Why Jesus?

• Why He came to us
• Why we respond to Him

Advent = coming or arrival

• Hope
• Peace
• Joy
• Love

Matthew 1:21 - Hope

Hope deferred makes the heart sick… - Proverbs 13:12a

deferred = push aside or delay

learned helplessness

Scriptures remind us to respond with hope because:

1. Hope has a name

• Matthew 1:21
• 1 Timothy 1:1
• Titus 2:13
• 1 Peter 1:3

Names have meaning

• Jesus = God saves or Savior

There's something significant about the name of Jesus:

• Philippians 2:9-11
• John 14, 15, 16
• Colossians 3:17
• Matthew 18:20

2. Hope has perfect timing

Genesis 3 - Savior / born of a woman = Matthew 1 + Galatians 4

• Galatians 4:4-5

Isaiah 11 + 2 Samuel 7 - Jesse + David = Matthew 1:6

Isaiah 7 - virgin birth = Matthew 1

• Isaiah 7:14

Micah 5:1-2 - born in Bethlehem = Matthew 2:1

Isaiah - miracles

Psalm - parables + betrayed + rejected

Malachi - 400 years - Matthew

• intertestamental period
• Socratic method
• Old Testament was translated into Greek
• Alexander the Great conquered the known world
• diaspora

3. Hope is coming again

• John 14
• 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. - Proverbs 13:12

Our response to the Lord is we place our hope in Him!