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Voice Of Prophecy

H.M.S. Richards

Man of Mystery

We're happy to be with you today for this worship service, and let us each 1 be praying earnestly that God will bless us as we study His Word.

My father, HMS Richards, is bringing to us now the interesting subject entitled, Man of Mystery.

Yes, well, have you seen the Rockefeller Center in Radio City?

There's an inscription on 1 of the frescoes at the eastern entrance of that place which reads, Man's ultimate destiny depends not on whether he can learn new lessons or make new discoveries and conquests, but on his acceptance of the lesson taught close upon 2000 years ago.

This, of course, refers to the teachings of Christ.

And this leads to the question, who was Jesus Christ?

He has dominated the ages since, but unless Jesus Christ is more than all of these, He is not the Christ prophesied in the Holy Scriptures.

In the Holy Bible He is plainly declared to be the Son of God, Not merely as all true believers are the sons of God through faith, but the Son of God through the divine miracle of the Incarnation.

In this He differs from all who were ever born before or since.

Listen to the words of the Holy Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3, 4.

He declares that God by revelation made known unto him the mystery, whereby, when ye read, he says, ye may understand my knowledge in the Mystery of Christ.

In our day the word mystery carries the meaning of something that no 1 can understand, but it was a little different in the Apostle's day.

In his writings the word connotes something which, though incapable of being fully understood by mere human reason, has been made known by Divine Revelation.

In this case, it was God's eternal purpose to save His fallen creatures through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.

But this wonderful plan was not made known fully until Jesus came.

As the Apostle states in Romans 16, 26, Now it is made manifest, he says, that is, since the coming of Christ as the Savior of mankind.

During all the long ages, from the creation of the world to the birth of Jesus, men went on in their blindness.

There are many people in the world like that today, though the prophecies that pointed forward to Christ's coming as the world's Savior have been fulfilled, and the record of His wonderful life and death and resurrection is available to anyone who can read.

Still, there are millions who do not know of God's great plan of salvation, or if they have heard of it, pay no attention to it.

Of course, it was just like that when Jesus was actually here on earth.

Some people say, if I could only see Him and know all that He did personally, I'd believe in Him.

Well, what about those people who did see Him?

What about those brainy men in old Jerusalem who had the definite reports of His miracles, even saw some of them?

They heard him teach, they saw him in person, heard his voice, but did not recognize him.

They certainly didn't understand God's eternal purpose to save sinners by faith in Jesus Christ.

This wonderful truth, this glorious plan, this hidden mystery, they did not discern.

As the Apostle says, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." 1 Corinthians 2, 7, 8.

Of course they should have recognized Him for what He really was.

As 1 great writer said, his patience should have proved it to them.

The writings of the Old Testament prophets under divine inspiration had predicted that Christ would come and describe to him.

By the way, have you read such books as Isaiah and Jeremiah?

Have you read the so-called Minor Prophets from Daniel on to Malachi?

Remember, these books were written many centuries before Christ was born, some of them over a thousand years before, yet their predictions were fulfilled.

Jesus came and did the very things predicted in their prophecies.

First, it was predicted many centuries before it came to pass that Messiah, that is Christ, should come into the world for the redemption of human beings.

That's the very first prophecy in the Bible.

Some have called it the first sermon ever preached, preached by God Himself there in the Garden of Eden, to a congregation of 3, Adam and Eve and the Serpent.

You'll see it's a prophecy of Christ, that someday He would redeem the world and destroy the devil and all his works.

From the time this promise was made, Serious-minded people looked forward to the coming of the Redeemer to bless the world.

Second, the Messiah or Christ, for the 2 words mean exactly the same thing, namely the 1 who was anointed to do God's work and save men, is frequently prophesied of under the character of Him who was to come.

Jesus Christ is several times described by the writers of the New Testament as the Messiah.

And compare these Old Testament texts such as Psalms 118 and Isaiah 35 and Daniel 9, were the New Testament texts mentioned in the margin of your Bible.

You'll see that Jesus Himself and also the Apostles referred to these ancient prophecies of the Messiah.

Third, in ancient times there were to be 4 great monarchies in the world, 4 great kingdoms, 1 succeeding another.

It was foretold that the Messiah would appear under the last of these 4 great powers.

So true it was, Christ was born under the empire of Rome, which was the fourth from Babylon, counting Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome.

In the fourth place, the Messiah was to come before the destruction of the second temple, which had been built by Herod.

This was fulfilled, for Christ preached in that very temple, and then it was finally destroyed by the Romans 40 years later.

The Prophecies in Haggai, the second chapter, the Fulfillment, Matthew 21.

In the fifth place, the Messiah, or Christ, was to come into the world before the dominion of the Jews was taken away.

And it is a fact that Christ was born a little before the entire overthrow of their Kingdom and the destruction of Jerusalem.

Sixth, Christ, or Messiah, was to make His appearance at a time of general peace following dreadful wars.

When Christ came into the world, the Roman wars had just ended.

The Temple of Janus, the two-faced god of Rome, was shut in Rome, and universal peace reigned throughout the empire.

Seventh, Messiah was to come when men everywhere were in general expectation of Him.

When Christ did appear, all nations were looking for some extraordinary person to come.

Messiah was to have existed with God before the foundations of the world were laid.

Now this is something that many do not realize, but it is a fact and prophecy declared.

As we read in John 1.1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God.

Christ was with the Father in the creation of the world.

And now comes a very important point, often overlooked by both Christian and non-Christian students and thinkers.

The Messiah was to be 1 who had been the fellow or the equal and companion of the Almighty God.

Jesus Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God, and was with Him from eternity.

This is the plain statement of Scripture.

Now let us prove this by reading first the prophecy, then the fulfillment.

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.

Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." Notice this prophecy was written by the great Hebrew prophet Zechariah over 400 years before Jesus was born.

In verse 6 of the 13th chapter, he speaks about the wounds in the hands of the Messiah, and then in the 7th verse, God speaks of the man that is my fellow.

The shepherd is to be smitten, the sheep scattered.

Jesus applied this text to himself as we read in Matthew 26, verse 31.

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Man of Mystery

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