Tag: messiah

March 9 2021

When Heaven Came Down

A. Scott Ingram Christian Life, Christian Life and Gospel Leadership, Gospel Leadership, Jesus & The Gospel, Kingdom of God Heaven, heaven came down, Is Jesus god?, Jesus & The Gospel, jesus christ, Jesus fulfilled prophecy, Jesus is God, Jesus is the messiah, messiah, prophecy fulfilled, Savior, son of God 2

Over the past few weeks, we have taken a close look at what happened when mankind fell into sin, the curse came upon creation, and heaven’s presence departed from the earth. We have seen the promise of heaven’s return, given through many pictures and metaphors, yet we have also seen the devastating reality of human life in the absence of heaven. However, 2000 years ago, in a moment unnoticed by almost all humanity, heaven returned to the earth, and since that day, nothing has been the same!

One of the biggest prayers in the Old Testament was “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down” (Isaiah 64:1). As we will see, today, God did just that.

An Unlikely King

We all know the Christmas story; how the angel came to Mary and told her she would miraculously conceive a child, though she was a virgin. The angel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

This would not be the first son of a god in the world. There had been many before; men who had been born in great palaces, rulers of empires and conquerors of nations, who had taken that title for themselves. When Israel lived in Egypt, they served the Pharaoh, who would be called the son of Amun-Ra (the Egyptian creator-god). Later, the Jews would live in exile under the rule of Babylonian and Assyrian kings, who also took the title, “son of god” for themselves. Even at the moment of Mary’s conception, Israel was living under the authority of Caesar, who was declared the “son of god” and worshipped as divine throughout the Greco-Roman world.

Yet for the child born to Mary, this title was not self-proclaimed. Although He was not born in a palace or to a wealthy family, the testimony of His birth reveals His true nature. Not only did the angel appear to Mary, but on the day of Jesus’ birth, angelic choirs sang of His coming to the shepherds in the field (Luke 2:8-21). At his dedication in the temple, His identity was proclaimed by Simeon, through the Holy Spirit’s revelation (Luke 2:25-35), followed by the prophetic declarations of His arrival by the prophetess, Anna (Luke 2:36-40). If all of that was not enough, later, at His baptism in the Jordan River, the voice of God was heard by the crowds, “this is My beloved Son, in whom I AM well pleased” (see Luke 3:22).

Though many Kings had called themselves the “son of God,” this was different. God Himself was revealing His Son to the world, and giving Him the title of King!

Prophecies Fulfilled

As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, there were many prophetic pictures given, pointing to Heaven’s return. Though many of them were masked in mystery, the New Testament goes out of it’s way to show how Jesus fulfilled them all!

He Was the Seed of Abraham

We previously discussed how in Genesis 12:2-3 God promised Abraham a son, who would lead to a global blessing. This promise, however, was not fulfilled in Isaac, nor any of Abraham’s immediate descendants. Instead, it looked forward to Jesus, as the New Testament proclaims.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
^{Galatians 3:16}

Jesus was the child of Abraham who would bless all nations.

He Was a Priest Like Melchizedek

From the days of Moses, the tribe of Levi was appointed to be the priests of the nation of Israel. This would create a problem for Jesus, who was to be born of the tribe of Judah, according to prophetic promises. However, God uses the Old Testament Priest, Melchizedek to point to Christ, who was not a priest according to the law, but according to the Spirit of God.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
^{Hebrews 5:7-10}

Although He was not a Levite, Jesus fulfilled God’s calling and design for a human priesthood, serving as mediator between God and man.

He Was God’s True Tabernacle and Temple

As we have already seen, God used various geographic locations as home to His presence among men. First, He dwelt in the Garden of Eden, where heaven literally dwelt on earth. Later, His presence came down and dwelt among Israel in the Tabernacle in the wilderness, then the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet, even these we imperfect pictures of what was to come in Christ.

Jesus made clear that His appearance marked a change in God’s relationship to humanity.

