♪ music ♪
(Derek) Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,
an in-depth, interactive study
of the Word of God.
I'm so excited as we continue this series
on Themes in the Gospel of John,
such a blessing.
Today, Fulfilling Old Testament Prophecies.
Welcome to Hope Sabbath School,
and again I'm excited because one
of our team is going to be teaching.
Stephanie, great to have you with us today
and great to have our team here.
Give everybody a wave.
We're glad you're here.
We've got some remote team members
with us we want to welcome today.
Faith, great to have you with us today,
glad you're here.
Mighty, good to have you with us today.
And I think Rodney's with us,
good to see you, Rodney.
And we're also happy that you're here,
because you're part of our global family.
Just received an email from someone
who said, "I raise my hand
when you ask a question
whenever someone's teaching,"
because that's what we call interactive, right?
And we're also happy when you write to us
from wherever you are in the world
as part of our Hope Sabbath School family.
So, Muyonzo, thank you for writing to us
from the country of Uganda.
Muyonzo writes and says, "I appreciate
your in-depth understanding
of the Word of God.
I am blessed."
Well, I think we would say
we learn, too, don't we, Puia,
as we study the Word together.
"May the Good Lord and Father of us all
fill you with plenty
of His blessings. Amen."
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) We say Amen, too.
Thank you, Muyonzo, for writing to us
from the country of Uganda.
Here's a note from Linda
on our Facebook page.
I think we have about 180,000 subscribers
on our Facebook.
You say, "Derek, I'm one of them."
Well, Linda writes and says, "I am
so very happy to see
Hope Sabbath School on Facebook.
As an avid listener
to Hope Sabbath School,
I encourage everyone who really loves
the Lord and wants to know more about Him
and His everlasting love to watch
Hope Sabbath School!"
(Team) Amen!
(Derek) Excellent. "Learning
more about Jesus through His Word,
the Bible, I guarantee you will be
inspired and blessed.
If there's a desire to love the Lord,
to walk in His footsteps, and to one day
be with Him in that beautiful home
He's gone to prepare for us,
accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord,
He promises He will never leave us nor forsake us."
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Wow, that was a sermon.
That was a sermon, thank you, Linda.
"I encourage everyone who wants
to have a closer walk with Jesus
to watch Hope Sabbath School."
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) "Be inspired and be blessed."
Well, thank you, Linda, for writing,
and you are an evangelist, sharing
the good news, and we're so happy you're
part of our Hope Sabbath School family.
Here is a little hand-written note
from the state of Alabama, here
in the United States of America,
and the donor writes,
"Hello, Hope Sabbath School."
(Team) Hello.
(Derek) Got the wave.
"You have really been a blessing
to me and my family.
I can't see that well, but I can
really hear the Word of God."
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Isn't that a reason
why we want to speak clearly
so that people get the message.
"May God continue to bless you all.
In Jesus' name," and a donation
of 100 dollars to bless
Hope Sabbath School.
Thank you, Donor; you know who you are.
Thank you for sharing with us
in the mission.
And thanks to each one of you.
We're at a time of the year
when some are saying, "What could I do?"
"Where can I lay up some treasure in Heaven?"
I want to encourage you
to partner with us.
Just go to our website, hopetv.org/hopess,
click on the Donate button.
Or get an address there at our website
and send us a note.
Let us know how you're blessed
and how you want to extend
that blessing to others.
One last note, from Ernest,
a Liberian in Norway.
That's a long way
from home, Joshua, right?
"I'm Ernest, originally from Liberia
in West Africa, living in Norway.
I've been watching Hope Sabbath School
for over a decade now.
When I moved to Norway,
there was no church in my area,
so I decided to do my Bible study online.
I did that for some time, but I wanted
an interactive class."
You know what's happening, don't you?
Alright, "I wanted an interactive class
where we could see and hear
different perspectives.
In my search to get such a study, I came across..."?
(Derek, Team) "...Hope Sabbath School."
(Derek) "And I've been
glued to it since then.
I love the testimonies,
the Scripture songs, and the..." what do you think?
"...diversity," take a look at each other.
We don't all look the same.
People say, "Hope Sabbath School,
I like it; we look like the world," right?
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) "I like the testimonies,
Scripture songs, and diversity.
I want to thank Bodil Morris
for composing the Scripture songs
and making the Bible easier to memorize.
I also enjoy the inspiration
when you give class members
the opportunity to teach."
Well, today, Ernest, is the day.
Here is Stephanie; she is
one of our team teachers, "Great idea.
Thank you for everything you do."
And this person is a monthly donor."
(Team) Praise the Lord.
(Derek) Yeah, so you never know
where you are, if you're in Norway
or Liberia or Botswana, or South Africa,
you can be part of the mission."
