The Gospel of John - Christ the Messiah

Christ the Messiah is what we're touching on here. Now we say Jesus Christ as if that's his first and last name, but the Christ was the Greek way of saying the Messiah, which in Hebrew we say Messiah. The Hebrew sounds more like Hamashiah, so it's Anglicized as the Messiah. and both mean the anointed one. That's why we have such different sounding words between the Greek and the Hebrew. They both mean the anointed one, and so that's what's intended there.

The Jewish custom was to anoint prophets, priests, and kings, and does that fit Christ? Was Christ, and is Christ, a prophet? What's a prophet? Yeah, someone who speaks for God, someone who represents God to man. Speaking for God. And so we've got that. How about a priest? Is Christ a priest? As we've been saying in Hebrews, right? He's our high priest, so he qualifies there.

And as a king, he will come as king of the Jews and king of kings and lord of lords over the Gentiles. One of the things that distinction is often missed, even in our Christmas songs. Christ comes as King of Israel or King of the Jews. He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentiles.

Jesus Christ is not our Lord's first and last name, but Jesus, Hebrew is Yeshua, meaning Savior, and Messiah, the Anointed One. So that's what it's talking about. Jesus refers actually more to his first coming, as the Savior, and the Christ name, meaning Anointed One, is referring more to his second coming. So the name implies the first and second coming.

So let's look here. The message about the coming Messiah came across in multiple places throughout the Old Testament, a few of which are, and here is one just in Genesis, Genesis 49, 8 through 10. The ancestry is in that inset that you see. Do you have a handout? Okay, alright. The ancestry, as you see, of Jesus Christ is in Genesis, and we see it tracking starting from chapter 3, and then on into this passage here in Genesis 49. 8 through 10.

So it says, Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes, to whom shall be the obedience of the people. Now, a scepter was a common symbol for the rule of a king in both the Bible, and we give several references there from Genesis, Amos, and Psalms, and in other literature of the day. So here are some key points about this scepter. Number one, the first bullet there, Judah's brothers and their descendants will bow down to Judah and to Judah's descendants, since Judah's tribe will be the one in authority over them. So that's verse eight. Verse 9 says, Judah is like a lion, powerful. And where does that theme continue? As a lion. In the book of Revelation, where Christ is called the lion of Judah, right?

So you have a cross connect there. And then the third bullet here is Shiloh, verse 10, is the English spelling of the sound of the word. But until Shiloh comes means, if you translate it instead of just carrying across the sound, that the kingly line of Judah will not end until he comes to whom it, the scepter, belongs. You see that? So it would say that verse 10 says, until he comes to whom it belongs, rather than just saying Shiloh, right?

And the NIV actually does translate that, the New International Version. Okay, so this Genesis passage here, this prophecy says that Christ will be the Messiah as a king of the line of Judah. Now, when this prophecy was made, who was actually the one who was in power? Here is Jacob and his blessing of sons down in Egypt. Who's in power of the family? Joseph. Yes.

Joseph was the one in power, but what he's saying here is, you're in power now, but it's the line of Judah that will be the line of rulers, and then that went through King David and on down. So Moses speaks to the Israelites, telling them of a prophet to come to whom they should listen. So here's Deuteronomy 18. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. What happened with the Jews is they would have a passage like this, and they would have a passage like the one in Genesis, and they'd look at them as separate people, rather than seeing here is Christ who would be prophet, and priest, and king, and take all those roles. So they separated them out.

Yes? So back to Shiloh. Is Shiloh a proper noun? Well, they've translated that and capitalized it, right? except that they transliterated it, excuse me, they transliterated it and said Shiloh. And so what's happened is that it is used as a proper name, right?

But the reality is, if we translate it, it makes more sense, because it's talking about the scepter. And so then it means, as we've pointed out in the third bullet, until he comes to whom it, the scepter, belongs. So they're using it like for another name for Jesus. Yes, they're using it, and just like we say Christ, what does that mean, the anointed one? We say Jesus, what does that mean, Savior?

So Shiloh is another, they're using it as a name when in fact it has a meaning. And what frequently happens is people will then focus on the name and forget the fact that, hey wait a minute, this has a meaning, right? Yes. Isn't Shiloh also a city and wasn't a city where they worshipped for a while? When they were in the wilderness? Early on in Israel's history. So it was done the same way.