Luke writes in the book of Acts,

“Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands…
^{Acts 7:44-48 (emphasis mine)}

This is written to demonstrate that God had other plans for how to house His Spirit in the earth, and it all began with Jesus!

So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
^{John 2:18-22}

Jesus was the Temple for God’s Spirit — His presence and His glory — on the earth!

He was the Final Passover Lamb

Not only was Jesus God in the flesh, the Great High Priest and Promised King, but He was also given by God to be the ultimate sacrifice for humanity. Over and over again, all throughout the law and sacrificial system, God makes it clear that there must be a sacrifice to cover the sin of humanity and demonstrate their full faith in God.

Even Abraham prophetically declared to Isaac, when taking him to be sacrificed on the mountain, that “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8).

What we see when Jesus is killed on the cross over the passover weekend is that He truly was the Lamb of God, just as John the Baptist had spoken over Him in the wilderness (John 1:29). The night before He went to His death, He spoke to the disciples about this eternity-defining event:

And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
^{Luke 22:14-20 (emphasis mine)}

He was Declared King and Messiah

As you read through all the Old Testament’s predictions about the One who is to Come, and then look at the life of Jesus, it is undeniable that He fulfilled them all. This was not only done in word, but His actions, which astonished both the crowds and the religious elite, proved that his was a sort of man, never seen before.

At one of His first public readings of scripture, Jesus declares Himself the Messiah:

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
^{Luke 4:16-21}

After revealing who He was, Jesus lived the life to prove it:

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
^{Matthew 11:2-5}

Heaven Has Returned

In Jesus, Heaven made its return to the world in power and glory, and since that day, nothing has been the same. Prophecy revealed Him to all who were looking! All of the things the Old Testament used to demonstrate Heaven’s return to earth were pointing to a future reality which was fulfilled in Jesus, and He became the Savior of the World! And that is where we will turn our attention next.

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February 5 2021

The Promise of Heaven’s Return

A. Scott Ingram Christian Life, Christian Life and Gospel Leadership, Jesus & The Gospel, Kingdom of God heaven on earth, messiah, problem of sin, promise of god 1

Last week we looked at God’s original perfection in His creation, when heaven and earth coexisted in a place called Eden. God’s presence dwelt with mankind, and humanity had full access to everything God brought into existence. However, through one act of sin, when the man and woman doubted God’s Word, and aligned themselves with the demon-serpent, there was a rip in the creation. Adam and Eve were removed from the garden, and heaven departed earth.

However, as we will see this week, when God withdrew Himself from man, it came with a promise of a victorious return. This promise was relayed, over and over again, throughout the generations, and demonstrated in types and shadows. That is where we will fix our attention today.

The First Gospel

When God brought His judgement on humanity, due to the sin of Adam and Eve, we have already looked at the curses they (we) faced. Yet in the middle of those curses, there is one statement made to the demon-serpent that launched humanity’s hope for a redeemer, who would fix what was now broken.

In Genesis 3 we read what has been titled the “protoevangelion” or the “first gospel.” God speaks to the serpent:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
^{Genesis 3:15 (emphasis mine)}

From this one, simple sentence, we see that God is setting in motion a plan, in which a child, representing all of humanity — now in subjugation to sin, death, and the authority of the serpent — would rise up and overcome the demonic power which had taken control of God’s creation. Before Adam and Eve left the garden, there was hope of restoration!

The Seed of Abraham

The next major promise of this restoration came in a promise to a seemingly insignificant man named Abraham. God uproots Abraham from his home and family, and sends him on a journey to a new land. Then God tells him:

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
^{Genesis 12:2-3}

Now, this promise is a big deal because up to this point, God’s dealings with humanity have not really been about blessings. It was all about mitigating the rise of sin in the earth. God flooded the world to destroy all flesh, saving only righteous Noah and his family. Later, God divided humanity into various groups by confusing their languages. This was to prevent them from building a sinful, “We can be like God”-based kingdom among themselves.

