Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Deeper Teaching by Pastor Kenton Cheek

“The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.”

One of the most compelling pieces of evidence for the validity of the Christian faith is found in the volume of messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth. It is one of the top ten reasons I personally believe that Jesus is everything He claimed to be. An example of this comes from Micah 5:2, ““But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

It was also foretold that the Messiah would be a Nazarene in Psalm 22:6, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.” Later in Isaiah 53:3, “He was despised and rejected by men,a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faceshe was despised, and we esteemed him not.” What do these two Old Testament references have to do with Nazareth? The consonants NZR in Hebrew mean the same for Nazareth and “branch” as in the branch from the stump of Jesse in Isaiah 11:1.

Galilee and Nazareth in particular was a rural area looked down on by other Judeans and so we see from the messianic prophecies as a whole converging with the first century reputation of Nazareth, it was prophesied that Jesus would most likely be a Nazarene, despised and rejected, not triumphantly accepted apart from the fleeting nationalistic hopes of His entrance parade into Jerusalem before His arrest, trial and crucifixion.

The ancient prophets also predicted that He would come from Egypt. Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” When Herod, a jealous rage, ordered that all baby boys in Bethlehem be murdered, Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt as political refugees and did not return to Israel until after Herod had died.

And so we have it prophesied that Jesus would be from Bethlehem, Nazareth and Egypt all at the same time! Jesus fulfilled this and many other prophesies concerning Himself and proved to be God through many signs and wonders including rising from the dead. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of the Father found in the Law and the Prophets. He is alive today and interceding for you and I. He loves you very much. Will you return His love by choosing today to believe, repent and confess Him as Savior and Lord? We show that we truly trust and love Him by obeying His Word the Bible. Blessings to you and yours.

“Lord, I pray that I would not look down on anyone because of their background or where they are from. Help to love everyone as You do and extend grace and mercy to them as You extend to me. I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. May my faith increase and grow deeper and stronger as I continue to learn to lean on You for everything I need for life and godliness. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray these things. Amen.”

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.–Matthew 5:17-20