Scriptures: Zechariah 2:10-11, Isaiah 33:22-24, Isaiah 65:17-25, Micah 4:3-4, Revelation 20, Isaiah 9:6-7 David records his vision of Jesus, the coming King who is God in Psalm 68:24-26, “Your procession, God, has come into view, the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary. 25 In front are the singers, after them the musicians; with them are the young women playing the timbrels. 26 Praise God in the great congregation; praise the Lord in the assembly of Israel. 27 There is the little tribe of Benjamin, leading them, there the great throng of Judah’s princes, and there the princes of Zebulun and of Naphtali.” The glory of the coming King is also the restoration of the glory…
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Day 23 – The Shepherd Who Judges the Sheep
Scriptures: Ezekiel 34:11-23, Matthew 25:31-46, Joel 3:2, Matthew 10:40-42 In previous lessons we looked at how Jesus, the Good Shepherd, laid down his life for his sheep to bring more into his flock, and then the sheep of Israel were scattered. Today we’re going to look at the future activities of the Good Shepherd that will be fulfilled in Jesus’ second coming. First, he will regather the scattered sheep of Israel. “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. 12 I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were…
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Day 22 – The Fountain of Living Water
Scriptures: John 7:37-39, Isaiah 12:3, Zechariah 12:10, 13:1, 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, Zechariah 14 In the last two lessons we learned how Jesus fulfills the first two fall festivals, the Festival of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. Today we look at the final fall festival God commanded the Jews to observe forever, the Festival of Shelters (also called Festival of Tabernacles, Booths, or Sukkot in Hebrew) which will be celebrated by the whole world when Jesus returns. In Leviticus 23 God commanded the Jews to live in special three-sided shelters for seven days to commemorate their time in the wilderness when they lived in temporary shelters while…
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Day 21 – The Scapegoat Who Removes Sin
Scriptures: Zechariah 3, Leviticus 16, Colossians 2:12-15, Revelation 12:7-11 Zechariah 3 records a vision that gives us a window into the spiritual realm. “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?’ 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Take off his filthy clothes.’ Then he said to Joshua, ’See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on…
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Day 20 – The One Who Regathers the 12 Tribes
Scriptures: Ezekiel 37:21-27, Isaiah 11:11-16, Isaiah 14:1-2, Joel 2, Revelation 10:6-7; 11:15-18 One of the activities of the Shepherd of Israel is to gather them from the ends of the earth in the last days. “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. 22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. 24 My servant David will be king over them, and they…
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Day 19 – The Lord of Heaven’s Armies
Scriptures: Daniel 2, Isaiah 14, 24, Habakkuk 3, Revelation 12, 17, 19 One of the Old Testament names of Jesus is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He is described in Isaiah 24 as the one who comes in the last days to rid the heavens and the earth of evil. “The earth staggers like a drunk. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy. 21 In that day the Lord will punish the gods in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth. 22 They will be rounded up and put in prison. They will…
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Day 18 – The King of Kings
Scriptures: 2 Samuel 5:1-3, Hosea 3:4-5, Romans 11, Isaiah 59, Zechariah 9 We’ve been learning how Jesus’ experiences mirrored David’s, for the Scriptures refer to the coming King of Israel as David, so today we will delve into how David assumed the throne. This piece of the puzzle helps us understand our present situation as we wait for Jesus to assume his throne in Jerusalem. David was anointed king by the prophet Samuel while King Saul was still ruling, and he lived in exile most of that time. David was crowned king of the tribe of Judah after Saul’s death, then seven years later became king of all Israel. Saul’s…
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Day 17 – The Son of Man
Scriptures: Daniel 7:13-14, Acts 1:9-11, Matthew 16:27, 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 The title that Jesus used most to refer to himself was Son of Man. He is fully human, like us. In Matthew 26:24 Jesus says, “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him.” Jesus came to fulfill all prophecy written about the Son of Man, the human anointed by God. Jesus said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Luke 9:22). Why did Jesus, the Son of Man, have to…
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Day 16 – I AM the Good Shepherd
Scriptures: Ezekiel 34, Zechariah 9:14-16, 10:2-3, 13:7-9, Micah 5, Psalm 23, John 10 When Jesus says in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd,” it is perhaps the clearest statement declaring his identity as the Messiah. The Old Testament is filled with God’s complaints against the “bad shepherds” – the religious leaders who were abusing the people – and promises that God will send a good shepherd. In Ezekiel 34 God says, “I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and…
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Day 15 – The Cornerstone and Rock
Scriptures: Daniel 2, Psalm 118:21-24, Isaiah 28:16-17, 33:5-6, Matthew 7 In Daniel 2, Daniel interprets King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue dream and tells him that the rock he saw is a kingdom God will set up when he sends the rock that was not cut by human hands. This rock will destroy and replace all the nations represented in the statue that have ruled the earth since the time God sent Judah into captivity until now. “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to…
