Who is Jesus? Chapter 2

 

 

Who is Jesus?  Chapter 2

God lives in eternity, so with God there is no "time" as we know it.  The Bible says, a thousand years is as a day with God.  From the moment Adam and Eve sinned, God was not in a rush to put His plan of redemption in place.  There was much to do first. 
God was setting His plan in motion, but it would take time to bring it to pass.  

Many of the things God caused to happen were for examples and pictures of a Savior who would become the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world.  The prophets often spoke of a Messiah who would become the savior of all mankind. 

From Adam onward there were faithful men who loved God and refused to worship idols and false gods.  One such man named Abraham was promised by God, to make of him a great nation.  As time went by, there was a great famine in the East, and Abraham's children - - Jacob's family went to Egypt to purchase food.  They settled down and raised grain and sheep plus their families quickly multiplied. Eventually a new King of Egypt feared their great number, so he cause them to become his slaves.   

Exodus chapter 32 tells us of Moses being raised up to deliver the people from their bondage and after a chain of events they left Egypt, and God destroyed their Egyptian enemies. 

At God's request Moses climbed up Mount Sinai, to meet God and to receive the 10 commandments and the law.  Most important was the first two commandments, to only worship God, and not make with their hands images or worship false gods, and not to take the Name of the Lord God in vain.   

Sorry to say, it did not take the people very long to break these commandments.  The people worried that Moses was gone too long, and they requested Aaron to fashion a gold calf similar to one of the Egyptian gods and they danced and worshipped it.   

This mutiny caused God to become furious and He told Moses he would destroy the people because they were so rebellious.  Moses plead with God not to do this for what would the other nations think, if God just delivered the people from bondage and then wiped them out?   God changed his mind, but (Exodus 32) The Lord  plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made. 

God gave Moses explicit and precise instructions for a tent tabernacle and details for  making the sacrifices for the sins of the people.  God demanded a blood sacrifice of an innocent and pure animal to atone for sin.

 

It was necessary for the people to bring a sacrifice many times, as they were habitually sinning. 

All this was again a picture of a future event when only ONE sacrifice would be necessary and that one selected person would voluntarily lay down His life to rescue all who would willingly come to Him and invite Him into their life. 

The prophet Isaiah records:- - 3-7: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”