Messianic Prophecy CA314 LESSON 09 of 24 Louis Goldberg, ThD Experience: Professor of Theology and Jewish Studies, Moody Bible Institute We left off last time with the third term of the Abrahamic covenant. We suggested that this was a term which guaranteed a historical continuity for as long as there is a history of the human race. We suggested that there is a general aspect here where God has a promise for all the descendants of Abraham. Coming at it, for example, from the other side of history, we note in Isaiah 19:23 24 and 25 that there will be a day in the messianic kingdom when all the sons of Abraham will be living at peace with one another. However, I say this as a general situation because it was possible in the carrying out of God s Word that some of the other side, shall we say, of the line of Abraham s descendants where a curse was placed on one of the families. And in Ezekiel 35:3 5 we find that God cursed the Edomites because of the way they had treated their brethren, the Israelites. The occasion in Ezekiel 35 is the situation where after Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Israel and Judah and had destroyed the temple, the Solomonic temple, the Edomites rejoiced over it. And for that, God cursed the Edomites, and across the centuries we find that the Edomites simply became no more. So I say that there is a very general aspect in this term for all the sons of Abraham, but on one side of this line it is possible still for God to place a curse on one of the families. Now let s see this term insofar as the particular aspect is concerned. We saw the prophecy in Genesis 17:7. On the right side let s note the fulfillment. In Genesis 17:21 God makes a statement: But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year. So now we are going to particularize. We re picking out Isaac of all the sons of Abraham. We are going to further particularize with Abraham s grandsons, and we find that when we get to Genesis 26:4 God says, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. So now we are limiting another aspect of the line. The particularization continues, and we come to Genesis 28:14. The background concerns Jacob, who is fleeing from the wrath of his brother, Esau, and God appears to Jacob on the way. 1 of 7
God makes certain promises now to Jacob even though Jacob is in the situation that he is. But nevertheless, God says in Genesis 28:14, Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Note this phrase in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. It became a phrase that was applied in a very particular way when you come to the New Testament, but we ll be talking about this a little bit later on. In a very particular way now the continuity, the historical continuity, of the line of Jacob is guaranteed by the very word of God so that no matter whatever happened to the descendants of Jacob, they re always a part of history in spite of their reverses, in spite of their persecutions across the centuries. They are still with us to this day, and the only reason they are with us to this day is because of God s word. He saw to it, and He continues to see to it that the descendants in a very particular way of Jacob are here as a part of the earth s scene. We have to take this into account and make it a part of our theology. A fourth term has to do with land. The descendants of Abraham have to live somewhere, and we come now to another national prophecy that has been fulfilled. Let s first of all deal with the particular, and for this we have to go to Genesis 15:18. There God meets with Abraham in a particular way. We find that the actions of Abraham here, the dividing out of the animals and the offering up of these animals in the particular way that he did, the cutting them and dividing them in the way that he did, was all a part of the culture of the day. We know from the Mari tablets in the archaeological research that there was a specific way in the Middle East by the manner in which covenants were ratified. But besides this now, God makes the statement in Genesis 15:18, On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. We don t understand by the river of Egypt the river Nile. Some scholars might want to hold to that on both the Jewish as well as the Christian side. I think that the river Egypt here is the old boundary line between Canaan and Egypt and flows out into the Mediterranean at a town called today El-Arish; so from that to the great river, the river Euphrates. This becomes particularized, 2 of 7
as we have already noted insofar as a third term is concerned. In Genesis 26:3 God speaks now to Isaac, Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you. Which land? The land that was already spelled out to Abraham in Genesis 15. The particularization continues in Genesis 28:13: And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Which land? The land that was already promised to Abraham in Genesis 15:18. The word is further spelled out in Genesis 35:12: The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, And I will give the land to your descendants after you. So these are the promises that were made, the particular promises concerning land in the Middle East. How was this spelled out? We need to see in subsequent passages of Scripture as to what happened in the biblical history. In Joshua 18:10, after