Yeah. So real interesting. Yeah, there is a practice that's carried on even now, where instead of looking at the meaning of a name, we'll focus on the name itself. When in fact, you know, this is Jesus, Yeshua, right? And it means Savior. And so we'll get real focused on the name, not realizing it has a meaning. You'll say, okay, it's Jesus Christ, which means he's the anointed one. Shiloh also is one of those names that gets carried across as a proper name. When in fact, it has a meaning that in this context makes a lot of sense. Okay.

Until he comes to whom it belongs. There's a particular one, a descendant of Judah, to whom the scepter will belong, and that's Christ. This prophecy was made almost 4,000 years ago, and it is yet to be fulfilled. In round numbers, the Bible has about 10,000 prophecies, 5,000 have been fulfilled, and 5,000 are yet to be fulfilled. And the reason they're yet to be fulfilled is because of all the prophecies about the tribulation period in the Millennial Kingdom.

Okay, so then at the top of page two, then a covenant is made with King David. There are two passages here that are very similar. 1 Chronicles 17, 3-15 and 2 Samuel 7, 8-17. And this is the prophet Nathan who is speaking to Daniel. Now, Nathan's one of those guys where he's quoted in the Old Testament, but he didn't write, and he's a prophet, he did not write an Old Testament book, so you won't see the book of Nathan. But here he is, he's telling God's words to King David. And he has sometimes good news, and there are times when he has to confront King David as well.

What you see here is, well let me just read through it. It came about the same night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell David my servant, thus says the Lord. And the New American Standard has capital letters, that means Yahweh is the word behind it. You shall not build a house for me, to dwell in, for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I have brought up Israel to this day. But I have gone from tent to tent and from one dwelling place to another." Right? This is the tabernacle. Right? The tent.

In all places where I have walked with all Israel and have spoken a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now therefore thus shall you say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over my people Israel. And by the way, where did David pasture sheep? What was the city of David? Bethlehem. So the same shepherds' fields around Bethlehem where David pastored, that was the same area where the shepherds had the announcement by the angel that today is born for you in the city of David, the Savior, Christ the Lord. Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over my people Israel. You've been shepherding sheep, now you're going to shepherd people, right?

I have been with you wherever you have gone, I have cut off all your enemies from before you, and I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. I will appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again. And the wicked will not waste them anymore as formerly, even from the day I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies."

So here's a promise directly to David. Now the next paragraph, "'Moreover, I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you Who's going to build it? The Lord will build it, right? So verse 11, When your days are fulfilled, that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be of your sons, and I will establish his kingdom. And he shall build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son, and I will not take my lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you."

Who was the one before King David? Saul, right? So the line of Saul was a one-man dynasty. That's it. That's all you get. I will be his father, and he shall be my son, and I will not take my lovingkindness away from him as I took it away from him who was before you, but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever."

According to all these words and according to all the visions, so Nathan spoke to David. So compare this to the prophecy that Gabriel, about a thousand years later, said to Marian. That's there in Luke 1, 26-33. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, where a virgin engaged to be a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David.

And the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. And he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

So what you see there in those bolded words at the end of that passage, the throne and reigning over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom having no end. So basically Mary is being told this one that you're going to bear is going to be the one who fulfills what was promised to David. That's the one. So you see the house, the throne and the kingdom.

See, take note as well of the Messiah, King David, where he was to be born. So Matthew 2, 1-6, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw a star in the east, and have come to worship him. When Herod the King heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

They said to him, ìIn Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written by the prophet.î And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

So many centuries ago, the rabbis viewed the Old Testament as teaching that there would be two messiahs. Let's shift here. There was a teaching of two messiahs. Again, they didn't put things together where you're going to have this ruler through the line of Judah and the line of David, and then we're going to have this prophet, and then we're going to have another messiah. So they had everything all mixed up. And they had them identified as separate people instead of saying the Lord's going to fulfill this in one person. And so there was the teaching of two messiahs.

It says, please clean filter. It's already been cleaned. Can't figure out how to turn it off. So it would just have to fade. Let's just go through the slides here. This is one artistic presentation of Christ ruling and reigning. This is in the heavenly scene. One artist's depiction of the heavenly scene is described in the book of Revelation. This is that same artist's depiction of Christ coming again.

You know, one of the things, how do you make this five-foot-long barbarian battle sword, you know, not look awkward? Because remember, as we talked about in the Revelation elective and the Revelation intensive this last summer, The symbols in Revelation are Jewish symbols.