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Well, I just want to remind you
before we sing our song that we have
a special gift for you during this series.
And it's a collection of Scripture songs
from the words of Jesus.
My wife has put some of the words
of Jesus to music.
And I just want to encourage you,
one of my favorites is in this collection
of six Scripture songs
from the words of Jesus.
It's in Revelation (four of them
from John, two are in Revelation),
it says, "Do not be afraid;
I am the First and the Last,"
you know that text?
" I am He who lives, and was dead,
and behold, I am alive forevermore."
If you downloaded the six songs
just to get that one,
you'll be incredibly blessed.
So go to our website,
hopetv.org/hopess, click
on the Free Gift tab, and you'll get
directions to download that collection
of six Trilogy Scripture Songs
from the words of Jesus.
We're going to sing our theme song now.
It's about Jesus
but not the words of Jesus.
It's the words of the great prophet
John the Baptist when he said,
"Behold! The Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world."
Let's sing it together.
♪ music ♪
(Derek) And that's what we want to do
in our study today,
Fulfilling Old Testament Prophecies,
is behold the Lamb of God, predicted
hundreds of years before He came.
Thanks for leading our study, Stephanie.
(Stephanie) Alright, let's
bow our heads for prayer.
Dear heavenly Father,
thank You for Your Word.
Thank You that we can trust it.
We ask for Your Holy Spirit to guide us
into Your Word and Your truth today.
In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
(Derek, Team) Amen.
(Stephanie) I have a question for us
as we begin our study today,
and that question is, who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus? Rodney?
(Rodney) Let me read a text
just to answer your question.
It is taken from Matthew 1 and verse 16.
(Stephanie) Matthew 1 and verse 16,
would you like us to go there?
(Rodney) Yes, please.
(Stephanie) Alright, Matthew,
chapter 1 and verse 16.
(Rodney) And I'm reading
from the New King James Version, it says:
So Jesus is the Christ,
He's the Son of God,
and He was the Messiah.
(Stephanie) Amen. Puia.
(Puia) For me, I would say Jesus Christ
is the Creator and the Savior.
(Stephanie) Creator and Savior. Tendi.
(Tendi) He is the Lamb of God,
the light of the world,
the way, the truth and the life.
(Stephanie) Jonathan.
(Jonathan) He's the image of God,
the perfect revelation of His character.
(Stephanie) The perfect revelation
of His character. Geoffrey.
(Geoffrey) Physician, Healer.
(Stephanie) Very good.
Well, I put it out on social media.
I asked the question on social media,
and here are some of the responses
I received: "The Word made flesh,"
"a Preacher and Religious Leader,"
"Messiah," "Divine," "Son of God."
Let's see what the Bible says.
We'll start our study in the book of John,
John, chapter 5, verses 17, 20 and 36,
and, Zandile, do you have that?
Would you start our study today?
(Zandile) Sure.
(Stephanie) John, chapter 5,
verses 17, 20 and 36.
(Zandile) Okay, and I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
John, chapter 5, verse 17:
Verse 20:
Verse 36:
(Stephanie) Alright, and let's also read
John, chapter 10, verse 25.
And, Geoffrey, if you would read that
for us, John, chapter 10 and verse 25.
And I want to ask a question
as we're reading these texts:
What do these words of Jesus
reveal about His close collaboration
with the Father in Heaven?
Go ahead, Geoffrey.
(Geoffrey) Alright, I'll be reading
from the New King James Version:
(Stephanie) Alright, how do these words
of Jesus show His close collaboration
with God the Father? Jonathan.
(Jonathan) People kept asking Jesus,
like, "Who are You?"
And, "How do You do such things?"
or, "How do You claim such things?"
And He repeatedly points
back to these works that He was doing
that obviously no one else can do.
And so He's saying, "The works
that I am doing show
My relationship to the Father,
so pay attention to them."
(Stephanie) Gladys.
(Gladys) Jesus said many times,
"I don't do anything of My own.
Everything I do is what the Father
tells Me to do."
So these verses just reveal that They
were working in close connection.
He was only doing what the Father
revealed for Him to do.
(Derek) It just hit me from your post,
"Who is Jesus?" that if we didn't have
the Bible, we would just have to say,
"Well, He's Someone that a lot of people
talk about, I guess a famous teacher
of some kind," but we wouldn't have any
of the testimonies we're hearing today.
The Bible is so important,
and I know you're going to take us
actually to the Bible
before even the Incarnation, right?
But even there Jesus said,
"These are all about Me."
So, I guess what I'm sensing
in the answer to, "Who was Jesus?" is I
really need the inspired Word of God
to answer that question.
(Stephanie) That's right. Zandile.
