There are over 300 prophecies* in the Old Testament that speak directly to the first coming of Jesus Christ, His life and ministry, His death and resurrection. Every single one of them has been fulfilled in the New Testament. All of them. 100%. While squirming scoffers have tried to explain this amazing phenomenon away by hoping the prophecies were written after Christ appeared on the earth (and, therefore, not having to pay attention to them,) the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls by teenage shepherds in 1947 put that self-protective theory to rest.**
In my first two Advent posts I talked about the very, very first prophecy concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ in the book of Genesis, when Satan was told that he would bruise the seed of the woman’s heel, but that that seed – Jesus Christ – would deal the fatal blow to Satan, bruising his head.
(Gen 3:15)***
More of Jesus in Genesis
Continuing in the book of Genesis there are more prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. Abraham, having been called by God to leave his home and his people to journey to a new land of God’s choosing, was first given what is called the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 2:12:
“And I will make you a great nation,And I will bless you,And make your name great;And so you shall be a blessing.”
Again, in Genesis 15:4-6
"Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
“This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”
And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness."
Moving on to Genesis 17, God lays out for Abraham His plans of great blessing through the lineage of Isaac, who was yet to be born. (This chapter is rich in beautiful communication from God to Abraham; check it out when you have a chance!)
Abraham's Faith is Tested, and a Picture of Christ is Given
Isaac is born, but when he is a young boy God tests Abraham’s faith with a monumental test. He asks Abraham to offer his son Isaac – the son of promise – the son whose descendants would be as populated as the stars in the heavens – as a burnt offering! To kill him. Abraham trusts God, and he obeys, his faith so confident in God that as bewildering a request as this was, if God – who is holy, true, just, and pure – was asking it, everything would be alright; somehow, some way. Let God be God.
It is here on Mount Moriah, as Abraham is about to kill his son – the son of promise – that the angel of the LORD appears and tells him to stop! Abraham looks around and sees in a thicket a ram that is caught and sacrifices it instead as a subsitute for Isaac.
Wow. So much happening here!
Is there more telling or humbling a picture of redemption? Right there. The innocent animal offered in Isaac’s place.
Is there more poignant a picture of the heart of God, demonstrated in the agonizing willingness of Abraham to offer up his own son? This, God would Himself be doing centuries later, offering His one and only Son on a Roman cross as a substitutionary sacrifice for you and for me.
The scriptures tell it this way:
But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day,
“In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.”
It is in the same scene that God goes on to repeat his covenant with Abraham, this time going further to say that through Abraham’s lineage not only would his descendants be blessed but that all nations of the earth would be blessed.
Jesus is Born
Fast forward centuries to when Simeon sees the 8-day-old Messiah in the temple at the time of His circumcision and exclaims:
“Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
according to Your word;
For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
A light of revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32
The "Gentiles" are the "all nations" God was talking about when making His promises to Abraham way back there in the beginning days of history. If you are not Jewish, then that's you!
May you be blessed this advent season as you meditate on God’s provision of a Lamb; the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, of Whom John the Baptist would later say:
“…who takes away the sin of the world.”
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***“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” Genesis 3:15
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