Therefore, it's not, what does it look like, but what does it mean? So when you try to do an artistic representation, it can look a little strange. So the way that the artist did it was to have the sword be kind of translucent. But it's not the Roman short sword. It's actually the five-foot-long barbarian battle sword. This is another artistic depiction of Christ coming again.

What you have, you ever hear of the Battle of Armageddon? Well, it's actually a campaign of Armageddon. There are eight stages, that's shown here. By the way, I'd be glad to, I don't know if we included this, so I'd be glad to email this to anybody who'd like it. But what you have is there are eight stages of the campaign of Armageddon. There are eight stages of the campaign of Armageddon, and it starts off to the north, that's right now that little port that you see, number one is Haifa, and that's the entrance to Har Megiddo, the Valley of Megiddo.

And by the way, the city of Nazareth, or the town of Nazareth, overlooked down at that valley, which will be a place of great battle. And then, so you see it going from there at Haifa into the Valley of Megiddo, and then two concentrated at Babylon and the Euphrates River.

And then three, the fall of Jerusalem, the armies of the Antichrist here as the Jews flee into the desert around Basra or Petra. And then the national regeneration of Israel. All Israel will be saved. This is out of Romans. And the end of the fighting in the valley of Jehoshaphat. That's the valley right between the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.

And then number six here, Christ's second coming begins here to liberate and save the Jews. from the satanic attack, and then to the Mount of Olives, where Christ's feet, Zechariah 14.4, will land on the Mount of Olives.

And by the way, that Zechariah 14.4 says it's God who will land there. His feet will land on the Mount of Olives. So Christ's deity is proclaimed, and that will be the fulfillment of what the angels told the disciples. He will come back in the same way and at the same place, in fact, that he departed. Yes? Is 4, 5, and 6 in Edom? Yes, down here. Petra is, let's see, the third Indiana Jones movie, the end of it actually showed Petra.

And that will be the location where the Jews will flee, that general vicinity. And it will be a good place to flee because you've got a lot of narrow valleys leading into it, narrow, deep canyons, and you can't get tanks in there, you can't get equipment in there, so it's a good place to hide out. So at any rate, the final part of the campaign of Armageddon will end at the Mount of Olives. Here is a map of modern Israel and showing the three main locations that are relevant. The initial attack up at the north, This is the Valley of Megiddo. And then the second area in Israel is the wilderness area where the Jews will retreat. And the third area and the final area will be at Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. So that's the stages in Israel. Armageddon has to do with satanically motivated forces attacking on several battlefronts. It has to do with Israel, God's chosen people. They're the target. Why is Israel suddenly the target? Why not the Church? The Church is missing, right? Because the Church has been raptured. So Satan can't go after the Church, right?

So what's he going to do? He's going to go after Israel, God's chosen people. Yes. The last three and a half years, because that's when the man of lawlessness is going to be revealed. Yes, this will be the very last part of the tribulation period. This will be the entire three and a half years is the campaign of Armageddon. What I would say is towards the end of that. Towards the end of that. So it will be after the first two woes? Yep.

And then God's protection of Israel as He promised. The Jews right now, most of them in Israel, are atheist agnostic. I mean, that's kind of where they're coming from. What's going to happen is they're going to see there is no way that we can be saved by any earthly understanding. And they will see themselves as only God can save us. And they will come to believe based on miraculous deliverance from the satanic attack. God's wrath revealed against those opposing Israel and his Messiah's reign. Bruce Willis has nothing to do with Armageddon.

He is the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God. What's amazing, I think, the Apostle John, when he wrote Revelation, he selected extreme opposites. Here you have the Lion of Judah, who is also the Lamb, and he picked the word for lamb that means a very tiny lamb. at most weeks old. That's the word that he uses throughout Revelation, beginning to end. Christ is the tiny Lamb of God, who is also the Lion of Judah. Here is the part of the world that will be the center of attention here. Everything will be focused on Israel. You see an attack going from one end to the other, right?

Here is, based on Genesis 15, 18 through 21, this is the outline of the land that will be included in the coming kingdom. And then Ezekiel 48 spells out the land by tribe. So you have, here's how it's going to lay out. You imagine this is going to be happening as soon as seven years from now. So this is what scripture spells out.

Ezekiel 48 and Genesis 15, 18 through 21, they're consistent, but Ezekiel provides more tribe-by-tribe information. And this is what Ezekiel describes as the Temple, the New Temple. and much larger and a different configuration from any of the past temples. We've had the tabernacle and two built temples, the one of Solomon and the second one that Herod began an upgrade on, the second temple. There are two more coming on this earth.

One is the one that will be done during the tribulation period that the Antichrist will violate, And then the fourth one, the last one, is this one you see artistically depicted here. That'll be the fourth temple. Construction on it beginning as soon as seven years from now. So that's the picture. Let's continue on with our handout here.

So you have Messiah ben Joseph, who would suffer and die, and Messiah ben David, who would reign. Why the Messiah Ben-Joseph title? Where does that come from? Which Joseph is it talking about? Is this Joseph's married husband? That's one Joseph in the Bible. Who's the other one? The one in Egypt? Yeah, the one who was ruler of Egypt. And that's the one it's talking about.

Because before he was ruler, he was rejected by his brothers, right? And he was put in prison. And even in prison, you know, on the one hand, being given some kind of stewardship in there, but also, you know, having a hard time in prison. That's why they took his ossuary with him when they left Egypt, right? Yes, and he made them promise, you know, don't bury me here, okay? Don't bury me here. So he's buried in Nablus. That's where his tomb is located.

So here's Messiah ben Joseph, who's looked upon as the suffering Messiah, and then there's Messiah ben David, the one who would reign. So when the Jews were struggling and suffering under the Romans, who did they want? Which Messiah did they want? They wanted the second one, Messiah ben David. So what happens is while both of those teachings were around, during the time that Christ appeared, everybody was looking for the one to deliver them from the Romans. And there were in fact other people around this same time who showed up and tried to proclaim themselves as the Messiah.

So Messiah ben David was by far the more publicly taught and anticipated among most of the Jewish population in earlier centuries, but Messiah ben Joseph was seen as fulfilling Isaiah 52, 13 through 53, 12. So why didn't the Jews all see that Jesus was Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David? It was the Pharisees who saw the Old Testament and the Old Testament, the two Messiahs, when Messiah ben David raising Messiah ben Joseph from the dead. So see, what they saw was Messiah ben Joseph would be killed, and then Messiah ben David would come and not only boot the Romans out, but resurrect all the Old Testament saints, so they saw, including Messiah ben Joseph.

So they saw him as two separate people. Two separate people. It was the Pharisees who taught this idea of Messiahs that Sadducees didn't believe in a Messiah. So when Caiaphas the Sadducee asked Jesus, are you the Christ? Was he taking Jesus' answer seriously? No. Because he didn't believe in the Christ. He didn't believe in the Messiah. So he was just kind of sarcastic when he asked the question. Are you the Messiah?

Ha! I don't care what you answer. Right? I don't care what you answer. I'm not going to take it seriously. You're just a big joke. Because after all, it was Caiaphas who cooked up the idea, we're going to kill this Jesus. So, you know, ask any questions you want. But in the end, you're going to get dead. Right?

All right, so now, but the Pharisees were the culture heroes of the day. Most Jews looked up to the Pharisees as, man, those guys are the best of the best. So when Jesus rejected the Pharisees and called them a bunch of hypocrites and took them on in various ways, the Pharisees thought, well, the Messiah is going to love us. So obviously this guy can't be the Messiah. Because it's obvious he doesn't love us.

So about 1100 AD, the Rabbi Rashi was the first to propose that Isaiah 52.13-53.12 was really about the hardships of the people Israel. In other words, it wasn't a person, but Rashi came up with the idea that this is really about Israel's suffering, and not about the person. So at that time it wasn't well received, but by 1850 the rabbis all said, in sync, this is about the suffering of Israel, this is not about the suffering of Messiah Jesus, of a person. And one of the reasons why they would all shift to that is because Christians would see that Isaiah 53 passage and say, that's about Christ. As a matter of fact, when I met with a rabbi a little over a decade ago, an Orthodox rabbi, I brought up Isaiah, and he says, I don't want to talk about it. He just didn't want to talk about it. That was his approach. All right, now, the bottom of page three there, the Jews of Jesus' time tended to separate out the prophecies of the Messiah into different roles and people. as was evidenced by the question asked of John the Baptist. So here's John chapter 1, 19 through 28.

This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? Okay, so priests and Levites, the Levites were the ones not descended from Aaron, but descended from Levi, who had other temple duties. The priests were the ones who were descended from Levi and from Aaron within that tribe, and therefore were allowed to do the sacrifices. And so these guys were sent from Jerusalem, probably from the Sanhedrin, to try to figure out who is this John guy.

