Scripture: Topics: Jesus is God
Jesus is God according to Holy Scriptures, part two. I've been looking forward to this. I am Michael Pearl and you are at The Door located in Lobleville, Tennessee. This is a product of No Greater Joy Ministries and you can find us at nogreaterjoy.org.
Jesus is God, creator of heaven and earth. I remember some Jehovah's Witnesses coming to my house. You can spot them a long ways off. They're really sad looking people trying to put on a smile and three of them drove up to my house in a cheap little car and I ran out to meet them. And it was kind of fallish and their windows were up and they rolled the window down a little bit and I put my fingers on the window like this and I said, "Jesus is God, welcome." And they kind of looked at each other and they started backing up. And I just walked along like that and I start quoting John 1:1. And they just left, never said a word.
Jesus is God, creator of heaven and earth.
The holy scriptures tell us, John 5:39 "Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life." Jesus said, "And they are they which testify of me." So he told the Pharisees who were doubting him, he said, "You need to search the scriptures because they're about me." Now, when he said scriptures, he was talking about the Old Testament, which is all they had at the time. So he was saying that the Old Testament was written about him and that if you search the Old Testament, you would discover him in its pages.
So that's what we're doing tonight. We're discovering Jesus in the pages of the Old Testament. Jesus is God, creator of heaven and earth. 100 passages over 500 verses on the deity of Jesus Christ, we're looking at. Well over a hundred, I counted about 140, but I think some of them were duplicates so I thought 100 sounded good enough.
The New Testament cites numerous Old Testament passages about Jehovah and refers them to Jesus. Most people don't realize, but the majority of the New Testament is just quotes and allusions and references to Old Testament scripture, especially books like the Book of Hebrews, even the Book of Revelation, much of what Paul writes in his Epistles to Romans, Ephesians. You find just quote after quote, reference after reference. Sometimes you'll find three references in one sentence in the New Testament.
So we start with Psalm 45:6-7, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever." Now someone is speaking to God, "And the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness, therefore God, thy God, hath the anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Now that's strange, "God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." So he's addressed this to God and yet God has a God apparently.
So let's look at the New Testament.
Hebrews 1:8-9 "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God." So he's quoting this passage from Psalms. "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom." Remember we just read that. "Thou hast loved righteousness and hated inequity, therefore God, even," he had the word even, "thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." So what we learned in the Book of Hebrews, chapter one, verse eight, which was written after Jesus Christ, is that the passage written 1000 years before Jesus Christ, which he's quoting here, was a statement of God the Father to God the Son. Let's back up and look at it.
Psalm 45:6 "Thy throne, O God," So it's God the Father speaking. "Thy throne, O God,” To whom? He's speaking to Jesus. "Is forever and ever, the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness," God the Father says to God the Son, "and hatest wickedness, therefore God, thy God," so God speaks to God, "hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
Back to the New Testament, Hebrews 1:9 "Thou lovest righteousness, hated inequity, therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." Verse eight again, Hebrews 1:8"Unto the Son he," God, "saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever." So Jesus is called God by the Father. When the Father speaks to the Son, he's calling him God. So here's a passage that very clearly declares Jesus Christ to be God and it's God the Father of the Old Testament who's calling him God, not just a disciple, not himself, but God the Father in the Old Testament.
The Bible is just full of these cross references. We're going to just look, that's all we're going to do tonight is just look at a number of these. Not all of them, but a number of them.
So here's another example of a New Testament passage linking Jesus to Jehovah, going to Psalm 102:24-26 Now this is a thousand years before Christ. "I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days, thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou," God, "laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure, yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment and as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed. Thou are the same and thy years have no end." So the prophet says this of God.
Now let's go to the New Testament and see that quote, same passage we just read but reading further. Hebrews 1:8 "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God." And we just read that passage, continuing in verse 10, Hebrews 1:10 "And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth." So that's God saying this to the Son. "And the heavens are the work of thine hands." God the Father is saying God to the Son, "The heavens are the work of thine hands, they shall perish, but thou remainest, they shall wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."
