Our God, who was, and is, and who is to come. He was there from the beginning, and He will be there until the end. He always was. This God chose to create a human race for one thing and one thing only, His delight. The relationship between man and God was perfect. They would walk together in the cool of the day and man’s work was not in vain. Everything in Eden was perfect and God was very pleased. But for one moment in time, man became weak and gave into the temptation to sin. What was produced by that one action is something we all still deal with thousands of years later; a fallen and sinful world, disconnected from God.
What do you see when you look at the bible? A book of truth, life, or heartache? A road map or an awaiting challenge? What I see when I look at it could be totally different that anyone else, but I see a story. It is a true story of a lover providing a way for His beloved to come back to Him and the way back is through a man named Jesus.
Ever since the fall of man, God has had a plan to get us back. There really is a redemption story that takes place all the way through the Old Testament and it is important for everyone to know how that story goes. I pray that every believer would truly know the saving knowledge of Christ, not just from a salvation viewpoint, but as a historical viewpoint. Let’s open the pages and open our eyes to what the bigger picture is and to what’s really going on and how we’ve gotten thus far.
Genesis 3:15; “And I (God) will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Although it may not be that obvious, this verse is talking about the enemy and Jesus. Eve knew that God had promised to bring forth a savior from her offspring. She had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain of course killed Abel and therefore the hope of a savior was lost for a short time, until Eve gave birth to Seth.
A little while later, the earth become completely corrupt, having no good in it and just when God was about to destroy everything, one man of God was found, Noah. After the flood, it was just Noah and his family on the earth again. Through them came a man named Abraham whom was a friend of God. God brought forth a multitude of people through him and made him into a great nation. Abraham had a son named Isaac who was next in God’s divine lineage, then Isaac’s son Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, and in Genesis 49:10 it states that, “The scepter will not depart from Judah (one of Jacob’s sons).” We see here that God is continuing His commitment to bring forth a savior that will crush the enemy once and for all.
As time went on, God’s chosen people, the Jews, were getting persecuted more and more by the Pharaoh in Egypt. God spoke to a man named Moses in Exodus 3, and told him to lead His people out of captivity. The Jews were happy for a little while after getting free, but soon grew cold of heart and turned against their one true God who loved them even when they hated Him, to worship other idols and Gods. But God was faithful and would always turn His anger and hurt away from them and deliver them from whatever trouble they were in. Eventually the next generation of Jews ended up in the land that God had promised them through Moses.
Even though evil still covered the earth throughout the history of the Old Testament, God would always raise up lovers of Himself to fulfill His ultimate goals and to stand in the midst of persecution. There was always someone who was a deliverer for the Jews and when they chose to be on God’s side, He delivered them from wars, death, slavery, persecution, and from being handed over to their enemies. God raised up great leaders like King David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah to set an example to the Jews and keep the Lord’s commands. God was faithful from the beginning and by looking at some Old Testament prophesies we can see the reoccurring promises of that coming savior first prophesied of in Genesis 3:15.
In Isaiah 7:14 it is written, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” That was fulfilled through Jesus. There are many more prophesies of Jesus through all the books of the Old Testament, but the point is that it was in God’s heart since the fall of man to bring forth another man to make things right again. God did whatever it took to deliver His people from the hand of the enemy. Even when He gave them freedom in the promise land, they still turned their backs towards Him. It is still the same way today, yet God will bring about His plans, not theirs. No matter who has to be risen up, God will do it. He is fiercely jealous for His people to return to Him and there won’t be peace on the earth again until they do.
Throughout the books of the Prophets, Jesus is predicted and prophesied about before they ever knew who He was. Throughout the books of history, God delivered His people and preserved the people from the tribe of Judah. Throughout the wisdom literature section, God gave hope to His people and more promises of their messiah. What kind of God do we have that would go to so much work just to bring about justice for us, people who didn’t do anything to deserve it in the first place? What kind of God sends His own son to die the death that we deserved? What kind of God brings His children, who hate Him the whole way, out of captivity and into the presence of the living God? Our God is an awesome God.
God fulfilled every prophecy in the Old Testament about a messiah two-thousand years ago through the man Jesus Christ. Jesus came from the lineage of the tribe of Judah, was born of a virgin, died a brutal death, and rose again to be seated at the right hand of our Father always making intercession for us. God made a way where there was no way for no reason but because He loved us. It was because of the things made known from the beginning that we now have a way to God. God made a way where there was no way and He will fulfill the rest of the promises He has for us before the return of His Son. We have permission to enter in today. We can come boldly before Him because of what Jesus did on the cross. No matter what we do we will never be able to repay God for what He has freely given us. I pray that every person would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, it is the least we can give back to the one who gave us everything.