What's he doing out here? Who are you? And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. So what's he saying? I'm not the Messiah. I'm not the Christ. They asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I'm not. I'm not Elijah. Elijah was Elijah.

Well, are you the prophet? That's the one that we read about from Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 15 about Moses. saying, there's going to be a prophet coming. And he answered, no. Then they said to him, who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? And he said, I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said.

Now they've been sent from the Pharisees, they asked him and said to him, why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah or the prophet? In other words, what authority do you have to come start baptizing people? Because we have our traditions, right? We've got our traditions, and you'd better give us an answer that's according to the traditions, or we're going to be ticked. Why are you baptizing if you don't have the authority to do so? So, top of page 4, John answered them saying, I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me, the fong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. This is not Bethany, which is just over the backside of the Mount of Olives, but another Bethany that's the other side of the Jordan River.

So, Christ was recognized by his own disciples and some others as the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, right? So here's Matthew 1, 16, which starts and ends with Christ as the Messiah. The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who was called the Messiah. Now notice, Jacob was the father of Joseph. Joseph was not Jesus' physical father, but it says Joseph was the husband of Mary. So Joseph was not physically the father, but he was Mary's husband.

So in Matthew 13-16, here is the Apostle Peter. at that time, speaking as a disciple. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, because John had been beheaded, right? And others, Elijah. And others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. And He said to them, but who do you say that I am? And by the way, why would He turn the question around, and who do you say that I am? Why would he turn that around and point that question at the disciples?

Does the answer matter? Yes it does. It matters what we think, who we think Christ is. Yeah? But it's kind of a rhetorical question, so if he could get them to say that, then that's also a confirmation and a learning experience for them. Right. Are these guys getting it? Are these guys getting it?

So Simon Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. What does he mean by you are the Christ? You are the Messiah, you're the Anointed One. You are that One long promised. You're Him. The Son of the Living God, what does that mean? What did it mean when he said, you're the son of God? It refers to his deity.

And by the way, that's something that the Jews didn't believe. They didn't believe that the Messiah was deity. And the Orthodox Jews now still don't. They look at Messiah as descendant of David, but not deity. But what Peter says here, you are the Messiah and your deity, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God. You're both of those. Was it contradictory for Christ to say he was the Son of Man? And to call himself the Son of Man? Was it contradictory to him being the Son of God? And I'm seeing heads shake, why not? Why not?

He was fully God and fully man, and also the term, the Son of Man, was not simply saying that He was man, but that was the term used in Daniel 7, the Son of Man coming in the clouds. So it was a statement, yes, He was fully God, He was fully man, and He was the One who would be coming in the clouds to return to earth.

So then you see that, you see it also, here is Andrew, Peter's brother, saying here in the next passage, John 1, 40 and 41, one of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found the Messiah, which translated means Christ, the Christ.

So here's John 4, 25 and 26, the Samaritan woman. The Samaritan woman. The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming. He was called Christ. When that one comes, He will declare all things to us. And Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. And that's Egoe mi. I who speak to you, in fact, being God. Egoe mi. In John 11, 27, by Martha, sister of Lazarus, she said to him, Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world. You are the Messiah and, as the Son of God, your deity. But here are two other Old Testament passages that are primary in the prophecies of Christ the Messiah. Look especially at verses 1 and 4. And this is one that's quoted here in Hebrews frequently. Psalm 110, 1 through 6.

The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will stretch forth a strong scepter from Zion, saying, Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will volunteer freely in the day of your power. In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, your youth are to you as the dew. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand.

He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath, when He comes again. He will judge among the nations. He will fill them with corpses. He will shatter the chief men over a broad country. These prophecies that sound like boys coming in, dealing out powerful things, that's what this campaign of Armageddon is about. Those who come and oppose Israel, the Messiah will oppose. with the word of his mouth.

All he'll do is speak. See, we'll come with him, but we won't be pulling out swords or guns or anything. All he'll do is speak, and that will be all it will take. In the same way that he created worlds with the word of his mouth at the very beginning, he will come back in judgment, and all he'll do is speak, and it will happen.

Okay, let's take a look at the top of page 5. So here's Daniel 7, 13-14. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before Him.

