Jesus is all over the Old Testament, if you know where to look. We looked at two of His pre-incarnate (before He was born as a baby) appearances (to Daniel and to Isaiah) yesterday.
It is so beautiful to see Old Testament prophecies which tell of Him, as well. We encounter one of those in Isaiah 7:14. In this chapter, God is continuing His warning that judgment is coming to The Land (the land of Israel), and that it's coming soon.
Then, in the middle of that we see verse 14, which stands out like a beacon! With this verse God is telling His people that peace will come, and the sign of that coming peace will be this: a virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son.
Now, let's stop and look at that for a minute. If you read about family lineage in the Old Testament, the verbiage is most often something like this:
"XXX knew his wife, and she gave birth to YYY." or
"Mister begat Little Mister (his son) by Mrs."
There is always a "baby daddy" mentioned in there somewhere!
The absence of a male procreator in verse 14 is obvious by it's omission. I'm sure that Jewish scholars wondered about this verse for centuries and that it made no sense to them. That's because it does not make earthly sense; it does, however, make "God sense".
It says that a young woman, a virgin, would somehow become pregnant and give birth to a son. Furthermore, instead of naming the child after a human father (which the baby did not have), she would call the baby Immanuel, which means "God-With-Us".
If we look at the account in Luke 1 and 2, we see this prophecy fulfilled. Mary's visit by the angel, who told her what would occur, is recorded in Luke 1:26-35. In verse 34, Mary states very clearly that she has never had sexual relations with a man. The archangel, Gabriel, goes on to explain how this conception would occur, in verse 35.
"The angel answered,
'The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, Son of God."
The angel references the unbelievable pregnancy of Mary's much older cousin, Elizabeth, who was famous for her barrenness, and ends his announcement with
"Nothing, you see, is impossible with God."
Don't you love that? No matter what your situation is today, NOTHING is impossible with God.Let's go back to Isaiah 7 just a minute and look at verses 15-16. This is how it is translated in The Message:
"By the time the child is twelve years old, able to make moral decisions, the threat of war will be over. Relax, those two kings that have you so worried will be out of the picture."
Truly, by the time Jesus was a young man of 12 years old, the two kings of Isaiah's day were long gone. Another underlying key point is that Jesus' coming would bring peace, both a temporary peace to Jerusalem and, more importantly, a peace in the hearts of mankind. This is why one of His names is Prince of Peace. Isaiah elsewhere calls Him by this title, and we'll examine that passage later. (If you want to look ahead, it's Isaiah 9:6.)
True peace on the earth will be ushered in by Jesus Christ when He returns. In the meantime, the peace He brings is a peace of the heart, a spiritual peace with God - - - "God With Us". I am so amazed at how, in the Old Testament, God's Holy Spirit rested upon certain people to differing degrees, but we have the awesome privilege of having His Holy Spirit in our hearts continually and forever! This is perfect peace. (Isaiah 26:3)
In the meantime, until He returns, He himself told us that following Him, being His disciple, would be rocky. Look at Matthew 10:34 - -
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
This means that, while as Christ followers we have the peace of God in our hearts, being reconciled and made right with God through His Son, Jesus, we will also encounter opposition and even persecution because of our identity with Him. Earthly peace will not arrive until Jesus returns to earth, conquers evil and sets up His kingdom.
How incomparable, the revelation of our God to us! Praise His name!
Dear God, our Father, nothing is impossible with You! May we, as Mary did (Luke 1:38) proclaim, "I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say." Do Your "impossible" work in us and through us today! In Jesus' name, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment