Messianic Prophecy In The Old Testament
This Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley
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 22 He 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 4:2 He’s the Branch of 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 9:7 had 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 12-22-12