(Zandile) I wanted to say that they
show us that Jesus and the Father
had a shared mission, and they had
an intimate relationship together,
which was Divine.
So whenever He is saying the Father,
it shows the divinity of Him.
(Stephanie) And Jesus boldly claimed
His relationship with God the Father.
Let's look at John, chapter 10,
looking at verses 37 and 38,
and, Mighty, if you would be willing
to read that for us,
John, chapter 10, verses 37 and 38.
We're looking at what that bold claim was
of Jesus about His close relationship
with God the Father.
(Mighty) Sure, so John, chapter 10,
verses 37 and 38, I'm reading
the King James Version, it says:
(Stephanie) What are you hearing there?
Thank you, Mighty.
What are you hearing?
Go ahead, Scott.
(Scott) One of the things
that we've seen already
in the Gospel of John
is that Jesus' works are signs,
and that's what He is saying here.
You know, "Even if you have
some questions, look at the works
and see that the God the Father is in it."
And if God the Father...if you see
the evidence that He is in these works,
then you should believe in Jesus.
(Stephanie) And His bold claim is what?
What is His bold claim?
Well, we can go to John, chapter 14.
Shall we go to John, chapter 14,
and let's look at verses 7 through 13,
and then also verse 23.
And, Faith, if you would be willing
to read that for us, John, chapter 14,
and that's verses 7
through 13, and verse 23.
(Faith) Yes, I'm reading
from the New King James Version, verse 7:
And you said verse 20?
(Stephanie) 23.
(Faith) 23, okay. Verse 23:
(Stephanie) What is the bold claim?
Thank you, Faith.
What is the bold claim? Jonathan.
(Jonathan) Here you have this Man
that is walking around, and the disciples
are watching, other people
are watching them, and slowly realizing
that this living Person
they can reach and touch is God Himself,
is the Divine living...
And He claims here He is in the Father,
the Father is in Him, that, yeah,
the Almighty has come to Earth.
(Derek) Immanuel - God with us.
(Stephanie) They are one.
And in John, chapter 10, verse 30,
Jesus is very clear; He says,
"My Father and I are one," very clear.
Scott and then we'll go to Geoffrey.
(Scott) And just to make this explicit,
Jesus is saying that He is God.
(Stephanie) Geoffrey.
(Geoffrey) When we were reading this,
and the disciples were witnessing
Jesus' deeds and things,
it's not just majesty
and power but character.
It's like, "Let the children
come unto Me."
That's the thing, back then, God
was dictator, authoritarian, like,
"If you don't do what I say,
you're going to be punished."
And Jesus is like, "No, I'm trying
to heal you; I'm trying to save you."
And that's really what it is,
"God is on your side; I'm on your side."
(Stephanie) They both have
the same mission, God and the Father.
(Derek) And I think it's important,
Stephanie, to reiterate that Jesus
never says, "I am the Father."
He says, "The Father and I are one.
He says, "If you've seen Me,"
to use the language Geoffrey was using,
"you've seen a full revelation
of the character of My Father."
But He doesn't say, "I am the Father,"
right, and He will later say,
"I will send you another Comforter,
the Holy Spirit."
He doesn't ever say,
"I am the Holy Spirit."
So there is this mystery of the Godhead,
and yet they are so close
that they are one.
(Stephanie) That's right, Divine, Jesus is Divine.
(Derek) We'll study that for eternity, I think.
(Stephanie) We will.
How do these words
that we've just read in John
reveal to us, the beginning of John,
his inspired declaration
about whom Jesus was?
Let's look at John, chapter 1,
verses 1 and 2, and, Rodney, if you
would be prepared to read that for us.
And we're looking to see how the verses
we just read confirm the declaration
that was at the beginning of John.
(Rodney) So I'm reading John,
chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, and reading
from the New King James Version:
(Stephanie) Did you want
to comment on that, Rodney?
(Rodney) It comes back to the question
that you were asking earlier, Stephanie,
about who is Jesus, and here it is
clearly making the connection
between the Word, which is
representing Jesus in this context,
to God Himself, God the Father.
So, back to the point
that Derek just mentioned,
if you notice, you have the Father
and you have Jesus,
and they are interconnected.
There is a popular belief out there
that there is just one Entity,
but what we are seeing here is
that there is a clear depiction
between [Jesus] and the Father,
and you also see in different aspects
in John where Jesus would actually go
and get instructions
from His Father essentially.
Early in the morning, He would commune
with His Father for direction
for Himself that particular day.
(Stephanie) Yes, thank you very much.
Did we have another comment?
Alright, we're moving on now to...
Scott, did I see your hand?
