Prophecy, Fulfillment, and Hope
Tom Shrader opens a three-week Advent series on the Incarnation by tracing the first messianic prophecy in Genesis 3:15 through its fulfillment in the virgin birth of Jesus recorded in Matthew 1. He draws on Luke 24, where the risen Christ explains to two grieving disciples how all of Scripture points to Him, and uses fulfilled prophecy as evidence for the reliability of the Bible. The teaching closes with Romans 5 and the good news that through Christ's death and resurrection, God and sinners are reconciled — Emmanuel, God with us.
“Jesus was born to die, so that those soft little hands fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb were made so that nails might be driven through them.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Standalone Teachings
Recorded: 2010 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 43 min
Themes: advent, prophecy, hope, incarnation, christmas, fulfilled prophecy, reconciliation, bible reliability, new believer, first christmas as christian, seeking faith, spiritually curious, feeling far from god, young adult, skeptic, returning to church
Scripture: Luke 24:13-35, Genesis 3:14-15, John 5:39, Acts 8:35, Matthew 1:1, Matthew 1:18-23, 1 John 3:8, Acts 2:22-24, Acts 4:12, Romans 5:1, Romans 5:6, Romans 5:8, Romans 5:10, John 19:25
Theological Themes: messianic prophecy, protoevangelium, virgin birth, incarnation, atonement, reconciliation, biblical inerrancy, typology
Full Transcript
Introduction: The Incarnation Series
Open your Bibles to Luke chapter 24. If you get a Bible from us, you are going to open it to page 69 once you get to the New Testament. We start today a three-week series called The Incarnation. What we are doing is looking at the promise that God would indeed send to us a Messiah. Next week we will look at the life of the Messiah, Jesus in particular, and what we can learn from Him. On the third week, we will talk about the theological truth of Him being fully God and fully man, and the reality of that, and what it does in our lives. That will lead us up to the Christmas Eve service.
Justin will be teaching here next week. Tim will be teaching at the Tempe Mission. I will be teaching in Arcadia next week. We had great response and we are starting to try to allow each of the different missions to experience as much of the teaching team as we can. We look forward to January 9th when we will all be out here celebrating together, and then beginning the following week we will start our study in the book of James.
Christmas and the Cross
What we are looking at today is not just the event of the birth of Christ — we will go ahead and call it Christmas. But bigger than that, it is not just the manger. It is to go from the manger through His life to the cross to the resurrection, and what that means for us.
This is familiar territory for many, but we need to remember there are always people for whom this is brand new. I remember my first Christmas as a Christian. I had been through 29 Christmases before it, but this was my first as a Christian, and I remember everything that Christmas was different. The songs were the same songs, but I understood what they meant. It was just a wonderful time.
You may be a person who is in that process right now. It may be that in the last 12 months God saved you, and we are excited that you are here and that you are growing. I can tell you this will be a really special Christmas — you will remember it.
The Quote That Changed Christmas
Christmas changes, I think, if we really understand Christ. Years ago there was a quote I used in one of our Christmas Eve services, and my daughter Haley loved it. It was not as easy then to generate something on the computer and make graphics, but I remember working hard on it, putting it on a background, framing it nicely, and setting it on the bookshelf in Haley's room. Here is what it said:
"Those soft little hands fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb were made so that nails might be driven through them. Those baby feet, pink and unable to walk, would one day walk up a dusty hill to be nailed to a cross. That sweet infant's head with sparkling eyes and eager mouth was formed so that someday men might force a crown of thorns onto it. That tender body, warm and soft, wrapped in swaddling clothes would one day be ripped open by a spear."
The last sentence is: "Jesus was born to die."
We make a huge mistake if we separate Christmas from Easter. What I want to do this morning is to go back, really even before the foundations of the earth, so that we can see that Christmas was part of God's eternal plan — just like the cross, just like the resurrection.
