3 Feasts Jesus Didn’t Fulfill (and 4 He Did)

Who doesn’t love feasts? God gave the people feasts they could enjoy before him. Indeed, God commanded the Israelites to gather together at seven sacred assemblies every year involving feasts. Leviticus 23 describes them:

Passover (verse 5)
Feast of Unleavened Bread (6-8)
Feast of First Fruits (9-14)
Feast of Weeks (15-22)
Feast of Trumpets (23-25)
Day of Atonement (26-32)
Feast of Booths (33-43)

The people gathered at the tabernacle (later, the temple). Not only did these festivals ensure that people remembered God’s mighty works, but they pointed to something significant about Jesus. In fact, Jesus fulfilled the first four on holy days!

What do I mean by “fulfilled”?

The apostle Paul wrote that the festivals “are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17). In other words, the feasts and what they commemorated foreshadowed some reality about Jesus. Thus, Jesus fulfilled the feasts when he completed that which they foreshadowed.

With that in mind, let’s look at the four holy days Jesus fulfilled and then consider the three he didn’t fulfill—and why.

The Four Feasts Jesus Fulfilled

The Jewish religious calendar begins in spring on Nisan 1, the month that the people escaped from Egypt (Exodus 12:1-2). That day is called Rosh Chadesh Nisan. Two weeks later come the year’s first three sacred assemblies, which overlap. In fact, they’re so closely related that they are often collectively referred to by the name of the first: Passover.

For Detail Lovers

The Jewish calendar is lunar, unlike the Gregorian calendar used by most of the world today. That causes Nisan 1 to fall on different dates in March or April each year. Most people think the Jewish new year is in the fall. That is because around the third century AD, many Jews started celebrating the new year in the fall (more on that later).

1) Passover: Pesach

Passover celebrated with lamb — Photo by Kat Jayne on Pexels.com

Nisan 14 (March 27, 2021 afternoon)

Passover celebrated God’s deliverance. For it, God commanded Israelite families to sacrifice a lamb each year on Nisan 14, without breaking any of its bones. This was the Passover sacrifice. That night, they ate the lamb with bitter herbs. This was the Passover feast.

The annual sacrifice and feast commemorated how the Destroyer passed over homes protected by lamb’s blood so the inhabitants would not die and could instead begin the journey to the promised land.

For Detail Lovers

Here’s what happened. The Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh with a message: Let my people go! This was because the Egyptians had enslaved the Israelites. Nine times Pharaoh refused, and nine times the Lord brought plagues as a sign that he was more powerful than Pharaoh’s gods.

Then the Lord announced the tenth plague: The Destroyer would come that night and kill the Egyptian firstborn males. But he commanded the Hebrews to sacrifice a lamb and paint its blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. When the Destroyer came, he would pass over homes protected with lamb’s blood.

According to Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld, since the temple’s destruction in AD 70, no Passover lambs have been sacrificed. He says that Jews today consider Nisan 14 a minor holiday and refer to Nisan 15 to 21 as Passover.

Jesus’s Feasts Fulfillment

On Thursday, Jesus ate the Passover Feast with his disciples. The Jewish leaders arrested him that night and Rome crucified him the next day. Soldiers did not break his legs when they broke the legs of those crucified with him so “that the Scripture” regarding the Passover lamb “might be fulfilled” (John 19:33,36).

The New Testament declares, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Just as Passover commemorated God delivering his people from slavery to Egypt so they could journey to the earthly promised land, so Jesus’s sacrifice delivers God’s people from slavery to sin so that they can journey to the heavenly promised land. Just as the first Passover lambs’ blood protected from death, so Jesus’s blood protects from the second death (hell), granting eternal life.

The Last Supper celebrates the Passover and Unleavened Bread Feasts — “The Last Supper” by Giampietrino (public domain)

For Detail Lovers

Because Jewish days began at sunset, Jesus was crucified on the same religious calendar day as the feast, Nisan 15. Thus, when he gave his disciples bread and wine at the Passover feast and said, “This is my body” and “This is my blood of the covenant,” he linked the Passover feast to his sacrifice (Matthew 26:26,28).

2) The Feast of Unleavened Bread: Chag HaMatzot

Nisan 15-21 (sunset March 27 to sunset April 3 or 4, 2021)

The Feast of Unleavened Bread celebrated God’s continued deliverance with a week of feasts. Each year before the feasts began, Jewish families completely emptied their homes of leaven (Exodus 12:19). Then for seven days, they ate nothing with yeast. They also made daily food offerings. On the first and last days of the week, they held sacred assemblies at the temple and did no work.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread recalled that the Hebrews fled from Egypt quickly on Nisan 15, without time to let bread rise. Leaven often symbolized corruption and could not be used on the altar.

