Last Sunday evening, Ben Falconer, our excellent associate pastor, preached a sermon called “Immanuel” on Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and promise. He concluded the sermon with a worshipful list of all that Jesus is.
He is the promised seed of Adam who would crush Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15).He is the descendent of Abraham through whom every nation on earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3).He is the son of Judah, who reigns eternally as king, whose garments are washed in the blood of grapes, and whose hand is on the neck of his enemies (Gen. 49:8-12).He is the Passover Lamb who was slain to protect God’s people from the Angel of Death (Exod. 12).He is the greater son of Israel who came out of Egypt, and He is the great redeemer who brings his people out of a bondage and slavery that is far worse than anything the Israelites experienced there (Exod. 12-14).He is the true bread from heaven that actually nourishes and feeds his people (Exod. 16).He is the Rock from whom the only life-giving water flows (Exod. 17).He is the fulfillment of the Law, perfectly obeying not only the 10 Commandments, but all 613 from the day of his birth (Exod. 20).He is the One through whom we enter into our lasting Sabbath rest, not just for one day out of seven, but for every day from now through all eternity (Exod. 23:10-12).He is our great High Priest who offers his very body as an atonement for the sins of his people (Exod. 28-29).He is the radiance of God, the exact representation of his being, and is the very presence and glory of God among his people, even more than the ark or the pillars of cloud and fire (Exod. 40:34-38).He is the once for all sacrifice that God offered on the altar on the Day of Atonement on Calvary, and at the same time he is the scape goat that was sent out of God’s presence into the wilderness on account of the sin that he bore (Lev. 16).He is like the bronze serpent that was lifted up and when people look to him in faith, they find forgiveness and healing (Num. 21).He is the star that shall come out of Jacob, and the scepter that comes out of Israel (Num. 24:17).He is a city of refuge for guilty sinners to run into and find shelter (Num. 34).He gives us every blessing for his obedience to God’s perfect commands, and he paid the price for the curse we deserved for our every disobedience (Deut. 28).He leads his redeemed people into the Promised Land where they will dwell with him forever (Joshua 3).He is our conquering warrior, victorious over the powers of sin and death (Joshua 5).He is the righteous judge and savior who never fails to defend and protect his people when they repent and turn back to him (Judges 2).He is the offspring of David whose kingdom has been established forever (2 Sam. 7).He is the very temple of God, which though destroyed was raised again in 3 days (1 Kings 8; 2 Chron. 3).He is our chief prophet and teacher who restores true religion by calling us away from our idols to return to the One True God (1 Kings 18).He is leading a remnant out of Babylon back to the Holy Land (Ezra 7).He is Job’s hope and ours because we know that our Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth (Job 19:25).He is the eternally begotten Son of the Lord Most High, whom kings fear in his anger, and who blesses those who take refuge in him (Psalm 2).He was for a time forsaken by God on the cross, so that those who are found in him might never be rejected (Psalm 22). And yet, his body did not see corruption, because, as David sang, God did not abandon him to Sheol, but raised him physically with an incorruptible body (Psalm 16).He is the shepherd of his sheep, who restores the soul of his fold and leads us in paths of righteousness (Psalm 23).He purges us with a cleanser much stronger than anything the hyssop branch can spatter on us—he washes us clean in his very blood so that we might be whiter than snow (Psalm 51).At his command the angels would bear him up lest his foot strike a stone, yet he did not call on their aid, but welcomed the cup the Lord had for him to drink (Psalm 91).He is the greater Son of David who will sit at Yahweh’s right hand until all his enemies are as footstools, and is the priest forever in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110).He is the Word of God incarnate, and the only lamp for our path (Psalm 119).He is the very wisdom of God made manifest in the flesh (Proverbs).He is the only purpose in life that matters (Ecclesiastes).Jesus is the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley, and he is the husband who brings his beloved to the banqueting table and who satisfies her fully in his love (Song of Songs 2).He is the sign to Ahaz, one named Immanuel and born to a virgin (Isaiah 7).He is the great light shining to a people walking in darkness, coming out of Galilee of the nations; He is the child born who is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end, and on the throne of David and over his kingdom, he will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore (Isaiah 9).He is the shoot coming from the stump of Jesse, and righteousness will be the belt of his waist. During his reign, the wolf will dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them (Isaiah 11).In his coming, the glory of the Lord is revealed and all flesh shall see it together (Isaiah 40).He is the Lord’s servant, in whom his soul delights, and with whom he is very well pleased (Isaiah 42).He is Israel’s only savior and besides him there is no other (Isaiah 43).He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. He is the one who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we were healed (Isaiah 53).He is anointed by the Lord to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisons to those who are bound. He proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; and he comforts all who mourn (Isaiah 61).He creates the new heavens and the new earth and he will dwell with his people there forever (Isaiah 65).He is the balm in Gilead that heals the sin-sick soul; he is the great physician who restores the health of his people (Jer. 8).He is the Righteous Branch from David who will deal wisely and execute justice and righteousness in the land (Jeremiah 23).He drinks the cup of the wine of the wrath of God so that his people will be spared (Jer. 25).He ushers in the new covenant in his blood, a covenant written on the hearts of his people, and marked by his forgiveness of our sin (Jer. 31).He is the very manifestation of the never-ceasing steadfast love of God. His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; for great is his faithfulness (Lam. 3).He brings life to dead men’s bones; by his Spirit he causes breath to come where death had reigned (Ezek. 37).He is the Son of Man whom the Ancient of Days gives all dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, and that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion (Dan. 7).He is the merciful husband who takes back his unfaithful wife, and allows us to once again call him “My husband” rather than “My Baal” (Hosea 1-3).He brings the Day of the Lord, which will be a day of great terror and judgment for all who do not know him, but everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2).He is the ruler from Bethlehem Ephrathah, whose origin is of old, from ancient days (Micah 5).He arrived as king in Jerusalem righteous and having salvation, yet he was humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zech. 9).He is the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap, refining us like gold and silver (Mal. 3).He is the sun of righteousness, who will rise with healing in his wings, and as a result of what he has done, we, like calves, will go out leaping from our stalls (Mal. 4).Jesus Christ is the only remedy for the infinite gap between our Holy God and sinful humanity. He is the only bridge from one side to the other. He is the only hope for every downcast soul. He is the only comfort for our sorrow. He is the only healing for our diseased hearts. He is our only true joy in a world full of fleeting pleasures. He is the reason for our existence and we exist to give him praise. So set your heart and your mind and your soul and your strength on him and give him worship.
Praise God. Let us worship and bow down.
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