The Christ of Christmas, Part 2

You know, the 333 prophecies that specifically refer to the coming of the Messiah, there were only 109 of them fulfilled in His first coming, leaving 224 yet to be fulfilled in His second coming.

But of the 109 fulfilled in His first coming, we have only chosen 25 of them. See, there is so much in the Scriptures to be able to understand about the identity of Jesus Christ our Lord and His coming to this earth. And of course, His coming again to this earth. But for us to grasp it, we have decided to choose 25 of them. That's why the book entitled The Christ of Christmas, The Man of Promise, foretold and fulfilled, is just a brief devotional that walks you through the arrival of the Messiah in His first coming.

Now we know that there is so much more to cover when it comes to the arrival of the Messiah. But it's important for us to grasp everything that takes place throughout the Old Testament. That golden thread that runs throughout the Old Testament that we've seen just five of them in the book of Genesis, Genesis chapter 3, Genesis chapter 7, chapter 22, 28, and 49. We will again go back to Genesis because there are more prophecies in Genesis. But today we move from the book of Genesis to the book of Exodus, then to the book of Leviticus, then to the book of Numbers, then to the book of Deuteronomy, and then to the Psalms.

To show you that on the pages of Scripture, everything screams Messiah. Everything screams Redeemer, Deliverer, Savior. Everything in the Bible speaks about the coming of the Messiah. And so you need to grasp that. And I told the second service last week that we've bit off more than we can possibly chew in one Sunday morning by looking or trying to accomplish five different prophecies each and every week.

And so we briefly cover a few of them and go into more detail concerning others, but never really fully doing them total justice because there's so much to cover. And yet, if we can whet your appetite to dive more into the Scriptures, then we've accomplished our purpose. And so we want you to see the importance as we look at the book of Exodus and the coming of the spotless Lamb.

What a beautiful story, the story of Passover in Exodus chapter 12. To be able to understand that that little pet lamb was taken in by the Jewish families. It was a one-year-old lamb. It was a pet lamb. It was a young lamb. It was brought into the home for three days so that the children would love on that lamb, feed the lamb, take care of the lamb, pet the lamb, just adore the lamb. Then on day number four, they would slaughter the lamb. A perfect picture of the coming Messiah who for three years would be loved on by a multitude of people.

Yes, he was hated by the religious establishment, but he was fed, he was loved, he was adored, and then of course he was slaughtered. Everything in the Passover would picture the arrival of the Messiah, the spotless Lamb of God, an unblemished Lamb of God. And everything about the Passover meal pointed to the arrival of the Messiah. If we had the time to go through all the elements of the Passover and all the words spoken at the Passover, you would see nothing but the Messiah in the Passover celebration.

And when the Lord said, I want my people to be delivered, I want you to let them go, that they might go off into the wilderness and they might celebrate me, that they might worship me, that they might come to understand me. And so he ordained that Passover celebration to be about him because he wanted them to digest everything pertaining the arrival of the Messiah. Most of them missed him when he came, except for a few, but yet everything about Passover screened the arrival of your Deliverer, the spotless Lamb.

So when John the Baptist came, right, he was the first to identify the Messiah to the nation. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And when you move from Exodus to Leviticus and you understand the scapegoat and how the high priest would take his bloody hands used for the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat and put his hands on the scapegoat taken off into the wilderness symbolizing the removal of sins, that they are separated from their sins, that a nation would be separated from their sins, everything would scream once again about the Messiah symbolically who would remove sin because their sin could not be removed internally, just externally.

There had to be an internal digestion of the Lamb. There had to be a redemption from the inside out. There had to be a sprinkling of clean water on the heart, a heart washed and cleansed from the inside. And only the Lamb of God could do that. But everything about the Lamb of God in the book of Exodus and everything about the scapegoat in the book of Leviticus would scream nothing but Bethlehem, the house of bread. Why? Because that was the place where all the lambs were raised for slaughter in Jerusalem.

That's why the prophecy of Micah 4, 8 takes precedence over the prophecy of Micah 5, verse number 2. But yet most people don't understand that because in Micah chapter 4, verse number 8, these words are written. As for you, tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come. What? What will come? Even the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Speaking of the arrival of the Messiah. But when it says to you, tower of the flock, in Hebrew it's called Migdal Adar.

Why is that so important? Because you go down to Micah 5, verse number 2, it says, But as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, Bethlehem, house of bread, Ephrathah meaning fruitful, too little to be among the clans of Judah. From you one will go forth from me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. So the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. But it says to you, tower of the flock, Migdal Adar, to you it will come. The former dominion, the king will come to you.

Why? Because way back in the book of Genesis, the 35th chapter, with the death of Rachel, we referred to it last week, to help you understand that when she was dying because God had promised another son, she had asked for another son, and God gave her who? Benjamin. She wanted to name him Ben-Oni, the son of my sorrow, but her husband said, Jacob said, No, his name is going to be Benjamin, the son of my right arm or the son of my strength. Because in the birth of Benjamin came symbolically a type of the Messiah.

Because it goes on to say these words, Jacob set up a pillar over a grave. That is the pillar of Rachel's grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal Adar, the tower of the flock. So, when you look at Genesis 35, and you go to Micah 4 verse number 8, the prophecy is to you it will come.

To you the tower of the flock to you Migdal Adar. What will come? The son of my right arm, the son of my strength. Because on the north side of Bethlehem is Migdal Adar, Rachel's tomb, the place where Rachel was buried. And Migdal Adar is a tower. It's really the tower of the flock. It's a two-story tower where those who were the shepherds would stand on the top story and they would be able to overlook the shepherd's fields and watch for predators to protect the flock. But underneath the tower of the flock, underneath Migdal Adar was the birthing place for the lambs.

And when the lamb was birthed because it was prepared for slaughter in Jerusalem, they wrapped that lamb in swaddling clothes. And the reason they did that is because they didn't want the lamb to kick and to fall and to then become an unblemished lamb because it had to be an unblemished lamb, become a blemished lamb because it had to be an unblemished lamb to be offered as a sacrifice in Jerusalem. So they would wrap that little lamb in swaddling clothes and they would lay it in a manger, a stone feeding trough so that it would settle out.

So everything about Genesis 35, everything about Micah 4 verse number 8, everything about Micah 5 verse number 2, screams the arrival of the lamb of God who would be wrapped in swaddling clothes because he was a son of God's right arm, the son of his strength. He would be the ruler, as Micah 5 verse number 2 says, he is a ruler from the days of eternity. In other words, he is an eternal lamb that would be born there in Migdal-Eder, the Tower of the Flock in Bethlehem, Ephrathah. You see that? It all comes together.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding the spotless lamb and the scapegoat, knowing that the blood of bulls and goats and the sprinkling of a heifer can never remove and cleanse the conscience from its sin. Only the blood of the precious lamb could do that. But everything prefigured, everything symbolically was the type pointing to the arrival of the Messiah. Our Lord is so great to be able to give us this in print that we can study it and understand it. But he put it there so that people could begin to understand how it is, everything pointed to the arrival of the Messiah.

And so when you come to the book of Deuteronomy, right? Oh, excuse me, the book of Numbers, you'd come to the prophecy centered around the star, right? Numbers chapter 24, verse number 17, I see him, but not now.

I behold him, but not near. A star shall come forth from Jacob. A scepter shall rise from Israel. So whoever the star is, the scepter is. The star symbolizes the glory of the Lord and the scepter symbolizes the royalty of the Lord. But this unfolds for us so many things. So let me begin by taking you back to that very familiar story in Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 2.

So if you got your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. Again, we're gonna give you a lot of verses, a lot of information. You probably can't digest it all. You're not supposed to digest it all this morning. You're just supposed to gain some insight, more information to prick your conscience to get you to study all the more about the coming Messiah. We can never give it all to you at one setting, but in the giving it to you, sometimes it's like drinking water from a fire hose. You just can't get it all in.

