"So Long Moses"

Recently, a friend of mine sent me a link to an album by Andrew Peterson entitled "Behold the Lamb". There is a song on the album called "So Long Moses". It is a beautiful and accurate telling of the prophecies God gave to his prophets regarding the impending Messiah. Since it is the season in which we celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I thought it fitting to do my own recap of the history of the Old Testament that lead up to Christ's birth--inspired by Andrew Peterson of course. There are truly countless examples in scripture throughout the Old Testament that were pertinent the coming redemption of God's chosen people, but in order to save space and time, I will hit the high spots :)

The very first indication we have in scripture of a triune God is in Genesis 1:26 when God says "let Us make man in our own image". One of the conclusions that we can draw from this and in tying it in to John 1:1 "The Word was with God and the Word was God" and John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" is that Jesus is God and he has been around since creation. After The Fall and Adam and Eve are cursed and their ancestors are cursed, God proclaims that there will be a redeeming circumstance to come in his timing. We see this in Genesis when God speaks directly to the serpent (Satan) that deceived Eve. (Genesis 3:15) This verse is also reconciled in Romans 16:20 "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." So you see, in creation Jesus was present and there was already a prophecy made by God that he would indeed crush Satan, which is exactly what he did by means of the cross.

Let's fast forward to the Moses part, shall we? After many, many years of God's people being in bondage to slavery at the hands of the Egyptians, God raises up a leader to bring God's people to their homeland and out of slavery. His name was Moses. Though we all have the Law of God written in our hearts, (Romans 1), God's laws became formalized through Moses and the 10 Commandments. So, even as people were "without excuse" to acknowledge God and his laws, they actually had it in writing when Moses came along. Even though the written law came through Moses and he was the initial one chosen to lead God's people out of bondage, he was not permitted to see the Promised Land. Joshua was to lead the Israelites into Canaan. Upon seeing the Promised Land and the Canaanites that inhabited the area, the Israelites protested and said they would not enter (even though God had promised defeat over the Canaanites). So, because of their fear and disobedience, God allowed them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. When they finally decided to go back, they defeated the Canaanites and the land God had promised them and their forefathers was theirs. They were home.

When the Israelites arrived in Israel there were 12 tribes. Within these tribes there were clans. (On a side note, all Jewish priests came from the tribe of Levi, except for two: Melchizedek and Jesus.) All of the other countries in that region had kings at that time and Israel began wondering why they were the only ones with no king. They went to Samuel, the prophet, and demanded that they be like the other countries and choose a king. When Samuel asked God what he should do, God told him to give the people what they wanted. In 1 Samuel 8:5, God tells Samuel that Israel has rejected Him [God] as their king. And in 1 Samuel 12:12, we see again that Israel didn't need a king because God was their king. But God allowed them to have what they wanted. Now, I'm no scholar, but it seems that God would be the greatest king of all, but so many times we find ourselves thinking that we can actually make better decisions than God--and so, the Israelites sealed their fate for the next 40 years. Saul would be king over Israel.

After many unsuccessful years of being king, Saul failed to listen to God and obey God, the future king was tending sheep. God told Samuel to go to Bethlehem and there would be a man, Jesse (who was from the tribe of Judah), whose son would be the anointed king of Israel. Samuel did as God asked and anointed, David, a shepherd and youngest of Jesse's sons as God's chosen king of Israel. The most important points of the story of David as king of Israel in terms of prophecy are that David was from the tribe of Judah and that he was born in Bethlehem. In Micah 5:2, we see the prophecy made that Bethlehem would provide a king for Israel. Then we see the prophecy fulfilled in the gospels Matthew and Luke where Jesus was born in Bethlehem, since that is where Mary and Joseph had to register for a census decreed by Caesar Augustus.

After the loved and cherished King David's reign came to an end, Israel suffered. There were periods of blessing, but there were many more that were not. God's people longed for a king like David. He was strong, wise and walked with God. Israel prospered with a king like David. The people of Israel asked the prophet Isaiah when they would have another king that they would love like David, and Isaiah asked "O Lord how long?" would it be until He would deliver a king once again that would save the the people of Israel. You see, when God's people were captive in Egypt, the chains that bound them were chains of slavery to the Egyptian Pharaoh. They worked and toiled at the hands of the Egyptians. But the chains that they now faced in their homeland were chains of sin and rebellion and the consequences of disobeying and forsaking the God who delivered them. God had a plan to bring his children back to him. He had a redemptive plan. A plan that would bring forth a king, from the tribe of Judah and from the hometown of David--a King named Jesus. Isaiah is often called the fifth gospel because of its distinct prophecy. Isaiah 53 is most commonly referred to in the case of OT prophecy regarding the life of the King to come.

Israel needed and desired a king, and God provided the ultimate and eternal king--Jesus Christ. Though the people of Israel, the Jewish nation were God's chosen people, the coming of the Messiah meant something else. In the gospel of Luke, the angel that appears to the shepherds says that there are "good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people". All people means Jews and Gentiles. Jesus would be king of the Jews and king of the Gentiles. Through Jesus, we believers, have "been adopted" into God's family.

Jesus was the chosen King of Israel from the beginning of time, but God had a specific plan for bringing it into fruition. All of these events, and many more in redemptive history were leading up to the consummation of God's promise to his people. So long Moses, Israel's first prophet, so long David, Israel's loved and cherished king...hello Jesus, the eternal King of all.