(Scott) Yeah, I was just noticing
when it says, "The Word was with God,
and the Word was God," if you
read that in the original language,
there's a little bit of emphasis
on the word "God."
Like, "The Word was God,
like this is one of the major points
that John wants us to get.
And it's just right there
in that first verse of John.
(Stephanie) Right, and the Word, we know,
became flesh and dwelt among us, right?
So we understand that to be Jesus,
just to clarify that.
(Derek) And you know, Stephanie,
anybody could make that claim,
"Well, I'm the Word," or, "I am..."
But, as we've heard earlier,
it's the life and the works, the ministry.
Again, we need the Bible.
And as we see that, we see
it's not just the rash claim
of a madman claiming to be the Son of God,
but it is speaking truth and is evidenced
by how He lived and what He did.
(Stephanie) That's right.
In fact, Jesus...and we're
going to move on.
Now, we've established
He is Divine; is that right?
(Team) Yes.
(Stephanie) And we're going to move on
and look at how Jesus claimed
that the Hebrew Scriptures
pointed to Him as the Messiah, alright?
So, we're going back to John,
John, chapter 5 and looking
at verses 39 and 40 and then 46.
And, Joshua, would you read that for us?
(Joshua) Sure, and I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
and the Bible says:
And verse 46?
(Stephanie) That's right.
(Stephanie) What was Jesus' claim?
(Joshua) That, "The One that you
have learned about, the One
that you have studied and understood
from your ancestors and teachers,
all of them were prophesying of Me,
which you now see today."
(Stephanie) So He was referring
back to Moses and the prophets and saying
that they testified of Him. Gladys.
(Gladys) The Hebrew children would learn
the first five books
of the [Bible, the] Torah,
and Moses was their biggest prophet.
So for Him to claim right there,
"You believe in Moses,
but he was talking about Me."
He was kind of referring them to,
just like Joshua was saying,
kind of saying, "All the things
you have been studying, you
should have been able to recognize Me."
(Stephanie) Very good. Rodney.
(Rodney) Stephanie, everyone
knew back then, well, the Jews
knew, back then, Moses
as the deliverer of the Jews,
again, back then.
And they also associated the changing
of the water to blood by Moses
who was the deliverer,
clearly Moses asked God
for that power to be able to do so.
But I believe that is why, when you
go on over now to John,
and John talks about the first miracle
of Jesus, it was all about water,
turning water into something else,
water into wine in that particular case,
not blood, but wine.
So it should have triggered something
in the minds of the Jews to say,
"I've heard that story some time ago,
which was water turning to something,
which is blood; here it is
water turning into wine.
This must have been the Messiah
that Moses was pointing to,
the greater Prophet
that Moses was pointing to."
(Stephanie) What does that tell us
about Jesus' conviction
about the Scriptures, the validity
of the Scriptures?
(Puia) I try to imagine,
what if there were no Scriptures?
Jesus would show up on the scene
and say, "Surprise, I'm here."
But instead, Jesus said, "Well,
Moses wrote about Me,
and all the prophets wrote about Me."
And Jesus was using the Scripture
as a way to confirm, in a way, solidify
their faith that He is truly the Messiah.
(Stephanie) And, Puia, maybe you
can take us there - Jesus
also confirmed who He was when He
referred back to the Old Testament,
the Hebrew Scriptures,
in Luke, chapter 24, verse 36,
when He spoke to those two disciples
after His resurrection
on the road to Emmaus.
Luke, chapter 24, verse 27.
(Puia) And I'll be reading
from the New King James Version,
Luke 24, verse 27:
(Stephanie) I just wish I was walking
with Jesus that day, don't You?
Where did He start?
Maybe Genesis 3:15, "I'm going
to put enmity...," I don't know.
But He walked them through the Scriptures
and made it clear,
who the Hebrew Scriptures
were pointing to was Him.
He was the Messiah. Alright, Derek.
(Derek) I love the testimony
of those two disciples.
Later they said, "Didn't our hearts
burn within us?"
So, Gladys talked about the Scriptures,
but they saw this amazing revelation,
again, not a random claim,
but they saw all of these fulfilled
in the Jesus they knew and followed.
It must have been amazing.
(Stephanie) It must have. Alright, Tendi?
(Tendi) I just wanted to add
that every time Jesus talks
about the Scriptures validating who He is
or testifying about Him,
if you read the text, "Scriptures"
and "Me," "Scriptures" and "Him"
are always in capitals, which is emphasis.
(Stephanie) Thank you. Jonathan.
(Jonathan) I just think it's interesting
how God didn't reveal
everything all at once; He left
little pictures throughout Scriptures.
And so, as you go through the Scriptures,
as you walk through them,
and as the disciples looked afterwards,
it's like, "Oh, wow, that revealed Him,"
"Oh, that revealed Him."
