In the time after their sin and expulsion from the Garden Adam and Eve must have felt incredible despair. They had experienced life both before and after the curse, the only ones to do so, and had first hand knowledge of the difference. And what a difference it was. Even the part of it we can relate to had to have been devastating.
For example suppose that
one day you were the resident manager of the world’s richest and most luxurious
estate, with all of its comforts and privileges, and the next you were a poor
hardscrabble farmer, at the opposite end of the economic and social structure.
And that was just the beginning. How about no longer being immortal, no longer
one with your Creator in spirit.
The Seed Of
The Woman
To keep them from becoming
incurably despondent, God had promised them a redeemer. In Genesis 3:15
we read,
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
offspring (seed) and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his
heel.”
He was speaking to the one
indwelling the serpent and in Hebrew the promise contains a biological
impossibility. Seed comes from the male. It’s the Bible’s first hint of a
virgin birth. An offspring of the woman’s would destroy Satan and reverse the
consequences of the act he had manipulated, redeeming mankind from its bondage
to sin.
Two chapters later in Genesis 5 the
Bible gives us another hint of this. The Hebrew root words of the names of the
10 patriarchs listed there form a sentence. When taken in order it reads like
this in English.
“Man is appointed mortal
sorrow, but the blessed God will come down teaching that His death will bring
the despairing rest.” (For detail click here)
It’s a prophecy that God
Himself would come to Earth as the Seed of the Woman, and man’s redeemer.
Centuries later, this was
confirmed by the Prophet Isaiah.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will
be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
As New Testament believers,
we can see that the five names listed here describe all three members of the
Trinity. Wonderful is the name by which The Angel of the Lord identified
Himself while visiting Samson’s parents. (Judges 13:18). When the phrase “The Angel of the Lord”
appears in the Old testament, it’s in conjunction with a pre-incarnate visit by
the Lord Jesus. That He’s being referenced in Isaiah 9:6 is confirmed by the title, Prince of Peace.
Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Counselor in John 14:26 , and Mighty God and everlasting Father can
only refer to God.
A Descendant
Of Abraham
In Genesis 12:1-3
the origin of this redeemer becomes clearer. There God promised Abraham that
all the nations of Earth would be blessed through him, and in Genesis 22He had Abraham act this out with the
sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham’s “only son” on Mt. Moriah. 2000 years later
another Father would offer His only Son as a sacrifice for sin in that same
place. Abraham knew this and named the place Jehovah Jireh, saying, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be
provided” (Gen. 22:14).
The Lion Of
Judah
Later, as Abraham’s
grandson Jacob neared death, he narrowed it down still more by saying that all
of Israel’s kings including the ultimate one, “the one to whom it (the ruler’s
staff) belongs”, would come from among the descendants of one of his sons,
Judah, (Gen. 49:10) giving birth to the title “Lion of Judah”
as a Messianic reference.
The Son Of
David
In 2 Samuel 7:12-15 we read that David longed to build a Temple for God, but God refused
him, saying that it would take a man of peace to build a house for Him. He said
that David’s son Solomon would be that man, and during Solomon’s reign Israel
experienced peace as never before or since. But to ease David’s disappointment
God promised to build him a “house” and the Davidic Dynasty was founded. Hence
forth there would always be a direct descendant of David’s on the throne of
Israel. It was an everlasting promise made in about 1000 BC, and Solomon would
be the first fulfillment. But since neither Solomon nor any other Davidic King
was flogged by men for “doing wrong” (2 Sam. 7:14) there’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye. The wording casts
shadows of the Messiah.
So through God’s
progressive revelation we’ve narrowed things down from learning that the
redeemer would be a son of Eve’s, which would exclude no one, to the family of
Abraham, then Judah, then David. But we’re not finished yet. Over the next 400
years the Davidic Kings went from bad to worse with few exceptions. Finally, in
the time of the Prophet Jeremiah God had had enough and pronounced a blood
curse on the Davidic line, saying that no son of then King Jehoiachin would
ever rule over Israel. (Jere. 22:30) The Davidic line, begun with Solomon, was
seemingly ended and God’s promise to David broken.
The Branch
However, before the nation
was taken to Babylon, while a Davidic King still sat on the throne, God had
Ezekiel announce that the line was being suspended and wouldn’t be restored
until “He comes to whom it rightfully belongs.” (Ezekiel
21:27) recalling Jacob’s prophecy to
mind. In 519 BC, after the Jews had returned from the Babylonian captivity, God
said that a man He called The Branch would be the one, and that He would hold
the priesthood as well, combining the two. (Zechariah 6:12).
