A CRUCIAL CENTERPOINT

The whole Hebrew Scriptures chart the history of the chosen race, while recording the story ‘warts and all’. Prophets, priests and kings cannot solve the radical problem. Burnt offerings galore and mitzvots a-plenty would never be sufficient to atone for sin.

The need for blood sacrifice simply displayed the justice of God demanding life for life. The Sacrificial system pointed to a yet to come Sacrifice. The age of Kings pointed to Another King. The High Priest and his practice paved the way for a Great High Priest.

So was this all this spoken of in the center of the book? Yes, most certainly, yes.

From Mess to Messiah

Prophet after prophet spoke of One who would come, the Son of Man, the Son of David. We could multiply texts (and would happily supply you with a New Testament which charts the hundreds of Hebrew Scriptures fulfilled). But we must remain somewhat brief. So we turn to the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 1:2-4

‘Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken. I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.’

Yes, there was a mess. While the Gentile nations of the world lived in utter shame, the chosen race was not doing much better. What to do? The promises of Genesis 3 concerning a Coming One to crush the Enemy, or of Jeremiah concerning a New Covenant following the broken one, or of Ezekiel concerning an outpouring of the Ruach to revive dead bones  - all of this pointed to a Messianic Arrival, an Redemptive Sacrifice, and a gracious outpouring of the Spirit bringing a new birth to those who put their faith in the Messiah alone.

Isaiah 7:14,

‘… the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’

Isaiah 9:6-7

‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.’

The Messiah Jesus fulfilled this. He was the Anointed and Appointed, the High Priest and Sacrifice, the King and Suffering Servant.

Isaiah 53:1-6

‘Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’

Wow! That sounds like the Christian New Testament! Yes, it does. But it was written 700 years prior!

The cross of Jesus was the crucial center-point of the whole Story, ‘going by the Book!’

But His death was not the end. Raised on the third day as Victor over death, He was seen, testified to by hundreds, and preached in the Jerusalem Temple, and in synagogues across the known world. Christianity was and is Jewish! And it is the most Jewish thing a Jewish person can do - to believe in their Jewish Messiah!

Now of course the rabbis have a different story. But unfortunately it is insufficient. Nothing else deals with the problem of sin, except a Sinless Savior.