The Word of the Lord Fulfilled in Christ (Isaiah 55:10-11 and Hebrews 4:12-13)

The Word of the Lord fulfilled in Christ is one of the great themes running through all of Scripture. From the opening words of Genesis to the risen Christ explaining the Old Testament in Luke 24, the Bible reveals one unified story: God speaks, God promises, God sends His Word, and that Word is ultimately Jesus Christ. https://youtu.be/zg74q5OenbU Table of contentsThe Word of the Lord Created All ThingsThe Word of the Lord Came Throughout the Old TestamentThe Word of the Lord Became FleshThe Word of the Lord Reveals Christ from Creation to ConsummationJesus Opened the Old Testament to His DisciplesThe Law, Prophets, and Psalms Point to ChristAll God’s Promises Find Their Yes in ChristConclusion: Worship the Word Fulfilled in Christ Have you ever noticed how much harder it is to understand something when you come in near the end? You walk into the final scene of a movie, and everyone around you is emotional. Some are crying. Some are rejoicing. But because you missed the beginning, the ending does not carry the same weight. Or you catch the last few minutes of a sporting event. You see who wins and who loses, but because you do not know how close the game was, how many times the lead changed, or what happened along the way, the victory does not mean as much. Or you walk into the end of a conversation and hear only the last few sentences. Even if the conversation is important, you do not really understand what is happening because you missed what led up to it. That is what happened with many people in the Gospels. They saw the final scenes of Jesus’ earthly ministry: His arrest, trial, crucifixion, darkness, death, burial, and empty tomb. But they did not understand what they were seeing because they did not understand the story that had led up to it. Even the disciples struggled with this. They loved Jesus. They followed Him. They listened to Him. But when He suffered and died, they were confused, discouraged, and afraid. They saw the end of the story, but they could not make sense of it because they had not put the pieces together from everything that came before in the Old Testament. So before we can rightly understand Luke 24, we need to go back to the beginning. We need to start where the Bible starts, because if we want to understand the end, we need to understand the beginning. The end of Jesus’ earthly life was not disconnected from the rest of Scripture. His death and resurrection were the fulfillment of the story God had been telling from the very first page of the Bible. And that story begins with God speaking. The Word of the Lord Created All Things We first see God’s Word at creation: “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”Genesis 1:3 That phrase is repeated throughout Genesis 1. God said, “Let there be an expanse.” God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together.” God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation.” God said, “Let there be lights.” God said, “Let the waters swarm.” God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures.” God created everything by speaking. He created all things by His Word. The rest of Scripture emphasizes this same truth: “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.”Psalm 33:6 “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”Psalm 33:9 The New Testament says the same thing: “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God.”Hebrews 11:3 Creation itself reveals the power of God’s Word. God did not struggle to create the universe. He spoke, and it came to be. The Word of the Lord Came Throughout the Old Testament God spoke at creation, but He did not stop speaking then. He continued speaking, not to create, but to communicate. Throughout the Old Testament, we repeatedly read phrases such as “The word of the LORD came to…” The word of the Lord came to Abraham. The word of the Lord came to Samuel. The word of the Lord came to Nathan. It came to David, Gad, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jonah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and many others. This shows us that God is a speaking God. He reveals Himself. He makes His will known. He sends forth His Word. One of the most important Old Testament passages about the Word of the Lord is Isaiah 55:10–11: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth… so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose.”Isaiah 55:10–11 These verses are often applied to Scripture, and there is certainly a relationship between God’s written Word and this passage. But Isaiah 55 also beautifully points us to Christ, the Incarnate Word. The rain and snow come down from heaven, accomplish their purpose, and then return. This is exactly what Jesus did. He came down from heaven, accomplished the Father’s will, and