header

The First Coming of Jesus Christ Seen from the Old Testament (2)
by Samson Hutagalung

The Seed of Abraham (Gen. 12:3; ref. Matt. 1:1)

As a result of the disobedience of our first parents, there is a separation of man from God. This separation can be seen not only as a spiritual separation but also a separation in which God did not speak to mankind for a period of time after the fall. During this period the descendants of Adam had done terrible sins before the Lord. The Bible said that there was only one man who was just and perfect in that generation namely Noah (Gen. 6:9). The sins of those people were so great in the eyes of the Lord. For this reason, the Lord had to show His wrath to this world through the universal flood (Gen. 7-8). All things in this world died except Noah and his family and the things which were in the Ark.  Nevertheless, from the time of Adam to Noah, hundreds of years had passed; God did not give further description of the promise of the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15).

However the Bible tells us that after the flood the descendants of Noah began to repopulate the world. From the three sons of Noah, Shem was the one whom God chose from which the line of the coming Messiah would come (Gen. 9:26). It can be clearly seen the genealogy of Abraham in Genesis 11:10-30, that Abraham was from the line of Shem. Henceforth, Abraham was the main character whom God had chosen that through his descendants, the Messiah would come. The clear affirmation of this truth is seen in Genesis 12:1-3 in the time God called Abraham. This is the reaffirmation of the promise of the first coming of Jesus Christ. Thus, it is right to say that it is an enlargement of the protoevangelion of Genesis 3:15.[18] Reich rightly opines that this verse is “The prophecy concerning of the Seed of woman, becomes the promise of the Seed of Abraham.”[19] Kligerman furthermore said,

This is more then the promise of ‘The Hope of a Prosperous.’ It is a promise of the coming of a ‘Personal Messiah,’ and it distinctly refers to Christ, if we take the word of such men as Paul and Peter, and this we gladly do, because these men, like the Old Testament prophets, were inspired by God and therefore are true prophets of the true God (see Acts 3:25,26; Gal. 3:8,9,14,16,19).[20]

When God gave this great promise to Abraham to be a great nation (Gen. 12:3), he did not have any child. The fact was, that the Lord would give him a child and through him, his descendants would grow and become a great nation. One may ask, who is the seed of Abraham mentioned in Genesis 13:1-3? The natural understanding of this passage is that the seed of Abraham is interpreted into three divisions namely the national seed of Abraham, the spiritual seed of Abraham and the Messianic Seed of Abraham.[21] Nevertheless the question still remains, which one of these three as the primary meaning of the seed of Abraham? Kligerman gave the right answer when he said, “The primary meaning of this passage unquestionably is that of an individual, “The Seed” of Abraham, who shall bring this universal blessing to a world under the curse of sin.”[22] Parks continues to say,

The seed of Abraham through which God promised to bless all the nation is his Messianic Seed, not his national or spiritual seeds. This point is stressed by Paul the apostle in Galatians 3:16: “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. [God] does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” God therefore, in Genesis 12:3 (also 22:18; 26:4; 18:18), promised to bless the nations through Christ.[23]

But this is not to deny that the nation of Israel has been a blessing to many nations.[24] In fact the nation of Israel will be the main attention of this world especially during the seven years Great Tribulation.

Looking at the fulfilment of this promise, Matthew 1:1 clearly tells us that Jesus Christ is the son of Abraham. When Matthew wrote this gospel, he understood what he was writing because his writing was intended for the Jewish people. Clearly this verse denotes that the promise seed given by the Lord to Abraham referring to the Messiah which Matthew directly declares that He is the Christ. In fact Jesus Christ said to a group of teachers of the Law, that Abraham rejoiced to see His day (John 8:56). As Pounds said, “Abraham was overjoyed to see the fullness of time when the Messiah would indeed be a spiritual blessing.”[25] This spiritual blessing comes to everyone who believes in the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross.

The Seed of Isaac (Gen. 17:19; ref. Luke 3:34)

Twenty-four years had passed when the Lord gave a promise to Abraham to be a great nation. Nevertheless the Lord never forgot His promise. He reiterated the same promise to Abraham with the clearer details in Genesis 17:19. He reaffirmed that the promise given to him was not only for him alone but also for the descendants of his seeds.

