Week #27 | "Jesus is the Point of Every Prophet"

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read Jonah 1-4, Hosea 1-11, Isaiah 1-5, Micah 4, 2 Kings 16, 2 Chronicles 28

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Jesus in Hosea. Hosea is probably one of the most explicit prophets about the future judgment that will be visited upon Israel. But, like every other book of the Bible, the point of his prophecy is Jesus. Remember that every time you see "David" mentioned, the hope is for a future King from the line of David who will solve the problem of sin, crush the head of the serpent (the Devil), unite the people of Israel, rule over the nations, and reign in righteousness eternally. Here is what I consider the key verse of the entire book: "For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days" (Hosea 3:4-5).

Jesus in Jonah. This is from a message that I preached on Jonah 2: "There’s someone that Jonah’s life points towards, and his life puts our life in a new light. See, Jesus is sort of like the reverse of Jonah, who was the Old Testament's only Galilean prophet: Jonah sinned and asked forgiveness; Jesus never sinned and he gave forgiveness. Jonah is the reluctant witness but Jesus is the faithful witness. Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish so that he could go preach judgment to Nineveh, but Jesus spent three days in the grave so that forgiveness could be preached in his name to all the nations of the earth. Jonah hated his enemies and grieved when they repented, but Jesus loved his enemies and gave himself for them. And why did Jesus do this? He did it so that we might repent and be made right with God. And every time that we repent, it points us not back to ourselves and how messed up we are, but back to God, and how he set us free." The book of Jonah points us to Jesus less by way of predictive prophesy, but more by what's called typology--where Jonah illustrates by his unfaithfulness a mirror-contrast of Jesus' faithfulness, while still having certain details about his life (i.e. from Galilee, gave his life for the salvation of others in Jonah 1, "dead" for three days in the belly of the fish before being returned to the land of the living, carrying out a message of salvation to all nations) that enable us to draw the comparison in the first place.

Jesus in Micah. Micah's prophecy has three distinct sections (Micah 1-2; Micah 3-5; and Micah 6-7) which each start with some details about the darkness of Micah's time, contrasted with a section on the hope that will come through a Promised Deliverer. In the first section, Micah 1:1-2:11 starts off dark, but then promises that God will gather his people with "their king before them... the LORD at their head" (Micah 2:13). The second section has some hard words in chapter 3, but then Micah 4-5 tells us about the hope of a King that will be born in Bethlehem who will have some very interested features about his identity and his birth. In the third section the one who is guilty before God hopes for a day when God himself will plead his cause for him, and execute judgment on behalf of the guilty one who puts his hope in God (Micah 7:9). He then closes with a picture of the original Passover (Micah 7:14-20), which is a picture of God uniting his people to himself through the Passover sacrifice, and the hope of Micah ends with God and King leading the people; a King "whose origins are from ancient days" uniting Israel and Judah, and sins being atoned for--all of which are fulfilled in Jesus.

Jesus in Isaiah 1-6. These chapters are the set-up for the next four sections of the book (7-12; 13-39; 40-55; 56-66), but they give us the problem and the beginning of the solution, which will consistently point us to Jesus: (1) The people are sinful and wayward, and the land is full of corruption and spiritual confusion--Isaiah 1-5; (2) Even the supposedly righteous, like Isaiah, are corrupt and sinful; and so they are in need of forgiveness, which is extended to Isaiah as a burning coal from the altar, where sacrifices are made--Isaiah 6. The way to God is through a sacrifice on behalf of man that is extended to him by the hand of God. But not just any sacrifice will do--and that's what the rest of the Book of Isaiah is all about. In this book we will see the most consistent, sustained, detailed picture of the future Messiah in the entire Old Testament. 

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? I won't lay out exact responses in this space because the possibilities are often endless. But it is worth it to think about application in the categories of worship, attitude, and actions. Does this reading direct me to God in worship and thanksgiving and praise, or does it direct me towards a change that I need to make here and now? If it's about a change that I need to make, is this something inward in my attitude, or outward in my actions? This helps to rescue application from just being a series of how-to tips, or one-size-fits-all instructions that go beyond what the Bible actually states. Sometimes, the most helpful application we can make is to get a different perspective on what's the most important thing, or about how we should respond inwardly to the things going on around us.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean