When God came down to man as a baby, He came with a purpose. As the incarnate of God, Jesus lived out His life on earth fulfilling the mission that He was sent to accomplish. That mission was prophesied by the Old Testament prophets and started with His birth and culminated in the cross and resurrection.

                God’s missional action seen in the promise of Christ. There is believed to be over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Jesus. Every single one of those prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. The probability of that happening is very slim, yet it did happen. It has been proposed that the odds of Jesus fulfilling just eight of the several hundred prophecies concerning Himself would be 10 to the 17^th power. In his book, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner applies the modern science of probability to just eight prophecies regarding Christ. He says, “The chance that any man might have …fulfilled all eight prophecies is one in 10 to the 17th. That would be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.” (one-hundred quadrillion). Stoner suggests that “we take 10 to the 17th silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state 2 feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly… Blindfold a man and tell him he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up [that one marked silver dollar.] What chance would he have of getting the right one?” Stoner concludes, “Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing those eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man.” Jesus did not just fulfill eight of those prophecies, He fulfilled several hundred. Actually, He fulfilled 100% of the prophecies concerning Himself with precise accuracy.

                What are some of these prophecies? Check out the following chart of just 46 prophecies and their fulfillment:

It is amazing to see how God took initiative to reveal to the prophets His plan to redeem the world from sin. By giving such knowledge to the prophets, God removed all possibility of doubt concerning Jesus as the Messiah. With such knowledge, we too are able to answer the sceptics and give concrete evidence that Jesus is truly the incarnate of God who came to earth to be our Savior. Part of our mission is to give evidence or proof that what we believe and preach is true. God did that very thing through the prophets. He gave proof enough to convince the greatest sceptic. God’s missional action began with the promise to send us a Savior. That promise was fulfilled in Jesus. The long period of time before the birth of Christ, God was preparing the way by giving to the prophets words to speak concerning Jesus. He was preparing His people and the world for the coming of the Messiah. Great preparation was involved in God’s mission. This is a lesson for us today. As God calls us into His mission, we must prepare. Continual discipleship is the key to mission preparation. All that the church does should be geared not only to fulfill its mission, but to also prepare others to join the mission.

                God’s missional action seen in the birth of Christ. Luke 2:11 says, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Everything surrounding the birth of Christ shows that God is a missional God. Jesus came to this earth not to see what it was like to be a man or to have a vacation from ruling in Heaven. Jesus came to this earth to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He came to save us from ourselves and from the penalty of sin. God took initiative. He went on a mission by sending us Jesus. He didn’t just talk about what He would do. He took action.  He fulfilled His promise to send the world a Savior. The idea of ‘going’ and being ‘sent’ is key when it comes to missions. God didn’t just talk about what He would do. He took action. He came. In fulfilling the mission God has for us, it requires action. We cannot be lazy. We cannot just sit in our comfort. We must do the uncomfortable thing like Jesus did. We must ‘go’ and we must ‘send’ others on mission.

                God’s missional action seen in the passion of Christ. The cross is the center point of all history. It is the culmination of God’s mission. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:1-2, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”  The focal point of Paul’s ministry was the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross is why Jesus came. The cross was God’s mission. All the gory details of the cross of Christ is God’s mission in action. The very Son of God hanging on that tree with nails in hands and feet. A crown of thorns pressed down on His brow. Beaten and bruised to the point of no longer being recognizable as human. A spear thrust in His side. Hanging there, naked, bloody, unrecognizable, spit upon, laughed at; God in the flesh, Jesus Christ cries out: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” In that moment the sins of the world was placed on His shoulders. Jesus experienced the full pain of being separated from God the Father. What does you sin look like to God? Look at the cross and you will see. Jesus then cried, “It is finished” and He gave up His life. Jesus declared that the mission was accomplished. He fulfilled what He came to do. He did what He did and went through the pain of the cross for you and me. He loves us. He does not want us to be lost in our sin. He did what had to be done in order that we may be saved. All who put their faith and trust in Christ alone has the penalty of sin removed and a relationship with God restored. That is His mission. That the world may come to the cross and be forgiven, redeemed, and restored. As believers in Christ, we are called to bring others to the cross. This is our mission. Just as God took action for us, we are to take action in fulfilling the mission He has sent us on. We cannot sit idly by while the world around us goes to hell. We must be obedient to the mission. We must bring others to the cross.                 I am eternally grateful that God took action to come to this earth and provided a way of salvation for me. He took action for us. Now, we must take action for Him. We must go and we must preach the Gospel and we must train and send others to do the same.