Lysa TerKeurst: Hi, I'm Lysa TerKeurst, with Dr. Joel Muddamalle, and this is the second
week of "Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament."
Our focus this week is Prophecies, and I really specifically want to look at, "How do we see
Jesus when we're waiting?"
You know, most of the time when I think of prophecies, I think of the typical ones we
hear during Christmas, Isaiah 9:6-7, right?
And we have this glorious declaration of a Messiah, and it's just beautiful.
And I think there are many others that we know
that the Messiah, Jesus, was prophesied in
the Old Testament, that the Messiah is coming, and I love that.
And I love also, the study technique that we do, when we say, "OK, maybe when we're
looking at prophecy, maybe it didn't just start with these that we hear at Christmastime
in Isaiah.
Maybe there is an earlier mention."
And I know we love to go and use this principle called the Law of First Mention.
And Joel, often when we do the Law of First Mention, in other words, where's the first
time that we see this prophecy in Scripture?
Where do we love to go?
Joel Muddamalle: Genesis.
LT: I know.
We've been and we always seem to turn back to Genesis.
So Joel, what was the very first prophecy that we see Jesus in the Bible?
JM: Yeah, this is so intriguing.
The very first time that we have the first image, first anticipation, first picture,
of the coming Messiah, like you can't get past Chapter 3, Genesis Chapter 3,
verse 15.
I'm just gonna read it for us, we've got it.
This is what it says--this is God speaking here.
He says, "I will put enmity between you and the woman," [He's talking to the serpent]
"I'll put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring."
Now, this is really important.
This is what He says, "He [so ask this question, who is the He?]
"He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel."
Who in the world is this He?
And when we look at this from the context of prophecy--and there's a lot of nerdy things
that we could do right now to get into the Hebrew and all that.
But what we all come to the conclusion of is, it is so clear, that the "he" is singular
in Hebrew, which means it's pointing to one person.
Who is this one person?
It's Jesus.
LT: Yes, it is.
JM: And so, we know that when we go past the pages of Scripture here, that Jesus would,
in fact, be bruised.
And He would be bruised by the enemy of God, the enemy of God's people, the serpent and
all those that follow after him.
Those are the offspring of the serpent, all those that are rebellious and against Jesus
and His people.
And yet, that momentary wounding would not be an eternal wounding.
In fact, the very person who would be bruised--and we know that this was Jesus--that person would
step on, would bruise the head, of the enemy, and that is exactly what..
LT: Would actually crush the head of the enemy,
JM: ...and crush the head of the enemy.
And this is actually what took place at the cross.
But Lysa, what's really interesting is Genesis 3:15 is often referred to--a technical term
here--it's called protoevangelion: proto means first, and evangelion is the Greek word for
gospel, the good news.
And so many would say that this is the first glimmer of the gospel.
What's really interesting is this Greek word, evangelion, and we're talking about ...
LT: OK, wait, you've got to like slow down when you say it.
I'm just gonna speak up on behalf of the average Bible study gal.
Slow down and say it one more time.
It is
JM: the proto
LT: proto
JM: -evan
LT: -evan
JM: -gelion
LT: -gelion
JM: Yeah
LT: Thank you, Joel.
JM: It's the same word that we get evangelism from.
LT: OK, who knew?
JM: It's the English word that's translated as gospel.
But we're talking about seeing Jesus in the waiting, right?
You and I live in a culture of immediacy.
Like I could right now be like, "You know what, I'm really hungry.
I could go for a pizza."
I could always go for pizza.
And I can go to Postmates and just order pizza, and I'll get a pizza from my favorite spot,
even if it's like 45 minutes away.
Now, here's what's interesting about this Greek word, evangelion.
It was a word that was used expressively in militaristic terms.
And this is the thought--a king has just won a massive battle.
He's had the significant battle, it's been won, and now he's got to send messengers,
because there are multiple battles that are taking place.
Like the king in the Ancient World can't just FaceTime all his people and be like, "Oh,
by the way, the war is done, we can stop."
LT: He's got to send out messengers.
JM: He's got to send out messengers.
LT: And it's gonna be slow.
JM: And it's gonna take time, because they've got to get on a horse and they've got to go.
And they've got to evangelion.
They've got to declare the good news of this "gospel"--the good news that the king has
won the battle.
And because the king has won the battle, all these other skirmishes that are taking place
all over here, they can stop.
But here's the thing, those battles won't stop until what?
They've heard the good news of the gospel.
LT: Wow, yep.
JM: And so, what's happening here as we think about prophecy, and as we think about the
gospel, and as we think about seeing Jesus in our waiting?
The people of God have a long history of waiting.
From Genesis 3:15 all the way until Jesus comes in the incarnation as the Messiah in
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John like, like, they have a history and tradition of waiting.
But God has been so gracious, so kind to them, that even in the midst of their waiting that
He has sent them pictures, signs, symbols, gospel messages, that their time is coming.
