We have seen the promise of a Saviour from the first glimpse of the gospel, the first hint of a Saviour, in Genesis chapter 3. The seed, the offspring of the woman, will crush the serpent’s head and one day the devil will be defeated. We have traced that promise through the seed, the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob through to its fulfilment in Jesus Christ. Today is the second Sunday in Advent, when the church has traditionally recalled the witness of the Old Testament prophets looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. So tonight we will look at what else the Old Testament foretold about Jesus the Saviour.

There are many prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament. Some theologians find 40, others 50 and others more. I am not going to look tonight at the prophecies which foretold that the Saviour would be born in Bethlehem and escape to Egypt. Nor will we look at all the prophecies concerning the Forerunner who would prepare the way for the Messiah, or that Messiah’s ministry bringing healing and deliverance would begin in Galilee. There are of course specific prophecies about Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem and about his betrayal. We have looked at Easter times at all the prophecies around Jesus’s death as foretold in Psalm 22 and in the typology of the Passover Lamb, and also in the Song of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. And the Book of Acts looks back at a number of prophecies concerning Jesus’s resurrection from the dead. We are familiar with all these things.
So instead this evening we will take a broader look at the kind of Saviour the Jews were expecting. I want to remind us of some of the titles which are given to Jesus Christ to see how these fulfilled the promises we find in the Old Testament. And I want to help us see that although there were a few hints in the Old Testament about the Saviour God would send, in one important respect the Saviour God sent was always going to be a big surprise.
One phrase springs to mind which sums up three aspects of the Jews’ expectations of their Messiah. “Prophet and priest and king”.
In the build up to Advent last year we saw how the Book of Deuteronomy looked forward to “a prophet like Moses”
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire any more, or we will die.’
17 The LORD said to me: ‘What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.
This promise foretells that God will send another prophet like Moses had been, representing God and speaking as God’s messenger to his chosen people. When Jesus came he fulfilled that prophecy in many respects. He brought words of prophecy, messages demonstrating divine knowledge and warnings of impending judgment. Like the Old Testament prophets he called for justice and righteousness, demanding repentance. Like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus worked miracles revealing God’s love and power. And Jesus was destined to be rejected by God’s chosen people, as all God’s prophets were. The Saviour would be a prophet.
Last year in Advent we also looked at the promises which pointed forward to the role of the Messiah as Priest. In particular we looked at Psalm 110.
Psalm 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind:
‘You are a priest for ever, in the order of Melchizedek.’
Jesus applied the beginning of Psalm 110 to the Messiah. In Acts 2 Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost quoted that verse to demonstrate that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
Melchizedek was the enigmatic figure we find in Genesis 14 who was both a King and a Priest of God Most High. He blessed Abraham and Abraham gave to Melchizedek an offering of a tenth of everything he had. The tasks of the priests were to represent the people before God and represent God to the people, and to offer sacrifices for sin. Psalm 110 makes a very clear link between Jesus and Melchizedek. The Messiah will be a priest forever, a priest like Melchizedek. And the Letter to the Hebrews unwraps this idea for us. Hebrews talks a lot about Jesus being our great High Priest. And in no less than four separate places, Hebrews quotes Psalm 110 to describe Jesus as “a priest in the order of Melchizedek”.
Hebrews 5 unwraps how Jesus served as a high priest.
Hebrews 5:1 Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins…. 9 … once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
There is one particular aspect of Melchizedek’s priesthood which is significant for us. Melchizedek was immortal – he was thought to be eternal.
Hebrews 7: 3 Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever.
Because the Old Testament text doesn’t talk about his birth or his death, by the time of Jesus the Jews thought of Melchizedek as a very special person. His priesthood was not bounded by mortality – he was eternal. He was greater than all the descendants of Levi who would become the priests in Israel. Melchizedek was even greater than Abraham, because Abraham gave an offering to him and not the other way round. Melchizedek was eternal and so was the Messiah. They would be priests forever and so they would be able to bring salvation which is eternal.
Psalm 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 7:24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
So the Jews were expecting a Saviour who would serve as a priest, bring them into God’s presence and offering sacrifices on their behalf. But the Messiah would also be a king, and in particular a king in the royal line of great King David.
2 Samuel 7:11-16
‘ “The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: 12 when your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. ,,,,. 15 … my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever.” ’
Here we have another promise of salvation coming through a seed – this time the seed of David, the offspring of David. All God’s covenant promises to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and to the people of Israel were all renewed to King David, ultimately to be fulfilled in one of David’s offspring. It is that descendant who will have an everlasting kingdom and an eternal throne. The Israelites would wait in hope for another thousand years for that promised Saviour to appear. But at Christmas time we are always reminded of the promises of the Messiah as Warrior King which we find in Isaiah.
Isaiah 11:1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— 3 and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
This warrior king would be a descendant of Jesse, the father of King David, great David’s greatest son. The Messiah would come to bring God’s justice and righteousness to a sin-spoiled world, bringing salvation to people who are needy and poor. And he will accomplish these things by the power of God’s Holy Spirit who gives wisdom and knowledge and brings people to a proper fear and respect for God. The Messiah will not only bring God’s righteousness but also God’s peace to our troubled world. Isaiah gives us beautiful pictures of the peace of heaven, when suffering and death will be no more.
6 The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. … 9 They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