That's the quote of the passage. Going back to it, Psalm 102:24-26 "They shall perish, but thou shalt endure, yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, they shall be changed, but thou art the same, thy years have no end."
Hebrews 1:11 "They shall perish but thou remainest, they shall wax old as doth a garment, as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, they shall be changed, but thou art the same, thy years shall not fail." So he's addressing God the Father is addressing God the Son again in the Old Testament passage.
Another example of New Testament passage linking Jesus to Jehovah of the Old Testament.
Isaiah 6:1-3 "In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple." And then he describes the seraphims, the cherubim, and crying one to another, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts whose earth is full of his glory." And then Isaiah says, verse five, "Then said I, Woe is me! for I'm undone." We got to look at God in his glory, "because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD," capital L-O-R-D in the New Testament, the King James's Bible is the word Jehovah in the Old Testament. "The King, the LORD of hosts."
Isaiah 6:6 "Then flew one of the seraphims having a coal in his hand, which he had taken from the tongs from off the altar. He laid it upon my mouth, said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips and thine inequity is taken away, and thy sin purged. So I heard the voice of the Lord saying," Now this is the Lord, the God Jehovah, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then said I," that's prophet speaking, "Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, make their ears heavy, shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed."
So here it is in the New Testament.
John 12:36-38"While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of the light. These things spake Jesus and departed, and hid himself from them. And though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him, that the saying which Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled." He's now referencing the passage we just read out of the Book of Isaiah, "Which he spake," and here it is. He's quoting Isaiah. "Lord, who hath believed our report? To whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe, because that Isaiah said again," he's again quoting Isaiah. "He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts. They should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, and be converted and I should heal them. These things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory and spake of him." So the people of the Jews had just rejected, in the context of this passage, just rejected Jesus and the manifestation of his glory.
And so he quotes these Old Testament passages and shows that the Bible anticipated that there would be this kind of unbelief among the Jewish people when he came. "And these things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him." So he very clearly says Isaiah was speaking of Jesus when he spoke those words.
Another example of New Testament passages linking Jesus to Jehovah,
Psalm 68:17-18 "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, seven thousand of angels, the Lord is among them..." Even thousands of angels. "The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast..." Now, who is this thou? "The chariots of God are twenty thousand... The Lord is among them...Thou hast ascended on high," so the word Lord here is a reference. "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast receive gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD might dwell among them."
So here is one who is ascending on high, leading captivity captive. That means he's going where those have been held who have been held in captivity and he's capturing them by force to take them out of their captivity. That has received gifts for men, so he received gifts on behalf of men which he distributed to them, for the rebellious as well as those that were not, he received gifts that the Lord might dwell among them.
Now when we come to the Book of Ephesians,
Ephesians 4:7-8 "Unto every one of us is given grace," that's a gift, "according to the measure of the gift of Christ." That's a gift that he received. "Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." Now the passage speaks of he that ascended first descended into the lower parts of the earth.
And there he preached unto the Old Testament saints and he led the captive Old Testament saints in paradise out into heaven and he gave them gifts, even the rebellious ones. Gifts were prepared and those gifts include the gift of eternal life, which is for the rebellious, the gift of grace, which is for the rebellious.
Here's another example of a New Testament passage linking Jesus to Jehovah.
Isaiah 8:13-14 "Sanctify the Lord of Host himself... And he shall be for a sanctuary," the Lord of Host, "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem." So the Lord of Host is going to be for a sanctuary and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to the house of Israel.
Psalm 118:22-24 "The stone which the builders refused," now that's the Lord, "is become the head stone of the corner." This is 1000 years before Christ. "This is the LORD's doing. It is marvelous," amazing thing, "in our eyes," that the stone the builders rejected will eventually be placed at the corner in the most prominent spot. "This is the Lord's doing, marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made," this day when he was rejected and then placed at the corner. "We will rejoice and be glad in it."
So in the New Testament. Let's read the rest of it.
