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Created Through Him

Numbers 21:9 prophecy

2/29/2012

9And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived (Numbers 21:9).

14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14-15).

This prophecy from the book of Numbers appears most unusual on the surface. The people of Israel are in the desert and venomous snakes are biting many of them. Moses is told by God to make a pole that includes a brass snake and the people are to look upon it and be healed. It is not until the apostle John clarifies the story from Numbers that we understand that Moses raising the serpent in the desert was an act signifying that the Messiah too must be raised up so that those who believe in Him will not perish. The story in the book of Numbers then is a foreshadowing of Christ. When we look to Christ, crucified on our behalf, we are looking to the very God that saves us. We too have been bitten by the serpent of this world and must look to the One high and lifted up: crucified, dead, buried, and risen for our deliverance.

Exodus 12 and Psalm 34 prophecies

2/28/2012

46In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof (Exodus 12:46).

20He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken (Psalm 34:20).

31The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. 32Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 33But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: (John 19:31-33).

In Exodus the Passover lamb is not to have any of its’ bones broken. In Psalm 34 it is revealed that the Messiah will not have a bone broken. In the Gospel of John we see the fulfillment of the prophecy. Christ as the Lamb of God did not have His bones broken. It was customary during Roman crucifixion to break the bones of the criminal in order to speed death. So it was unusual that Christ did not have His legs broken. God wanted and wants the identity of the Messiah to be discoverable and verifiable. Three different authors wrote this prophecy we are discussing today across almost 2000 years. One of the reasons for discussing all the Messianic prophecies that are fulfilled in Christ is to show the absolute impossibility that any other individual in the past or future could be the Son of the Living God besides our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; worship God.

Exodus 3:13-14

2/27/2012

13And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you (Exodus 3:13-14).

58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58).

Although this passage from Exodus is not specifically a prophetic passage, it does reveal that the name of God as revealed in the Old Testament is applied to Christ in New Testament. The statement by Christ in the gospel of John is the strongest indication from all of scripture that Christ is God. The Jewish teachers of the Law that Christ was speaking with undeniably realized that Christ was stating that He is God. This is an excellent example of the confirming nature of scripture. Scripture in the New Testament reaffirms scripture from the Old Testament. Most importantly, scripture uniformly testifies about Christ. And this is Good News.

Genesis 49:10 prophecy

2/26/2012

10The scepter 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 (Genesis 49:10).

14For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. 15And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, 16Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. 17For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec (Hebrews 7:14-17).

This third prophecy from the book of Genesis reveals that the Messiah would be from the tribe of Judah. We know from the Genealogies in Luke and Matthew that Christ’s earthly lineage was indeed from Judah. The passage in Hebrews also confirms that the Christ was from the tribe of Judah. I think sometimes we wonder why all the genealogies and references to genealogies are important. They are important in the case of Messianic prophecies because they provide evidence of identity. Identify is important so that false Messiahs can readily be detected. God made the identity of Christ so very obvious. In the Hebrews passage above we see that Christ is in addition to being descended from Judah, also from a royal priest order. He is from the order of Melchisedec. Melchisedec is a Holy priest, not from human decent (as would be the case if from the Levitical priesthood). Christ is altogether human and altogether God. Christ is undeniably unique and the only One in history to meet all specification from scripture of the Messiah.

Genesis 12:1-3 prophecy

2/25/2012

1Now 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 shew thee: 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And 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).

1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).

25Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities (Acts 3:25-26).

16Now 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 (Galatians 3:16).

In this second prophecy concerning Christ from the book of Genesis, we learn that all the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham. Scripture in Matthew, Acts and Galatians evidences the fulfillment of this prophecy. All the nations of the earth are blessed by and through Christ. Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. Abraham lived over 1800 years before Christ, and as is the case with many prophecies there is a sizable amount of time between proclamation of the promise and subsequent fulfillment of the promise. The plan though exists all along. Whatever God plans will occur in accordance with His timeline.
It is important to realize that understanding any prophecy requires recognizing the underlying promise that is revealed. In the case of the Abrahamic promise, the revelation of the promise is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The fulfillment of the promise to Abraham is a promise that benefits us. The benefit of the fulfillment of the promise is redemption. God’s plan for redemption is from ‘of old’, unchanging and everlasting.