David’s descendant will bring peace – but God’s peace is much more than an absence of conflict. Shalom is wholeness in every aspect of our being. The Messiah will bring God’s righteousness to the earth. He will bring healing to those who are blind, physically and spiritually. In God’s power, he will bring freedom for those who are marginalised and oppressed and set free those who are trapped by evil in any way.
Isaiah 42:6-7 6 ‘I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,
7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

All these blessings will not just be for the Jews. The Messiah will renew God’s covenant with Israel and bring them back from spiritual exile. But at the same time he will bring the light of God’s salvation to those who are not Jews as well. Salvation will be for all peoples everywhere. This wonderful salvation would come through a human being, but not just an ordinary human being.

Isaiah 9 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

This Saviour will be very unusual in a number of ways. Wonderful counsellor – a figure of Wisdom, bringing God’s All-Knowing wisdom into the foolishness of the world. Mighty God – a figure of Strength, bringing the Almighty power of God into the broken world in miracles of healing and deliverance. Everlasting Father – a figure of Creation, the Creator stepping into his Creation to put right all the damage and hurt caused by human sin. Prince of Peace – a figure of Salvation, bringing God’s love and joy and peace to all who put their trust in him. And this kingdom would endure forever and ever.
So the Saviour to come would be a prophet and a priest and a king. But he would be more than a human being – he would be eternal. An eternal priest like Melchizedek and an eternal king who would reign on David’s throne bringing God’s blessings forevermore
God made all these promises in the Old Testament to send this Saviour, this Messiah. But there are also hints that God himself would come in person to bring salvation

Isaiah 35 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come,

Malachi 3:1-6 ‘I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the LORD Almighty.
Perhaps the most familiar promise that God himself would bring salvation is found in Isaiah.
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
The son to be born, named Immanuel which means, “God with us”. So this brings us to the aspect of the Saviour which no Jew could have expected. The Saviour would be eternal – but only God is eternal. For this to happen the Saviour would have to be be both God and human. He would be the Son of God. And this is foretold in one of the Royal Psalms as it speaks about the King of Israel and calls him “the Lord’s anointed”. But this is also known as a Messianic Psalm because it points forward to God’s anointed Messiah.
Psalm 2:7 I will proclaim the LORD’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father.

In Acts 4 the Early Church understood the whole of Psalm 2 to point forward to Jesus. ACTS 13, Hebrews chapter 1 and Hebrews chapter 5 applies Psalm 2 verse 7 specifically to Jesus.
I will proclaim the LORD’s decree: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father.
Jesus was the Son of God. The voice from heaven as Jesus was baptised confirmed it. Matthew 3:17 ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ And the voice from heaven at the Transfiguration of Jesus confirms it. Mark 9:7 ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’
Jesus was the Son of God. But we should realise that the Jews really didn’t expect that. They couldn’t expect that. Their Almighty Omnipresent holy transcendent God could not be both divine and human – God into man won’t go. And the Jews had stood out from all the nations around them for centuries in believing that there was only one God. So the idea that God could have a Son who was also God would be a complete surprise to them.
So here is the witness of the Old Testament. God’s chosen Saviour would be prophet, a priest and a king. He would be eternal and, completely unexpected, the Saviour would be the Son of God. God’s masterplan of salvation had already been revealed and it was about to unfold. The Son of God would be born as a descendant of great king David. all through the faith and obedience of a young woman called Mary. But Mary’s baby would be much more than an ordinary human child. Almighty God would be born as a tiny baby, Jesus of Nazareth “the Word without a word.” Of course, this incarnation of the Son of God would require a miracle – the Virgin Birth. Jesus’s ministry and death and resurrection were unique. So we are not surprised that the circumstances of his birth were unique as well.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. (John 1:18)
Here is the Saviour God had promised.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, or earth sustain,
Heaven and earth shall flee away When He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.