Jesus’s Feasts Fulfillment

Just as the festival’s bread was without yeast, so Jesus was without corruption. Just as Jewish families purged yeast from their houses, so today followers of Christ purge sin from their lives:

Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:8

3) Feast of Firstfruits

Sadducees: Sunday after Sabbath after Passover (April 4, 2021); Pharisees: Nisan 16 (March 29, 2021)

Resurrection on Firstfruits during Unleavened Bread Feasts — “The Angel and Women at the Empty Tomb” by Gustave Doré (public domain)

The Feast of Firstfruits celebrated the first of the grain harvest. This was because the first sheaf of barley was a sign that God was about to bless his people with more. So Jews brought a sheaf of barley to the temple to wave before the Lord and give thanks for the harvest to come. They could not eat any barley until they performed this ritual.

The Hebrews began celebrating this holy day after they arrived in the promised land. Thus, it reminded families that their harvests were God’s gift and there was more to come.

Jesus’s Feasts Fulfillment

Jesus rose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits. His resurrection promises that he will resurrect those belonging to him when it is time to enter the new promised land. Just as the first sheaf of barley anticipated a greater harvest of barley, so Jesus’s resurrection anticipates a greater harvest of souls.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:20–23

For Detail Lovers

The Sadducees celebrated the Feast of Firstfruits on the day that followed the Sabbath that followed Passover (always a Sunday). The Pharisees celebrated Firstfruits on the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Nisan 16). According to Harold W. Hoehner in Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Nisan 16 fell on the Sunday following the Sabbath that followed Passover in both AD 30 and AD 33. These are the two years most scholars place the crucifixion.

Loaves of bread for feasts — Loaves of bread, courtesy of Adobe Stock

4) Feast of Weeks (Pentecost): Shavuot

7 weeks after Firstfruits (Sadducees, May 23, 2021; Pharisees, May 17, 2021)

The Feast of Weeks celebrated the end of the wheat harvest. It was also called Pentecost because it came 50 days after the Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Then on this day, worshipers presented two loaves of wheat bread made with leaven to the Lord.

For Detail Lovers

In preparation for the festival, people made provision for the poor. In time, the celebration also commemorated the giving of the law at Sinai not long after the Israelites escaped Egypt. If Jesus was crucified in AD 30 or 33 as most scholars think, the Sadducees and Pharisees celebrated Pentecost on the same day the year of the crucifixion.

Jesus’s Feasts Fulfillment

On this sacred day, Jesus baptized his followers with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). Just as the wheat harvest had produced loaves of bread, so the resurrection produced the church. Just as the loaves contained leaven, so the church contains imperfect people.

"The Holiday Series: Rosh Hashanah" by Arthur Szyk on Jewish Feasts — “The Holiday Series: Rosh Hashana” by Arthur Szyk, courtesy of The Arthur Szyk Society (www.szyk.org)

The Three Feasts Jesus Has Not Fulfilled

The seventh month of the year held three more celebrations, and their final fulfillments are yet to come. For Jesus said, “I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).

5) Feast of Trumpets: Rosh HaShanah

Tishri 1 (sunset September 6 to sunset September 7, 2021)

The Feast of Trumpets celebrates God’s providence. Trumpets call people to gather before God in rest from all harvests, including grapes and citrus. Priests blew trumpets from morning to night. This feast began a time of spiritual renewal.

For Detail Lovers

Today, the celebration extends over two days and includes a celebration of the civil new year. This change may have happened around the third century AD. Exodus 12:1-2 commands that the Jewish year begin on Nisan 1, so that remains the new year on the Hebrew religious calendar.

Jesus’s Future Feasts Fulfillment

Just as the trumpet sounded to call people to the temple after all harvests were complete, so when the earthly harvest of souls is complete, another trumpet will sound to call for the ingathering of souls:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

The Day of Atonement required two goats — Photo by Couleur on Pexels.com

6) Day of Atonement: Yom Kippur

Tishri 10 (September 16)

The Feast of Trumpets was followed by the Hebrews’ holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement. This was not a feast, but prepared the people spiritually for the feasts to come.

On this day, the people prepared themselves by ceasing all work, fasting, denying themselves comforts, and confessing and repenting from sins. Meanwhile, the high priest presented sacrifices to cleanse the people and all the holy things from the year’s accumulated defilement of sin. He also took two goats and sacrificed one to make atonement for sin. Then he laid his hands on the head of the other, confessed the people’s sins, and sent the goat into the wilderness as a sign that their sins had been carried away.