Yet the promise to Abraham is one of blessing. Not just blessing for himself, but blessing through Abraham to all families of the earth.

Of course, Abraham didn’t fully understand this promise, and did some shady things along the way. Doubting God’s ability to protect him, he hid his marriage, and let his wife be taken in by other men, claiming she was only his sister. Then, doubting God’s ability to give him an heir (and the promised innumerable descendants) through his wife, he helps God out by taking a servant girl as a concubine, and giving birth to a son (one God had not promised). Nevertheless, Abraham continually returns in humility to the Lord’s presence and Word, and was counted righteous due to his faith in God’s promise (Genesis 15:6).

From this time, Abraham’s family began to grow, just as the Lord spoke. Throughout the Old Testament we continue to see the special relationship between God and humanity being reestablished through Abraham’s lineage. Just as the promise was received by faith, this relationship was to be continually cultivated by faith.

The Priesthood of Melchizedek

One of the first outworkings we see of Abraham’s faith, in relationship with God, comes in his brief encounter with Melchizedek (Genesis 14:17-20). This man is the King of Salem (translated as King of Peace). When he comes to meet Abraham, he brings out bread and wine (which should bring to mind another important “supper” in the scriptures.) And then this “Priest of the Most High God” blesses Abraham, who also gives a tithe to this priest, even though the law of Moses was still hundreds of years away.

This priest, according to Hebrews 7, was a forerunner and picture of the Messiah to come. (Full disclosure, I am of the opinion that Melchizedek is a “preincarnate appearance” of Jesus Christ, rather than only a picture. Nevertheless, Melchizedek points to a priesthood ordained by God, outside of the Mosaic law.)

The Passover Lamb

A few generations later, God has taken Abraham’s family through many good times and bad. Abraham’s family, through his son, Issac, and grandson Jacob (Israel), has flourished, and Jacob becomes father of 11 sons who would eventually grow to form the tribes of Israel.

Through the story of Jacob’s son, Joseph, at the end of Genesis, we see God’s presence upon a defendant of Abraham “blessing the whole world” by preserving them from famine, as well as giving the family space to grow from a small clan of 70 people, to a nation of hundreds of thousands 400 years later. Of course, this time of growth also shifted the people’s status in Egypt from guests to slaves. Still, God’s sovereignty was at work.

Just as He had revealed to Abraham in Genesis 15:13, after the 400 years was completed, God brought Abraham’s family out of Egypt. For their grand escape, however, the people of Israel had to once again demonstrate their trust in the Word of God, through an action that would seem barbaric to the civilized Egyptian mind. They would slaughter a lamb and use the blood as a covering for their household, so that the angel of death would “pass over’ their family. As God brought his final judgement in Egypt for Pharaoh’s sin, all the firstborn sons of every household in Egypt died, except those covered by the blood of the lamb.

This became an annual event for the Lord, remembering what God did in Egypt, but also pointing to a bigger, future event, in which God would provide a Lamb to cover the whole world and remove the power of death completely.

The Tabernacle in the Wilderness

As Abraham’s family journeyed through the wilderness, after leaving Egypt, God established His presence with them continually. First, in a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, He led them. Then as they camped near Mount Sinai, He met with Moses on the mountain, surrounded by clouds and lighting. Then finally, God commanded the people to build a tabernacle (tent) for His presence to abide in, which would be the first recreation of Eden – Heaven’s home on the earth – and would be mobile, so as to journey with the people until they reached their promised home.

This tabernacle would be the place where the priests would meet with God, interceding on behalf of the people. It would be where their sacrifices of lambs and other animals for sin would take place. And it would be the place where the glory of God would rest, in power, among the men and yet just out of their reach.

In the tabernacle, to touch God’s glory meant immediate death. Yet this earthly tent pointed to a future, better, heavenly reality, still yet to come when God’s presence would dwell with all mankind, in perfect union (see Hebrews 9).