We need to understand that when the Lord gave the first promise to Abraham, He did not inform Abraham that the seed would come from Sarah. This is important because, during the gap of twenty-four years, somehow Sarah his wife was impatient to wait upon the Lord. As a result she asked Abraham to take Hagar her maiden in order to bear a child for Sarah. But, Genesis 17:19 gives us the clear plan of God that what Sarah did was not according to what God desired. The promised seed that would come from the line of Abraham was not through Hagar but Sarah, his legitimate wife.

The birth of Isaac was indeed the fulfilment of the promise of God to Abraham. From now onwards, the promise of God would shine brighter on Abraham because what the Lord promised would continue through the descendants of his son, Isaac. Isaac was the chosen son through whom all the nations would be blessed. Davis aptly said, “The recipient of His covenant blessings, God said unequivocally, would be a son name Isaac born to Sarah (v. 19).”[26] The Lord did not make a new covenant with his descendants but it was a continuity of what the Lord had made with Abraham because God’s covenant was the everlasting covenant. Thus, the covenant of God with Abraham involves Isaac the son of Sarah. As Salihamer remarks,

Isaac was not to be one of the anonymous “offsprings” who was to receive the benefits of the covenant. He is here brought to the level of a participant in the original covenant: “I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him” (v. 9b). Thus the identification of the covenant “offspring” of Abraham is made more specific. The descendants of Abraham who are heirs of the covenant are those through Sarah, that is, the “offspring” of Isaac.[27]

The fact is that God said to Abraham, “I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him” (v. 19). There was no doubt that this was the anticipation of reiteration of the covenant made by God with Isaac in Genesis 26:3-5.

Thus, Genesis 17:19 was the key verse of the continuity of the covenant grace to the descendent of Abraham. This verse provides the very significant distinction to the rest of the descendants of Abraham. It is clearly stated that Isaac was the promised son to Abraham, and the covenant given by God to Abraham would continue to Isaac. In this regard, it gives the clear division that Ishmael and his descendants, and the descendants of Abraham from the sons of Keturah (25:20) will not be partakers in this covenant grace but Isaac and his descendants alone.[28] Isaac would be the chosen line in which the Messiah would come. Henceforth the Lord would reveal it progressively through the particular tribe of Isaac’s descendants through whom the Messiah would come and be known. Luke 3:34 declares that Isaac was truly the line in which God used to fulfil His plan of salvation to save sinners from their sins.

The Seed of Jacob (Num. 24:17; Matt. 1:2)

The Promised Seed given to Adam, Abraham, and Isaac was not fully realised, but the Lord still continued to reveal progressively who would be the real Seed. In the time of Isaac, the Lord gave His word to his descendants that Jacob was chosen through whom the Messiah would come.

How was the promised Seed seen in the line of Jacob? The answer is found in Numbers 24:17. In this passage, a prophecy came out from the lips of a heathen prophet, Balaam. Balak the king of Moab attempted to hire Balaam to curse the chosen nation of God, Israel. So Balaam was persuaded to prophesy curses on Israel but “he was kept from doing so and instead, prophesied blessing upon them as recorded in 23:7-10; 23:18-24; 24:3-9, 15-19; 20-24.”[29]  However, though it was from the lips of the heathen, it is marvellous to note that the Messiah is denoted here as from the seed of Jacob. This is indeed the progressive revelation of God to make clear what He has said in Genesis 3:15.

In the climactic prophecy of Numbers 24:17, Balaam saw the greatness of the nation of Israel “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel.” What do the Star and Sceptre signify here? Keil said, “The sceptre, which was introduced, as a symbol of dominion even in Jacob’s blessing (Gen. Xlix. 10), is employed here as the figurative representation and symbol of the future ruler in Israel.”[30] In other words, the content of this oracle of God is that Balaam saw a man who would come sometime in the future from the tribe of Israel (Jacob) as a king who would triumph. The Star and the Sceptre were the symbols of His reign.[31]

In addition, the greatness of “a Star and a Sceptre” indicates that the coming King will be the future Deliverer for Israel. He will bring victory upon the nation of Israel over the enemies of His people.[32] The biblical record shows that there had never been found in the history of the nation of Israel such a King.[33] Thus this is the prophecy that has not been fulfilled yet but one day it will come to pass. The “Star” and “Sceptre” speak of the promise of a king like David who will bring victory over the enemies of Israel.[34] As Reich rightly observed,