And so, I think that maybe that's how God
works in our lives as well,
bit by bit by bit.
(Stephanie) Geoffrey.
(Geoffrey) Yes, the God that we serve
does not just make claims;
He reveals evidence, and that's
really what this whole great controversy
is all about and when Jesus
was on Earth, revealing the evidence
bit by bit and making us
fully convinced in our own minds.
(Stephanie) Thank you. Zandile.
(Zandile) So, I went back
to the five books that Moses wrote
to try to find out
what really prefigured Jesus
that He was referring to when He
was saying "starting from Moses."
And I found that in Genesis, Moses says
He is the seed in Genesis 3:15.
And in Leviticus, He is the Passover Lamb.
No, in Exodus He is the Passover Lamb,
and in Leviticus He is
the sacrificial system,
"You all sacrifice; you are
familiar with this one,
and this pointed to Me,
dying on the cross for you."
And in Numbers, He is the bronze serpent.
He says to Nicodemus, "If the Son of Man
shall be lifted up just like Moses when he
lifted up the serpent
in the desert, that was Me."
And in Deuteronomy it says "I."
Moses says, "God will raise up a prophet
who is like unto me but who will be
greater than Me."
So when He is saying Moses,
I was like, okay, I really need to see
what Moses was saying about the manna,
which is Jesus, the bread of life.
(Team) Amen!
(Stephanie) And as you pointed out...
Thank you so much, Zandile.
As you pointed out each Bible book
that you found, it's prolific;
it's throughout the whole Hebrew Scriptures. Yes, Puia.
(Puia) And to add to that,
it's not just the books of Moses.
If we go through every single book
of the Old Testament,
the Hebrew Scripture,
throughout all the Old Testament time,
they were all pointing
forward to the coming Messiah.
So this is all about Jesus.
(Stephanie) Amen. And, of course, later
He revealed Himself
to the 11 disciples, right?
And He repeated something very similar.
And maybe we should just go there,
Luke, chapter 24, looking at verse 36
and then 44 and 45.
And, Gladys, would you read that for us?
(Gladys) Sure, I'm reading
from the New International Version,
Luke, chapter 27, verse 36
and then 44 and 45:
Verse 44:
(Stephanie) Amen. Jesus recognized
that the Hebrew Scriptures
pointed to Him as the Messiah,
but He's not the only one.
His disciples did, too.
Let's look at John, chapter 1, verse 45.
Jonathan, would you read that for us?
(Stephanie) What did Philip say? He found who?
(Team) The One.
(Stephanie) The One
who was prophesied, right?
Alright, let's go to John, chapter 2
and look at verses 17 and 22,
and, Mighty, would you be able
to read that for us?
John, chapter 2, verses 17 and 22.
(Mighty) I'll be reading
from the King James Version, and it says:
22:
(Stephanie) What can we learn
from the fact that both the disciples
and Jesus had confidence
in the Scriptures?
What can we learn
for ourselves today? Puia.
(Puia) As we just looked at that verse 22
from chapter 2, the disciples believed
because they witnessed the fulfillment
of what Jesus prophesied.
And so, for me, when I read
the Scripture and study these prophecies
and see it in fulfillment
in the history of this world,
it brings a great deal of evidence,
as Geoffrey pointed out, to believe
that this is trustworthy
because the predictions
and the prophecies are fulfilled.
(Stephanie) That's right.
(Derek) I think you're making
a really important point,
because modern liberal scholars will say,
"This just related to people back then.
There's no one who can tell
what's going to happen in the future, not even God."
Well, God does claim, "I know
the end from the beginning," right,
things that have not yet come to pass.
But Jesus had confidence
in the reliability of those prophecies
testifying about Him.
And I think, today,
our Hope Sabbath School members
around the world need to realize
that we don't listen to the scoffers
and the skeptics who say, "None
of that has any significance;
it's just something back then."
But holy men of God were moved
by the Holy Spirit,
so it's actually very exciting,
as Zandile was sharing, "I found this
in Genesis; I found this in Exodus."
It's an exciting discovery.
I know you're going to lead us
on some of it, but it's important to know
it's not just opinion, that this is
the reliable, inspired Word of God.
(Stephanie) Indeed, and Derek was
bringing out a verse, 2 Peter, chapter 1,
verses 19 through 21.
Let's read that, and before we read that,
Rodney, I see you have a comment,
and maybe you can read 2 Peter, chapter 1,
verses 19 through 21, after your comment.
(Rodney) What I wanted to comment
before I read this text is,
it is also interesting to note
that it is possible for you to know
the Scriptures but still [not] believe.
So, those leaders back then
knew the Scriptures.