The Road to Emmaus
In Luke chapter 24, verse 13, we arrive at a time when Jesus has been crucified and He has risen. There are two people on the road to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. Verse 14:
"And they were talking with each other about all the things that had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him, and He said to them, 'What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you walk?' And they stood still, looking sad. And one of them, named Cleopas, answered to Him, 'Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem unaware of the things that have happened here these days?' And He said to them, 'What things?' They said to Him, 'The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word, in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things have happened. But also, some of the women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, they did not find His body, and they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women had said, but Him they did not see.'"
Who Was Cleopas?
Make sure you get the scene here. These two people are walking, and one of them is Cleopas. Some scholars — and this is speculation, but sometimes that is fun, even if we do not hang our hat on it — point out that there is a Cleopas we meet in John chapter 19, verse 25, who is actually Jesus' uncle. It might be that same Cleopas. We do not know for certain.
What we do know is that these two are walking along and they are devastated, confused, filled with grief, uncertain what is happening, and deeply disappointed.
Grief, Confusion, and Misplaced Hope
They were coming along, filled with grief. The empty tomb provided them no comfort — it only added to the confusion, because they were not certain whether the body had been stolen by grave robbers or by the Romans. We say this every Easter: we do not celebrate the empty tomb, we celebrate the risen Christ. When they encountered this man on the road and he asked what they were talking about, they stopped and said, "Are you the only one here who hasn't heard about this?" There is a little sarcasm in that. So we have sarcasm, grief, confusion, depression, and disappointment — just a normal day.
They share their hope with him, and it is tucked right there in verse 21: "We were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel." They thought this was it. They were looking for a temporal Messiah. They had been told that one was coming who would make everything right, and they were thinking in terms we understand — economic, political, an earthly kingdom.
We see people like that all the time. I will have people say to me, "I tried Jesus, and it didn't work" — a little like saying, "I tried that Crest, and I'm a Colgate guy." I am not trying to belittle that at all. What I am saying is that somebody either shared with them a false gospel or left them with an unrealistic expectation.
If you think coming to Christ solves all of your earthly problems, you are mistaken. You are still going to have computer chip lighting boards that don't work. You are still going to get cancer. You are still going to have people you love who die. You are going to look around the world and see senseless things happening, and you will begin asking, "Why me? I'm a follower of Christ." Following Christ does not guarantee a simple, easy, smooth life.
Perhaps you were preached a gospel that led you to conclude, "If I come to Jesus, all my problems go away." They don't. What you do have is perspective on those problems. Now you look at your life in light of eternity.
Jesus Opens the Scriptures
They share all of this with Jesus, and He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" He reminds them that Jesus had told them this regularly — and it seems to me the frequency and intensity of it increased as He drew closer to the cross. He said, "I told you this was going to happen."
Then He does something remarkable. He sits down, begins with Moses and all the prophets, and explains to them the things concerning Himself in all of Scripture. He took the Old Testament and opened it up and said, "Look at this — it all points to Me."
At one point in Jesus' ministry, He was confronted by the Pharisees, and His response is recorded in John 5:39: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you will possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me." When Philip encounters the Ethiopian eunuch on the road and the eunuch is reading from Isaiah, Luke tells us in Acts 8:35 that "Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus." Isaiah was talking about Jesus.
Peter, preaching in the house of the Gentile Cornelius, records these words: "Jesus commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One whom God appointed judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about Him, that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness."
J.C. Ryle speaks to this very point and asks how we explain it. His answer is that we must understand the Scripture points to Jesus. Here is his summary: "Let it be a settled principle in our minds in reading the Bible that Christ is the central Sun — S-U-N — of the whole book. The key of Bible knowledge is Jesus Christ."
Fulfilled Prophecy and the Reliability of Scripture
What I want to do now is go back and look at one prophecy — the first of the prophecies. There are approximately 62 prophecies that speak of the Messiah, all fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As a side note, fulfilled prophecy is, to me, one of the most compelling arguments for the authenticity of Scripture.