And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, and when you see the people in the Bible, that's Israel. The nation, that's Israel. When you see it plural, that's the Gentiles. So the peoples and nations and men of every language, so that's all the Gentiles, right?

This isn't the Jews, might serve him as dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. So these two passages, and they're not the only ones, look ahead to Christ's second coming. And this is when Christ will come again with us and his angels to judge and reign as King of Israel, that is, the King of the Jews, and frequently our songs, our Christmas songs, will have Christ as the King, but not recognize that that term King is over Israel. King of Kings and Lord of Lords is over the nations, right? So over the land and people of Israel is King of Kings and Lord of Lords over the Gentile nations for a thousand years. So this is Revelation chapters 19 and 20.

So you have this diagram at the bottom of page 5 there that lays out the time from Christ's first coming into his second coming, the intervening time being the Church Age and ended with the Rapture and then the Tribulation, and then the Millennial Kingdom, Millennial meaning a thousand, a thousand years, and then on into eternity in the new heavens and new earth. Yes? I had never understood this passage completely up on top. Okay.

Because it says, I kept looking in the night vision, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like the Son of Man was coming. Now, does that mean he's coming to the earth? Okay, what it says here And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. So that's before he comes with the saints to the earth, right? Right. When he's presented to the Ancient of Days, which is presented to the Father. So the Ancient of Days is God, right? Right.

And he's presented before him so that he has authority and he has a kingdom. So then he comes to the earth? Yeah, in other words, he's first coming before God the Father. first coming before God the Father, and that's laid out more in Revelation. Because remember, when he comes before God the Father, what does Christ do? During the tribulation period, to start the tribulation period, there's a seven-sealed scroll, and Christ is the one who opens it.

So it gives you more detail. What here is a half a verse. He comes before the Ancient of Days, was presented before him. We get the detail of what that looks like when Christ opens the seals. And by the way, a seven-sealed scroll, Seven-sealed scroll in the Jewish tradition was that's when you open the land inheritance. Here's a will document that's got seven seals and it's an inheritance document. And so you open those seals and that scroll then tells you about the inheritance of the land.

So it makes real good sense. But anyway, that's the answer. There's more detail given in Revelation as to how that takes place. Let's take a look at the last page. One of the things that is kind of a best-kept secret among Christians, and it's because the translators don't bring it out, is the book of Ephesians, 26 times, has THE Christ. And I have yet to see a major translation that brings that out as THE Messiah. But that's what the book of Ephesians has.

And Ephesians 1.10 is the first place that it has THE Christ out of those 26 times.

And so, taking this, I have an expanded and explained version of Ephesians 1.9 and 10. where it says, God the Father made known by deliberate revelation to us in the church the mystery, a truth previously unrevealed but now revealed by the Father's will, consistent with the Father's kind intention, which he planned for those who are in Christ, namely the church. planning for the church has this direction, that planning for the church has this direction, the Father's management of everything in the created universe, to include those in the church, that is the mystery now revealed, for the final one of all the accumulated times of the present heavens and the present earth, that is the heading up of all things in the Christ, the Messiah. During the millennium, with the all things being all those created things in the heavens and those on the earth, both visible and invisible. The millennial reign of Christ is the time on the present heavens and earth when all things will be summed up in Him. It is the beginning of the complete restoration of all things."

So this verse is the one that starts off the series of 26 instances in Ephesians of Christ as the Christ, the Messiah. And like I say, I've yet to see any major translation bring that out. But that's a huge truth, a huge truth. The other thing is we just quoted from Daniel chapter 7, and Ephesians 1 and 2, both of those chapters have lots and lots of words and phrases out of the book of Daniel.

So real interesting, including talking about the Messiah here in Ephesians 1.10. So it's like a best-kept secret. It's amazing. Churches and even the translators don't seem to bring it out. On the end here it says, a complete restoration of all things.

Is that the millennial? Think about it. Is the millennium a complete restoration? No. So there is a substantial restoration in the millennium, but there will still be death. It's said in the Old Testament that one who only lives to a hundred will be thought of as having died young. But there will be death, longer life and substantial restoration of Israel and the earth, but still not complete restoration.

When is the ultimate and complete restoration? In the new heavens and new earth. then is there no more sorrow, mourning, crying, pain, death. No more in the new heavens, new earth. So that's it. It's substantial restoration in the millennium, complete restoration in the new heavens, new earth. Okay, questions, thoughts, comments, inspirations, exasperations? Not much, okay.

