Summary
Prepared: How God Readied His People to Receive the Christ
Every good gift takes planning, and the gift of the Messiah was planned in eternity. Before sin entered through Adam and Eve—indeed, before God ever spoke the words "let there be"—the Lord had already determined to give His creation a Savior. The plan began in the vast nothingness when there was God and only God, and was set into motion the moment creation was spoken into being.
But the Lord did not simply plan the gift; He spent millennia preparing His people to receive it. The Old Testament is one long string of hints, promises, and prophecies pointing forward to Christ. Israel needed this preparation because, as the Lord warned Moses in Deuteronomy 31:16-17, the people would forsake Him and turn to foreign gods. In response, God said He would hide His face from them—a sobering reversal of the Aaronic blessing prayed over them, "the Lord make his face shine upon you" Numbers 6:25. The history that follows in Judges and the books of Samuel bears this out: rebellion, plundering, enemies like the Philistines, and the steady ache of a people in need of rescue.
Into that history God spoke a remarkable promise to David through the prophet Nathan. David had wanted to build a house for the Lord; the Lord answered by promising to build a house for David. In 2 Samuel 7:12-14, Yahweh pledged to raise up an offspring from David's body whose kingdom and throne would be established forever, declaring, "I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me." Solomon would build a temple, but Solomon's temple was temporary and Solomon himself was not the everlasting king. The true offspring was the promised Messiah—Jesus Christ, who called His own body the temple John 2:19 and in whom all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. This promise also quietly unveils the eternal Trinitarian relationship: an eternal Father must, by definition, have an eternal Son.
Tucked inside the promise is a startling line: "When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings." Solomon sinned but did not bear such punishment. Jesus committed no sin, yet He bore the discipline that all humanity deserved. Isaiah 53:4-6 fills out the picture: "He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities... and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." The gift God had been preparing to give cost Him everything. It wounded, crushed, and bruised His Son—and by those wounds we are healed.
And the threat of the rod is followed immediately by an unbreakable promise of steadfast love: "But I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from Saul." Echoed in Psalm 89:33-36, the Lord swears by His holiness that David's line will continue forever. The throne of David is established not by political dynasty but by the blood of Jesus Christ—blood shed for David, for Israel, and for us. God's love prevails over every iniquity, and in Christ the Lord no longer hides His face but looks upon His people with favor.
The final hint comes from Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, just before the account of Jesus' birth: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty Savior for us in the house of his servant David" Luke 1:68-72. Centuries of promises converge in a manger. The question the season presses on every hearer is the one that gives the “Prepared” 12-23-18 message its name: are you prepared to receive Him? The Lord has been preparing His people from before the foundation of the world to welcome their King—the best gift ever given.
Video citations
- "Prepared" 12-23-18 — I can't believe it. Two days. Two days. Christmas is in two days. And one of the best things about Christmas. Let's be honest here are the gifts. We all like getting gifts. Even if you're not a…