Part 2
(2) Startling Announcements in Time.
From the many available Old Testament prophecies giving prior details of Salvations Plan and the Cross of Jesus Christ. I propose to look at three crucial ones.
"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and it shall bruise his heel" Genesis 3:15. After the Fall God spoke the words to Satan.
The seed of the serpent represents those who driven by the Evil One, put Jesus to death. - "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it" These are the powerful words of Jesus in the Gospel of John 8:44; the Seed of the woman is of course the Lord Jesus Christ; the bruising of His heel by the serpent is His Crucifixion; the bruising of Satan’s head by Jesus is his defeat at the Cross at Calvary. - "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it" Wonderful truth from Colossians 2:14-15. This includes his ultimate destruction.
Before God pronounced the penalty of sin upon the woman and the man. He announced their Redemption, according to His eternally decided plan.
Isaiah 53:4-9. is another prior statement of intent "Surely He (i.e. the Messiah, meaning Jesus Christ) hath borne our grief's, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes are we healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a Lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His
generation, for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth."
Here we see One, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was to be born, to take the form of a servant, and to die, not for His own sin, but as bearing the sins of all men who have gone astray.
Psalm 16:10. is our third and final prophecy in this section, another scale- drawing as it were of the mighty Resurrection of the Son of God. "Thou (i.e. God the Father) wilt not leave My soul (i.e. the Messiah’s) in hell ( Hebrew, Sheol, -Greek, - Hades, the unseen world of spirits that have departed); neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption.
(cp. Acts 2. 25-31). For David speaketh concerning Him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; more-over also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell. neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption. This Jesus Hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses.
(3) Symbols and Types in the Old Testament.
The years between the Fall of Man to the Coming of Jesus were times when God was pleased to show and reveal His purposes of redemption not only by prophecy, three of which we have just very briefly discussed on the previous page, but also by symbol. He used the picture-language of material objects and the symbolism of action. Of the many types that point to the Lord Jesus in the Old Testament none is older or indeed clearer than that of the sacrificial lamb.
Again the first book of Scripture is our reference source. Genesis records that Adam’s son, Abel, evidently realized that he was a transgressor and a sinner and offered a sacrificial lamb, which was fully accepted by the Lord. We may well ask who told him to do such a thing, and why a sacrificial lamb?
It can have been none other than the Lord Himself in the revelation which He lovingly made to Adam.
It was repeated to Cain when he was angry that his brother’s sacrifice had been accepted and his own rejected. The Lord said to him, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, a Sin-Offering lieth at the door" Genesis 4:7. The Hebrew word chattah can mean either ‘sin’ or ‘sin-offering’ the latter should obviously be used here.
Sadly instead of slaying the lamb, Cain murdered his brother, he carried the mark of this act for the rest of his life.
From the first generation God taught men and women that His Son would in the fullness of time, on a certain day in history become a Sacrifice for sin. This revelation of Divine intent was understood with varying degrees of clarity over the generations. It was restored to the people of Israel in purity and accuracy in the Law given to the Man on the Mountain Moses. The many thousands of sacrificial lambs offered on the altars of Israel all pointed in type and in symbol to the Lord Jesus Christ, who was as yet to give ‘Himself a ransom for all.’ (1 Tim.2.6) Through these lambs God’s people were able to exercise faith in Him of whom they were the symbols.
The Altar’s of Judaism give Meaning to the Cross of Calvary and Christianity.
Before Jesus came, men were saved by grace through faith in a prophetic or future sacrifice; after Jesus came they were saved by grace through faith in an historic or past sacrifice, but it is in each case one and the same sacrifice. There never was a time in history when men were saved in any other way, than through grace by faith in the sacrifice for all mankind made by Jesus Christ. This is a pivotal and bed-rock foundational point of Holy Scripture and cannot be too strongly emphasized and insisted upon.
An illustration may help one understand this vital truth in some measure, it is gleaned from ‘The Person of Christ’. by H. Brash Bonsall, M.A., B.D.
Some years ago a man from England was accused of spying at a military base in Cuba, and promptly sentenced to death. The British and American Consuls, convinced of his innocence, appeared at the time of his execution and draped the British and American flags around him saying in effect, ‘Fire, if you dare!’ All the rifles were lowered, and eventually the man was released. Could coloured cloth material protect a man against
bullets. Only when it is a symbol of that which was greater than itself - the authority and power of two great countries. So in Old Testament times, it was the mere blood of bulls or goats that saved; Hebrews 10.4 says of the inefficacy of these, "For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin" What removed sin is that of which it was the symbol, that is , the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Leviticus 17.11 states, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul." There is no other basis for the remission of sins apart from the blood atonement. Hebrews 9.22 records "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission".
Blood does not merely mean life, but life poured out in death. Sir Robert Anderson, a former Chief of Scotland Yard, says in reference to this subject, that when he had to examine the scene of the terrible Whitechapel murders, the work of ‘Jack the Ripper’, he found blood everywhere, which spoke to him not of life but of death. So in the Sacred Scriptures the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ means the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is wicked and untrue to say that His Precious blood when shed , was of no more avail than when it was in His veins
In all Mosaic sacrifices the victim had to die before its blood became efficacious.
The value of the Blood depends upon the value of the being in whose veins it flows. The worth of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is infinite, because He is infinite.
(4) Saviour Triumphs at the Cross. Here we see a ‘Willing Sacrifice’ slain as it were before the foundation of the world, fulfil every single detail of the foreordained plan of the Trinity. The shedding of His Precious Blood was witnessed on earth and in heaven. Eternity was locked into time on the Cross at Calvary, and time locked into eternity, for every believer of every generation.
The four Gospels record the fulfilment of prophecy, symbol and type from the Old Testament in the amazing and action packed life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Covenant Scriptures pointed forward to Jesus; and He referred to them during the time of the revelation of Himself.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. John 4.21-26 KJV.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.
And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind
also. Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. John 9.35-41 KJV.
Later the disciples and apostles would point backward to the events of His Incarnation, His atoning death, His physical Resurrection, His Ascension and His Coming Again, and all these as fulfilling Old Covenant Scriptures. in what many theologians and Bible students refer to and call a ‘Christology’ or ‘Word about Christ’. Adding two more important doctrines: these require a response from those who hear the Gospel.
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20.21 KJV.
God faithfully responded to those who believed the Word of the Gospel granting to them remission of sins, a new heart, His Holy Spirit and spiritual blessings
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: 1Corithians.15.3-4
We are aware the Gospel preached included also the reality of the Incarnation which cannot be separated from the plan of Redemption, His Ascension and his Coming Again and all as fulfilling the Old Covenant Scriptures. ‘According to the Scriptures’ The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is considered an ‘historic fact’ although still future. But as Jesus was said to be ‘slain from the foundation of the world’ and His death was there-fore to God an eternal fact, His Second Coming is so essential to the divine purpose as to be similarly regarded.
Acts 2.14-42 is a segment of Scripture which clearly bears out the above statements in regard to the preaching of the Glorious Gospel, with clear results.
But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.’ Acts 2.14-42 KJV.