Shewing that Jesus is the Christ – Acts 18:24-28

I am planning on Wednesday to look at the person of Apollos.

He is one of those incidental Bible characters with an intriguing story to tell.

Unfortunately there is not a lot that we know about him.

But one thing that we do know is that he was able to MIGHTILY convince the Jews, “shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.”

This describes a big chunk of our responsibility as Christians, to bring glory to our Saviour;

To publicly show to the world, Who He really is; to magnify His Name;

To give the lost the opportunity to know Him, to believe on Him, and to love Him as we do.

How do you suppose that Apollos did this among the people of Ephesus?

I think that it was as simple as it was profound.

He took an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah, and then pointed out how Jesus fulfilled and satisfied that prophesy.

I know that we have said this before — about Peter’s ministry and about Paul’s,

But this evening let’s not TALK about what they did, let’s DO just a little bit of it.

Remember that those preachers often spent several weeks or months in various synagogues doing this, but I can only to hit some of the high-lights in this single message.

I have read that there are 333 Old Testament prophecies about the first coming of the Messiah.

Those would have been the texts for Apollos in his Ephesian ministry.

So there could have been a hundred or more messages revealing the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I am not a mathematician, but I have been told that if there were only fifty prophecies, there would be 1 in 1.125 trillion mathematical “chances” that they could all be perfectly fulfilled by one man.

But then if you add just two of the more difficult prophecies, such as the time and place of his birth, then the chances of fulfilment become indescribable with numbers that we’d be able to understand.

The Lord Jesus did fulfil fifty of the Old Testament’s prophesies, and two more, and about 280 after that.

There should have been no doubt to the Jews of Ephesus that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

And, there should be no doubt in our minds as well.

Of course there was no doubt in the minds of those Jews that the Messiah would come.

The very first two people, Adam and Eve, were expecting the Anointed One of God.

That was taught by God, Himself when He sacrificed the first two animals, shedding their blood in order to cover the people’s sinful nakedness.

And there is reason to think that Eve thought that when Cain was born that she thought he was the Christ.

I believe that Abel was thinking of Christ when offered his lamb in Genesis 4, because his father had taught him that.

Enoch looking for the coming of the Messiah as early as Genesis 5, although he was primarily picturing what we call the Lord’s Second Coming.

Jude 14 and 15 says:

“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

So godly men and women have been looking for Messiah since time immemorial.

But who would He be and when would He come?

First he would be a son of Abraham, through Isaac, Jacob and David.

Of course, these were things that no Jew would even think to deny.

And so there is little reason for us to dig very deeply into this.

We don’t have to look into every nursery, or under every rock, for Christ

The Lord said in effect, I will point Him out to you unmistakably. And he did exactly that.

For example, in addition to coming from Abraham, the Messiah was to have a mother from the family of David, but he was not to have an actual human father at all.

Isaiah 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

The name “Immanuel” which means “God with us” is one of the many names of the Messiah.

And this verse undeniably teaches that the Messiah would be born of a virgin.

The Jews of Ephesus, might have chosen not to believe him, but Apollos probably told them what Matthew 1 tells us.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

If this was the only prophecy that God ever gave to us to point out the identity of the Messiah,

then we should have no doubt that Jesus is that Messiah,

because there has never been a true virgin birth before or since the nativity of Jesus of Nazareth.

However, this is just the beginning.

For example the Lord has told us, with pinpoint accuracy, the PLACE where the Christ would be born.

God clearly showed that the Messiah would come from the family of Noah.

How did He do that?

Well at one point, there were no other human beings on earth but the family of Noah.

If the Lord had intended to start an entirely new race, He would have destroyed all humanity,

but He only intended to start over – with Noah.

The Lord also hinted that the Messiah would come from only one of Noah’s three sons – Shem.

Eventually Shem’s family came to occupy a specific tract of land.

Genesis 10 tells us about this.

It began just east of the Tigris River and extended to the Mediterranean Sea.

We can assume that the Messiah would be born somewhere in that region.

Well, Shem had a great-grandson, named Abraham.

Abraham was also in the lineage of the Messiah.

And we are not surprised that he too was given a specific portion of real estate within the lands of Shem.

Genesis 13:12 – “Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan …

And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.

Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

Now we have narrowed the place of Christ’s nativity to Canaan.

Any so-called “Messiah” that is born outside this region is a false-Christ.

But that is still a pretty big area.

Look at Micah 5:2.

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

“Bethlehem” means “House of Bread”

“Ephratah” is a synonym for “Bethlehem” and it means “fruitfulness.”

We may look on this Bethlehem as extremely important place, because we look backwards to Christ.

But it was a very insignificant place before David was born there, and even before Jesus’ birth.

In all of the first lists of the possessions of Judah, the name cannot be found.

Joshua 15, for example, and Nehemiah 11.

We know that Jacob buried Rachel there, but that eventually lost most of its significance.

It’s like the Oklahoma town where we took our church kids for camp a few times.

Binger, Oklahoma has population of 791, but one them had been one of the greatest of all catchers in baseball: Johnny Bench.

Some older folks, who are baseball fans, will remember Johnny Bench, but the kids?

And who on earth would know that he came from the red soil of Binger, Oklahoma?