That's okay. That's why it's recorded. You can go back and listen to it on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, over and over again. But if you're looking at the prophecy concerning the star that will rise out of Jacob, look at Luke chapter 2, verse number 8.

It says, And they were terribly frightened. The glory of the Lord shone all around them. That statement in and of itself, we could spend weeks on. But the glory of the Lord is simply the presence of God manifested in brilliant, dazzling, shining light. Can you remember that? The glory of the Lord is the presence of the Lord manifested in brilliant, dazzling light. And so these shepherds, in the blackness of the night, were doing what shepherds do, keeping watch over their flock. And all of a sudden, out of the darkness comes this brilliant light shining down upon them.

Now remember, it was Moses who asked, Lord, show me your glory. I want to see you. And the Lord said to Moses, I can't let you see my glory because if you see me, you're going to die because I dwell in unapproachable light. He'd be consumed. He'd be incinerated. Also remember that when God spoke to Moses after 40 years in the wilderness, at the age of 80, when God spoke to him from a burning bush, it was a bush that was on fire. It was a bush that was consumed by light. Why? It wasn't consumed in terms of being destroyed.

It was just overwhelmed with the fire of the light. Why? Because our Lord would lead Israel by a pillar of fire by night and by a dazzling cloud throughout the day because that was the presence of God manifested in light among the people of Israel. All this is very, very important as you read Luke chapter 2 and come to understand that the glory of the Lord would shine all around them. Remember that the Bible says in John 1 that God is light.

1 John 1 tells us that. John 1 also tells us that. Christ said He was the light of the world. We know that in the beginning was the Word and that Word would become flesh, right, and would dwell among us and we beheld His what? His glory. We beheld the glory of the Lord, the person of God. Now granted, that glory was encased in flesh, was it not? And yet on the Mount of Transfiguration, what would Christ do? As He took up Peter, James, and John on top of that mountain, He would unzip His flesh and the brilliant, dazzling light would shine forth.

And as it would shine forth, you'd hear the words of God saying, this is my beloved Son, listen to Him. So everything about Luke 2 and the glory of the Lord shining all around them is crucial to what? The prophecy of the star. So if you turn back in your Bible, in Luke's Gospel, to Zachariah's prophecy in Luke 1, verse 77, it says this, look at verse 76.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways. Speaking of John the Baptist. To give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God with which the sunrise from on high will visit us. The sunrise visits us. Verse 79, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. Now where would Zacharias the priest get the fact that the sunrise from on high is going to visit them and shine upon them?

Look at what Simeon says in Luke chapter 2 when the Lord was brought to the temple to be dedicated. And Simeon was promised that he would not die until he saw the Lord's Christ. He says in verse 29, Now, Lord, You are releasing Your bondservant to depart in peace according to Your Word. For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles. Where did Simeon get that from? That this child would be a light. Well, Zacharias said he'd be the sunrise from on high and that he would shine upon us.

Where did they get that from? Well, go back to the last book of the Old Testament to the book of Malachi. As you go back to the book of Malachi you're going to see what was said by the prophet. Malachi chapter 4, verse number 2, But for you, fear my name, the Son, not S-O-N, but the S-U-N, the Son of righteousness will rise with healing in His wings and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. The Son, S-U-N, of righteousness is a reference to the Messiah. All the rabbis from past history said that the Son was the fulfillment of the star, the shining forth of numbers 24, verse number 17.

He is the Son, S-U-N, the glory, the brightness of righteousness. Now why would He be called the Son of righteousness? Well, if you go to the book of Jeremiah, the 23rd chapter, it says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely and this is His name by which He will be called, the Lord, our righteousness.

So Malachi's prophecy, as quoted by Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, points to the sunrise from on high, the star, the glory, the shining forth of the king of righteousness who is the branch, the Messiah, who comes to shine in the hearts of men. It all begins to flow together. When you go back to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 60, verse number 1, where it says, Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples, but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you.