In the Book of 1 Peter, 1 Peter 2:4-5 "To whom coming, as unto a living stone," he's not quoting right here, but he's alluding to this passage he will quote it in a moment, "coming unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men," just as he said they would reject it, "but chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture."
Here's where he quotes the passage we just read in Psalm. 1 Peter 2:6-8 "Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious. He that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone," here again quoting, "which the builders disallowed," rejected, disallowed, "the same is made the head of the corner." You also find that in Psalm 118:22, which we're not going to reference. "And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense," just as we read, "even to them which stumbled at the word, being disobedient, whereunto you also were appointed."
So let's go back to our passage in Psalms.
Psalm 118:22-24 "The stone which the builders refused is become the head of the stone." And who is that? Isaiah 8:13-14 "Sanctify the LORD of hosts ... and he shall be for a sanctuary." So the Lord of hosts is the one who's the stone, the Jehovah of host who's the stone which the builders rejected. He's the one which will be a snare. He's the one refused. He's the one that becomes the head of the cornerstone. He's the living stone which was disallowed indeed of men. He is the chief cornerstone, elect, precious, he that believes will not be ashamed. The stone which the builders disallowed became the head of the corner. A stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. So very clearly, this is a reference to the Lord of the Old Testament here in the Book of Peter. Isn't this amazing when you start looking at it carefully and tie it all together?
Another example, the New Testament passages linking Jesus to Jehovah.
Isiah 28:16 "Therefore, thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation, he that believeth shall not make haste." We're looking at a different passage. Joel 2:32 "And it shall come to pass it that whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered." Notice the capital L-O-R-D. That's Jehovah. "Whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered." Let's go back to that one.
Isiah 28:16 "I lay in Zion for a foundation a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make haste."
And so let's go to the New Testament passage.
Romans 10:9-12 "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart God hath raised him for the dead, thou shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith," he's quoting the Old Testament, "Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." One passage said, "not make haste." "Not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And the Old Testament said, "shall not make haste." He changes it to "shall be saved." The prophets have the liberty to expand upon the Old Testament scripture under the inspiration of God and give it further explanation.
So what he has done is told us again that Jehovah is the one upon whom we believe, the one upon whom we call. He is the Savior. And so Jesus is again identified with the savior Jehovah of the Old Testament.
Another example of New Testament passages linking Jesus to Jehovah. This is in Zechariah. This is six, 700 years before Christ.
Zechariah 12:1 "The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him." So clearly the Lord is Jehovah. "I will pour upon the house of David..." This is God speaking, right? You ought to know that, miss where we're going here. "I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication, and they shall look upon me." Who's speaking? That's the Lord speaking. "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, he shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."
So here's a passage that says that they will look upon me. God says, "They'll look upon me, whom they've pierced and mourn for him as one mourn for his firstborn." Now this is not the crucifixion he's speaking of. This is his coming back to the earth later in the Second Coming. When they look upon him, whom they've pierced and mourn that they had made this mistake as one mourned for his own firstborn. And Jesus is called in the Book of Revelation the firstborn.
When Jesus returns and pours out his spirit on Israel, the Jews will look upon him whom they have pierced.
Revelation 1:7-8 "Behold he cometh with clouds, every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and all the kindreds of the earths shall wail because of him."
See that's an allusion to that passage there in the Old Testament. "Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, was, and is to come, the Almighty."
Another example of New Testament passages linking Jesus to Jehovah.
Isaiah 41, 700 to 800 years before Jesus.
Isaiah 41:4 "Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he." That's strange, wordy, unless you know about the Trinity. "I am the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he."
Again in Isaiah 44:6, "Thus saith the LORD, the King of Israel, and his redeemer, the LORD of hosts." So we've got two personalities here. "Thus saith the LORD, the King of Israel, and his redeemer, the LORD of hosts, I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God." God speaks of himself as singular, but God also communes with himself.
Isaiah 48:12 "Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called, I am he. I am the first, I also am the last." Do you think the Jews would have understood this, "first and the last," when Jesus called himself the first and the last?
Revelation 1:10 "I was in the Spirit of the Lord's day and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." Now we know it's a reference to Jehovah, right? To the Lord. We just read three passages in the Old Testament that says who the Alpha, the Omega, the first and the last is.
Revelation 1:12-18 "I turned to see the voice of him that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. In the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of man." So who was it that said he was the first and the last? It was the Son of man. Who's the Son of man? Jesus Christ is the Son of man. He became flesh. God made him flesh. He became a Son of man. "Clothed with a garment down to his foot, girt about the paps with the golden girdle. His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were a flame of fire. His feet like unto fine brass, as if it were burned in a furnace. And his voice as the sound of many waters. And in his right hand, seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword. His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last." He's making a reference to the Lord of the Old Testament. "I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive for evermore."
That is Jesus Christ right there, who was alive, who died, buried, raised again and is alive now for evermore. And it was so good, what Jesus said, he had to amen himself. "I have the keys of hell and of death." Oh, I like that. I mean that's rich right there.
Another example of a New Testament passage linking Jesus to Jehovah. You know we can do this all night, really. The Old Testament, New Testament, they just hang together like that all the way through.
Isaiah 40:3-5 "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Isaiah Chapter 40. Again, 700 years before Christ. "Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed." So this is about the Lord Jehovah of glory being revealed to the people on the earth. "All flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."
Malachi 3:1 a similar passage. "Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me." The way before who? It's God speaking. "I will send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me," God, "and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple." I'm not even referencing that but you know that that's why the Satan tempted Jesus Christ to jump off the pinnacle of temple and the angels would bury him up because of this statement right here. The devil interpreted this to mean that if he made a sudden appearance in the courtyard of the temple, falling down of the sky, he'd be received as messiah because many Jews interpreted that passage that way. "Even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts."
So how is this interpreted in the New Testament?
Mark 1:1-3 , during the lifetime of Christ, "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets." He's talking about Jesus, quoting what we just read. "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the the way the Lord, make his past straight." They asked John, "Who are you? Are you Elijah?" "No." "You the one that have come, the prophet?" "No, no." He said, "I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, saying make his path straight. He that comes after me, I'm not worthy to stoop and unloose his shoes." John knew that he's preparing the way just as the Old Testament predicted of the coming Lord, L-O-R-D, Jehovah, coming to the earth to be the savior of mankind, to give gifts, and to provide salvation.
Matthew 11:10 "For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." Again, John references this passage.
Another example of a New Testament passage linking Jesus to Jehovah. Numbers 21, this dates all the way back to Moses, which would be about 1600 BC, 1600 years before Christ.
Numbers 21:5 "And the people spake against God and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there's no bread, neither is there any water," and so forth. "And the LORD sent fiery serpents." It bit them. Many of them died.
1 Corinthians 10:9 "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of the serpents." Now they were tempting God, Jehovah and the New Testament says they were tempting Christ. So Christ is Jehovah God. That's a very easy deduction to make.
Another example of New Testament passage linking Jesus to Jehovah.
Luke 4:16 "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went," And I'm doing this in reverse. I usually give the Old Testament first. I'm giving the New Testament because the Old Testament passage is a little longer and I want to explore it. "He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up and as the custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read."
Now see in the synagogue, they would take turns. If you wanted to read scriptures, you walk to the front and the scroll was kept in an arc, a cabinet back here and it was brought out very carefully, very delicately. It took a lot of work to produce one of these things. It laid out there and they wouldn't touch it with a hand.
They had a little stick like this that they'd put there for a guide when they're reading the thing. And so they would read the scriptures, they'd put it back up and then they'd sit down and they'd all talk about it and discuss it, kind of like home church.
And so it says, Luke 4:17 "And there was delivered under him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it is written..." Now they didn't have chapters and verses. So the way you identified a passage was by quoting the first part of the passage, quote two or three verses, and that was reference to the whole context there.
So he found the place where it was written and then he quotes, Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted," he said, "Preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them which are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Now that's not all he said. He read the whole passage, but that's the place where the passage is located and then it goes on from there. "And he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him," because it was his turn to speak first, having chosen the passage of scripture. They'd be seated when they speak. So they all look at him. “And he began by saying this, "This day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears."”
Wow. I mean that's a passage they've been reading for many centuries and discussing what it meant. He reads it and said, "Hey, it's happening. Here it is right now, I'm here. I've come to open blind eyes, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. I've come to set the captives free."
Now let's go back.
Isaiah 61:1-10 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because he hath anointed me to preach the good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,” and so forth, “to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, the day of the vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn and to appoint unto them that mourn, in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of LORD, that he might be glorified." That's what he read to them.
"And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen, your vinedressers. But ye shall be named Priests of the LORD." The Bible says we're a holy priest. "Men shall call you the Ministers of God." That's never happened yet. "Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves."
Now 98% of Christianity says God's through with the Jews. If he is, then this is a lie.
"For your shame, ye shall have double, for your confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore, in their land they shall possess the double, everlasting joy shall be upon them. For I the LORD," Jehovah, "love judgment. I hate robbery for burnt offering. I will direct their work. I will make an everlasting covenant with them. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, their offspring among the people." This is during the millennium. "They shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For the earth bringeth forth her bud, as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations."
That's the full context of what he read. And so when he says to them, "This day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears," he's saying, "I'm the one going to do all this. I'm the one that's going to make this happen. That's what I'm involved in right now." Now all of that didn't happen during Christ's lifetime, but he's not done yet. He got cut off to provide salvation, but he's coming back and he's going to finish that chore and finish what he read in that passage right there.
So two final Old Testament prophecies of Jesus Christ, just Old Testament prophecies. I just had to include these. We read one already.
Zachariah 12:1-10 "The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, layeth the foundation of the earth, frometh the spirit of man within him." Now that's the Lord Jehovah, right? He said, "I God will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, and they shall look upon me," God, "whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."
That's a prophecy of Jesus, God's only son, the firstborn and the nation of Israel mourning. Look at that. "Thus saith the Lord,... They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son."
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Here's the last one, Psalm 22. Entire Psalm 22 is about Jesus but here's three verses out of it.
Psalm 22:14 "I am poured out like water." This is Jesus on the cross, dying, and this is what he is saying while he is dying. "I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint." Certainly they were. Being stretched out of the cross, one of the sources of greatest pain was the joints separating under the weight of the body pulling against the hands. "My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels." The water and blood mixed is an indication of the strain on the heart, the pressure, the inability to breathe. "My strength is dried up like a potsherd," like a piece of dry pottery. "My tongue cleaveth to my jaws." He said, "I thirst.” “Thou hast brought me into the dust of death." He's coming down to mortality. "For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me." God speaking, "They pierced my hands and my feet." So here's a prophecy, a thousand years before Jesus died, before crucifixion was invented as a form of capital punishment. And God says that, "They would pierce my hands and my feet." That's definitely Jesus Christ.
Psalm 22:17-18 "I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me." Tell, count. "They look and stare. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture." So they parted his garments when he died, but cast lots upon his vesture.
You see, he had on two pieces of fabric. One of them was knitted and one of them was woven. The woven one with four soldiers was torn into four parts we've found in the gospels and divided between them. They probably used them for head rags or something, but the knitted one could not be torn so they cast lots upon it.
Here it was, a prophecy a thousand years before it occurred, predicting that Jesus would wear two garments when he was crucified, when his hands were pierced and that they would gamble for one and divide the other one into four parts.
So this is Michael Pearl at The Door, No Greater Joy Ministries, nogreaterjoy.org. If you want to go there to nogreaterjoy.org, you will find several hundred publications that my wife and I have done and many, many books and many tapes, CDs, I guess they are now. Some of it's in little stick form, what do you call that little thing? Memory stick. Yeah, you get a bunch of message on the memory stick and so go there to No Greater Joy and you got lots of free stuff there for you to read and access. And then of course, we're lots of places on YouTube, so go there. Good night.