The Promised Land

Finally, after 40 years of wandering, God brings the people into the land promised to Abraham. It was a land of blessing. It would be a land of God’s presence. But it was also a land built on a covenant. Deuteronomy 28 guarantees that so long as the people would remain faithful to God, He would fill the land with blessings and peace. Yet, if they traded their worship of Him for the worship of false Gods, and allowed sin a place in their lives, they would lose the blessing, and eventually be cast out of the land.

Even the promised land, however, was only a shadow of God’s promise still yet to come. Hebrews makes clear that when Abraham followed God from his home, he was looking for a supernatural home;

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
^{Hebrews 11:10}

Abraham was not just looking for a plot of land, but for that future city where God’s presence and reign is over all! (I believe Abraham saw ahead to the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21.)

The Throne of David

Once established in the land, the hearts of the people became hardened against the Lord. No longer being satisfied by God’s direct rule over themselves through prophets and judges, they called for a king. This sinful desire led to the Lord sending a brutal man to rule over them, just as in the other nations. A man, Saul, who would abuse the people for his own benefit. Eventually, however, in another shadow of what is to come, God supernaturally overcame King Saul and his earthly pursuits and replaced him with a heaven-focused king named David (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).

Throughout the book of 2 Samuel, and all throughout the book of Psalms, we see David set up as a picture of the Messiah-King who would one day rule all the nations. Not only would this Messiah-King be of the line of Abraham, but He would also be a son of David.

The Temple of God

After the city of Jerusalem is established as the capitol of David’s Kingdom, his one passion becomes bringing the Ark of the Covenant – the resting place of God’s presence among men – into Jerusalem. With great worship and fanfare, David achieves this goal, and sets out to build a house for the Lord. No longer a tent, that can be moved at will, but a permanent residence for the Lord among His people. Another Eden, yet still not the perfect dwelling place still to come.

God’s presence did fill the temple, and dwelt there among His people. The king would worship while the priests made atonement for sin. Picture upon picture, things were taking shape. Yet one thing kept God’s perfect plan from coming into existence.

Despite all the promises and all the forward motion set in place through these events and achievements, sin still reigned in the hearts and minds of men.

From Abraham’s sinfulness of giving away his wife and doubting God’s ability, to the Jewish rejection of Moses’ prophetic leadership (Exodus 2:14; Numbers 16:1-3), to the sons of Aaron’s sacrilegious actions in the tabernacle (Leviticus 10:1-2), to David’s sinful distractions from his relationship with the Lord (2 Samuel 11:1-5; 1 Chronicles 28:2-3), the problem has always been sin.

The Prophecies of Restoration

God’s presence cannot abide forever where the sin of man persists. Nevertheless, the promise of God for Heaven’s full return to the earth continued to be promised and proclaimed throughout the generations of Israel.

In every season of life, God raised up prophets calling people to repent of sin, and return in faith to the Lord. True, God’s judgment would come on the sin of the world (see for example Isaiah 13:11; Malachi 4:1-3; Joel 2:11), but His restoration of creation is still certain. He will overcome sin. He will rebuild what was broken. And He will dwell with mankind, personally and permanently!

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
^{Jeremiah 31:31-34}

“Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it.
^{Ezekiel 36:33–36}

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh…And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
^{Joel 2:28,32}

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
^{Isaiah 65:17}

Let’s Connect

In the next post we will look at what happened in creation from heaven’s departure, until heaven’s return. To make sure you never miss a post, please subscribe to my weekly newsletter below. I promise never to spam your inbox or share your information with others.

You can also connect with me on social media for more #ChristianLife and #GospelLeadership insights throughout the week, and to discuss what the Lord is doing, together. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Parler, and LinkedIn, and would love to see you there.

Disclaimer: The Old Testament pictures pointing to the Messiah and the coming Kingdom are many. It would take books, not blog posts, to do an in-depth presentation. I hope the brief highlights shared in this post give enough substance to the narrative to see the validity of the biblical expectations I am laying out.

If you’re enjoying the content I produce, a little caffeine to keep me going would be appreciated!

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