Do you think we could sum up the message of the Old Testament in just three words? If so, I think they would be: Jesus is coming! You can see it on almost every page.
The patriarchs pondered it. Job longed for a daysman between God and men “…that might lay His hand upon us both” (Job 9:33); in so doing he anticipated the “one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5). Said the Saviour in divine retrospect, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day: and he saw it, and was glad” (Jn. 8:56). And what did Jacob behold at Peniel when he confessed, “I have seen God face to face” (Gen. 32:30)? Was it anything like what Paul described as “…the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6)? Moses saw God’s glory from the cleft of the rock at Sinai when the Lord said to him, “I will…cover thee with My hand while I pass by: and I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back parts: but My face shall not be seen” (Ex. 33:22-23). But how did that compare with what he saw on Transfiguration Mountain?
The types and shadows anticipated it. Like a thousand fingers, they pointed beyond a distant horizon; like a myriad of eyes, they peered through the mists of the uncertain years; like a chorus of voices, they called out into the long night, “He is coming!”
Surely God would not merely mock His people with a Moses who could lead his people out, but could not lead them in; with a Joshua who led them in but could not give them rest; with a David who gave them rest from their enemies, but could not win the battle for the citadel of his own heart. There must be Someone greater than Moses the Lawgiver, better than Joshua the Captain, more dependable than David the Prince. Indeed there was, and He was on the way.
He would answer to the serpent on the pole, the lion who prevails, the lamb on the altar, the sparrow alone on the housetop, and the hind chased to the death by the dogs. He would be the light in the darkness, the fountain in the wilderness, the covert in the storm, and the corn of wheat that became through death a harvest so great that only heaven’s granary could hold it.
Root and Branch, Lamb and Shepherd, Star and Sun, Cornerstone and Headstone, Servant and Sovereign, Babe and Father of Eternity—Jesus had to come!
The prophets searched for it (see 1 Pet. 1:10-11). He is Isaiah’s Sufferer (53:3), Jeremiah’s Balm of Gilead (8:22), Ezekiel’s Plant of Renown (34:29), Daniel’s Ancient of Days (7:9-11), Hosea’s Dew (14:5), Haggai’s Desire of all Nations (2:7), Zechariah’s Shepherd and Malachi’s Sun of Righteousness (4:2) among hundreds of others. If you have eyes to see it, you can watch the white light of divine truth refracted into a rainbow of exquisite types, messianic psalms, and prophetic portraits.
But if the Old Testament is described by the statement, Jesus is coming! the New Testament surely is encompassed in the triad of statements, Jesus did come! and Jesus is come! and Jesus is coming again!
He came the first time not only to fulfill the prophetic scriptures, however. Here in His own words He clarifies the reasons for the mission: “For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (Jn. 6:38). “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Mt. 5:17). “…I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (Jn. 12:47). “…the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:28). “…I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mk. 2:17). “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Mt. 10:34).
As can be seen, the complexity and number of the issues to be resolved could only be accomplished by one solitary Figure, and He, thankfully, was willing to do it. The cost of this campaign was so astronomical that the Owner of everything became poor in the process. The journey He took in coming “down from heaven” had never been traversed before. He came—for you and me.
Written by J. B. Nicholson Jr