Category: Prophecy
Sermon: The Humility of David and the Humiliation of Saul 1 Samuel 18:6-19:24
The Old Testament in John 1:19-51
It is breathtaking to see all the things that God promised in the Old Testament come together in the gospel of John. Here are just a few that we see in John 1:19-51.
- Elijah (v. 21a)
5“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. Malachi 4:5 (ESV)
- The Prophet like Moses (v. 21b)
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” Deuteronomy 18:15 (ESV)
- The Voice in the Wilderness (v. 23)
3A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Isaiah 40:3–5 (ESV)
- The Greater Jacob/Israel (v. 51)
As I talked about in the sermon, Genesis 28:10-22 gives us an amazing yet strange vision that Jacob had. He saw “a ladder set up [at Bethel] and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending (going up) and descending (going down) on it!” Jesus, in John 1:51 identified himself with this ladder. He is saying he is the ladder of heaven, the revelation of God, the true, new, and better Bethel (which means house of God in Hebrew).
- The Son of Man (v. 51)
13“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.
14And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. Daniel 7:13–14 (ESV)
- Others
The Lamb of God (v. 29), the Christ (v. 20), the Messiah/Christ (v. 41), the Son of God (v. 49), the King of Israel (v. 49)
Jesus Fulfills the Old Testament Scriptures
A Note from the Pastor
I am very excited to be in the book of John and I am confident that you will be enormously blessed by it! The entire book of John portrays Jesus as the fulfillment of every part of the Old Testament Scriptures.
John 5:39 says: “You search the Scriptures (OT) because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me”
Jesus is portrayed as the fulfillment of the scriptures as:
- The word made flesh (John 1:14 from Psalm 33:6; 107:20; 147:15, 18; Isaiah 55:10-11)
- The new temple (John 2:21)
- The tabernacle (John 1:14 from Exodus 25:8)
- The Passover lamb slain for the people (John 1:29, 19:14 from Exodus 12:13)
- The steadfast love and faithfulness of God’s name displayed (John 1:14,17 from Exodus 34:6)
- The manna that came down from heaven (John 6:51 from Exodus 16:4)
- The year of Jubilee (John 8:32 from Leviticus 25:10)
- The one lifted up in the wilderness who delivers all who look to him (John 3:14 from Num. 21:9)
Let us keep in mind John’s motive in writing these signs and witnesses to Jesus:
John 20:30-30 “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Here is the book of John from 10,000 Ft.
The First Half: The Book of Signs Chapters 1-12
- Jesus performs seven signs
- Jesus appeals to seven witnesses
- Jesus is rejected by his people (the Jews)
The Second Half: The Book of Glory Chapters 13-21
- Jesus Prepares his disciples for his death and departure
- Jesus turns to the cross where he will glorify the Father
[This outline was adapted from John by Andreas Köstenberger (2004) and The Gospel According to John By D. A. Carson (1990)]
How to be Ready for False Teaching in the Last Times
One of the signs that come before the return of Christ is exactly what
Jude is talking about in his letter, deceivers in the church who try
to lead God’s people astray. “For false Christs and false prophets
will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray,
if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). What are we to do in
response to this warning? Peter tells us two things we can do.
“You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you
are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your
own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:17–18)
(1) Grow in the grace of Jesus Christ. God’s grace to us, seen most
clearly in his giving of Jesus, is the foundation of our lives. We are
to grow in it, be nourished, and strengthened by the grace that we
don’t deserve but do receive. Growing in the grace of God insures that
we persevere to the end and receive our eternal reward. Thank God for
his gift of grace and continually pray for more.
(2) Grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Earlier, Peter says that
God has, “granted to us all things relating to life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him” (1 Peter 1:3). We have the Bible, which
is what we need to grow in our knowledge of Christ so that we can find
joy, comfort and salvation in his presence. There is great danger in
not growing in the knowledge of Jesus (see 2 Peter 2:20-21). Let us
allow the knowledge of Jesus Christ in his word grow us so that we can
stand firm until the end. “I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have,
so that no one may seize your crown” (Revelation 3:11).
An outline of Daniel’s 4th and Final Vision
I wanted to give you an outline of Daniel’s fourth and final vision to help you sort through all that is contained therein. What we study today (Dan 10-11:35) has already taken place. Everything that we will study thereafter , or next week (Dan 11:36-12:13) will take place at the time of the end. Before we do that, let’s review the visions we’ve seen thus far…
1st Vision (ch.7): Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, & Antichrist
2nd Vision (ch.8): Persia & Greece (persecution under Antiochus IV)
3rd Vision (ch.9): 70 Weeks leading to Christ (complete restoration)
4th Vision (ch.10-12): Heavenly Messenger, Earthly Kings, & the End
I. The Bringer of the Vision (10-11:1)
- Daniel’s activity in midst of Persian Empire (10:1-4)
- A heavenly messenger appears (10:5-10) The context of the message (10:11-14)
- Daniel’s reaction and messenger’s consolation (10:15-21)
II. The Vision Itself (11:2-12:4)
- Prophecy about Persia (11:2)
- Prophecy about Greece (11:3-4)
- Prophecy about Kings of North: Seleucid Empire and Kings of the South: Ptolemaic Empire (11:5-20)
- Prophecy about Antiochus Epiphanes (11:21-35)
- Prophecy about Antichrist (11:36-45)
- Prophecy about the Time of the End (12:1-4)
III. What to do with the Vision (12:5-13)
- The wise shall understand (12:10)
- Go your way till the end (12:13)
Daniel’s 70 weeks
There are so many different views as to how to interpret Daniel’s 70 weeks that I couldn’t even begin to represent them all here. But here are two that I believe are plausible. I hope these charts help…
(1) Daniel’s 70 Weeks (a symbolic amount of time):
This symbolic view is the one that I am most convinced of as it best fits what is being described in the passage. Further, as prophetic interpretation is highly symbolic, there’s no reason to believe that this time frame has to be a literal amount of time. However, there is much that is commendable of the 70 weeks (or as many believe, ‘weeks of years’) taking place in a literal 490 years. If that is the case, then I believe the following chart is plausible.
(2) Daniel’s 70 Weeks (a literal amount of time):
In both cases I am convinced that this prophecy is speaking primarily of Christ (9:24-27), with Antichrist mentioned only at the end of verse 27, contra other views. Please note that Daniel 9 never tells us when or how the 70th week ends. Perhaps, it would be best not to speculate (as I have).