Jesus’s Future Feasts Fulfillment

In Jesus’s first coming, he atoned for sin on the cross, completing the work of the first goat. But the Judgment follows his second coming, after which he will remove all sin and causes of sin, fulfilling what the second goat pointed to (Matthew 13:41; Revelation 20:10-15). What the Day of Atonement pointed to will be fully and finally complete.

7) Feast of Booths: Sukkot

Tishri 15-22 (September 21-28, 2021)

The Feast of Booths celebrates the journey to and arrival in the promised land. It was the final festival of the year and provided another week of feasts. The people brought fruit and tree branches to rejoice before the Lord. For seven days, they dwelt in temporary booths constructed from branches. This commemorated the Lord’s good care as the Hebrews journeyed through the desert. Then on the eighth day, they entered homes, commemorating arrival in the promised land.

"Examining the Lulav" by Leopold Pilichowski for the Feast of Booths — “Examining the Lulav” by Leopold Pilichowski (public domain) shows tree branches and citron fruit used in the Feast of Booths

For Detail Lovers

By Jesus’s day, water and light ceremonies took place during the Feast of Booths (John 7-8). People bound together a palm frond, myrtle, and willow (called a lulav) to carry with citron fruit in a procession during the water ceremony.

Jesus’s Future Feasts Fulfillment

Just as the Hebrews lived in temporary booths until they reached the earthly promised land, so our souls dwell in temporary shelters—our earthly bodies—while we journey to the new promised land. When Jesus returns, he will raise our bodies into glorious, imperishable bodies. We will bring to him the fruit his Holy Spirit has grown in our lives.

For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
1 Corinthians 15:52–53

Another feast awaits: the wedding feast of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9). The Lord God will bring us to the new heavens and earth. There he and Christ, our Passover Lamb, will dwell in our midst forever (Revelation 21:1-3). There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. Our journey ends. We will arrive.

3 Feasts Jesus Didn't Fulfill (and 4 He Did) Click To Tweet

Books You Might Like

These are affiliate links for which I receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament by me, Pam Farrel, and Karla Dornacher. Creative devotional study.
Holiness to the LORD: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus, by Allen P. Ross. Excellent commentary with sermon outlines.
Leviticus: An Introduction and Commentary, by Jay Sklar. Easy to read commentary with outstanding introduction.
Recalling the Hope of Glory: Biblical Worship from the Garden to the New Creation, by Allen P. Ross. Detailed look at how Old Testament worship should inform us today.
Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, by Harold W. Hoehner. Interesting examination of when events in Jesus’s life occurred, though contains some speculation.

March 17, 2021/5 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Apologetics, Bible Perplexities, Jesus in the Old Testament, Old Testament

“The Virgin Shall Conceive”: Why Isaiah 7:14 Confuses People

For many years, the prophecy that confused me most was Isaiah 7:14: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Every Christmas I heard pastors quote this, but none had ever explained its context. What confused me was that the next three verses say that the prophecy will be fulfilled within 14 years. If it was supposed to be fulfilled in the eighth century BC, how could it apply to Jesus?

Let’s go ahead and clear that up.

What Triggered “The Virgin Shall Conceive” Prophecy

First, here’s what brought on this prophecy.

King Ahaz’s dad had died, leaving him the sole king of Judah at age 20. Judah was a small kingdom south of Israel and Syria. Farther north and east, the kingdom of Assyria was growing rapidly by conquering one kingdom state after another. The kings of Israel and Syria knew they couldn’t stop the powerful Assyria alone, so they wanted to form a coalition along with Judah. But Ahaz refused to join them.

Ahaz’s refusal angered the kings of Israel and Syria, so they attacked. Unfortunately, Ahaz was not a godly king, and so the Lord allowed the two kings some victories. When Ahaz still wouldn’t join, the two kings decided to depose Ahaz and replace him with a puppet king who would do their bidding.

Assyrian conquests prompted the prophecy, "the virgin shall conceive" — Assyrian relief depicting conquests from the British Museum, photograph by Jean E. Jones

The Lord’s Offer

The Lord God sent Isaiah with a message for this young, frightened king. He told Ahaz not to fear the two kings because they would not take the throne from him (Isaiah 7:3-7). Instead, Israel would cease to exist within 65 years (verse 8). He cautions Ahaz, “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all” (verse 9). Then he makes this incredible offer:

Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.
Isaiah 7:11

In other words, God tells the scared ruler to ask any sign he wants as proof that the Lord will be with him and will not allow his two enemies to remove him from the throne. He can request a miraculous sign that is as deep as hell or as high as heaven.

