Messianic Story Line
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Tracing Christ:
From Seed to Fulfillment
The Bible and Progressive Revelation
September 22, 2023
Introduction
When Jesus Christ is mentioned, most refer to the New Testament and the majority to the Gospels. While nothing is truly wrong with this, as most of Jesus’ teachings are in the New Testament, it is not the complete picture of Christ. Jesus Christ is found throughout the Old Testament, divided into three sections: The Law, The Prophets, and The Psalms.
Sin entered the garden in Genesis, and God already had a plan through His Son to bring the human race back to Him. God already had a plan to bridge the gap, and He revealed this throughout the Bible. In the following few pages, these scriptures given to each inspired author of the Bible will be shown to reveal Christ before His first coming and even a glimpse into His second coming.
The Law of Moses
The Seed in the Garden
In Genesis 3, the fall into sin happened in the garden, and the blame was placed from Adam to Eve, then from Eve to the serpent. In verse 15, God said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Enmity is a “positive, active, and typically mutual hatred or ill will” or “hostility”(Merriam-
Webster.com,2023). The serpent here is a form of Satan, which manipulated Eve, pointing out in verses 1 and 4-5 that God was holding out on them with the Tree of Knowledge. His seed (or offspring) are those who purposely seek the destruction of those who would follow God and His Son, Jesus Christ (see Isaiah 7:14; John 8:42-45; Acts 13:8-12; 1 John 3:8-10). Her seed (Eve) would be God’s people, and “it,”
or he (Christ), will “bruise your head”
or crush you, and “you shall bruise his heel”
refers to the crucifixion
of Christ. This is a promise of a Savior that will bridge the gap between man and God and conquer Satan (Isaiah 53:5; Galatians 3:16,19; Romans 16:17-20). We find mention of this fulfillment in Galatians 4:4,
“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
Look and Live
Israel had just defeated the Canaanites through the Lord’s power, yet they grew impatient and began to murmur against God, even insulting the manna God had blessed them. So, God sent “fiery serpents”
to punish them for their sin against God. God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent on
a pole to save them. Any among Israel who looked up would live, and those who did not look died (Numbers 21:1-9). This is a form or representation of Christ dying on the cross for our sins. In John 3:14-
15
, “
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life
.” Israel was in the wilderness due to their sin, just as we walked in the wilderness of our sin. As Israel found life by looking to that bronze serpent, we found eternal life through the crucifixion of Christ, our Lord and Savior.
The Prophets
His Death There are multiple prophecies in the Old Testament about Christ. Isaiah states that Jesus will be despised, rejected, and “a man of sorrows.” And that “he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities”
(Isaiah 53:1,5). The word “
wounded
” here, according to the King James Study Bible, means “
to pierce through
.” This is fulfilled within the gospels with the crucifixion of Christ. In the book of John 19, the vile treatment of Christ is described: He was whipped (scourged), beaten, mocked, stripped, marched up the hill of Golgotha, and then nailed to the cross. Once He had died, the soldiers (Romans) came to break the legs of those crucified but found that Jesus had already died, so they did not
break His legs. In verse 34, “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came
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there out blood and water.” In verses 36 and 37, John writes about the fulfillment of the prophecies of His treatment received from His own people and of looking upon Him whom they had pierced (Zechariah
12:10; Psalm 34:20). Also, in Exodus 12:46, God gave Israel the instructions for the Passover and how the
lamb was to be prepared before consumption. God informed them that “neither shall you break a bone thereof.”
This can be seen as a picture of Christ as the final Lamb to be sacrificed in John 19:36
, “A bone of Him shall not be broken.” So, not only did Jesus become the last Lamb to be sacrificed, but He also fulfilled the prophecies of His death.
His Resurrection
If it had ended with Christ's death, God's promise to David would not have been fulfilled that a descendant from his line would sit on his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:11-16). In Hosea 6:1-3, we have a prophecy of Jesus’ resurrection. Hosea writes about Christ being torn and smitten, by which He will heal and bind us, and also in verse 2: “After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.”
This resurrection is fulfilled within the New Testament in the gospels. Luke writes that Jesus told them, “
Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day
” (Luke 24:46). The word ‘behoved’ means ‘was necessary for’ according to the King James Study Bible. It was necessary for Christ to die and rise up from the grave to continue God’s plan for
His chosen people, Israel, and for the rest of the nations (Acts 10:40; 17:3; 1 Corinthians 15:4).
The Psalms
David was a psalmist who wrote many beautiful and, at times, heart-rending psalms. Those psalms were quoted several times or fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament. One such psalm that David wrote describes Christ as King. Psalm 24:7-10 describes the L
ORD
as strong and mighty in battle and commands the reader to lift their heads, for the “King of glory”
is about to enter the gates. In verse 10, David ends with, “Who is this King of glory? The L
ORD
of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” In the New
Testament, when Pilate asked Jesus if He was the King of the Jews, Jesus acknowledged him in Matthew 27:11 with “
You say
.” In John 18:36, Jesus informs Pilate, "
My kingdom is not of this world
.” Jesus told Pilate who He was. He is the King of the Jews, He is God, and His Kingdom is not this earth (world) but is yet to come. According to Revelation 19:11-16, Christ will come again, but this time in His true form as King of glory. John describes Christ as coming out of heaven riding a “white horse,”
but this time, it shall be to go to battle with armies of heaven. In verse 13, John writes that “his name is called The Word of God”
(John 1:1). He also has a name written on his thigh: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). CONCLUSION
God did not have to send His Son to be abused, murdered, or resurrected from the grave, but He
chose to allow these things to take place out of love for us that was lost in sin (Lamentations 3:22-23; Titus 3:5; 1 John 4:19). This paper only names a handful of references to the prophecies and His fulfillment of them. From Genesis to Revelation, Jesus is revealed every step of the way. “And he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me
.” Luke 24:44
Bibliography
Liberty University. 2017. The King James Archaeological Study Bible, Full Color Edition.
Whitaker House. 2015. Holy Bible. King James Version Easy Reader.
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, s.v. “enmity,” accessed September 22, 2023, https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/enmity.
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