Promises of God
How does the Old Testament indicate Christ? First, through promises of salvation and promises about God’s commitment to his people. God has given us specific promises about the Messiah as the Savior in David’s lineage. Through the prophet Miqueas, God promised that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, the city of David (Miqueas 5:2), a perfectly fulfilled prophecy (Matthew 2:1-12), but God has often made general promises concerning future days of salvation, detailing its fulfillment (e. g. Isaiah 25:6-9; 60: 1-7).
- A common refrain was that I will be their God.
- And they will be my people (see Jeremiah 31:33; Osseas 2:23; Zechariah 8: 8; 13: 9; Hebrews 8:10).
- Sometimes variations of that promise focused on people and what they should be.
- And in other cases it was About God and what God should do.
- The promise that I will be your God is truly a commitment to be with your people.
- To care for.
- Discipline.
- Protect them.
- Meet their needs and have a personal relationship with them.
- Continually.
- This promise is finally consumed in the salvation that God will bring to Christ.
This principle extends to all the promises of the Old Testament: Do all of God’s promises have in him (Christ) the?Yes? (2 Corinthians 1:20). Sometimes God immediately gave temporal blessings. These blessings were simply a foretaste of the rich blessings that would come from Christ: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with all kinds of spiritual blessings in the heavenly regions?(Ephesians 1: 3).
But God’s relationship with his people was not only a relationship of blessings, of course, but also of warnings and promises of curse, which would be the case because of God’s just reaction to sin. These warnings referred to and pointed to Christ in two parts. First, Christ is the Lamb of God, who bears the curse (John 1:29; 1 Peter 2:24). He was innocent of sin, but he bore the curse for us (2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13). Each occasion in the Old Testament that describes God’s wrath against sin and its punishment indicates the wrath that fell upon Christ on the cross.
Second, Christ will fight sin and exterminate it at the Second Coming. His Second Coming and Consummation will be the moment when the final judgment against sin will be executed. Each punishment for sin in times past indicates the final judgment. Christ anticipated his final judgment, when in life he cast out demons and denounced the sins of religious leaders.
God’s promises in the Old Testament are not only in the context of God’s commitments to his people, but also in the obligations of the people to God. Noah, Abraham, and others whom God meets and addresses are called not only to believe in God, but to respond with their lives to God’s call. God’s relationship with his people is consumed by covenants. When God makes an alliance with man, he is presented as the Sovereign who specifies the covenant’s obligations to both sides. the fundamental obligation on God’s side, while they will be my people, is the fundamental obligation on the human side.
For example, when God calls Abram, he says: Leave your country and your kinship with the country I will show you (Genesis 12:1) This commandment specifies an obligation on Abram’s part, but God says what He will do for you. : and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you (Genesis 12:2). God’s statements take the form of promises, blessings, and warnings. Promises and blessings point to Christ, who is fulfilling the promises and the source of God’s blessings. Warnings (curses) indicate Christ in his role as a substitute and executor of the judgment against sin, especially at his Second Coming.
Christ also has obligations on the human side of covenants; Christ is completely man and completely God; as a man, he is with his people on the human side; fulfills the obligations of covenants through their perfect obedience (Hebrews 5:8). He received the reward for his obedience in his resurrection and ascent (Philippians 2:9-10). Old Testament covenants on the human side indicate their realization in Christ.
Faced with God’s wrath on sin, Christ changed man’s situation from alienation to peace and reconciled us with God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21; Romans 5: 6-11). He brought us the privilege of a personal relationship with God, the fact that we are called children of God (Romans 8:14-17). Intimacy with God is what the whole Old Testament anticipates. In Isaiah, God declares that His servant, the Messiah, will be the covenant for his people (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8).
With covenants, the Bible focuses on a special element, namely the promise regarding the offspring of Jesus. In the covenant with Abram, God calls him to walk in his presence and to be perfect (Genesis 17:1). This is the side humano. de the alliance’s obligation. On the other hand, God promises to make him the father of the mob (Genesis 17:4) and changes the name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5). And this covenant extends to the later generations of Abraham: I will establish my covenant. between you and your offspring after you through an eternal covenant; and I will give the land of possession to you and your offspring (Genesis 17:7?8).
The promises made to Abraham are very important because they are the foundation of the nation of Israel. Abraham’s story shows that he had a son, Isaac, who was the result of God’s promise, and gave birth to the twelve tribes.
But how does all this relate to Christ? Christ is the descendant of David and Abraham (Matthew 1:1). He is Abraham’s posterity: Now the promises were made to Abraham and his offspring. He does not say, And to the seed, as if speaking of several, but as of one; and your offspring, who is Christ (Galatians. 3:16; Genesis 22: 15-18).
Abraham heard the call to walk after me and to be perfect (Genesis 17:1) He trusted God (Galatians 3:9; Hebrews 11: 8-12, 17-19) But he had his faults and sins. In the end, who walks in God’s presence and is perfect?Not Abraham! No one in this world except Christ (Hebrews 4:15). All the others who succeeded Abraham in the offspring were sinners, so the covenant with Abraham has a certain point for Christ, Christ is the final descendant to whom all the above points: Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s children, among them. , it is Judah who will have a kingdom (Genesis 49:10). David is the descendant of Abraham and Judah; Solomon is a descendant of David; followed by Jeroboam and the other descendants of David and Solomon (Matthew 1:1?16).
Christ is not simply the heir by law, but the only perfect one. Thanks to her, we are united and become descendants of Abraham (Galatians 3:29). Christians, Jews, and pagans become participants in the promise (Galatians 3:28?29).
By: Vern Sheridan Poythress.