Speaking of the arrival of the Messiah, your light has come. Your light will shine down upon you and the glory of the Lord will be upon you. Why? Because the glory of the Lord is the presence of God manifested in brilliant, dazzling light. So what was it that the shepherds saw on the eve or the night of the Lord's birth when the glory of the Lord would shine all around them? It was the Lord God Himself manifesting Himself to the shepherds because the shepherds were looking for the prophecy of Malachi 4, verse number 2.

They were looking for the prophecy of Isaiah 60, verses 1 to 3. They were looking for the prophecy of Numbers 24, verse number 17. In fact, if you go to Matthew chapter 2, that's always a good chapter to look at during the time of Christmas.

And it says this in Matthew 2, verse number 1. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, where is He who has been born King of the Jews? Next verse or next phrase. For we saw His star, not the star, a star. We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him. These are the very first Gentile converts.

The magi from over 700 miles away. How did they know the Messiah had a star? How did they know the Messiah was a star? Book of Daniel. The prophet who was the leader of the magi. He was elevated to a place of leadership. So what did Daniel do? Daniel did the same thing you are doing with your children. You are teaching them about the star of David, the star of the Messiah. You see, Daniel knew about numbers 24, verse number 17. He knew about Isaiah 9, Isaiah 46, Isaiah 60. He knew about those things.

Malachi was a contemporary of Isaiah. So Daniel would know about the son of righteousness who would rise with healing in His wings. So what did he do? As he has the opportunity as the leader of the magi to teach them, who by the way were star gazers, about the ultimate star that would come, the Messiah and the hope of Israel. So he did. And they would teach that to their children who would teach it to their children. So by the time the star had risen in the East, they would know the identity of the star because it was His star.

And they would follow that star. That star was the manifestation of God in the presence of brilliant light. And they followed that star for 700 miles until they came to Jerusalem. And they asked, where is He who's born King of the Jews because it's His star. And the star will rise out of Jacob and a scepter will be in His hand. They knew that. And they believed that. And they wanted to worship Him. They wanted to bow before Him. And that's exactly what they did. And so that glory, that star, that would move from one place to another over the house where they would go and know that the Messiah had been born, the King of the Jews.

So all that being said is that Peter in 1 Peter 1 says in verse number 19, so we have the prophetic word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. Speaking of how the word of God is a lamp and a light, it's a prophetic word made more sure in that when you understand the light of God's word, the morning star rises in your hearts. What is the morning star? Book of Revelation, second chapter.

Revelation chapter two. To the church of Thyatira these words are spoken. And I will give him, the overcomer, the morning star. Same thing that Peter says. And he who has an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So what and who is the morning star? Revelation 22, verse number 16. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things. For the churches, I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. Jesus says, I'm the star.

The Magi said, where is the star? God said to the prophet Moses, a star will rise out of Jacob. The scepter will be in his hand. Why? Because the star is the king of Israel. And everything about the star manifested itself in the brilliant shining light of the glory of the Lord. So when Christ came, we beheld his glory. We beheld his shining. We beheld his brightness. We beheld the glory of the Lord. And those of us who have the bright morning star within us because Jesus is the morning star and we embrace him, we are now the reflectors of that glory.

So people are able to see the glory of the Lord in us because we reflect that glory because the bright morning star resides within us as his children. You see, everything about the coming of the Messiah, and this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding the star of Israel, when it comes to understanding the glory of the Lord. This is just the very icing on the top because there's so much more to explore throughout the scriptures. But you see, that's what the prophecy is about.

It's the coming of the shining one, the star of Israel, the glory of the Lord. He is the radiance, the shining forth, Hebrews 1.3, of his glory. That's the Messiah of Israel. So incredibly important. So when he comes again, Matthew 24, verse number 29 says, but immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky.