Hugh Ross is an interesting character. A friend of mine suggested I have him come and speak years ago, and I had never met him before. He was hugely unimpressive when he walked up — and then he got to the podium and said, "My name is Hugh Ross, and since I was seven years old I have wanted to be an astrophysicist." I leaned over to the man next to me and asked, "What's an astrophysicist?" He said, "I think that's the guy who invented AstroTurf." Apparently Hugh, at seven years old, was sharper than we were.
Hugh wrote an article called "Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible." As a scientist, he set out to debunk religion — not just Christianity, but every religion. He reasoned that any religion worth anything has a sacred book, and that if he could find an error in that book, he could dismiss it. So he worked his way through every sacred text, saving the Bible for last because he assumed it might be the most challenging. He had no problems with the others. When he came to the Bible, his own testimony is that he could not find anything in it that was in error.
He speaks of having 2,500 prophecies in Scripture, 2,000 of which have come to pass — fulfilled to the letter — with 500 remaining, because they are futuristic. In this pamphlet, he cites 13 prophecies that were specific, spanning many years, written by many authors, all pointing to
Prophecy and the Reliability of Scripture
Since these 13 prophecies cover mostly separate and independent events, the probability of chance occurrence of all 13 is about 1 in 10 to the 138th power. Ross writes that 138 equals the sum of all the exponents of 10 in the probability estimates above. For the sake of putting the figure into perspective, this probability can be compared to the statistical chance that the second law of thermodynamics will reverse in a given situation — for example, that a gas engine will refrigerate itself during the combustion cycle, or that heat will flow from a cold body to a hot body. The chance of that equals 1 in 10 to the 80th power.
Stating it simply, based on these 13 prophecies alone, the Bible record is said to be vastly more reliable than the second law of thermodynamics. Ross then adds this note: "Each reader should feel free to make his own reasonable estimate of probability of the chance fulfillment of the prophecies cited herein." I'm just going to go with his — I don't think I'll work out my own. The point is that when you look at these prophecies, they speak, among other things, to the reliability of Scripture.
The First Prophecy: Genesis 3:15
We are not going through all of the prophecies. Instead, I want to take one prophecy, go all the way to the front of the book, to the book of Genesis, to the first prophecy regarding Jesus — and specifically His virgin birth. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 give us God's creation, with man in the garden and Adam and Eve naked and unashamed. Then in chapter 3, we get the explanation for how the world is and why the world is the way that it is.
Man sinned, and when man sinned, he brought death into the world. The serpent comes, tempts Adam and Eve, and they eat. Immediately they recognize their deficiency, they recognize that they are naked, and they attempt to cover themselves. By the end of chapter 3, God has taken away their leaf covering and replaced it with a skin — a sacrifice covering, a blood sacrifice involving death.
When God confronts Adam and Eve, they hide, then they try to excuse their sin, and finally they admit that they ate. Verse 14 records God's curse to the serpent: "Cursed are you more than any cattle and more than every beast of the field, on your belly you will go and the dust you will eat all the days of your life." Then verse 15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, He shall bruise you on the head and you will bruise Him on the heel."
The Proto-Evangelium: Grace Within the Curse
When we get to verse 15, we come to what one author calls the most remarkable verse in the Bible. It is called by the early church fathers the *proto-evangelium*, which means the first preaching of the gospel. It is the clearest promise, the first appearing in the Bible, of a coming Redeemer.
Another author writes that as God addresses Satan with a curse, there is so much grace in the heart of God — forgiveness so consistent with His nature — that the God who is by nature a Savior, who desires to save sinners and forgive them, puts within the very curse a glimmer of the gospel. Grace shines through the curse of Satan. Martin Luther, referring to Genesis 3:15, writes: "This text embraces and comprehends within itself everything noble and glorious that is to be found anywhere in Scripture."