the Israelites had conquered a certain part of the land, Joshua calls the heads of the tribes together and begins to apportion the land. Which land? The land that was promised insofar as the Abrahamic covenant; this fourth term is concerned particularly with Genesis 15:18. In David we find that the greatest portion of the land that ever did belong to Israel was in David s hands; however, I must add that not all that was promised to Abraham has ever been in the hands of Israel. In other words, the specific land as indicated to Abraham never was fully in the hands of the sons of Jacob. There is coming a day, however, when this will be true; in a day of the messianic kingdom. In Ezekiel 47:13 and following, we find very specifically the boundaries of the land in accordance with this particular term from Genesis 15:18. But then some may come back and may say, What about the other sons of Abraham? Don t they have a portion of the land? Where are they supposed to live? I think it s very significant that God did spell out what was to belong to the sons of Jacob. In time they were the smallest of all the descendants of Abraham. We know this from Deuteronomy 7; however, God did make in a very general way again a word concerning the other sons of Abraham. In Genesis 25:6, Abraham settles with the six sons who were born to Keturah. You have to settle here because inheritance rights are involved. And before he ever dies he makes this settlement so that these six boys of Abraham will not have any further claims on what Abraham has and what he is going to give to Isaac. And so in Genesis 25:6: but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, in contrast, you see, to what is in verse 5. Isaac is the legal 3 of 7
heir of Abraham, but in order to avoid any claims by the other six children, Abraham makes his settlement. He gave gifts while he was still living and now note: [he] sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east. True, we have here a very general description of the rest of the Middle East, but I think this is exactly the point: that to the other side of the line, to the rest of the descendants of Abraham, the rest of the Middle East could be their home. Of the smallest of the descendants, the sons of Jacob, their land is very carefully spelled out. But concerning the rest of the Middle East, that was to belong to the other sons of Abraham, and this becomes very important. The Middle East is the home for all the sons of Abraham. I think that Christians should recognize this. This is God s Word; this is something which should be seen insofar as the sovereignty of God is concerned. So there are four terms then insofar as the Abrahamic covenant is concerned. Let s move on to still another prophecy, which I think is very important, and I decided to treat this separately. It should be another term of the Abrahamic covenant to what we have already indicated, but I m indicating it separately. It is also a part of the Abrahamic covenant, and this is the aspect of blessing. Let s note in Genesis 12:2 3: these were words that the Lord offered to Abraham, the promise that He was giving to him if Abraham would be obedient to Him. And I might say here, aside from our general aspect here, this is how God works with us. He makes promises when we are obedient and when we do what He asks us to do. He doesn t sit down and reason a way with us or bargain with us. If we are obedient, He makes us the promises, and this is how we work with God. Notice what God says here in Genesis 12:2 3: And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. This is further spelled out, and we ve already mentioned in Genesis 26:4 that was a promise that God made to Isaac: in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. It was a word that was further particularized to Jacob: in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 4 of 7
Insofar as the fulfillment is concerned, let s note that there is a literal application here; that is, what we are talking about are the literal descendants of Abraham through Jacob. We re following the particularization now, and we are suggesting that the families of the earth would be blessed through the literal descendants. How? Let s note that after God provided the Mosaic covenant with Israel, and as they moved on into the land, the Promised Land, let s note how the people as they lived in accordance with His word, let s note that many peoples were attracted to the people of Israel. We ve already mentioned that Rahab and Ruth came from the pagan countries surrounding Israel and became a part of the commonwealth of Israel. By the time we come to David we find that many of the peoples of the Middle East did likewise. The greatest impact was made in the time of the Babylonian exile and following. Synagogues were established. The first aspect of the synagogue was probably in the Babylonian exile but certainly in the Greek Empire and then in its divisions, and by the time you come to the first century AD, synagogues of Jewish people were all over the then known world. We find that these synagogues invited and attracted the pagan peoples so that in the synagogues and in the teaching of the Word of God that went on in these synagogues and through the preaching of the Word of God that took place in these synagogues, many pagan peoples responded. They