One of the things to take note of is that here during this Christmas season, it is Luke that presents Mary's side and is more inclined to talk about Christ and His fulfillment of the gospel of the kingdom and Christ coming as the Messiah. What Gabriel tells Mary is more along that line.

Matthew, on the other hand, tells Joseph's story. But Joseph, interestingly, Joseph is the one who was told that this Jesus will be the Savior. Yeshua. Jesus will be the Savior. Mary is the one who's told He's going to reign. So, real interesting what the Lord put as the reveal message to Joseph and Mary. It's different. Joseph gets told about the gospel of substitution. Mary gets told about the gospel of the kingdom and how Jesus will fulfill that. So it's a real interesting that the books are entirely complementary, but they tell a different story. Mary's story is in Luke.

Joseph's story, Joseph's side of the story is in Matthew. So this Christmas season, that's something good to kind of put together. Why is it that you have the shepherds told about with Luke, and you have things recorded there that aren't recorded in Matthew, and then why is it that Matthew tells about the Magi? and Herod, and those things, it's because that's Joseph's story. It's what's told to Joseph.

And Mary is told the other side of the story. It's the gospel of the kingdom given to Mary, the gospel of substitution, Christ dying for our sins, given to Joseph. Very interesting. Any other thoughts, comments? Okay, normally they say that Matthew was speaking to the Jews. Yes. Okay, so Luke would have been speaking to the Gentiles, right? Here's what's interesting. For just the account of Christ's birth, for that section, Luke is given Mary's story, and Matthew gives Joseph's story. Just for the birth narrative. Just for the birth narrative. And they're compatible.

What do the Magi come asking when they come to Jerusalem? Where is he who was born King of the Jews? So it's not like they're completely isolated, one kind and the other. But it's Joseph who is told that this one will be the Savior, Yeshua. Because he'll save his people from their sins. Yes. Yes, in other words, these first events are things that take place and it appears that the enemies of Israel are going to win. At first it looks hopeless. And this is one of the things that will drive the Jews to belief.

They'll get to a point where they say, only God can save us. We're being attacked by such massive armies that this is not humanly possible to win this war. We cannot defend ourselves and survive. And it will be that, to be the second coming of Christ, which will not be just a bang, I'm here. but will be in fact the end of that campaign where God will defend the people of Israel.

So the second coming of Christ, though we say it's a singular event, in fact it's got a few stages and places where that becomes evident. So it will become evident here in this area, which is why we have it circled, and it will also become evident there and around Jerusalem. So both places. So in the destruction of Babylon, what is there?

Is that just Gentiles? That will be Gentiles. That will be Gentiles, but it will also be the drying up of the Euphrates River that goes along with that, so that the armies from the east can come in. So are the Muslims considered Gentiles? Yes, Muslims are Gentiles. Because remember, the word Gentile means non-Jews. Everybody who is not a Jew is a Gentile. Everybody who is not a Jew is a Gentile, so I guess the Muslims are Gentiles.

Many of them descended from Abraham, but through whom? Ishmael. Many of them descended from Abraham through Ishmael. And by the way, Ishmael had how many sons? Twelve. Interesting, huh? Interesting kind of copy pattern there. So there's 12 tribes of Ishmael as well as 12 tribes of Israel. Yes? When Jesus asks Peter, who you say I am, Peter replies, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Yes. Why does he use the word the Christ instead of the Messiah? Why do you use three words instead of Jesus? Well, what's interesting is you'll find both the Christ and the Messiah in the New Testament, sometimes in the same book. What is the Christ?

What does that mean? Well, the anointed one. It's Christos in the Greek and it means the anointed one. And what does Hamashiah or Messiah mean? The anointed one. So as a matter of which language you put it in, it means the same thing. So you'd have either language, but it means the same thing, the anointed one, either way. Any other thoughts, questions? Okay, so this is Christ the Messiah. We've got one more Sunday here and we'll finish up this elective. Alright, let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word that you've laid out. We thank you for the hope that we have and Not an I hope so hope but a fixed and certain and absolute certain to be fulfilled hope Thank you for that. Thank you that you've revealed these things ahead of time revealed these things to us because you love us and care for us and because you you want us to know that yes, there will be perilous times ahead and We will even live through perilous times, and yet it will all turn out okay in the end. In the end, we will be with you with no more mourning or sorrow or crying or pain. And we thank you for that blessed hope of Christ coming for us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.