Genesis 3:15 prophecy

2/24/2012

14And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it (He) shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel (Genesis 3: 14-15).

4But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4: 4).

The first messianic prophecy concerning Christ is in Genesis 3:15. In this prophecy God is telling Satan that there will one day be a Messiah born of a women. Additionally we learn that although Satan will strike against Christ, Christ will ultimately have the victory. In Galatians 4:4 we see the partial fulfillment of the prophecy. The final fulfillment is seen in Christ’s victory at the Cross. The victory of the Cross is through Christ’s atonement for sin and through His defeating of death by the resurrection. Christ has dealt the final blow to Satan by destroying death (wages of sin is death) and providing a path for restoring the relationship between God and Man. This truly strikes at the head of Satan.

Creator is the beginning and the end, the first and the last

2/23/2012

1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21: 1-4).

The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John based on a vision he had while in exile on the Island of Patmos. The final book of the scripture reveals the consummation of all-things. The Paradise that was lost because of the Fall of Man in Genesis 3 is regained in Revelation 21. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. There will be no more sorrow or death. The dwelling place of God will be with Man. We see in verse 3 the form of the covenant that we have discussed several times over the past few months; we shall be His people and He shall be our God.
As we have studied the Creator throughout all 66 books of scripture, there is an unmistaken pattern that has emerged. The pattern is that God is systematically restoring His people and creation to the correct relationship to Himself. While we do not know the reasons that God has sovereignly elected to have such a plan. That this plan exists and is being carryout in human history should not be denied. We are God’s creation and He is restoring us too Himself. There is one other obvious point to be made from examining all 66 books of the bible in relation to God as Creator and that is that the whole of scripture testifies about Christ. As a result, in the coming weeks we will examine the prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the New Testament. The Creator is the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Revelation 1:8).

Creator as Savior is glory, majesty, dominion, power and everlasting

2/22/2012

24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen (Jude 1: 24-25).

The epistle of Jude was written by one of the Lord’s brothers. Jude was writing to warn about apostasy in the Church. Jude emphasizes following the correct Gospel and he warns that there will be those that try to deceive believers.
The importance of following the correct Gospel is seen in today’s verses. These verses are the closing comments from Jude’s letter. What we believe really does matter. By not falling away from the true faith we can be presented as faultless. Jude points out that it is Christ that keeps us from falling and that it is He that presents us as faultless. This is clearly an action of God, as we know that we as individuals are not faultless on our own accord. We are only faultless based on Christ’s work on our behalf. In verse 25 we see attributes of the Creator: full of glory, majesty, dominion, power and possessing an eternal nature. Verse 25 is a verse of praise. Therefore our response to being kept from falling by Christ’s power is to praise Him as the God of all Creation. The Creator as Savior is glory, majesty, dominion, power and everlasting.

Creator is joy in truth

2/21/2012

2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 3For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth (3 John 1: 2-4).

This passage from John’s third epistle is a continuation of the thoughts John discussed in his second epistle. John is discussing the idea of walking in the truth. John literally says that the truth is ‘in’ believers. Truth is therefore a part of the being.
As we consider what truth has to do with creation, remember that human beings were originally created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Part of the unmarred image of God in Man is truth. So when we walk in the truth, we appear more like our original state before the Fall of Man. The Fall of Man caused us to no longer walk in the truth, but the good news is that the truth is restored to us through faith in Christ. Truth is literally imparted to us and therefore we walk in truth’s light. When we walk in truth we bring joy to God. The Creator is joy in truth.

Creator is both love and truth

2/20/2012

4I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. 5And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it (2 John 1: 4-6).

John in his second epistle is writing to a church likely in Asia Minor. At the time of the writing of 2 John, John was most likely writing from Ephesus. By the time John wrote this epistle, already there had been those who had fallen away from the faith and John was reminding believers that they were to live as they had been commanded. John states that they were to walk in love and truth and that this was a command to them. This command was from the beginning.
What was true in the beginning of creation is true today. It directly applies to us. The idea of walking in love and truth hearkens back to the beginning before the Fall of Man when the Creator literally walked with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve failed God when they no longer walked in truth. When we walk in truth we cannot be swayed by false doctrines and we will display the characteristic that God most wants us to display. That characteristic is love. The Creator is both love and truth.

Created Through Him