became proselytes, and if they did not become full proselytes, at least they were regarded as partial proselytes because they did attend. They came to the synagogues, and in that sense we find that the sons of Jacob became a blessing to the people of the earth. This will continue in a tremendous way when the nation Israel does receive its Messiah. And we find that in a day when they ll be in full favor with both spiritual and material blessings, they will be a blessing also to the rest of the peoples of the earth. But we must also see from the New Testament point of view the particular fulfillment. So once again, if you re laying this out on paper, you would have shown the literal descendants as blessings, you would have indicated the passages on the left side and the fulfillment on the right side. But now, let s look at the particulars. So once again, we list the passage on the left side, Genesis 12:2 3, and then the particular on the right side. When we come to the first century, we find that Jesus as the Messiah became, He presented Himself to the nation. He eventually became the sacrifice, the atonement for sin, and when people believed upon Him for eternal life, we find that of all the sons of Abraham one particular one now becomes special blessing, and in two or three passages of the Word of God, we find that both Peter and Paul emphasize this. In Acts 3:25 as Peter now speaks to Jewish people: It is you who are 5 of 7
the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED. For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. One of all the seed of Abraham, Jesus as the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior, takes on specific blessing now so that salvation is the result. Paul emphasizes this insofar as the Gentiles are concerned, and when we turn to the book of Galatians, Galatians 2:8, Paul spells this out. For example, in Galatians 2:8 he declares, For He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles. But also Paul declares in Galatians 3:8, The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU. And then by way of application we find in verse 16 of this same chapter: Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, And to seeds, as referring to many, but rather to one, And to your seed, that is [by application, the Messiah], Christ. So we find that in this one term a blessing first through the people Israel in regard to the Word of God and then eventually in point of time to the Messiah who, when people will believe in Him, will also have eternal life as well as an abundant life here. Let s note still another lesson from the Pentateuch. Let s note Isaac as a type study. We had already suggested the tie on an inferred basis, not innate, because nowhere in the Scriptures, the New Testament, do we find that Isaac is singled out as a type of Christ, but certainly there is a very definite inferred aspect here. When you re laying this out then on paper, you would have Isaac and Messiah and then the Old Testament passage, Genesis 22:2 3, and the New Testament passage, John 3:16. Now note two similarities. One: we established the connection between Isaac and Christ. As Isaac is the only son whom God loves, Genesis 22:2, so Jesus is the unique Son of God, John 3:16, whom God loves, Matthew 3:17. Obviously, this is a very strong case for an inferred type. As a second similarity, let s note that as Isaac was offered, Genesis 22:2, so Jesus was given, John 3:16. Isaac was offered by Abraham to God, but Jesus was given as a sacrifice as well on behalf of the whole world, John 3:16. Beyond this I don t want to go and look for other similarities. I think what we do is look for the most obvious, and we don t try to strain the situation and look for something that becomes questionable. 6 of 7
Let s note also a dissimilarity between Isaac and the Messiah. Let s note that as Isaac was offered, Genesis 22:2, yet replaced by a ram, Genesis 22:13, so Jesus was Himself given, but now comes the dissimilarity and this meant that Jesus died, John 3:16. So we note that while Isaac was offered, yet in the last step God provided a ram to be offered in the place of Isaac, but when God gave His Son, there was no substitute there. He Himself became the sin bearer, and then He Himself died. We ll see this in an even better way when we get to the Levitical offerings, but there certainly is a dissimilarity in this sense between Isaac and Christ. I trust that you are trying to lay these out on paper as I ve indicated for you to do, and I trust that you are acquiring a technique, so to speak, in providing the historical background if necessary and then the Scripture, laying them out side by side in the case of prophecies that you indicate the prophecy on the left and the fulfillment on the right, and that you re also laying out this matter of the types. We trust that this will become a blessing to you. I think that as you work with the Word of God, as you lay it out there in front of you, you ll see the Scripture take on new meaning for you. Our next passage from the Pentateuch is Jacob. We won t be able to say too much because we re coming to the end of this lesson, but let s note the historic background of Jacob before we deal with a messianic prophecy concerning Jacob and his son Judah. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 7 of 7