There are four references
to The Branch in the Old Testament and all point to the Messiah. In Zechariah 3:8
He’s called God’s servant, in Zechariah 6:12 He’s a man, both king and priest. In Jeremiah 23:5 He’s called a righteous king, and in Isaiah
4:2He’s the Branch 0f God.
Born Of a
Virgin, Born In Bethlehem
But how was God going to
get around the blood curse? For the answer to that, we have to back up to about
750 BC. In that time two of the most specific Messianic prophecies ever given
narrowed the field down to just one possibility. In Isaiah 7:14
the Lord proclaimed that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, and in Micah
5:2 that he would be born in Bethlehem,
the City of David.
In order to legally qualify
for a seat on David’s throne, the Messiah King would have to be of the house
and lineage of David. To be from the house of David means being a biological
descendant of David’s. Being of David’s lineage means belonging to the Royal
Line. How can this be?
When we read the Lord’s
genealogies in Matt. 1 and Luke 3, we can see differences beginning at the time of David. Matthew’s
genealogy runs through Solomon, the cursed royal line. But Luke’s goes through
Solomon’s brother Nathan. Nathan’s line wasn’t cursed, but neither were they
kings. Further study reveals that Matthew is actually giving us Joseph’s
genealogy while Luke shows us Mary’s. Both were descended from David, and in
addition Joseph was one of many who were heir to David’s throne but unable to
claim it because of the curse on his line.
So through His mother Mary,
Jesus was a biological descendant of David’s. When Mary and Joseph became
husband and wife, Jesus also became Joseph’s legal son and heir to David’s
Throne. But not being biologically related to Joseph, He didn’t have the blood
curse. He was of both the house and lineage of David. To this day He’s the only
man born in Israel since 600BC with a legitimate claim to David’s throne. The
angel Gabriel confirmed this to Mary when he told her that although a virgin,
she would soon give birth to the Son of God, who would occupy it forever. (Luke 1:32-33)
Isaiah 9:7had revealed the same
fact centuries earlier. God’s promise to David stands.
Daniel And
The Magi
200 years after Micah
identified Bethlehem as the Messiah’s birthplace, The Lord told Daniel the time
of His death. It would be 483 years after the decree to rebuild and restore
Jerusalem following the Babylonian captivity, but before an enemy army came to
destroy it again. (Daniel 9:24-27) This places the Messiah’s death somewhere
between 32 and 70 AD according to our reckoning of time.
Daniel formed a group of
Persian priests to pass this information down from father to son, and according
to tradition set aside the bulk of his personal wealth as a gift for them to
present to the Messiah when the time came for His birth. He apparently also
gave them a confirming sign to look for from Numbers
24:17, later known as the Star of
Bethlehem.
The descendants of these
priests, now a very influential political force in Parthia (as Persia came to
be known), remained true to Daniel’s commission, and upon seeing the star set
out for Jerusalem. Arriving there they sought an audience with King Herod,
asking for the whereabouts of the one born to be King of Israel. Summoning the
chief priests, Herod repeated the question and was referred to Micah 5:2
where Bethlehem is identified. The Parthian priests, or Magi as we call them,
went there and found the baby Jesus.
The field of candidates for
Redeemer of Mankind, the Seed of the Woman, the Descendant of Abraham, the Lion
of Judah, the Son of David, the Messiah of Israel, had been narrowed down to
one. His name is Jesus.
Faith In
Action
By faith, with nothing more
than Daniel’s word to their ancestors, the Magi mounted up and undertook a
dangerous 800 mile trip into enemy territory to meet the Messiah. (The
Parthians and Romans were technically at war.) With 4000 years of fulfilled
prophetic scripture in their hands, the chief priests, who no longer took it
literally, refused to join them for the last 5 miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem
to see if God’s Word really was true. In so doing, the leaders of the people He
came to save missed out on the central event in human history, consigning
themselves to eternal separation from the very God they had been seeking.
If history repeats itself
like they say it does, then when He comes back many of today’s religious
experts, who also don’t take the prophecies literally, will make the same
mistake. As you recall the Reason for the Season, take time to thank Him for
making you like the Magi instead of like them, because if you listen carefully,
you can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah.
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