That the Messiah would come, and that He would, in fact, not just bruise the head, but crush
the enemy under His feet.
LT: That's right.
And I, I really love that even though we see it in Genesis 3:15, we don't see Jesus come
in person for a long time.
You just mentioned this, but they were waiting for a promise to pass.
And I know by the time we get to Malachi then--I mean, that's the last book of the Old
Testament--and there's quite a gap before we get to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John on
the timeline.
And so there's this eager anticipation for the Messiah.
But God was so good to remind us that our waiting is not in vain.
JM: That's right, that's right.
And so, we could trace even what's taking place.
We could trace the Israelites and their wilderness wandering experience.
We can trace the story of the Israelites in the exile after the northern and southern
kingdoms fall, and they're taken over by the Babylonians and the Persians.
We can talk about what you just described after Malachi, the 400 years of silence, as
they're waiting and just hoping that the Messiah would come.
And we can talk about the Israelites who lived in the time of what's called the Second
Temple Period after the first temple was destroyed.
Now this great new empire called Rome has come in, and they are, honestly, super frustrated...
LT: And desperate.
JM: ...and desperate.
And they have been waiting and waiting and waiting, and it seemed like the promise that
was given to them with such great assurance is now maybe even a fairy tale.
Like would this take place?
And I think, Lys, this is sometimes the way that God works.
Sometimes when we get to that place where we're just like, "I just don't think this
is ever going to happen."
Right in front of us, the miraculous takes place.
LT: And just like them, it came in such an unexpected way that many people missed...
JM: Yes.
LT: ... that baby, infant Jesus, was the Messiah.
And I know from studying, studying in depth really, how harsh the Romans were with the
people, I understand why they were wanting the Messiah to come and be a reigning, ruling
king, to take over Rome and ease the ache of the, just brutality, that the Romans were
putting on God's people.
And yet, God had such a beautiful plan in mind for a complete Messiah to be a complete
Savior.
He wasn't just going to be a temporary, earthly king to ease the ache of that time.
God was going to ease the ache of humanity for all time.
And so, I think it's interesting too, the way Jesus came.
It was prophesied that way.
And still, it was missed by so many people.
And so I think we have to be careful when we are praying and asking God--there's two
things that I always try to remember.
God loves to answer our prayers, but He will not answer them at any other time than the
right time, and in any other way than the right way.
JM: Yeah, that's so good.
There's a famous song by U2, guy named Bono, and they've got the song that's called, I
Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For.
And I hear that song often, and I just think, "Huh, maybe it's because you're looking for
the wrong thing."
LT: Wow.
JM: And I think that's exactly what's happening with the Israelites.
And here's what I just know to be true in my life.
I think you can say this to be true in your life.
That those moments of waiting, they can just feel brutal.
They can feel like it's worthless.
It can feel like it's painful, that that waiting just feels like this drug out, just endless
timeline of a situation.
LT: And almost like pointless pain and unnecessary suffering.
JM: And unnecessary suffering.
But let's look at the people of Israel one more time.
They wanted an earthly king and an earthly ruler, and their waiting was so frustrating.
But it's because what they were longing for wasn't what was best for them eternally.
They wanted an immediate fix.
They wanted to deal with their present situation.
Yet God is too good to even allow our short-sighted understanding of what would benefit us to
overcome what is the best thing for His people.
And so, God is always going to act out of what is best for you and me in the long run.
And it was for Jesus as the Messiah, to go on a cross, a symbol of total death, and to
die on a cross, only to overcome death itself three days later.
And here's an interesting thing, Lys.
It took over 400 years after the death of Jesus on the cross, for the cross to switch
from a symbol of defeat into a symbol that we now wear on chains or as earrings or...
LT: Of hope and salvation.
JM: ... Of hope and salvation.
And guess what?
400 years is a long amount of time of waiting.
I think there are some of us that have experienced or are in the middle of the waiting right
now.
We're waiting for a spouse.
We're waiting for a marriage to be what we envisioned for it to be in the very beginning,
maybe when we weren't married.
We're waiting for children.
We're waiting for our job, either to get a job or to get a promotion for the job that
we've always wanted.
I mean, we have an endless amount of things that we are waiting for.
And I just wonder, what would take place if we took a marked moment right now, today,
for us to take a step back and say, "OK, in the middle of my waiting, what is God doing
and how is He shaping me?
And how is He forming me?"
Because one of the most important things for the people of Israel was for them to practice
faithfulness in the middle of their waiting.
LT: So good.
And I pray that as we go through this week and study Prophecy, that we will remember,
it wasn't just prophecy in the Old Testament.
It became a promise kept in the New Testament, and that is the encouragement in our waiting.
That it's not just that God says He will be there for us or He will answer and provide
for us, maybe not in the exact way we expected.
But God, again, is never a do-nothing God.
He's always doing something.
So I pray the week of Prophecy this week reminds you so deeply that God is a promise keeping
God.
As we see Jesus in the Old Testament, we can see Him working in our life as well.