That's why Jesus made the point,
"You know the Scriptures, and in them you
think you have eternal life."
And essentially He's saying, "Here I am,
the fulfillment of what you
have been reading, and you
still don't believe."
So there is the aspect of us,
when we read the Scriptures,
to open our hearts to the leading
of the Holy Spirit so that He can lead us
to understand who Jesus truly is.
So, as we look at 2 Peter 1,
verses 19 and 21, is that what you said, Stephanie?
(Stephanie) Yes.
(Rodney) Alright, 19 and 21, and it says
in the New King James Version:
Verse 21:
(Stephanie) So the Scripture was inspired.
I saw a few comments here. Scott?
(Scott) We skipped over verse 20 where it
says that no prophecy of Scripture
comes from someone's own interpretation,
and this is the other side
of what we talked about, how Jesus
had confidence in the Scripture.
And we talked about how some people say,
"Well, Scripture doesn't matter."
But there are other times when people get
very much into their own kind of esoteric understanding
of the Scripture;
it has a spiritual meaning.
And this is also what we're saying,
that, no, Scripture has a plain meaning.
We read it, and when the plain meaning
is apparent, that's what we
should hold to.
(Stephanie) We can trust
the Word of God.
Let's take a look...
I'm sorry, our time limits us,
so we have to move on to the next section,
but let's take a look
at some Old Testament prophecies
and how we see those fulfilled
in the life of Jesus.
We'll start in Isaiah,
chapter 40, verse 3, and then I'll
let you be thinking, as we're reading this,
some of the other times
where we see in the Old Testament
those prophecies were fulfilled
in the life of Jesus.
Isaiah 40, verse 3, and, Geoffrey,
if you would read that for us.
(Geoffrey) Yes, I'll be reading
from the New King James Version:
(Stephanie) And where do we
see that fulfilled?
(Team) In John.
(Stephanie) In John. Who fulfilled that?
(Team, Stephanie) John the Baptist.
(Stephanie) Let's take a look at that,
John, chapter 1, verse 23.
And, Scott, would you read that for us,
John, chapter 1, verse 23.
(Scott) Okay, and I'm reading
from the English Standard Version,
"He," that's John the Baptist:
(Stephanie) So referring back to what? Hebrew Scriptures.
Alright, what are some other examples?
Psalms? Go ahead.
(Gladys) Yeah, Psalm 118, verse 26.
(Stephanie) Psalm 118, verse 26?
"Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord"?
Yes, please read that for us.
Psalm, chapter...
(Gladys) 118, verse 26, and it says:
(Stephanie) And where do we
see that fulfilled?
(Gladys) Triumphal Entry.
(Stephanie) In the Triumphal Entry,
John, chapter 12, right,
John, chapter 12, verse 13,
and, Rodney, would you be willing
to read that for us?
John, chapter 12, verse 13.
(Rodney) And I'm reading
from the New King James Version:
(Stephanie) And we need
to follow that one up with Zechariah,
okay, Zechariah, chapter 9, verse 9,
because they are closely connected.
Tendi, would you read that for us?
(Tendi) Thank you, Stephanie, and I'll
be reading Zechariah 9:9
from the New King James Version:
(Stephanie) We'll see the fulfillment
of this, John, chapter 2, verse 14.
(Jonathan) 2 or 12?
(Stephanie) I'm sorry, John,
chapter 12, thank you,
and we'll be looking at verse 14.
Jonathan, would you read that for us?
(Jonathan) I'll be reading
from the English Standard Version:
(Stephanie) Do you want to read verse 15 as well?
Please do, okay, so we're looking
at John, chapter 12
and now looking at verse 15.
(Jonathan) Alright, and it says:
(Stephanie) What was the importance
of Him coming in that manner?
Jesus had not wanted anyone
to bring any light to Himself,
but now He was riding, Triumphal Entry,
riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.
What is significant
about Him doing that? Puia?
(Puia) He was fulfilling the prophecy
of Zechariah, and there was no excuse
for anyone in Jerusalem
who witnessed that scene to deny
that Jesus was the Messiah.
I mean, He was being welcomed in
as the prophecy predicted.
It was important for Jesus to do that.
(Stephanie) And this was
the first day of the week,
right, leading up...?
He knew, Jesus knew
it would take Him to the cross.
He knew that. Gladys.
(Gladys) Whenever the kings
and the army went out to war,
whenever they were triumphant,
they would come in, riding into the city,
and the people would
come out and celebrate.
So Jesus was fulfilling...He got
to the end of His mission,
and He was coming.
The kings would come on horses,
but He chose a humble way to come in.
(Stephanie) Yes!
(Gladys) Not like you said before,
to bring glory to Himself,
but to point to the Scriptures,
humbly on a colt.
