The Healing Word

Narrator (Male): The Healing Word Ministry on One Place is brought to you by the generous donations of people like you. At any time during today's message, feel free to send a prayer request or make a donation using the links provided. Now, I pray you will be blessed as Pastor Jack Morris delivers a message from the Word of God that will encourage and strengthen your faith in him.

Pastor Jack Morris: It's Jesus. Jesus makes the difference. I don't know whether he's going to make everything exactly like you want it, but he'll make you like you want to be and give you an inner spiritual strength and peace. You see, peace isn't weak. Peace is strong.

Narrator (Male): Names matter. They carry meaning, identity, and purpose. And no name has ever carried greater glory than the name given to the one born in Bethlehem. Today on the Healing Word, Pastor Jack Morris explores the divine significance and eternal glory found in the name of Jesus.

Pastor Jack Morris: The glory of his name. The majesty and glory of our Savior's name. Today, I want to talk to you about the prophecies of the coming of Jesus and the prophetic names given to our Lord. Certainly, I can't cover all of them in the Bible, but some that the Lord has given to me that will speak to your heart and meet your need today. Those are the some that we're going to look at and address today. So, take your bulletin and look at your outline, and under point A, write down the word "prophecies." Prophecies of the coming of Jesus.

Jesus came. We know he came. We're preparing to celebrate his birth. We are already celebrating his birth. But long before he was born, hundreds and hundreds of years, thousands perhaps, it was prophesied that he was going to come. He just didn't show up in human history. For a long time, people were looking and anticipating, and when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son.

Number one, put down the word "first." We're going to now look at the very first prophecy that tells us that Jesus is coming. And the very first prophecy came about immediately after the fall, after Adam and Eve sinned. Now, I'm going to turn to Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, and I'm going to read that very first prophecy.

Genesis chapter 3, I'm going to start at verse 14. So, the Lord God said to the serpent—now, the Lord God had already spoken to the man. The three principals: Adam, the man; Eve, the woman; and the serpent, Satan. These are the three principals, and God addresses each one of them. He addresses the man after the fall, he addresses the woman after the fall, and now he addresses the serpent. And in his address to the serpent, we receive the very first prophecy that a Messiah is going to come who will reverse the order of the curse and bring about peace.

Let's look at it together. I'm going to start with verse 14. Genesis 3:14: "So the Lord God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.'" Now, verse 15 is the very first prophecy that there's going to be a Messiah: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Immediately, God sets out to reverse what sin has done. God is going to make everything new. God is going to do away with the curse. God is going to bring back peace. God is going to do away with hate, murder, and bloodshed and hostility. How is he going to do it? He's going to do it with a man, with a person. He's not going to do it with politicians. He's not going to do it with behavioral sciences. He's going to do it with Jesus.

Jesus. We have had politicians ever since there's been a U.S. government, and this world is on the brink of mass destruction. We have had behavioral sciences in the universities, and I have been in those classrooms, studying counseling and psychology as well as theology. And still, people have neuroses and phobias and fears and depression and anxiety. This world is in a mess, and everybody is promising how they're going to correct everything.

The Republicans say we can do it, just put us in office. The Democrats say we can do it, just put us in office. But we have to put Jesus on the throne. He is God's man. And until we recognize that, we will live in fear. We will have murder. Our young people will resort to drugs and alcohol and illicit sex, and there will be murder in the streets and murder in the homes. In addition to talking about the national and international conditions, we need the man, Jesus.

And here God says he's going to do it. Now, look at what it says in verse 15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers." Notice it's the woman's offspring. Here's the first prophecy of the virgin birth. Not the seed of the man, not the offspring of the man, but the offspring of the woman. Here's great truth, great hopes.

And then he says that man—look at verse 15—"He will crush your head, snake, serpent, you who have slithered your way into our lives, into our home, you who have destroyed the Garden of Eden for every man, woman, and child." He's going to put a stop to you someday. He will do it, and he's the only one who can do it. And everybody who looks to him will find his peace. He will stop the serpent's head.

Now, notice he says, "He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." God is telling in prophecy that sorrow will be mingled with glory. It's not going to be easy what Jesus is going to do. And now we know that he was referring at that time to the cross, to the nails, to the thorns and the brow, to the riven side, to the beatings, to the bloodshed, to the crucifixion. Sorrow mingled with glory.

At that time, at Calvary, when Jesus lifts his heel to once and for all stop the serpent's head for every believer. Now, this is for the believer. In order to get the benefits of Calvary, you have to believe. In order to be delivered from the curse and have the peace, you have to be a believer. This promise is for the believers. It isn't for—that's why people will say to me, "Well, there's still bloodshed, there's still hate, there's still crimes." That's the people who do not accept God's man, who ignore God's man, who seek help another way.

