By Ron Bartanen The long-held Jewish
expectation of the coming of the Messiah (Christ, Anointed One) was based upon
the promises given in the Scriptures.
Beginning with the promise of the woman’s “seed” bruising the serpent’s
(Satan’s) head (Genesis 3:15), other promises followed. Of the sons of Adam and Eve, Seth was chosen
of God to begin that lineage (Gen. 4:24-25).
Later, as God sought to bring destruction upon an increasingly wicked
world, one of Seth’s descendants—Noah—“found grace in the eyes of the LORD”
(Gen. 6:8), and was spared, with his family.
God made choice of his sons, choosing Shem to be the seed-bearer.(Gen.
9:26-27). His descendants are identified
as Semites—the Jews and Arabs. From the
lineage of Shem God called faithful Abraham, giving him promise that all
nations would be blessed in him (Gen. 12:3).
Of his sons, one was the son of promise--Isaac (Gen. 17:`19; 26:4). Isaac had twin sons, Jacob and Esau, and God
chose Jacob (later named “Israel”) as the one through whom the seed would come
(Gen. 27:29). Of Jacob’s 12 sons, to be
the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel, Judah was chosen to be ancestor to the
coming lawgiver (Messiah) (Gen. 49:8-10.
Almost 600 years later David was established as king over Israel, and to
his house (descendants) “for ever” (2 Sam. 7:8-16). About 300 years later, and about 700 years
before Jesus Christ was born, the prophet Isaiah was to prophesy of the birth
of a child whose name would be called “Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” who would occupy the throne of
David “even for ever” (Isa. 9:6-7). The
New Testament identifies that promised “seed” of woman, Seth, Shem, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David as Jesus Christ. While Jewish Scripture
had been given by inspiration of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17), and so-recognized by the
Jews, yet they failed to see that the Messiah (Christ) they were expecting
must, “according to the Scriptures” , die for our sins, be buried and
resurrected (1 Cor. 15:1-4). The death
of the Christ had been foreseen in the numerous blood sacrifices under the Old
Covenant. A few of the passages
depicting His death are Psa. 22; Isa. 53:1-11; Dan. 9:26a; Zech. 12:10; 13:6-7.
Not anticipating the
Messiah’s death, they also overlooked scriptures that spoke plainly of His
resurrection. David had plainly
indicated this in Psa. 16:10: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (hades),
neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption [decay].” Peter was to later quote this passage as he
preached Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 2:4).
Paul did likewise in Acts 13:33-35.
As the earlier verses (vs. 1-18) of Psa. 22 prophesied of the death of
the Messiah, verses 19-21 has the suffering Savior praying for deliverance
“from the lion’s (Satan’s) mouth”, which is then followed in verses 22-24 by a
praise-hymn, thanking God for delivering Him.
The suffering Christ of Isa. 53, after being seen as “cut off” from the
living, has His days prolonged (vs. 8 & 10). In the Old Testament
Scriptures God also used symbols or types to prefigure things to come,
including Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Isaac, as the promised son of Abraham, was typically, though not
literally, offered by Abraham as a burnt offering on a mountain of Moriah, near
Jerusalem, but his life was spared, which is seen as typical of Jesus being
offered on Mt. Calvary in Jerusalem, and His life being spared in the
resurrection. The writer of Hebrews
recognized this symbol, when he wrote that Abraham accounted “that God was able
to raise him [Isaac] up, even from the dead: from whence also he received him
in a figure” (Heb. 11:19). The account
of Jacob’s beloved son, Joseph (Gen.
37-47) may, in many respects, be seen as a type of Christ. Rejected by his brothers, (symbolic of the rejection of Christ by the Jews, he was
put in a pit (symbolic of death) and emerged from the pit (symbolic of
resurrection), and goes into the far country of Egypt where he is enthroned,
second only to the Pharaoh (symbolic of Jesus’ reign at the Father’s right hand
in the far country of heaven). There he
became the savior of his people and others by providing grain for bread
(symbolic of Jesus’ provision of the bread of life in His mediatorial
reign). Jesus made reference to “the
sign of the prophet Jonah” as being typical of His resurrection from the dead,
saying, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so
shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”
(Matt. 12:39-40). While many, including
religionists, minimize the reliability of Scripture, and even treat the
resurrection of Christ as a myth, His resurrection stands as a verification of
Scripture and also of His being the Son of God (Acts 13:33; Rom. 1:3-4). Death,
the enemy feared by all (Heb. 2:15), has been vanquished by Him who has “the
keys of death and of Hades” (Rev. 1:17-18).
Have you been buried and raised with Him? (Rom. 6:3-4) |
- Ronald Bartanen is a
retired minister who for many years served the Lord's church in Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. After the passing of his beloved
wife, Doris, Ron has relocated from Illinois to Florida where he is near
family. He may be contacted at: ron33dor@yahoo.com
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