I am hoping to drag a few people down the reset trail this week with posts about Jesus in the Old in the Old Testament that look forward to His perfect salvation. Today I am considering the story of our salvation during the time of the Prophets. This is when things begin getting even more mind boggling, so I hope that you are ready.
What is listed below is just a small portion of the prophesies concerning Jesus’ coming. Some theologians say that there are hundreds of prophesies about Jesus. The ones I have chosen here are just a taste of what is in the Old Testament, but these are very clear and telling of what would happen to the coming Messiah.
The Coming King
There are many prophesies concerning the coming of a king. This makes sense considering the promises concerning the eternal reign of Jesus, David’s heir. Here are just a few prophesies from the prophets about the coming King.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
-Isaiah 9:7 ESV-
Isaiah is saying, essentially, that there will be a person who comes and fulfills the promise given to David about his eternal reign. We see that Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophesy. It is lined out for us clearly in the discussion that the angel had with Mary before the birth of Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. – Luke 1:32-33 ESV
There are other prophesies concerning Jesus being king in the Old Testament. One of those is Micah 5:2.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. – Micah 5:2 ESV
This is a clear prophesy about the coming of a King “whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days”, who would come from the little town of Bethlehem.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
The prophets said many things concerning the Messiah and His coming. One of them was that He would be king. But this is not the only thing that prophets said about the person to come and rescue them. There would also be a suffering servant.
The Suffering Servant of Isaiah
There are few prophesies about Jesus that are rehearsed more than Isaiah 53, and for good reason. It is such an accurate portrayal of what Jesus was accomplishing on the cross that it almost seems it could have been written after the fact. It almost seems like it could have been written by Paul or Peter in one of their letters. But it wasn’t. It was written hundreds of years before Jesus’ death. In fact the Old Testament had been translated into the Greek 400 years before Jesus’ birth.
Isaiah describes a person to come who will be “despised and rejected” (V. 3). He describes someone who will bear “our griefs” and carry “our sorrows (V. 4). He then describes a man who would be “wounded for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities” stating that this person was “crushed for our in iniquities” and the punishment that brings us peace falls upon Him (V. 5). God lays our sins upon this person, even though it is us who has turned away from the Lord (V. 6). He would go to this punishment willingly (V. 7). And it was the “will of the Lord to crush Him” to make Him “an offering for guilt” (V. 10).
Isaiah was prophesying about what Jesus would accomplish on the cross. Jesus would come hundreds of years later and be despised, rejected, bear our griefs and our sorrows, be wounded and crushed for our sins, and He would willingly bring peace through the sacrifice that He made on the cross. It gives me chills to think about the great grace and love shown in this passage.
But how do the two mesh? How can both be true at the same time?
The Suffering Servant King?: The Overlap Between Suffering Servant And Conquering King
When I look out into the distance here in Arkansas I can see mountain ranges. Or as many people would like to tell me they are tall hills. Anyway, if I am in the right place I can see one mountain clearly, but see another one in the distance. The one in the distance will oftentimes be a blueish color while the other is more vivid. I can see the trees on the mountain closest to me, while only seeing the contour of the other.
This is how the Old Testament Prophesies about Jesus work. More often it seems that we find prophesies of the coming and conquering king. At the same time we see prophesies concerning the suffering servant. As we look at Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22 the Conquering King seems far in the distance. Yet, they are both there. Jesus is both the suffering servant and the conquering king.
Jesus has come and has suffered the death on the cross that happened so long ago. When He died on the cross and rose from the grave He conquered sin and death. And there will come a day when His conquering will be complete. Everyone will see this Conquering King in all of His glory when He returns to close history as we know it. Though He has already conquered it will be completely realized at that time.
Now comes the call to us today. This is the time period and day of salvation. We currently have a choice to either submit to this king whose kingdom has been achieved but not fully realized. Or, we will be forced to bow to Him as we pay the price for our own sins in eternity.
R. Dwain Minor
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