One author, commenting on Luther's observation, explains it this way: when Luther reads this verse and says that everything that can be comprehended in the purposes of God can be found somewhere in it, he means that the great doctrines of regeneration, new birth, transformation, and conversion — the doctrines of forgiveness, expressions of grace, and the wonderful truth of election — are all found in this verse. Then he adds two remarkable sentences: amazingly, the gospel with all its saving purposes finds its entrance into the Bible in the curse on Satan. The gospel is first given not as a promise to man, but as a judgment to Satan.
The Seed of the Woman and the Virgin Birth
The key phrase in the verse is "I will put enmity between you and the woman, your seed and her seed." It is the only time in Scripture that we see this reference to the seed of the woman. Clearly, over a period of thousands of years this was something that was a little foggy to those who read it, but we are sitting here 6,000 years later and can look back and see the picture plainly. All of the scholars point to this phrase and say: here is what is meant by "her seed" — God is pointing out that this will be someone who comes not from a lineage of man, but from the lineage of God, born in a supernatural way.
One author commenting on this writes: "Without a doubt, we have here the most remarkable prophecy of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are those today who tell us the virgin birth is not important, but in fact it is one of the most important doctrines concerning the Lord. Here we have a remarkable prophecy which cannot be explained in any other terms than that it finds its fulfillment in the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ." This concept of the seed of the woman is unique — nowhere else in the Bible do you find such an expression. Everywhere else in Scripture, the descendant is reckoned through the male line; it is the seed of the man that forms the line of descendancy and genealogy. But this is different. God is saying that something is going to happen here that has never happened before.
God's Plan from the Beginning
When you stop and think about this, it is all part of God's plan from the very beginning. It is not that God had a plan A, and then Adam ruined it and He went to plan B, and then we ruined it further and now there is a plan C, D, or Q.
God's Plan of Redemption
God had a plan. In my Bible, Genesis 1 and 2 occupy a single page — the story of creation. Genesis 3, on the next page, is the story of man ruining it. And then from page 4 through page 1268 is the story of God making it right again. From the very beginning, God said: we know there is sin, we know it separates you from Me, but I have a plan. It is the plan of redemption.
Over thousands of years, you see pictures of that plan — things like the sacrifice of the lamb and the holy days that point to the One who is coming. Even the coming of John the Baptist was prophesied, the one who would cry out in the wilderness, "Make way the path of the Lord — behold, right there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." When we look at Scripture, we see this beautiful story unfold of God's redemption, God's plan, God's grace, and God's mercy.
Right there in Genesis 3, God is fully entitled to judgment, to wrath, to death. They had been told. They had been warned. It had been clear — God didn't stutter or stammer. From the very beginning He said, "If you eat this, you are going to die." God at that moment could have sent Adam and Eve, and every other person who has ever lived, into eternal separation from Him. But God in His grace and mercy provides salvation for you and me.
The Gospel of Matthew and the Arrival of Jesus
There are 61 other prophecies in the Old Testament, but let us move now to the New Testament, to the Gospel of Matthew. Satan came into the world and brought with him sin, rebellion, and destruction. John tells us in 1 John 3:8 that the Son of God, Jesus, appeared for the purpose that He might destroy the works of the devil. That is what happens when Jesus comes into this earth.
Matthew 1:1 begins the genealogy of Jesus. When we reach verse 18, we encounter a very human experience. "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they had come together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.'"
Then look at verse 22: "Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel,' which translated means, 'God with us.'" Here is the fulfillment. Jesus walks through the Scriptures — Moses, the prophets, all the way through — and says, "They point to Me." If we want to understand the Old Testament, we must understand it in the context of the coming of Jesus. That is what it all points to.
Letting the Nativity Be Human
Every time I speak about this passage, I feel — and you can probably say amen to this — inadequate in presenting it, because I am afraid we are so familiar with it that the moment I begin reading, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows," something in us says, "We've heard this — let's sing 'Silent Night.'" I understand it is familiar. But my fear is, first, that familiarity dulls us, and second, that we sterilize the story — we strip away its human side entirely.
