Advent Devotional: Day 7

Isaiah and Luke and Matthew

Our focus today is not on one scripture but the prophecy and fulfillment of The Messiah.

The birth of Christ was told approximately seven hundred years before it happened. We find in Isaiah 7 the virgin birth foretold. We find His character predicted in Isaiah 9. His life and death prophecy in Isaiah 53.

If our Hope is rooted in God’s promises, then Isaiah shows us the coming of the gospel. The first week of Advent is about Hope. In the years following the prophecies of Isaiah, God’s children hoped the Messiah would come in their lifetime. They were looking for a new king. What they got was a miracle birthed, rejected, ridiculed, sinless sacrificed lamb.

We look at Christmas as the fulfillment of the promised Messiah, Immanuel. Isaiah foretold and Luke wrote the fulfillment of the promised Messiah.

We defined Biblical Hope in the introduction. (“Biblical Hope is a confident expectation and joyful certainty in God’s promises, grounded in His character and redemptive acts. It is a future-oriented hope that is sustained by faith in the present and has a foundation in the past. Biblical Hope provides strength, endurance, and comfort, and it motivates believers to live holy lives as they anticipate future fulfillment and Christ’s return.”  Google AI definition). Today we see it played out in the Old Testament becoming the New Testament. We see God’s promise of the Prince of Peace born of a virgin delivered to us in Matthew and Luke. This is Hope received.

Matthew 1:22-23 and Isaiah 7:14—birth

Luke 23 & 24 and Isaiah 53—life and death

Where is your Hope found?  How has your Hope been shaped—by scripture or circumstances?