What is the sign of the Son of Man that appears in the sky? It tells you. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. What is the sign of the Son of Man? It is his shining forth. It is his glory. You see, what is significant about Luke 2 is that Ezekiel had a vision way back in Ezekiel 8, 9, and 10. And in that vision, while he is in Babylon, he sees the glory of the Lord depart from the temple. Remember, the glory of the Lord would reside over the temple for the approval of sacrifices on behalf of man's sin.

But Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord depart out of the temple, move through the eastern gate, ascend up over the Mount of Olives, and then disappear. Why? Because the glory of the Lord had departed from Israel. And so Israel went back. And they went back to Jerusalem and they began to rebuild the temple and began to rebuild the walls around the city of Jerusalem. And they waited. And they waited and they waited in what? Darkness. Waiting for the sunrise to shine down upon them. And it was dark. And so when the shepherds were in the darkness of the field, symbolizing the darkness of Israel, all of a sudden, bang!

There was this brilliant shining light out of nowhere because the glory of the Lord that had once departed had now arrived in the form of a child, the Christ child. And you'd be able to behold His glory once again. And so there had to be this great entrance where the shepherds were engulfed in this brightness. And the angels would say, do not be afraid because they were terrified. Why? Because if the light shining is the glory of the Lord, and it is, and it's the presence of God manifested in brilliant light, and it is, they as shepherds would live in fear because God's presence was among them.

And the angels said, do not fear. Why? We bring you good news of great joy. For unto you this day in the city of David has been born a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And what did they do? They went in haste because they could not wait any longer to see this word that had been spoken to them verified in their presence. That's what they did. The star had arrived. That was prophesied in Numbers 24, verse number 17. The star was just not a star. He was a seer. According to Deuteronomy chapter 18, a prophet.

There would be one who would rise in Jerusalem who is greater than Moses, and Moses is Israel's greatest prophet. But there would be a seer, a prophet who would rise. And they were told they must listen to him. Of course, in John chapter 1, verse number 45, they said that prophet had come. What prophet? The prophet that was spoken of that was greater than Moses. And all throughout John's gospel he's referred to as the prophet because he truly is a prophet. The ultimate prophet, the seer that would come in fulfillment of all that was spoken by Moses.

And then, after the book of Deuteronomy, you move to the book of the Psalms and you have, which would be today's devotional, the son of David. Right? The son of David. Psalm 89, 2 Samuel 7, the Davidic covenant. God made a promise to David that a son of his would sit on the throne forever and would be the ruler over Israel. And that's very simply fulfilled all throughout the gospels because Jesus is the son of David. And everybody knew it. There was no discrepancy about Jesus being the son of David.

And we talked to you a little bit about the problem of that last week, how that would be fulfilled, how he'd be the son of Joseph, but not biologically, only legally. He'd be the son of Mary, biologically. But, but, there was an issue that had to be overcome. In the book of Matthew, very first book of the New Testament, in the genealogy of the Messiah, through the line of Joseph, through David, says, verse 12, Matthew 1, after the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel.

That's a problem. Not that he became a father. But if you go back to the book of Jeremiah, the 22nd chapter, listen to the prophecy of the Lord. Jeremiah 22, verse number 28. Is this man Coniah or Jeconiah? Okay, same person, Coniah, Jeconiah. The grandson of Josiah is Coniah. The son of Jehoakim, who was a wicked king. The prophecy is this. Is this man, Coniah, a despised, shattered jar? Coniah ruled three months and ten days in Israel. Why have he and his descendants been hurled out and cast into a land that they had not known?

O land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord. You need to get this. You can't miss it. Thus says the Lord, write this man down, Coniah, Jeconiah, as childless. Now, doesn't mean he didn't have any children. He had seven children. But childless meaning there would never be a child of his who sat on the throne of David. It says this, write this man down as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days. For no man of his descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah.

