For what had all Israel been waiting expectantly for so many centuries? The Old Testament is littered with breadcrumbs as to the plan God, and many consist of specific promises from the Father. The following five verses are five anchors I like to keep memorized in my head (I learned this list from Phil Roberts in his Old Testament History class at Florida College 20+ years ago).
- God made a promise to the serpent in Gen. 3.15
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
After Adam and Eve committed the sin of all sins, God cursed them, but he gave this glimmer of hope to mankind, a sliver of light in the darkness. One of the woman’s descendants (why specify the woman?!) would one day bruise the head of the serpent (who we know to be Satan from Rev. 12). This indicates a death blow.
- God made a promise to Abraham in Gen. 22.18
“in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”
This is quoted in Gal. 3.16 and specifically applied to our Lord. God had a plan from the beginning to bless all nations through Abraham’s seed, Christ.
- God made a covenant with Israel in Exod. 24
And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
God chose a covenant people for himself—the Israelites. He wrote his laws on tablets of stone and entered into a covenant with them forever. This covenant was meant as a teaching tool, not as the fullness of God’s solution to man’s sin (see Gal. 3). Moses and the people ratified the covenant with the blood of bulls, which foreshadowed the blood of God’s true sacrifice in Christ.
- God made a promise to David in 2 Sam. 7
“Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
David wanted to build God a house, but God said, “No, that is not My will—I will build your house!” This outstanding blessing was also realized in Jesus. To Mary the angel said:
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
- God made a promise to the Jews in Jer. 31.31-34—a new covenant; the forgiveness of sins!
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Notice the language of Ezek. 36.22-36 and 37.24-38 and 39.25-29. These prophecies and others of similar kind (i.e., Joel 2.26-32) promised a brand-new day for the Jewish nation. They were looking forward to having this new spirit and new heart and YHWH destroying their enemies and David sitting on the throne. Can you imagine the expectation?