The One To Come

Daily Devotional

“Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up …”

— Matthew 11:4-5

Do you ever wonder whether Jesus is all He claimed to be? Whether He’ll fulfill all the promises He made to us? Well, even John the Baptist, the one sent to prepare Christ’s way, had his moments of doubt. And when we wonder if Jesus is really the One, the answer He gave John should suffice for any of us. John was very familiar with the prophet Isaiah, and he knew the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah (Isaiah 29:18, 35:4-6). So when Jesus wanted to prove to John His true identity, He told John, in Isaiah’s words, how He had fulfilled prophecies. In the same way, when we have doubts, we can look to how Jesus fulfilled Biblical prophecy, proving that He is the Messiah. According to just a few of the 333 concrete prophecies in the Old Testament, the Messiah would:

  • be Abraham’s descendant;
  • be of the lineage of Judah and of David;
  • be born in Bethlehem;
  • be born of a virgin;
  • come 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem;
  • exercise a benevolent ministry;
  • open the eyes of the blind, heal the lame, and cure the deaf;
  • be betrayed by His friends;
  • be sold for thirty pieces of silver which would be cast down for a potter’s field;
  • give His body as a ransom for others;
  • endure the piercing of His hands and His feet;
  • die amid transgressors;
  • lie in a rich man’s grave; and
  • rise from the dead.

And the list goes on. My friends, God has given us enormous evidence of Jesus’ identity as the Christ. We need have no question about the granite foundation upon which our faith rests. We may know that just as these prophecies of the Old Testament came to pass, so will the promises of the New Testament come to pass. We can trust in Jesus, come what may. The next time you find yourself doubting Jesus Christ, remember how He has fulfilled every promise He made. Then dwell on the truth that in the same way He’ll fulfill the promises He has made to you.

“I came to believe that Christ was the One
predicted by the prophets of my people.”
Jewish Believer In Jesus