There was a movie that came out a few years ago about Mary, and I thought it was really good precisely because so much of it was told from the human side. Here is Joseph. Here is Mary. They are engaged to be married. You may wonder why the text uses the word "husband" — because once they were engaged, it was as though they were already married, even though they did not yet live together or come together physically. In fact, to break off an engagement required a formal decree of separation or divorce.
So here is this young man and this young girl, perhaps 12, 13, or 14 years old, and she becomes pregnant. You have her trying to figure out what is going on. Joseph — think about it, men — Mary comes to you and says she is pregnant. Your first thought is going to be, "Who was it?" And for the fathers in the room, imagine your daughter comes to you and says, "Dad, this is awkward, but I am pregnant." Your instinct is immediately to doubt the young man she is with. That is just how it goes. So when she tells you it was the Holy Spirit, that is a genuinely difficult thing to receive.
Do not make it clean and distant. Let it be human. When the angel appears to Joseph, the angel says, "Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife," because what she has told you is true. She is indeed pregnant, and it is the act of the Holy Spirit coming upon her. You are going to have a Son, and you are to name Him Jesus — because He has a mission, a purpose, a reason. He is here to save His people from their sin. As John tells us, the Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
The Fulfillment of Prophecy
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. Here they come together. This is the fulfillment of that prophecy, and Matthew tells us this. Matthew quotes the Old Testament 60 times — more than any other gospel writer, perhaps more than any other New Testament writer aside from Paul. This is the fulfillment. When we come to it, we understand: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God comes to earth in this supernatural yet at the same time very natural way, and He is fully God and fully man, like us in every way except sin.
Jesus comes because we need a Savior. He comes to save His people from their sin. Did He accomplish this? That is what we are going to drive toward.
As I was putting this lesson together, it occurred to me that some of you may be in town visiting, and we are not going to see you again, or you are here from the other side of town with friends. Somehow God got you here today, and I think it was important for me to spend more time on prophecies — but I did not want to do that at the expense of not being able to close the loop for you and give you the message you are going to hear four times in the next three weeks.
Peter's Sermon in Acts 2
Turn to the book of Acts, chapter 2, page 92. Acts chapter 2, verse 22. Peter is delivering this amazing sermon, and God is going to use it to save thousands of people. He is explaining the day of Pentecost, so he quotes from the Old Testament, and then he begins to share the gospel.
"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and the foreknowledge of God, you nailed to the cross by the hands of godless men, and put Him to death."
This was God's plan from the beginning. How long has this plan been in place? We can trace it all the way back to Genesis 3:15. It has been God's plan from the very beginning. So when we get to Easter and to Good Friday and we start asking who killed Jesus, the answer is: the Father did, and the Son voluntarily laid down His life. It is God's predetermined plan before the foundations of the earth. There is no other way for man to be saved.
No Other Way
Verse 24 says, "And God raised Him up again and put an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power." That is what Paul writes: "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is in the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
That predetermined plan points to what Peter and John declare and what is recorded in Acts 4:12 — there is no other way to the Father but through the Son. There is a little book in the book pack this Christmas called *Jesus, The Only Way to God: Must You Hear the Gospel to Be Saved?* by John Piper. A friend of mine who is widely read picked it up last Sunday, had the whole thing yellowed and marked by Thursday morning when I had breakfast with him, and said it was really, really good. When you are all done, here is what Piper says: Jesus is the only way. That was God's predetermined plan. There is no other way.
