September 30
Isaiah 60:1-62:5 | PS 72:1-20 | Prov 24:11-12 | Phil 1:27-2:18
There are two different pictures of the Messiah in the Old Testament, one was referred to as Messiah Ben Joseph, or the Suffering Servant portions, which are featured in portions of Isaiah 42, 49, 50, 52 and 53; in addition to other areas of Scripture such as Psalm 22, which we know to be Jesus' first coming. The other picture is Messiah Ben David, or the conquering King portions, which are much more prevalent, which we know will be His second coming. When it comes to Messiah Ben David, they outnumber those to the Suffering Servant by a factor of 8:1. His second coming is referred to 1845 times, is mentioned in 17 books of the Old Testament, 23 books of the New Testament, and in 7/10 of the chapters in the New Testament. Jesus, Himself, referred to His return 21x in the gospel accounts. We get a beautiful picture of the fullness of our Messiah, Jesus in Philippians 2:5-11, both His humbled position as the Suffering Servant and His exalted position as our King, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Jesus clearly illustrated the difference between His two comings, as we read in Luke 4:18-19 (NKJV), "“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Jesus read this while in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth. We read what occurred next in 4:19-20, "Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”" This is a direct quote from the book of Isaiah 61:1-2, except that He left out the second half of verse 2, which reads, "And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn," Jesus didn't forget. He purposely made the distinction between His first and His second coming. It's easy to focus on Jesus' teachings, miracles, etc. Yet at the onset of His public ministry, Jesus clearly explained why He came at His first coming, as we read in Matthew 4:17, "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He came to suffer for our sins and make available the kingdom of heaven for those who would humble themselves, repent of their sins, and submit to His Lordship, accepting His sacrifice on our behalf.
Paul, in the book of Romans, our Christian Constitution, uses the majority of the first three chapters to detail our condemnation before a perfect and holy God. Likewise, woven throughout the book of Isaiah are portions of condemnation which are intended to bring the reader to an understanding and need for a Redeemer. Once redeemed, and having entered into a relationship with our Suffering Servant, Messiah Ben Joseph, who willingly went to the cross on our behalf, we can then look forward to the day when Messiah Ben David, the same Jesus, comes back as our conquering King. Unless we carefully take in all the words that God gave us in His entire book to us, called the Bible, we are prone to emphasize certain portions more than others and in the process distort the beauty of what He has already done and what He intends to do in the future. Praise God! His Word continues forever and His plan for History will unfold as He wishes and when He wishes. Coming into a relationship with the Messiah enables us to participate in this plan, in whatever role He fashions for us, and to do so not with fear, but with anticipation and joy.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: