THE INDISPENSIBLE MAN
Kevin D. Paulson
The late Arthur Schlesinger Jr, in his book The Cycles of American History, writes of President Kennedy, whom he was privileged to serve in the White House:
"He glittered when he lived, and the whole world grieved when he died. . . . Grief nourishes myth. The slain hero, robbed of fulfillment by tragic fate, is the stuff of legend."
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr, The Cycles of American History (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 1986), p. 405
Tonight we're going to look at the claims of Another, who was likewise slain in the flower of His young manhood
But unlike any politician or social reformer, this Man's claims place Him in a far different category. Claims which leave room for no neutral opinions.
One Christian thought leader has rightly observed that the claims of Jesus Christ compel us to describe Him as either
Lord, liar, or lunatic
Others, of course, have made these claims. Why is Jesus any different?
I. Prophecies of a Coming Saviour
First it was given to Adam and Eve.
Gen. 3:15:
"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."
Isa. 7:14:
"Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bare a son, and shall call His name Immanuel."
We see the fulfillment of this prophecy in the following verses:
Matt. 1:18-20,22-23:
"Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
"Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
"But while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Behold, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. . . .
"Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."
Isa. 9:6:
"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 Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
The Bible even foretells the specific time when Jesus would come.
Dan. 9:24-25,27:
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.
"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the streets shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. . . .
"And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease."
Five points stand out in this passage:
1. This prophecy would extend to the time of the “Messiah the Prince.” The New Testament identifies the Messiah as Jesus (John 1:41; 4:25-26). And it also indicates that it was time for the Messiah to appear.
Mark 1:15:
"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel."
Gal. 4:4:
"But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law."
2. The decree to restore and to build Jerusalem was given by the Persian King Artaxerxes I in 457 B.C, and is described in Ezra, chapter 7.
3. In Scripture a day is used as a symbol for a year (Num. 14:34; Eze. 4:6). The word used for weeks in Daniel 9 is the same used throughout the Old Testament to refer to a seven-day period (Gen. 29:27-28; Ex. 34:22; Num. 28:26; Deut. 16:9-10,16; II Chron. 8:13; Jer. 5:24; Eze. 45:21; Dan. 10:2).
With the starting date of 457 B.C, we then take the weeks in Daniel 9 as weeks of years, and this prophecy reaches exactly to the time of Jesus.
4. According to Dan. 9:25, sixty-nine weeks of years would reach "unto the Messiah the Prince." Jesus became the Messiah, the Anointed One, when He was baptized by John the Baptist (Matt. 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32; Acts 10:38).
Sixty-nine weeks of years is 483 years, exactly the time period from the final decree restoring Jerusalem (457 B.C.) to the baptism of Jesus by John in 27A.D. The Bible is clear that Jesus was baptized by John "in the fifteenth year of Tiberius" (Luke 3:1), who was emperor of Rome at the time. That year was 27A.D.
5. Daniel 9:27 declares regarding the 70th week of this prophecy: "In the midst of the week He (the Messiah) shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease."
The midst of this week brings us to the spring of 31A.D, which is when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary. At the moment this happened, the inner veil of the Temple in Jerusalem was torn from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51), signifying the end of the Old Testament sacrificial system.
II. The Eternal Pre-Existence of Jesus Christ
John 1:1-3:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made."
Compare to Gen. l:26:
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness."
John 1:14:
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
Col. 1:16-17:
"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist."
Heb. 1:1-2:
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past under the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds."
Micah 5:2:
“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."
John 8:58-59:
"Before Abraham was, I am.
"Then took they up stones to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by."
Let's compare:
Ex. 3:14:
"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."
III. The Risen Saviour
John 20:25,27-28:
"The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he (Thomas) said unto them, Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe. . . .
"Then said He (Christ) to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side, and be not faithless, but believing.
"And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God."
Acts 2:32:
"This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses."
I Cor. 15:3-6,17:
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
"And that He was seen of Cephas (Peter), then all the twelve,
"After that, He was seen of about five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. . . .
"And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins."
Rom. 10:9:
"Then if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, ye shall be saved."
Rev. 1:18:
"I am He that liveth, and was dead: and behold, I am alive forever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."
This is why we call Jesus the Indispensible Man.
Where are all these today?
Buddha
Confucius
Mohammed
Mahatma Gandhi
Martin Luther King Jr.
John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Jesus lives!!
IV. Jesus' Intercession and Second Coming
What qualifies Jesus to intercede for us?
Rom. 1:3:
"Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."
Rom. 8:3-4:
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Heb. 2:17:
"Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."
Heb. 4:14-16:
"Seeing that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."
Heb. 7:25:
"Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
Finally, we close with the Blessed Hope, with which our Savior left His followers, just before He died, and just before He returned to heaven:
John 14:2-3:
"I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also."
The angels made this promise to Jesus’ disciples as they gazed after Him, while He ascended to His Father:
Acts 1:11:
“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”
I Thess. 4:16-18:
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
“Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words."