No man. Why? The line, the kingly line from David through Solomon through Jeconiah was cursed. Write this man down childless. No son, no descendant of his will ever rule in Jerusalem. But the Messiah has to be a son of David. So how will the son of David come to rule if the line of David has been cursed and no son of Jeconiah who's a descendant of Solomon who's a descendant of David will ever sit on the throne of David. No man. Only a supernatural man would be able to do that. A virgin born man. And so what you have is the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 of the genealogy of David through Solomon.

In Luke 3 you have the genealogy of David through his other son Nathan and Mary's a descendant of David through Nathan through David. And so legally he is adopted by Joseph to be the royal heir to the throne as a son of David. Naturally he is a son of David through Mary through Nathan through David. He is a son of David. That's why he was never ever questioned upon his descendancy or his ancestor. Everyone knew that Jesus was a son of David. Legally right naturally he was a son of David. Meaning that he'd be king of Israel.

So when you come to Mark chapter 10 Mark chapter 10 you have these words. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. He's going to die. He passes through Jericho. He's going to make the 17 mile journey from Jericho to Jerusalem. Before he gets there he makes a stop in Bethany. But right now he's in Jericho. And when they came to Jericho and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples a large crowd a blind man named Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus was sitting by the road. Matthew's account tells us there were two blind men.

One of them is named Bartimaeus. When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene now what did we learn last week? Matthew 2 verse number 23 that Jesus will be called the Nazarene because that's what the prophets said. Not one prophet but a multitude of prophets said. So everybody knew that the prophets said that Jesus would be called the Nazarene. So when they see him coming they say it was heard it was Jesus the Nazarene. He began the crowd saying Jesus son of David. The blind man saw better than the seeing people did about the identity of the Messiah because he knew that the prophets said that Jesus shall be called a Nazarene and that Jesus the Nazarene is Jesus the son of David king of Israel have mercy on me and many were certainly telling him to be quiet but he kept crying out all the more.

Son of David have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said call him here so they called the blind man saying to him take courage stand up he's calling for you throwing aside his cloak very important why? He's a blind man the most valuable possession to a blind man is his cloak because it keeps him warm at night. He needs his cloak in order to sleep but he cast it aside why? Because that which was valuable to him would be put aside for that which was becoming more valuable to him the son of David and so he jumped up and he came to Jesus and answering him Jesus said what do you want me to do for you?

Last week is, the question was what? What do you seek? This week the question is what do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him Rabboni which means my master in other words he had already seen Jesus the Nazarene the son of David as his master as his lord he had already believed in the Messiah he called him my master I want to regain my sight and Jesus said to him go your faith has made you well because you believe in me you have been saved the word well is sozo the most common word in the New Testament to speak of salvation your faith has saved you and then it says immediately he regained his sight and began following him on the road and then he was healed because faith was never a prerequisite to be healed by the Messiah but it is a prerequisite to saving faith and this blind man was able to see follow him all the way to Jerusalem because in Jerusalem what would they hear?

Hosanna blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David Hosanna in the highest they recognized Jesus as the son of David only temporarily though only externally but he was the son of David and is the son of David he is the king of Israel so the question for us is this like the blind man have you seen the Messiah have you seen the Messiah he did although he could not physically see him he was able to see him with the spiritual eye and know that Jesus of Nazarene was the son of David the king of Israel his Lord his master so our question after 10 days of devotionals have you seen the Messiah and better yet have you seized the moment the blind man did he seized the moment because Jesus was passing by he would never pass by again in Jericho because he was going to be crucified you are here today and my prayer is that you have seen the Messiah but have you seized the moment to embrace the Messiah as your master and your Lord let's pray father we thank you for today the great joy we have in studying the scriptures so much to cover so little time to do it in and yet father we are so richly blessed our prayer is for everyone in the room they would understand who you are what you came to do they might know you as Lord and Savior that they would seize the moment on this day to embrace you as their Messiah if they've never done so and follow you as the blind man did oh once blind now he sees as Bartimaeus did following you all the way to Jerusalem why?

he truly believed his King had come in Jesus name Amen