Journey Church Elk Grove

Journey Church Elk Grove Advent Reading Plan
Week 2: 12/14/2020-12/20/2020
Locations & Times
Journey Church Elk Grove
Monday 6:00 AM
Tuesday 6:01 AM
Wednesday 6:02 AM
Thursday 6:03 AM
Friday 6:04 AM
Saturday 6:05 AM
Sunday 11:59 PM
December 14 - Read Isaiah 7:10-25, 9
Isaiah 7 predicts the virgin birth of someone whose name will be “God is with us”. Matthew 1:21-23 applies this to Jesus. Isaiah 9:1-2 suggests that Galilee (which at the time of Isaiah was deep in idol worship) would be filled with glory. Matthew 4:14-16 applies this to Jesus. Isaiah 9:6-7 may be familiar to you as a Christmas song from Handel’s “Messiah”. We learn a lot about the Messiah in these verses: he was born a child, he would rule over the world, four names would list his attributes, his reign will have no end, and God will accomplish this without human help.
December 15 - Read Isaiah 11, 42
Isaiah 11 confirms God’s Promise to David of 2 Samuel 7:16—the Messiah would be a descendant of David (Jesse was David’s father). Chapter 11 describes the future kingdom of the Messiah, what Christians might call the Millennium. Isaiah 42 is the first appearance of the Suffering Servant. Isaiah’s prophecies here seem to contradict the mighty ruler he spoke of in Isaiah 9, but Matthew 12:17-21 applies this to Jesus. In Isaiah we can see the first hints of a Messiah that appears in history twice; once as a servant that “would not crush the weakest reed” and again as King and Ruler of all.
December 16 - Read Isaiah 49, 50
Isaiah 49 returns to the Servant Messiah. God chose Him from before His birth (v2) and although he was rejected (v7, John 1:10-11), kings and princes will bow before Him (Philippians 2:10-11). Isaiah 50 calls the Servant Messiah the “comforter of the weary” (v4). 50:6 hints at Jesus’ torture before crucifixion. 50:7 has an echo in Luke 9:51—KJV says he “set his face” to go to Jerusalem.
December 17 - Read Isaiah 52, 53
These two chapters are some of the best known prophecies of the Messiah. There are references to his torture (52:14, 53:5). In 53:4 he carries our weaknesses, using the same Hebrew words as Leviticus 16:22. Matthew references 53:5 as part of his description of Jesus’ healing ministry (Matthew 8:17). Yet 53:11 predicts the victory as Jesus bears the sin of many.
December 18 - Read Jeremiah 23, 33
Again in Jeremiah 23 we see a prediction that Jesus would come from the royal line of David. Jeremiah 33 reiterates this promise and adds that “David will have a descendant sitting on the throne of Israel forever.” Since Jeremiah had predicted the capture and execution of the kings of Judah, he must be referring to someone that would never die.
December 19: Read Ezekiel 34
The Messiah as the Good Shepherd is an image Jesus will emphasize in John 10:1-16. Ezekiel 34:17-23 talks about “separating the sheep from the goats”; see Matthew 25:32.
December 20 - Read Daniel 7, Micah 5
Jesus took the title Son of Man from Daniel 7:13, using it at Mark 8:31 and John 1:31; there are over 160 uses in the Gospels of “Son of Man”. Micah predicts the birth of “a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past” (5:2) in little Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-6)