Week 1 - Monday

Jesus, the Son of God

which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh (Romans 1:2-3)

The Old Testament consists of 39 books. These books give us a record of God's dealings with man from the creation of the world, to about 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. During this time, God chose certain people from the nation of Israel to be His prophets. These prophets were called by God, to give His messages to the people of Israel (the Jews). God also used these prophets to write the Scriptures. The word Scriptures can refer to just the writings of the Old Testament or to the writings of both the Old and the New Testaments. In this verse, Paul is referring to just the Old Testament writings. Because the Jewish religious leaders thought that the teachings of Christianity contradicted the Old Testament, Paul was often accused by them of teaching against the Scriptures. Paul begins the book of Romans by defending the gospel message by saying that it does not contradict what was written in the Old Testament. In fact the very opposite is true. Paul says that the message the gospel presents had actually been promised beforehand in the holy Scriptures.

The Jewish leaders knew the Old Testament well. They should have been able to see that the gospel did not contradict the Old Testament in any way. The Old Testament contains many references to God's plan to provide a Savior for mankind. The Bible often predicts things long before they happen so that when they do happen, people will know that God's prophets were really speaking for God. In the Bible these predictions are called prophecies. There are more than 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus. All of these prophecies were written hundreds of years before Jesus was born on earth. By the time Paul was preaching the gospel; these prophecies had already been fullfilled through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The message of the gospel does not contradict the teachings of the Old Testament. Not at all. Instead it is the fullfillment of what the Old Testament said was going to happen.

Jesus is God (John 10:30). Jesus is also the Son of God. This might be hard to understand but both of those statements are true. Because He is God, Jesus has always existed. In fact it was Jesus who created the world (Heb. 1:2). Jesus has always existed and He has always been God. Jesus hasn't always been God's Son though. The Old Testament predicted that one day God would have a Son. This prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus left heaven and came to earth to be a man. That is when Jesus became God's Son. Jesus became a man by being born as a baby in Bethlehem. Even while Jesus was on earth as a man, He was still God. Jesus's mother, Mary, did not become pregnant by a sexual act. God's Spirit passed over her and she became pregnant by a divine act of God. Mary was His mother and God was His father. This made the baby Jesus both fully man and fully God at the same time.

When Jesus came to earth as a man, He was born of a descendant of David. Jesus's mother Mary was a descendant of Israel's greatest king, David. This is important because the Scriptures had predicted that God's Son would be a descendant of David and also that He would be born in the city of Bethlehem. The Old Testament also said that Jesus's mother would be a virgin when He was born. Remember that these Old Testament prophecies were made hundreds of years before Jesus was even born. It's incredible to think that these, and more than 300 other prophecies, all came true in the life and death of Jesus. But when you stop and think about it, how could it have been any other way? If the Bible really is the word of God, who would know better what God was going to do, than God Himself?

Readings for today: Psalm 2:6-7; 1 Chron. 17:7, 11-13; Isa. 7:14; Luke 1:26-35; Matt. 1:18-25; Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:1-6