God’s Storybook of Redemption
“Whence but from Heaven could men unskilled in arts, in several ages born, in several parts, weave such agreeing truths?” -John Dryden
What’s black and white and red all over? The Bible!
By “red,” I mean that it is red with the blood of Jesus Christ: the recurring theme of the Bible. From the very first man Adam, who was clothed with the skins of slain animals, on through to the priests’ sacrifices established under the Law of Moses: all was leading up to the redemption of mankind through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This story of redemption is the over-arching theme of the Bible.
For our Lord Himself has said:
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. -John 5:46
Those are some bold words, but they are true nonetheless.
Prophecies fulfilled
From the initial fall of mankind thousands of years before Jesus came to earth, all the way up to the ironic prophesy of the wicked high priest Caiaphas shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion: everything was pointing toward Jesus’ mighty act.
God had promised to send a man to bruise Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15), and Caiaphas had prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation of Israel (John 11:50-51). And everywhere in between these roughly 4,000 years, God dropped hints, prophecies, and lessons to teach and prepare mankind for His coming kingdom. God had foretold (sometimes thousands of years ahead of time), that a Savior was coming, and this would be someone who:
- would come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
- would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)
- would be betrayed by a close friend (Psalm 41:9)
- would have people cast lots for his clothing (Psalm 22:18)
- would be a descendant of king David (Jeremiah 23:5)
All this is just the tip of the iceberg. Seemingly innumerable prophecies and references to a Savior are made all throughout the Bible, though perhaps none are so dramatic as that of the suffering servant spoken of in Isaiah, written hundreds of years before the incarnation of Jesus Christ:
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
-Isaiah 53:3-11
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