(Stephanie) Yes. Derek, you have a comment?
(Derek) She's right, no triumphal entry
on a stallion, but exactly the way
the prophet had foretold hundreds
of years before.
(Stephanie) Amen. Jonathan.
(Jonathan) That I think goes
with this picture.
I mean, we have kings coming in,
and here He is fulfilling that,
but it's different.
It's not coming in triumphantly like they
wanted Him to, honestly.
It was this picture, like, there's
something different about this Messiah
that's coming; He's humble, He's lowly, He's...
(Derek) Riding on...
(Jonathan) Riding a donkey.
(Stephanie) Where are some other places
in the Old Testament Scripture
that speak, that point to Jesus,
as the Messiah and that were fulfilled
in the New Testament
in the life of Jesus? Puia.
(Puia) There are a few, like,
to try to summarize and say
that the Bible predicted
where He would be born,
where He would be raised up,
how He would be rejected,
and how He would die.
All those prophecies were written
hundreds and hundreds of years
before Jesus ever showed up on the scene.
(Stephanie) Yes, nice summary.
Thank you. Anyone else?
(Gladys) Also it talks exactly
about His crucifixion.
You know, He will be pierced,
He will be rejected, He will be mocked.
So every single detail
of His life was predicted.
(Stephanie) Faith, I see your hand.
(Faith) Yes, it also talks about how He
would be born, how He would be born
through a virgin, and that's
exactly how He was born,
conceived through the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
(Derek) Amen. That's important.
(Stephanie) Jesus' timing,
as we have read through John,
we recognize that there were
times before that they would have
taken Him and killed Him.
But the Bible records
it was not His time.
And I know this is not in our outline,
but I'm just thinking of Galatians,
Galatians, chapter 4, and I believe
it's verses [4 and 5],
Galatians, chapter 4 and verses [4 and 5].
Go ahead, Zandile.
(Zandile) Okay, and I'll be reading
from the New King James Version, it says:
(Stephanie) Alright, do you mind
reading verse 5 as well?
(Zandile) Verse 5:
(Stephanie) Jesus was born on time.
He went into ministry on time.
He was crucified on time.
He raised on time.
It was all according to prophecy.
If we look at Daniel, chapter 9,
which we cannot surround
in this study today, but Daniel,
chapter 9, reveals that Jesus fulfilled
the Old Testament prophecies,
the prophecies of the Old Testament,
to the T - amazing!
Now, we could just go home and say,
"Hey, we proved that that's Jesus," right,
that Jesus is the Messiah.
But my question is, does it
make a difference who we believe Jesus is?
Does it make a difference? Gladys.
(Gladys) Well, John 17:3 says
that, "This is eternal life,
that they may know You, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
So knowing God, in Him we find salvation.
So, without knowing that He came,
He saved, He died for us,
there is no point to this life.
(Stephanie) Yes. Geoffrey.
(Geoffrey) It is very important
because without such evidence
how can we truly trust Him,
and if we can't trust Him,
how can He save us?
He reaches out, but if we cannot grab
His hand in full trust, what's the point?
(Stephanie) Jonathan.
(Jonathan) Many religions believe in God.
And there was a common belief of a god
that was similar to the Old Testament,
but if that didn't actually come
to the revelation of God's character
in Christ and the actual fulfillment
of the solving of the sin problem
and Christ's sacrifice for sin,
where would we be?
We would be lost without the true hope.
(Stephanie) Amen. Scott.
(Scott) If we had
just one Old Testament Scripture
that spoke of Jesus, we might be able
to look at it and say, "You know,
you could see it that way,
or you could see it this way,
or maybe there's some coincidence there."
But you start adding more
and more and more,
and it becomes abundantly clear that there is
only one possible interpretation.
If you say, "Well, despite all of that,
I don't believe that Jesus
is God," basically, if we reject that,
we are rejecting all of Scripture.
We're rejecting the whole foundation.
We have nothing left over
but essentially secularism.
Like, it all depends on this.
You can't pick and choose and say,
"I want this part, and I'm going
to be skeptical about this,
and I'm going to be skeptical about this."
(Stephanie) Scott, what I'm hearing
you say, and what I'm hearing
all of us saying is
that this is vitally important.
This has eternal stakes.
Whether or not we believe
that Jesus is the Messiah,
it has eternal results.
Derek, did you want to add to that?
(Derek) You know, someone said,
"I'm not a statistician,"
but someone said, "The chances
of someone else fulfilling one
of those prophecies is possible."
Many other people were born
in Bethlehem, right?
But, again, the statistical likelihood
of fulfilling two or three or four,
and then you get up to scores
of prophecies, I mean, it is
absolutely impossible for that
to happen by chance.
