New Christian Bible Study

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Prophecies of the Lord's Advent

By New Christian Bible Study Staff
Mary, By Henry Ossawa Tanner - http://www.classicartrepro.com/artistsb.iml?artist=427, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4864395

The Messiah. The Savior. For hundreds - maybe thousands - of years, people were waiting for the Lord to be born. Why? Because the Old Testament has many prophecies of the event.

It starts in Genesis 3:15, where the Lord admonishes the serpent in the Garden of Eden:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15.

There's the well-known one from Numbers 24:15-24, when Balaam blesses Israel:

He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: "I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth."

In Micah 5:2, there's this one, in which Bethlehem is identified as the place where the Lord will come from:

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

In Malachi 3:1-4, there's a prophecy that includes both John the Baptist and the Lord:

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to this temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifer of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

In Isaiah, there's another prophecy of John the Baptist, and the Lord:

"A voice is crying -- in a wilderness -- Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, Make straight in a desert a highway to our God." Isaiah 40:3.

Then, in Isaiah 9:6-7, we have perhaps the best-known one of all:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

There are many other prophecies besides these. But Malachi was the last of the Jewish prophets, and for perhaps 500 years after his death, the records are silent.

Three hundred years before the time of Jesus Christ, the armies of Alexander the Great swept through Israel, and it became part of Alexander's empire. After his death, three of his generals divided the empire amongst themselves, and Israel became a borderland between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. Greek culture became popular, threatening to swamp the Jewish culture that had been somewhat restored after the return from Babylon. Then there was again a brief independence under the Maccabees, but soon Judea came under Roman rule.

Somehow, through all these upheavals, there was still a remnant of good people who were waiting for the Messiah, and - when the time came - they were receptive. Mary was. Joseph was. The shepherds were. The wise men were. Zacharias and Elizabeth were. In the temple, Simeon and Anna were. So, there were a few, who knew the prophecies, and had not lost faith that they would someday be fulfilled.

The Bible

 

Isaiah 10

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1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;

2 to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

4 They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

5 Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!

6 I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

7 However he doesn't mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.

8 For he says, "Aren't all of my princes kings?

9 Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus?"

10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria;

11 shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?

12 Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks.

13 For he has said, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.

14 My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, have I gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped."

15 Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.

16 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire.

17 The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in One day.

18 He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints.

19 The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.

20 It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21 A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

22 For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

23 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, in the midst of all the earth.

24 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, says "My people who dwell in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did.

25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction."

26 Yahweh of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt.

27 It will happen in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

28 He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage.

29 They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled.

30 Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth!

31 Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.

32 This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

33 Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.

34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

   

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