There is a remarkable combination of the earthly and the heavenly natures of the Coming One in Balaam’s vision. He saw in Him One who would be both Star and Sceptre. Our Lord clearly refers to this prophecy when He says of Himself: “I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and Morning Star” (Rev 22:16). The language used by Balaam was that concerning earthly things, but the intention was to show the heavenly and spiritual nature of the Kingdom of God administered by the Divine-Human Christ.[35]

Thus, Numbers 24:17 speaks unmistakably of the coming of the Messiah. The Messiah is the Star out of Jacob and a Sceptre that shall rise out of Israel. The writer of the gospel of Matthew understood it clearly when he wrote the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ; he listed Jacob as belonging to the Messianic line (Matt. 1:2). In other words, the Messiah would come from the Seed of Jacob.

<<< Previous Page

[18]Quek Suan Yew, “The Book of Genesis,” lecture notes, ( Singapore: Far Eastern Bible College, January-May 2000), 51.

[19]Max I. Reich, The Messianic Hope of Israel: Studies in Messianic Prophecy, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1944), 37.

[20]Kligerman, Messianic Prophecy in the Old Testament, 16-7.

[21]Daniel E. Park, Christ The Seed of Abraham: Genesis 12:3, Accessed on March 6th 2000, available from http://www.norwich.net/~ickes/sermons/parks260.htm. p.1. Internet.

[22]Kligerman, Messianic Prophecy in the Old Testament, 17.

[23]Ibid, 17. Clarke rightly said on the understanding of the phrase “in thee” in Gen. 12:3 “In thy posterity, in the Messiah, who shall spring from thee, shall all families of the earth be blessed; for as he shall take on him human nature from the posterity of Abraham, he shall taste death for every man, his Gospel shall be preached throughout the world, and innumerable blessings be derived on all mankind though his death and intercession.” Clarke, Genesis through Deuteronomy: Clarke’s Commentary The Old Testament, (Software), 155-6.

[24]Kligerman, Messianic Prophecy in the Old Testament, 17. On the other hand Kaiser opines “But when could Abraham have seen anything on that order of sophistication? Probably when he took his son Isaac up on Mount Moriah to be offered, even though he had waited so long for him and would probably never get another to replace him. Abraham presumably believed God would raise the slain Isaac up from the dead, for he distinctly told the men accompanying him to wait at the foot of the hill, for he and the boy would go and worship and both would return (Ge 22:5)!. God instead provided a substitute-a ram caught in the thicket, which appeared as God called a halt to the test (v. 13). That is why Abraham named the place “Yahweh Jirah,” “The Lord Will Provide” (v. 14). In other words, Abraham saw that God himself would provide a substitute, someone in that coming “seed” who would somehow be connected with the sacrifice and deliverance of Isaac, the son of promise.” Walter C. Kaiser. The Messiah In the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995). 50.

[25] Wil Pounds, Redemption Comes through the Seed of Abraham, Accessed on January 11th 2000, available from http:www.wilann.com/messages/gen12v4.html. Internet.

[26]John J. Davis. Paradise to Prison: Studies in Genesis, (Salem, Wisconsin: Sheffield Publishing Company, 1975), 192. Lange said that it was definitely the son of Abraham from Sarah who would be a great nation because the descendants from this son should branch themselves into nation. John Peter Lange. Genesis-Leviticus: Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical and Doctrinal and Homiletical,  Vol 1. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, reprinted 1976), 422.

[27]John H. Sailhamer, Genesis-Numbers: Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 2.  Gen. ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990), 140.

[28]Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament on the Pentateuch, 225-6.

[29]John F. Walvoord. Every Prophecy of the Bible, (Colorado Springs, Colorado: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1999), 37.

[30]Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament on the Pentateuch, 192.

[31]Kaiser, The Messiah in the Old Testament, 55.

[32]Sailhamer, Genesis-Numbers, 909.

[33]Kligerman, Messianic Prophecy in the Old Testament, 25.

[34]Sailhamer, Genesis-Numbers, 910.

[35]Reich, The Messianic Hope of Israel: Studies in Messianic Prophecy, 48.