Help is in Jesus, and only in Jesus. But Jesus lifts his heel to stop the head of the serpent. Now, notice it says head. Head is where the sin and evil flows from. We think of the head of anything, which is the source, the brains, the insight, the power, the principal. And God is not going to start at the serpent's tail and start chopping him off. Someone says, "Well, now we'll take care of drugs, and now we'll take care of alcohol, and now we'll take care of divorce, and now we'll take care of—" and address all of those things. It's all evil, it's all sin, it's all from hell.

And Jesus lifts his heel to stomp the serpent's head and bring a cessation to evil. And when he does, Satan, like a coiled serpent, is waiting. And when Jesus lifts his heel, he strikes at him. That's when we see the crucifixion. He humiliates Jesus, but Jesus accepts our humiliation. He accepts it. But the foot of Jesus indeed comes down on Satan's head, and Satan's power has been crushed.

Think of your own life, the redemption that has come to you. The habits that you once enjoyed, the sin and the pleasure that you once reveled in. Has Jesus not crushed the serpent's head in your life? You have been delivered from many things, haven't you? Haven't you? From many things! He has stomped the serpent's head.

How many people have told me through the years: "I used to be involved in alcohol. I was involved in drugs. I tried my best to be a good husband. I tried my best to be a good father, a good mother, a good wife. I tried and tried. It wasn't until Jesus came that I was liberated, and now I am truly, truly free." He stopped the serpent's head. He hit the power that caused me to be that person that I didn't want to be that person, but I couldn't help myself. How many have come to me? Is that your testimony today? He has stopped the serpent's head.

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Pastor Jack Morris: Now, that's good news. Genesis chapter 3, verses 14 and 15, that's good news. That's the first proclamation of the gospel. We get it way back there. Who knows, back in the mist of antiquity, way back there. Who knows, time wasn't even recorded at that time. But now, look at number two under point A. Here's another prophecy. Write down the word "another."

Isaiah chapter 55, verses 10 through 13. I'm not going to take the time to read it, but I have it written in your bulletin so you can go home and read it. It tells about the coming of the Word. Who is the Word? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus is the Word of God. In Isaiah 55, this isn't the second prophecy, there have been many other prophecies, but this is one that is somewhat familiar to us. It tells about the coming of the Word and how that the Word will fall into the earth, come into the earth.

And then how the heavens will bring the rain and water it, and how the earth will come alive. You see what this is telling us here, that sin brings death. But the Word is coming. Jesus was the incarnation. He was the embodiment of the Word of God. Today, you and I have the Word of God in our hands. Hopefully, we have read it and heard it and now have it in our hearts. And when the Word comes, light comes. The rain comes. Life comes. This earth was put under a curse: thorns and thistles. The animal kingdom was cursed. All mankind was cursed. Women now will bear children in pain. This was part of the curse. But the scripture says the Word is coming, and the Word will bring life to the earth. Sin killed the earth, brought death to the earth, but life will come through the giving of the Word.

Now, there's a great designer that you and I need to go to. We have been trying to fix it and fix it and fix it, only for it to keep breaking down, breaking down, breaking down. Your marriage, your home, your emotions, your career—friend, you need to appeal to the Designer. He designed life. He came that we might have life and have it abundantly, to the full. Now, he's the one who knows, but we keep thinking we can fix it. How many generations have thought that? And how history tells us that man hasn't fixed much of anything, if anything, yet.

Okay, the next one: "Mighty God." Write down two more words: "Mighty God." He shall be called the Mighty God. This is telling us that this Messiah is going to be divine as well as human. There is a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the Trinity has come to us in the person of Jesus, whose name is Emmanuel, God with us. He's called Mighty God simply because he is divine. This one that is coming is divine. Again, the Almighty is allowing us to know that a mere man can't fix it. Only the divine can fix the situation.

Jesus looked like a man. He was a man. He lived in a man's body, but inside of him was divinity. And that divinity burst forth in true light on the Mount of Transfiguration. And when the divinity burst forth, the men who were there fell like dead men: Peter, James, and John. Jesus is the divine Son of God. He has brought God to us because we need God. We need God! And it takes a humble person to say that: "I need God. I need God's forgiveness. I need to be reconciled with God. Forgive me, God, of my sins." That person is a spiritual person. That person is going to get the help that God wants him to have. The person that calls upon God meets God and receives God.

Look at what it says in verse 2, chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 9, verse 2: "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; and those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." When Adam and Eve sinned, darkness covered the earth. It was a dismal time. The depression, the hate, the murder, the bloodshed, the thorns and thistles. The animal kingdom went crazy with fear and with anger. And man and animals have always—there's been a hatred, and animals flee from man. There's something there that is absolutely wrong and needs fixing.

But when Jesus came, the light of the world came, and those who walked in darkness had now experienced his light, and we know his joy. And notice he's called Everlasting Father, meaning Father. This one that is coming, this Messiah, is going to be a provider like a father provides. He's going to be a protector like a father protects. Friends, I don't know how people live without Jesus. I just don't know how they do it. I wouldn't even want to try. And nobody has to try. Everybody can come to him.

And notice number four: he's the Prince of Peace. That's what the angels sang at his birth: "Peace on earth, good will toward man." Peace on earth! Not mass destruction on earth. You know the world's most lucrative business has been the business of war, making armament. More money is spent and more money is earned more than any other way than on war. And yet, Jesus comes, the Prince of Peace, to bring peace.

There's been human strife. Human strife is as old as the history of man. On the outskirts of Eden, Garden of Eden, one son kills the other. There's been strife ever since, and strife is inherent within us. But the prophecy is one is coming. One is coming. His name is Jesus. Peace is not just the absence of war and hostility. Peace is something that Jesus brings. It's a gift. It's him, the Prince of Peace. Peace lies in God's man.

Wherever you need peace today, friend, wherever—you need peace in your heart? Your conscience is troubling you? Jesus will heal your heart and take away that guilt and shame. He'll take it away, and he'll make you feel good about yourself. You'll feel good about yourself. He'll do that. Do you need peace in your broken relationship? In your home? Husband and wife? You need peace there? Then Jesus will come. And when Jesus is in your house, your house becomes like a church.

This lady, she's about 36 years old. She tells me about how her husband walked out on her and left her with an 11-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. Now, she wants her husband back. She said she really wants to reconcile, but he doesn't want to reconcile. And her heart has been troubled, and there's been many tears and unrest, and she hasn't had any peace. And now she's going to a very fine church, a great church. And I encouraged her to go to that church. It's not this one, but it's another great church.

And the Lord is blessing her. And the tears now are becoming less, and the children were picking up on this and crying, "I want my daddy! I want my daddy!" She said, "What am I to do? What am I to do? How am I to correct this situation?" And I encouraged her. I don't have the answer. The wisdom lies in him, who is the Wonderful Counselor. And do you know the Lord has so helped that person? Not that the marriage has gotten back together—I hope that it will, I pray that it will.

Let me tell you about the guy. The guy completed college, and then he became a construction worker. He already had his bachelor's degree. And then he decides that he's going to be a lawyer. He wants to be a lawyer. He talks to his wife about it, and the wife says, "Okay, if that's what you want to be, then I'll work, support you, get you through law school." And I think law school, you lawyers here, what is it? About three years? Maybe four? I don't know. It's a long route, isn't it, to get through law school.

So, he goes to law school. She works hard. She reads his papers and corrects them, the papers that he's going to hand in, corrects his grammar. She tells me that she goes out and mows the grass in the summertime in that heat so he can stay inside in an air-conditioned office and do his homework. And when he finally gets his law degree and passes the bar and gets a good-paying job, he meets another woman of like or similar education, of his socio-economic standing.

Now, he was a construction worker, now he's a lawyer. And he meets this professional woman, and his mind must have gone crazy. He can pass the bar exam, but he can't pass the husband-father exam. And he leaves and goes out with that woman. Well, her peace was disturbed, you can only imagine. And she says, "All that I have done and all that I've sacrificed, and now we're living with just hardly enough money, and he's making big bucks, and he's spending it all on that woman."

But I told her, I said, "You know, the Lord can heal your broken heart." His name is Wonderful, and there's wisdom. Do you know what has happened to this woman? She has now become so strong spiritually. She's going to a wonderful church with a wonderful pastor. Her children are now involved in that church. And God is healing them to the extent that she said to her husband, "The children want you to be home at Christmastime. So, what we'll do on Christmas morning, you can come over, and we can all be together while they open their presents, so the children will have mother and father at the same time."

You know that takes grace. It's Jesus. Jesus makes the difference. I don't know whether he's going to make everything exactly like you want it, but he'll make you like you want to be and give you an inner spiritual strength and peace. You see, peace isn't weak. Peace is strong. And that woman has become strong in the Lord.

The scripture says, "And having made peace through the blood of his cross." And then again it says, "He is our peace." You need peace today? Where do you need it? Become honest with the Lord and honest with yourself. And he will come: the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Provider, the Prince of Peace. And he'll do for you what you can't do for yourself, and no one else can do it for you. Only Jesus can do it. Look to Jesus and be healed.

Narrator (Male): The name of Jesus is not just a title, it's a declaration of who he is and what he came to do. And as we move forward this week, we'll look even closer at that name and why it was chosen by God himself. Be sure to join us next time for "Thou Shalt Call His Name Jesus." We'd like to invite you to join Pastor Jack Morris and the Healing Word family in both prayer and support of this ministry. Your prayer strengthens us, and your gifts, large or small, help us extend the reach of God's word to more people who need his hope. Every gift is deeply appreciated. To stand with us today, simply visit thehealingword.com and click on the "Donate" tab. Together, we can share the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.

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