God and Sinners Reconciled
I was listening to a secular Christmas radio station the other day and heard this song go out over the airwaves: "Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King, peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled, joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies, with angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem." I am sure there were plenty of people singing along because it is a catchy tune, but the sentence I want to focus on is this: *God and sinners reconciled.*
That is the story. That is what Jesus talked about when He opened the Scriptures from Moses to the prophets and said, "It talked about me." When we go back to Genesis 3:15 and come all the way forward, every prophecy points to Him — to His death and His resurrection. And through His death and resurrection, God and sinner are reconciled.
We say this all the time: you intuitively know something is wrong. By the time you are twelve — and it is probably well before that — you understand that something is really wrong with you and with the world. You may not know what it is, but you know something is not right. What is wrong is Genesis 3. We sinned. The only thing that can make it right is Christ's death and resurrection.
Romans 5 — One More Term
One more term. Turn to Romans chapter 5, page 121. God and sinner reconciled. Romans chapter 5 —
Peace With God Through Reconciliation
Romans 5, verse 1 says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." We have peace — not merely the peace of God, but peace *with* Him. Because we are in right relationship, our lives can now exhibit love, joy, and peace. The hostilities that once existed between us and God have been resolved. God and sinner reconciled.
How did this happen? Romans 5, verse 6 tells us, "While we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly." Verse 8 continues, "But God demonstrated His own love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Verse 10 adds, "For while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son." God put us back in right relationship — reconciled.
If I were to tell you that Bob and I have been reconciled, and that is all the information you have about either of us, you could accurately deduce that there were some pre-existing hostilities. Something was wrong in the relationship. That is exactly what happened in Genesis 3: man sinned, and from that point on, all sinners occupy the world.
Every one of us has a heart filled with sin. We are by nature sinners, separated from God, and the wage of sin is death. Yet as far back as creation itself, God declared that He would provide a way of salvation — through the virgin birth, through Jesus, who came to save His people from their sin.
A Source of Great Joy
For those of us who know this, it is a source of great joy. Even when it feels familiar, the amazing love of God never loses its wonder. There is a reason we sing, "I could sing of His love forever" — and sometimes it genuinely feels that way.
In Luke 24, at the end of the road to Emmaus, Jesus opens the disciples' eyes, they see who He is, and they race back to tell others about Him and what He had done. There is a "so what" to that story. A friend once described his early days as a follower of Christ by saying, "I was ignorance on fire." Everywhere he went and everyone he talked to became an occasion to share the gospel. That should be the most natural thing in the world for us.
Every infomercial on television includes a testimony segment. Someone says, "This is what I was. This is what I am. This is how it happened." We can say exactly the same thing: this is who I was — a sinner. This is who I am — reconciled, even called a saint. This is how it happened — Jesus came, lived, and died, and there was a moment in time where I believed in Him.
That is the whole incarnation. God comes in the flesh, prophesied for thousands of years, fulfilled in Christ, and now applied to our hearts. That is the good news. That is Emmanuel, God with us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We can see Him. It was Jesus.
An Invitation and a Commission
Do you know that truth? Some of you do not, and our prayer is that you will talk to the person who brought you here today, or speak with one of the staff members who will be at the front of the conference center after the service. Our pastoral staff will be gathered near the platform, ready to share, answer questions, and especially to pray with those who have prayer requests.
Next week, we will talk more about the life of Christ and the lessons we can glean from God in the flesh.
Father, help us see these amazing truths. God, if there are people here who are in the condition of those two disciples on the road to Emmaus — whose eyes were not yet open — we pray that You would open their eyes and their hearts, draw them close to You, and make this a day of redemption. Father, thank You for the good news. Thank You that Jesus came to save His people from their sin, and that He accomplished that on the cross. Emmanuel, God with us.
Father, we pray that as Your people who have been redeemed, we would become ministers, servants, and ambassadors of reconciliation to our world. You have brought us to Yourself, and You have saved us for a reason. Now will You use us? Let us proclaim the truth, and we pray that You would bless that proclamation — that You would save many, and that we as a church would be an instrument You use for the proclamation and demonstration of the gospel to our city, our state, and around the world. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen.