The Messiah Mystery: A Lent StudySample

Clues in the Vineyard

For 400 years, no one heard a single word from God.  Not even a whisper of a clue was given.

A cold case is when a detective’s search comes to a dead end. The once-obvious clues and tips abruptly stop. 

That’s what happened in the Bible. The once-hot hunt for the Messiah turned ice cold.

Then, on the darkest of days, an angel broke the canopy of space and announced, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord … “

Thirty years later, Jesus of Nazareth began connecting the dots between the clues God had given about the Messiah.  He was saying, I am the one who you’ve been waiting for all this time! I am the promised Messiah!

In solving any mystery, what a person says about himself is always considered key evidence. Jesus told lots of stories which were full of clues.

In one of these stories, Jesus told of a master who owned a vineyard (Matthew 21:33-42).  He leased it to tenants and then left for another country.

The master of the vineyard is God.  He created the earth, created people, and then gave them responsibility to tend the earth and to live for Him.

When it was time to harvest the fruit, the master sent servants to claim it. But the tenants beat one servant, killed another, and stoned another.  After this happened again, the master sent his own son.  But the tenants killed him as well.

Did you catch the clue? The tenants killed the master’s son. Since God is the master, the son is Jesus.  He was talking about His imminent death at the hands of power-hungry mankind.

So as you finish Lent, remember that Jesus is the Messiah, the long-awaited Savior foretold through all those clues in the Old Testament.  Begin preparing your house and your heart to celebrate the pinnacle event of all time, Resurrection Day!  Plan a grand party for your family or your neighborhood or your church.  Make this Resurrection Day reflect the majesty of the Messiah, our hope of eternal glory!

Our Father in heaven, you are the Master and we are your vineyard, your children.  We do not deserve your favor.  Yet your arms are always open to welcome us, and so we come to you in gratitude for what you accomplished on the cross.  Because of Jesus, whose victory we will soon celebrate.

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