HSS2404008

♪ 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.

♪ theme music ♪