That’s the way that it was with Bethlehem, until the birth of Christ.

Who is it to come forth unto Jehovah from Bethlehem?

First, He was to be a ruler

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

But almost more important than the FUTURE office of this One, is what verse says about His PAST.

“Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

This is talking about the eternal nature of the Son of God.

He spoke the worlds into existence, but He Himself has always existed.

He is without beginning, ever, and without end; the first and the last; the alpha and the omega.

The Messiah was prophesied to be the eternal one,

and yet He would be born, almost like any regular human child,

and in no other place but an insignificant collection of sheepcotes and cottages called “Bethlehem.”

A professing Messiah born in any another place could not possibly be the true Christ.

He must be born in Bethlehem, the Son of Abraham, Isaac, and David and with a virgin for mother.

That certainly narrows the field, and it should have convinced those Asian Jews to consider Jesus to be the Messiah, but there is so much more.

Christ could only come at a specific time in human history.

Luke 2:1 has given some people fits through the years.

“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

I am told that there were three great censuses and tax collections during the approximate time of Jesus.

The third was several years after the birth of Jesus.

And the second was clearly begun four years before Christ.

And neither had anything to do with the governorship of Cyrenius, at least initially.

The second Roman taxing particularly irked the Jews, who began to protest.

They sent a commission to Quirinius the Governor of Syria, but he had no authority to stop the process.

So a Jewish delegation was sent to Rome; unfortunately it failed and the Jews had to submit.

Simple though it sounds, these protests took years.

And when the taxation numbering process was finally demanded, there was a new governor, Cyrenius.

So secular history may appear to conflict with the Bible, but both are absolutely right.

An even more important thing in regard to this delay, is that it brought Mary to Bethlehem at just right time.

Although she was to give birth to the Messiah, she was out of place, because she resided in Galilee.

But when Rome, Jerusalem and Antioch finally got things settled, the time had come AND THE PLACE was settled.

So everything was throughly under the control of the Lord.

And that control had actually begun centuries before.

Like Jesus’ lineage and birthplace, the Lord had prophesied the time of His birth.

And then there is Genesis 49:10:

“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

Apollos’ audience well-knew that “Shiloh” is another name, or title, for the Messiah.

It probably means “Peace,” although some people think that means “Sent One.”

The arrival of this one who is “Peace” was promised before Judah lost its “sceptre.”

The word “sceptre” refers to the authority as the tribe of the king, or perhaps to the identity of Judah.

Even in its Babylonian captivity Judah never lost these.

That was precisely why Judah could return to Canaan after 70 years of captivity.

But, when Jesus was 12 yrs old, Archelaus, the king of Jews, was dethroned.

Coponius was appointed Roman Procurator and the kingdom of Judah ceased to exist as a kingdom.

They still had some semblance of government, but even that came to end in 70 A.D.

Both Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed by the Roman general Titus.

Judah completely lost her “sceptre”, BUT that was AFTER “Shiloh,” the Lord Jesus had come.

Apollos might have applied another time test to the Messiah: the one in regard to the Temple.

Listen to Haggai 2:6-9 – “For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.”

And now Malachi 3:1 – “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Both of these verses indicate that Messiah must visit his temple, but which temple will it be?

Ever since destruction of Temple by Titus, it has been impossible for Christ to come.

I think that all of this is pretty conclusive, but we still have to clinch the nail.

To do that all we have to do is turn to Daniel 9:24-27:

“Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

This is one of the most marvelous prophecies in all the Bible.

A detailed examination of these references and the historical dates involved pin-point precisely the year when the Messiah would be born and be cut off.

Daniel 9 tells us that the Messiah would have to come at precisely the time when the Lord Jesus was born.

So what do we have here and what might Apollos have told the people of this synagogue?

The Messiah would be virgin born, Bethlehem born and born already.

Then Apollos could have turned to the facts about the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.

And from there he could have gone to the multitude of scriptures which described the character and ministry of the Messiah.

Psalm 40, Psalm 45, Isaiah 11, 42; 53 and 63.

He could have taken those Ephesians through prophesies about Christ’s holiness, righteousness and sinlessness.

The Messiah’s compassion and tenderness are prophesied and fulfilled in Jesus.

And then there are the prophesies about his humility and His abilities as a teacher.

It was prophesied that the Messiah would love and use parables, as Jesus did.

The Old Testament talks about His miracles

And then there were the prophesies that related to the death of Christ.

Sold for thirty pieces of silver by a dear and personal friend.

Wounded and pierced but without a bone being broken.

The Old Testament describes the Roman cross, when at the time nothing like that existed.

The darkness of the crucifixion afternoon was prophesied, as well as the mocking of the crowd and the forsaking of the Messiah’s friends.

It was foretold that the soldiers would gamble for His clothes, and, of course, this was fulfilled.

On and on we could go, and for Apollos, who probably went into it in far greater detail, he did go on,

at least as far as the Jews would let him.

Aquila and his wife were greatly impressed by this young man from Alexandria.

Despite the fact that there was yet a lot that he needed to learn, he had already grasped the most important thing:

Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God.

This is something which all the world needs to understand, and like Apollos you and I need to be able to share this knowledge with others.