image of God, which is Christ. Mankind was created by God in His image. Therefore, those who have not accepted Christ are not mankind. This may sound extreme. Even if you are offended by me, you still need to receive God’s word. You are created by Christ, so if you don’t have Him, you are not part of mankind. You are just a being who’s resembling a human if you don’t accept Christ. Adam resembles Christ. On the 7th day after creating everything, God rested. What is the source of all rest? That rest comes from Christ. That’s why Jesus said in Luke 6:5, “Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." He is the main figure of the day of rest. Everyday should be a day of rest. That is why the Lord’s Day is our rest day. There is a denomination who celebrates the day of rest on Saturday, the Adventist and believe you will go to hell if you do not follow that. Christ is the main character of the day of rest. When He enters you, you will be able to enjoy rest. That rest is the gift of Christ. He creates the garden of Eden in Gen 2. The Garden contained everything. It is source from all prosperity. The Garden is a prophecy of Christ himself. When we enjoy an abundance, that comes from Christ. Genesis 2:15 talks about how God leads Adam to the Garden. Adam himself is a prophecy of Christ and the Church. God guided him into the Garden. Those who are weary and restless will go into the Garden and enjoy prosperity. The Garden of Eden is a prophecy of Christ. We had the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as well as the tree of life. The tree of life represents Christ. You might say that I say everything is Christ. However, all creation comes from Christ. That is why when you look at the belonging of anything, it connects with Christ. Those who have been saved can see this. The tree of life is representative of Christ. The true life is found within Christ. Those who have the Son have life. Furthermore, when Adam sees all creation, he gives them names. He looks at their functions and identities, then names them. We can only find this in Christ. In Genesis 2, it says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” The man represents Christ and the woman represents the church. You don’t live together because you are 100% compatible. You hear about celebrities divorcing. We are meant to be incompatible. There are so many reasons why people divorce. When you marry, you are 1 body. The original concept of divorce did not exist back then. How can you serve Christ after marriage? I am representative of Christ and wife is representative of church. The head of Christ and the body is the church. Does anyone have a head separated from the body? They’re always together. In Genesis 3, God gave Adam and Eve leather clothing that covers their shame. This is representative of Christ who covers our shame. In Genesis 4, Cain murders Abel. Abel is a prophecy of Christ because he was killed by His own people, the Israelites. The sacrificial worship that Abel gave is the prophecy of Christ. Cain is suffering so much from the agony of murder, so he prays and calls out to God. He committed murder and was afraid that someone will murder him. God gave a mark to him so that he won’t be killed. That mark is prophecy of Christ who sets us free from the authority of death. After Abel died, God gave Seth. He is a prophecy of Christ as well. After Adam’s failure, Christ, who was the last man, came. If you look at the Bible with the eyes of the Gospel, everything is fulfilled with the prophecy of Christ. Easily put, the Bible speaks of only Christ. Those who want to devote themselves without healing might run into trouble and problems in the church. You might say that you scarified a lot and complain. We have to be completely rooted in Christ. He is almighty. We call that a foreshadowing of Christ. It is the essence of Christ. We have been called as Holy Instruments. When you call out to the Lord, you will realize how great that is. Your remaining life is in Christ’s hands. When you see that, you can accurately see the world and understand them. You can see yourself and your ID. Without Christ, you cannot live in this world correctly. That is the power of the Gospel. That is the blessing of salvation. That is the end of life. What are Christ’s last words in the cross in John 19:30? “It is finished.” All problems are finished. Through Him alone, everything can be gained. He is the master key. Satan will try to block this from you. There is a reason why people live differently. That can be true. There is only 1 set of truth. The light is light and the darkness is darkness. Some people might say that we don’t even live for 100 years; can we experience all the religions out there? The truth is Him coming to us. I bless that you will realize this.
2. Who on earth is Christ that He was prophesied for so long?
(1) He is the brightness of God’s glory andthe express image of His person who is the majesty on high (Heb 1:3)
(2) He is the creator of all beings, the overseer, and the heir (Heb 1:2)
(3) And He is the one who fulfilled what is most important for mankind (Heb 1:3)
The reason why Christ was prophesied for a long time is because He wants to save all people. It clearly shows us the true essence of Christ in Heb. 1. He is the highest. When you can confess Christ, all things will work out. He is the radiance of Christ. He is the is the radiance of God's glory. When you reside the light of Christ, all the forces of darkness will flee. We have students here, who are probably busy with their studies. We need to be embedded with Christ, who is the highest. Everything is in Christ. Why am I nagging to you young adults? Adults are already filled with a secular mindset. It is so that adults don’t cause further trouble. I need to continue to tell this to them. The prophecy in the Bible was fulfilled for thousands of years. It is not by the efforts of mankind. Find this within Christ. It says that He is the expressed image of His presence. When you meet Jesus, you meet God. Someone asked me if I need to pray in Christ’s or God’s name? it is the same. Abiding within Christ is the same as with God. Christ is the only unique way to God. He is the creator of all creation. He is the one who possessed all things. Your finances belong to God. By the power of the Word, He holds all creation in His hands. It is by the grace of this Word that He can live up to His functionality. Christ maintains all things. He is the heir of all creation. Everything returns to Christ. He did what was great. He eliminated all our sins. The wall that was between God and I crumbled. He opened the way to meet God. He becomes our Lord. The burden of our sins was eliminated by Christ. He called us out to give us freedom from our destiny. Before you go look for this, you need to receive it and be free from all things. There is no such thing as bad or good luck to those who are saved. We don’t need fortune tellers. Jesus with His authority and power crushed Satan. He has given us the power of victory. The way to freedom and victory bring back together is Christ. Mankind were sinners before God. However, Christ finished it. He came with the body of man. He wore the cross. The entire journey of His life was prophesied. Isaiah 7:14, the virgin will give birth to a son. The fact that a Son of God was created came to the earth with body is a miracle. Men try so hard to build themselves up. However, Christ lowered Himself to come to the Earth. In Isaiah 53, it was prophesied that He will suffer on the cross. There is a habitual practice when the servants take the price of suffering instead of owner. However, our Lord and King died for us. He received judgment for us. That never happened in history. That never happens. You might say that there are lot of miracles of people who come back to life, but they ultimately die again. There is no one who resurrected afterwards. This was foretold. He ascended to heaven. There is no one who physically ascended into heaven. His resurrection and ascension are miracles. It is prophesied in Ps. 68:18 that He will send us a gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is also prophesied that in His glory, He will come again. We read the book of Malachi 3, it is the prophecy of Christ. In Zachariah 14:4, it says, “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.” There is no one else whose life journeyman has been prophesied. Only Jesus is the son of God has been prophesied and is tremendous. He sacrificed Himself for us. He came to this earth it solve this problem. He gave Himself to recreate us.
3. Therefore, we must rightfully give thanks and praise to Christ
(1) This is the command from God (Ps 150:6, Ps 68:32, 98:4, Col 3:16)
(2) This is the reason for our existence (Is 43:21, Ps 138:5, Neh 9:6)
(3) This is the way to enjoy God’s power (Ps 22:3, 1Sam 16:23, Acts 16:25)
We need to praise Christ. In today’s churches, there is a layout. They have the choir. The preacher shares a lot of stories and jokes, then it’s over. People just go home afterwards and are just satisfied with the worship. Meditating on the word given by God throughout the week doesn’t exist. We need to open up our eyes. We are recreated as majestic by Christ. We must give glory back to God. Let us look at Psalms 150:6. “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.” Everyone must praise God because He gives us life. This is the command and order from God. We need to obey this command. This is what is says in Isaiah 43:21. “the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” We are living up to His purpose. In Ps 22:3, “Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.” When you praise God, the kingdom of God comes upon you. Then the darkness will disappear. When Paul was in prison, he didn’t cry. He just praised God so the prison shook and he was freed. You are fulfilling your purpose by praising God. With praise, you experience God’s power. You are deepening your roots. God will reward and compensate you. You will be victorious. When you experience God’s power, you will be victorious through true praise.
(Conc)
He was prophesied for a long time so you can know His greatness. He can resolve our problems. How amazing is this? This is rightful for us to praise Him. When we are going through intensive training, we need to praise Him and lift Him up. Why do we put emphasis on this? I am a pastor, but there is something that I focus on. There was a portion of my life when I experienced true poverty. I used to be stubborn about receiving blessings. However, when I looked at the Bible, I held onto something. Who controlled praise? It was Lucifer. What was the situation at the time? Was he in a low or high place? He had everything. He was the leader of the angels. He was entrusted with praise. He had everything, but became corrupt. And then, praise for God diminished. We have this revelation, but fail to enjoy it. We don’t have any power. We need to praise God so we can bring discomfort to Satan’s heart. He failed to give praise. God will pour blessings on us. That is what I will focus on. When you praise in the name of Christ, the kingdom of God will come upon. His glory will come upon us. Therefore, the forces of darkness will be chased out. This is something Satan resents the most. We may be weak in faith, but give praise back to God. Praise God to lift Him up and give glory back to Him. You will be followed by answers. The miracles of victory will come to you.
(Prayer)
God, we give you our thanks. Although we live a weak life, we have discovered Christ. We thank you for allowing us to understand the world and realize our lives. Help us to see the greatest of Christ every single day. In the unlimited love that you express through Christ, help us to enjoy this. Our faith will take root. May the answers transcend our thoughts and prayer. Help us to experience Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, Amen.