Our story begins in the Garden of Eden in those tragic few moments after Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit. Paradise was violated by the entrance of sin. Satan had won, God's plan had been foiled, our First Parents had fallen from innocence. From that moment sin spread out across the earth, staining everything it touched.
What would God do? How would he deal with people who had chosen to turn away from him? Would he destroy Adam and Eve and start over again? No. Salvation begins with the simple observation that God didn't give up on the human race. God was determined to do something! He would not let Satan win the battle for planet earth.
The rest of the Old Testament is the progressive unfolding of God's plan to counteract what happened in Eden. At that point in time God made a promise that, while vague, was the first glimmer of hope after the Fall. That promise can be traced across the centuries as God slowly clarifies the promise by narrowing its scope. The promise in its purest form was this: God would do something about sin by sending someone to the earth. But who and how and where and when?
Let's trace the unfolding answer to that question:
1. He will be a member of the human race.
"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." (Genesis 3:15) This verse contains an amazing amount of information concerning God's plan to rescue the human race:
1. God's plan centered in a specific person.
2. That person would be a man.
3. He will enter the human race by being born of a woman.
4. He will do battle with Satan.
5. Satan will strike a blow against him but will not defeat him.
6. He will crush Satan and his power.
The Deliverer, when he comes, will be the "seed of the woman"—that is, he will not be an angel or some super-natural creature, but he will be a man and will enter the human race by being born of a woman. Genesis 3:15 is thus the first link in the long chain that leads us to Bethlehem.
2. He will come from the Semitic peoples.
"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem!" (Genesis 9:26) After the Flood of Noah, the line begins to narrow. Noah has three sons, but the Deliverer must come from one of them. Noah declared that the Deliverer would come from the descendants of his son Shem—who is the father of the Semitic peoples of the world.
3. He will be a son of Abraham.
"I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing … all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:2,3) Many years later God spoke to Abraham while he was in Ur of the Chaldees, calling him to leave that city for a land God would afterward show to him. Abraham obeyed and ended up in the Promised Land. This represents a great narrowing down of the promise—from all humanity to one solitary man. The Deliverer must come from among Abraham's descendants.
4. He will be a son of Isaac.
"… through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed…" (Genesis 22:18) The promise narrows even further as God now specifies that the promise will come through Isaac—not through Ishmael.
5. He will be a son of Jacob.
"… All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring." (Genesis 28:14) Isaac had two sons—Jacob and Esau. By custom, Esau should have received the promise as the first-born. But he sold that right to Jacob for a bowl of "red stuff." Would God honor that transaction? The answer is yes, even though it involved some degree of unfairness on Jacob's part. In that mysterious dream of the stairway to heaven, God repeats to Jacob the promise previously made to his father and grandfather. Thus the line is narrowed again.
6. He will come from the tribe of Judah.
"The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his." (Genesis 49:10) Jacob had 12 sons. Which one would be chosen to carry on the promise? By rights it should have been Reuben, the first-born. But he sinned and was passed over. The same is true of Simeon and Levi. When Jacob came to his fourth son Judah, he uttered one of the most amazing prophecies in all the Bible. For 2000 years Genesis 49:8-12 has been regarded as one of the greatest Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. Although Jacob was old and dying, with eyes of faith he saw through the mist to a day when the tribe of Judah would take leadership in Israel. The people of Judah would be lion-like in courage and strength. Their tribe would lead the way; the other 11 tribes would follow.
The scepter (the sign of regal authority) would rest with Judah until "Shiloh" comes. "Shiloh" is either a proper name for the Messiah or it is a Hebrew contraction meaning "he to whom it (the scepter) belongs." If it is a proper name, then "Shiloh" means "the one who brings peace." That may well be correct, since Isaiah 9:6-7 calls Messiah the "Prince of Peace" and Micah 5:5 says of the Messiah that "he will be their peace." If it is a Hebrew contraction, Jacob is prophesying that the Messiah will be the rightful ruler of the world. Both thoughts are true, of course, and it is possible that both thoughts are intended by the expression "Shiloh."
Here is a simple outline of Jacob's prophecy concerning Judah in Genesis 49:8-12:
1. Judah will be the dominant tribe in Israel. 8
2. Judah will be lion-like in courage and strength. 9
3. The Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah. 10
4. Messiah's coming brings peace, joy and prosperity. 11-12
Although Jacob predicts dominance for Judah, this prophecy was not fulfilled for many centuries. Israel's earli-est leaders came from other tribes:
Moses from Levi
Joshua from Ephraim
Gideon from Manasseh
Samson from Dan
Samuel from Ephraim
Saul from Benjamin
But after Saul was rejected, God chose a man from the tribe of Judah to be king.
7. He will be a descendant of David.
In I Samuel 16 things begin to change. After rejecting Saul as king, God chooses the youngest son of Jesse, a shepherd boy named David. He eventually becomes the king of Israel. In time he will be considered as Israel's greatest king, her model warrior, her finest statesman, her poet laureate and "the sweet singer of Israel." In this one man are bound up all the hopes and dreams of a nation longing for the fulfillment of the ancient promises.
At the height of his career God made an amazing promise to David. "… the Lord himself will estab-lish a house for you … I will raise up your offspring to succeed you … Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever." (II Samuel 7:11,12,16) This promise is the most specific yet. Not only will the Deliver come from the line of David, he will also rule over David's kingdom and will reign upon David's throne. More than that, David's "house" and "kingdom" and "throne" will last forever.
These sweeping promises go beyond merely the human rulers who followed David—Solomon, Asa, Hezekiah, Josiah, to name only a few. Although these men were righteous before God, because they were human, they could never reign from David's throne forever. Mortal men could never exhaust this great promise. It demands a Ruler who will live forever. But what person could fulfill that requirement? David could not have imagined the answer to that question.
The promise has now become very specific indeed. We have moved from a member of the human race to a descendant of Shem to Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah to the tribe of Judah to David to the descendants of David and ultimately to someone who can reign forever on David's throne.
Who could the Deliver be and where will he come from and how will he be recognized? The next two promises begin to answer those questions.
8. He will be born of a virgin.
Many years pass as the people of God wait for the Deliverer to come from heaven. Then in the days of King Ahaz God once again narrows the line. This time he specifies how the Deliverer will enter the world: "… the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14) A virgin birth! I wonder what Ahaz thought when he heard that? Come to think of it, I wonder what Isaiah thought? Only God could have conceived of such an event. The Messiah will indeed be a member of the human race, but his entrance will signal that he is no ordinary person. He enters the world supernaturally because he is the One sent by the Father. In the fact of the virgin birth, we have a hint (though not more than that) of the Messiah's true identity—fully God (thus miraculously born of a virgin) and fully man (thus born of a woman).
9. He will be born in Bethlehem.
The line narrows once again—this time to specify exactly where the Messiah will be born. Out of all the cities and villages of Israel, he will be born in Bethlehem. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times." (Micah 5:2) The phrase "from ancient times" could literally be translated "from days of eternity" (the NIV margin). This ties directly back to Genesis 49:10, which speaks of a ruler who comes from Judah. It also adds the crucial fact that Messiah's origins are from "days of eternity." This helps explain how the Messiah can reign on David's throne forever. Since his origins are from eternity, he will have an eternal reign.
When all these prophecies are taken together, we have an amazing portrait of the Messiah.
No comments:
Post a Comment