You either have to, like Scott said,
discard the whole Bible or say,
"Well, it must have been written
after it happened," or something.
But if you read the Bible
with the confidence that Jesus had
in the Scriptures, you have
to come to the conclusion
that He is who He claimed to be.
And more than that, as you pointed out,
to realize that He wants us
to have life through His name.
(Stephanie) Amen. So here's
my next question.
Thank you, Derek.
My next question is this: There is someone
who may be watching us today
who is saying, "You're just applying
Scripture to Jesus."
(Derek) Trying to make it fit.
(Stephanie) Right, "Jesus
really wasn't the Messiah."
How would you respond to that person?
Remember, eternal destiny at stake.
How would you respond to that person? Derek.
(Derek) I will respond,
since I raised the question, and say,
slow down and realize
our first responsibility is
to love that person.
And our second responsibility,
which I think Jonathan
has been emphasizing,
is to, ourselves, be a revelation
of the immeasurable, unfailing love of God.
If we just pounce on, "Well, look at this,
and this and this," I don't think people
are persuaded simply by information.
(Stephanie) Amen. Thank you very much. Joshua.
(Joshua) I would also say
to really confront the person and try
to help them to acknowledge
the deeper fears that they have.
I believe that it takes a deep amount
of humility and understanding
to be able to reprogram or to acknowledge
truth that is new to you,
to accept new light into your life.
I have a massive amount of respect
for anyone out there who has converted
from one faith to the Christian faith,
because when you...listen, we could get
people of every single faith
into this room, the most scholarly
of each and every religion,
but the truth of the matter is,
only one of them is
honestly and truly right.
So you may be passionate
about what you believe,
you may have believed it all of your life,
it could have been your father's,
grandfather's, great-grandfather's faith,
but the reality is, there is one truth.
And so we need to seek that truth,
and if we're being real here, when it
comes to Jesus, and you hinted
at it, too, Derek, is that, are you
honestly expecting someone else
to come riding on a donkey in 2024?
Are you expecting him to come
riding on a donkey, to be crucified,
to fulfill all of these prophecies.
Are we being real here?
So, if you can just acknowledge, "Hey,
maybe I've been wrong all this time,
and I should accept the truth today
and turn away from what I've known
so that I can have eternal life,
so that I can put my family
on the right path, so that I can
look forward and live according
to God's will, walking
from this day forward."
(Derek, Team) Amen.
(Stephanie) We're going to go
to one last comment.
Mighty, I see your hand.
And after you share your comment,
we're going to look
at 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4,
as we bring it to a close.
(Mighty) Joshua said something
really resonated a chord in me,
and that is, someone seeking the truth.
And I think that's
the most important factor.
You don't need to have
an extensive knowledge of the prophecies
in the Bible in order to believe Christ.
A story comes to mind
of when the centurion came to Jesus,
and he came with such great faith
that [he said to] Jesus,
"You just have to speak the word,
and my child will be healed."
And Jesus Himself commented,
"I have not seen such great faith."
What was different about this person?
He was a Gentile who didn't
know the Scripture.
He heard of Christ, and he believed.
He had a love of the truth.
I think that's what's very important.
And there's a verse I want to read
in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.
(Stephanie) Chapter 2,
2 Thessalonians, chapter 2,
and which verses or verse
did you want to read, Mighty?
(Mighty) I want to look
at verses 10 to 12.
(Stephanie) Alright. As we close,
we'll close on these few verses, alright?
(Mighty) I'm reading
the King James Version:
So I think this is really important,
that we have that love of the truth
no matter how inconvenient it may be
or how it goes against things
that we love on this earth.
And if we have the love of truth,
we'll be able to believe the Word
that comes to us plainly.
(Derek, Team) Amen.
(Stephanie) Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mighty.
It reminds us of how relevant
this is for us today.
May God help us not only to be a witness
but to also stay connected to Him
so that we can be confident in His Word.
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Thank you, Stephanie.
What a reminder today,
wherever you are watching
as our Hope Sabbath School family.
It's not enough to know the truth.
We need to love the truth.
And by the way, the truth
is not just information.
The truth is Jesus.
We need to love Him
and know Him personally,
whom to know is life eternal.
Let's pray; Lord God, we've seen
much evidence today
from the Hebrew Scriptures,
inspiration of God provided
through the prophets to give us
evidence that Jesus is the Christ,
the fulfillment of all of the prophecies,
all of the hopes of Your people
through the ages.
We choose to believe and to love the truth
as it is in Jesus.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
(Team) Amen.
(Derek) Thanks for joining us for Hope Sabbath School.
What a journey!
So much to learn,
pointing us to Jesus our Savior.
Go out now, be a blessing
to those around you.
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