Sunday, 3 August 2008

The Promise of the Coming Saviour

The promise to Abraham

In Genesis 12, God told us through Abraham something that equally important concerning the promised coming Messiah. This was happen long after the flood, even after the Babel, c.a. 2100 BC. The Lord chose one man from the land of Chaldeans through the promise progressively revealed. As God said to Abraham “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). In these verses, we can see the clear divine promise given to Abraham and his descendants. If any nations cursed the seeds of Abraham the Lord God would curse them. There will be divine retribution, because God has chosen the seeds of Abraham as a nation in order to bring the Messiah to this earth, though they are still the enemy of the gospel (Romans 11). However the Lord said to Abraham, “In thee (Abraham) shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Abraham was not worthy for all these. He was chosen, not because he was sinless for the Bible tells us that Abraham once told a lie when he said his wife was his sister. However the curses were given by God to those nations which were against the descendants of Abraham. This is truly the fulfilment of the prophecy given by God. The Lord has done so in order to fulfil what he has promised in Genesis 3:15 through the seed of Abraham. Paul also said in Galatians 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ.” The ‘seed’ here is referring to the ‘seed of the woman’ in Genesis 3:15. Hence through the seed (Jesus Christ) all the people of this earth will be blessed.

As we have seen the relation between the promise in the Old Testament and its fulfilment progressively, we can conclude that what the Lord has said in the New Testament has its foundation in the Old Testament. However there is a great demand to study the Scripture carefully and diligently with humility. In this generation, there is a most disturbing fact for Seminary students. By studying three to four years, they expect to know everything. This is impossible because if we really study the Bible, it will never end because every chapter of the Bible is dependable to each verse in the whole Bible.

There were two problems of many people today in understanding the word of God. Firstly, we do not even know that the Lord has said. Secondly we did not even take time and ask the Lord to help us to understand what the Lord has said. Perhaps there are many people who can memorise all the verses but they never understand the meaning of those verses. The Jews and the Scribes in the time of Jesus could remember chapters by chapters and yet they did not understand what they did. It is not because of memorising the verses then we have eternal life and know the word of God, but because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us, we have the capacity to begin to understand what we read. Our eyes open to understand His Word. However one of the things that the Lord asks us to do is that we should learn from ‘the seed,’ namely the Lord Jesus Christ. We need the discipline in many ways in life as we live for the Lord. Therefore in learning the word of the Lord, let us make this as our prayer, “Lord, remove all the excuses whatsoever that avoid me from the mastering the only book namely the Bible. This is to show that I love you as my Lord.”

When the Lord called Abraham in Genesis 12, it was the beginning of his career, but as for Jacob, his grandson, the promise was given as the end of his career in Genesis 49. It was about 250 years have already passed since God called Abraham. Jacob was in Egypt as prophesied in the Scriptures that the Israelites would be in the strange country for hundreds of years (Genesis 12:41), when he prophesied concerning his son, Judah. In Genesis 49, Jacob gathered his twelve sons just before his death.

Although Joseph was the one was used by God to bring the Israelites came to Egypt, and yet Joseph was the one through whom the Messiah would come. Genesis 49:8-10 told us that it was from the line of Judah that Messiah would come and not of Joseph. Judah was the one who recommended Joseph to be sold to the Ishmaelites instead of killing him in the pits (Genesis 37:26-28). However it was Judah who came forth as one of the eleven brothers who showed the conviction of sin and courage to stand for the truth when Joseph confronted them in Egypt (Genesis 44:16-18). Thus the Lord said to Judah through Jacob in Genesis 49:8-10, “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

In verse 10 of this chapter again we read “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Who will be in the world the “Shiloh”? The Bible never mentioned anything about this name. However the Lord has revealed his revelation progressively in which what we can not understand in the book of Genesis, other prophetic books of the Bible can help us to see the light and the meaning of those difficult passages.

In this junction, it is necessary to consult the writing of the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 21:25-27 God said concerning the wicked king of Judah, Zedekiah, “And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.” In verse 27, God spoke three times the word “overturn.” This is to say that the Lord would truly destroy the monarchy of the king of Judah. Since this last king, the monarchy of Israel never restored even to this day. There will be no monarchy in Israel until “He comes whose right it is and I will give it him.”

Furthermore in Ezekiel 21:27 we notice the phrase “whose right it is.” Who is this “whose right it is”? In Hebrew this phrase is “esherloh” which is the same basic word as “shiloh.” Thus “shiloh” which was mentioned in Genesis 49:10 was referring to “esherloh” (whose right it is) mentioned in Ezekiel 21:27 namely the Lord Jesus Christ. When the “shiloh” comes and sets His kingdom on this earth, all the people in this earth will be obedience to Him. This prophecy was given by God through Jacob and Ezekiel although it was hard to understand, yet the Lord has revealed in His Holy Book that we may know and study it. Thus we may conclude that the Messiah, Christ Jesus has been promised by God to Jacob that the Messiah will come from the line of Judah.

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