The One and Only
Years ago a hydroelectric dam was to be built across a valley in Maine. The people in the town were to be relocated and the town itself submerged.
During the time between the initial decision and the completion of the dam, the town, which had once been well-kept, fell into disrepair. Why keep it up now?
Explained one resident: "Where there is no faith in the future, there is no hope in the present."
Tonight we begin a series looking forward to Christmas, dealing specifically with the prophetic promises about the coming savior. When man fell in the garden, a terminal sentence was pronounced on the human race, but God was not willing to leave his beloved creation helpless nor hopeless so into the despair of a fallen world destined for destruction God spoke a word of hope. He assured the world that He had a plan for a hope and a future. Those assurances are called prophecy and tonight I want to begin by looking at the first hints of God’s plan as he begins to reveal it to the world.
1. The First Hint of a Plan
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
Here even at the moment that God’s original creation had been marred by man’s choice to sin, God reveals that he had a plan already in place to deal with sin and it’s consequences and to restore His relationship to mankind.
>>Progressive Revelation
2. Offspring of Abraham
Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring [1] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
God’s selection of Abraham was not exclusive but because in Abraham he found a man who would obey him and through whom he could purify a line of descendents who would trust in God and who would be looking forward to God’s plan. And again he assures the world there is a plan and now he has narrowed down the field some more.
The seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head would come from the desendents of Abraham—through him all the nations of the world would be blessed.
3. Isaac’s descendant
Gen 26: 2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring [1] all nations on earth will be blessed,
4. Tribe of Judah
8 "Judah, [2] your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 You are a lion’s cub, O Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness-who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs [3]
and the obedience of the nations is his.
From this passage is derived the Messianic Title “The Lion of the Tribe of Judah”
Notice now that God in His sovereignty has not always chosen the natural course—Rueben was the firstborn
5. Son of David
psalm 132: 11 The LORD swore an oath to David,
a sure oath that he will not revoke:
"One of your own descendants
I will place on your throne-
12 if your sons keep my covenant
and the statutes I teach them,
then their sons will sit
on your throne for ever and ever."
Jeremiah 23
5 "The days are coming," declares the LORD ,
"when I will raise up to David [1] a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
Son of David becomes the best known of the Messianic titles and one that is often given to Jesus in the Gospels. One that the Gospel Authors specifically note in detail that he qualifies for.
Why, because it shows that in Jesus we have the One and only—the one the world has been waiting for. The one who will deal finally with sin and it’s consequences and restor us to Him.
Application
So what does it teach us?
First that god is a God of the plan—Even if we want to, we can’t derail his plan.
Even in the darkness of the fall he shows the promise of his plan. To us he says For I know the plans I have for you Plans to prosper you and not to harm plans to give you a hope and a future.
Notice in that passage he doesn’t feel compelled to explain every detail of the plan.
Which brings us to the second point—we don’t have to know every detail of the plan to be able to trust in the author of the plan.
Often he reveals His plan progressively, giving more information when the time is right for us to understand more, but the fact that he fulfilled his grandest plan in the person of Jesus is assurance that He is working in our lives too.