What did Ahaz do? He refused God’s offer! He told Isaiah, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test” (Isaiah 7:12). Why? Because he had already decided what he wanted to do and it didn’t involve submitting to or trusting the King of kings.

The Promise That the Virgin Shall Conceive

Isaiah was not fooled by Ahaz’s fake piety. If Ahaz would not request a sign, God would give him a sign nonetheless. Isaiah replied,

Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
Isaiah 7:13-16

Isaiah no longer calls God “your God,” but rather “my God,” for Ahaz has rejected God as his King of kings.

“Virgin,” “Immanuel,” Curds, and the Child’s Age

According to John N. Oswalt in The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 1–9, the Hebrew word translated virgin means “young woman of marriageable age.” Jews would assume she was a virgin, of course, so the Hebrew word can be translated either “maiden” or “virgin.” There’s another Hebrew word that can only be translated “virgin,” but that’s not what Isaiah uses here. We’ll come back to why later. For now, note that the prophecy in its immediate context refers to a young woman who is a virgin at the time of the prophecy. She’ll marry, conceive, and bear a child. The woman is not named, but it is not the mother of the crown prince Hezekiah, for he was born before Ahaz rose to sole king.

The name Immanuel means “God with us.” Therefore, the child would be a sign that God was with Judah even though the king was abandoning God. God’s presence is a comfort for the godly, but terror for the ungodly.

Curds (a milk product like ricotta cheese) and honey were wealthy fare. Yet, when the child knows right and wrong (age 12-13), he will eat curds and honey and both Israel and Syria will be deserted.

Ahaz Openly Rejects God

Ahaz sent messengers to the king of Assyria, saying “I am your servant and your son” (2 Kings 16:7). These are titles that show Ahaz has rejected his covenant duty to serve under God alone and has put Assyria’s fearsome king in God’s place.

Here’s what this means. A king who rules over other kings is called a suzerain, and the kings serving him are called vassals. In those days, the suzerain protected his vassals in exchange for money, soldiers, and submission. The suzerain called his vassals “sons,” and the vassals called their suzerain “father.” So when Ahaz said to Assyria’s king, “I am your servant and your son,” he was offering to be his vassal.

In other words, Assyria didn’t have wait to conquer Judah—Ahaz sought him and surrendered before Assyria came near. Ahaz did this so that this king of kings would rescue him from Israel and Syria.

The trouble was that in Judah, the kings were supposed to have the Lord God as Suzerain. Ahaz had switched teams. And he used the temple treasures which belonged to the Lord God as tribute to his new lord.

But Isaiah isn’t done with prophecies about a child. He recorded more in the next two chapters.

Prophecies about Isaiah’s Child

Here’s what introduces the next set of child prophecies:

And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son.
Isaiah 8:3

The Hebrew translated “went to” is a euphemism in the Old Testament that usually means the first time that a husband and wife come together for marital relationships. Because of this, some scholars think that Isaiah’s first wife may have passed away and he married a prophetess who bore him another child. Thus, Isaiah 7:14 might refer to this child.

Immanuel’s Land

Isaiah 8:4 prophesies that before Isaiah’s newborn reaches three, the two kings won’t threaten Ahaz anymore. Assyria would demolish Syria and subdue Israel. But Ahaz’s trust in Assyria instead of God would cost him dearly because Assyria wasn’t trustworthy. Assyria would sweep into Judah and wreak havoc in “your land, O Immanuel” (Isaiah 8:8).

By calling Judah “Immanuel’s land,” Isaiah links this prophecy about his son to the previous chapter’s prophecy about a child called Immanuel, God With Us. Now we have two prophecies about a child being born as a sign that God is with Judah. They’re also linked by the name Immanuel.

Isaiah then says this about his own children:

Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
Isaiah 8:18

Isaiah’s newborn is a sign of what’s to come within three years. But he and his children are not just signs; they portend (or foreshadow) future events. We’ll come back to this too.

For to Us a Child Is Born

Isaiah has another child prophecy in the ninth chapter:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:6-7

Virgin Shall Conceive: "The Adoration of the Shepherds by Murillo — *The Adoration of the Shepherds,* by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo – Museo Nacional del Prado (Public Domain)

Unlike the prophecies in the previous chapters, this prophecy of a child is about no ordinary child. It was obviously a prophecy about a future child, not a child in Isaiah’s day. This child would bring the righteousness that Ahaz abandoned, and he would rule forever.

The Initial Fulfillment of “The Virgin Shall Conceive”

So what happened next? Assyria attacked both Syria and Israel, just as Ahaz had requested. Within three years of Isaiah’s son’s birth, the two kings that threatened Ahaz were dead. A decade after Ahaz refused God’s offer, Assyria demolished Israel.

But the king of Assyria was untrustworthy and swept into Judah too, killing many. So many died that the remnant left could not use all the milk. They turned the milk into curds, and everyone ate curds and honey. So the child prophecies of Isaiah 7 and 8 were fulfilled in Isaiah’s day, but not the child prophecy of Isaiah 9.

Now that we have seen Isaiah 7:14 in its original context, let’s look at how the Gospels use it.

The Later Fulfillment of “The Virgin Shall Conceive”

By the time of Christ, most Jews were using the Greek version of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. The Septuagint translated “virgin” in Isaiah 7:14 with a Greek word that meant virgin, not a young woman of marriageable age.

Matthew 1:18 records that Mary “was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” An angel confirmed this to her fiancé Joseph (verse 20). Matthew explained all this and wrote,

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Matthew 1:23

Matthew knew that Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day, so why did he write this? Because he also understood how OT portents work. The Bible uses a number of words for portents, including type, shadow, foreshadow, figure, and picture.

Most people today are less familiar with portents, so I’ll explain with a story.

A Potato Portent

A potato illustrates forshadowing — Adobe Stock, used by permission

Sometimes my husband calls me from the grocery store saying, “I found great looking salmon. Would you like some for dinner tonight?” I’ll reply, “Yes! Don’t forget to buy a potato.”

That night, I’ll sauté half the fish while Clay slices and boils the potato. I serve most of the fish and refrigerate the leftovers and the potato. The next night, I sauté the rest of the fish and refrigerate the leftovers.

Are you wondering about the cold, uneaten potato? Its presence foreshadows that something more will happen with the fish. And more will happen. On the third night, I’ll beat an egg, mash the potato into it, and stir in minced chives, salt, and pepper. Next, I’ll break up the leftover fish and fold it into the egg and potato mixture. Finally, I’ll form the mixture into fish cakes that I’ll sauté in butter and oil until they are browned and crispy and oh-so delicious.

Just as I made obvious links between the potato and fish before I told you how they were related, so Isaiah placed obvious links between the child prophecies in chapters 7, 8, and 9 without fully telling us how they were related. He linked the birth of a child, the name Immanuel, and the land of Judah. He also contrasted the current king’s wickedness with the future king’s righteousness, and Assyria’s king’s ruthlessness with Immanuel’s justice.

Just as the unused potato foreshadowed that something more was coming, so the unfulfilled chapter 9 prophecy foreshadowed that something more was coming as well.

Prophecies and Portents

As I noted above, Matthew knew that Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day. But he also knew that Isaiah 9:6-7 had not been fulfilled prior to Jesus’s coming. Jesus alone fulfilled it. And he was familiar with Mary’s story of Jesus’s miraculous birth to her as a virgin.

As Matthew read the passages—especially in the Septuagint—he realized that Isaiah 7:14’s prophecy that the “virgin shall conceive” was no coincidence. There was more going on than what was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day.

He realized that Isaiah 7:14 is a direct prophecy that was fulfilled in Isaiah’s day, but its fulfillment portended a future event. In other words, the woman and child in Isaiah’s day foreshadowed Mary and her son Jesus. The woman in Isaiah’s day was a virgin at the time of the prophecy, but Mary was a virgin at the time of conception. The child in Isaiah’s day was called Immanuel, or God With Us, as a sign that God was still with Judah. But that child foreshadowed Jesus, who was literally God with us.

And that is why Isaiah used an ambiguous Hebrew word for virgin. The first meaning was meant for the initial fulfillment, but the second for the ultimate fulfillment.

Fulfilled Prophecy as Portents

Here’s another analogy for understanding prophecies that have fulfillments that foreshadow a significant future event.

I live in sunny Southern California where it doesn’t snow. Most of the year, we see what looks like one brown mountain range to the north. But sometimes in the winter, we’ll see a massive, snow-covered mountain range in the distance and a smaller brown mountain range closer to us (see the photo).

Near and future fulfillment of "the virgin shall conceive" illustrated by 2 mountain ranges — Photo by Virginia Thompson

The nearer mountain range leads our eyes up to the mountain range that is farther off and obviously much bigger. In the same way, some prophecies have a nearer fulfillment that points to and leads our eyes to a greater, future fulfillment. The nearer fulfillment foreshadows the coming fulfillment.

Deep as Sheol or High as Heaven

Let’s look back at the Lord God’s generous offer to King Ahaz:

Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.
Isaiah 7:11

Consider that the immediate fulfillment in Isaiah’s day wasn’t a sign that was as deep as Sheol (hell) or as high as heaven.

But the typological fulfillment in Jesus’s day certainly was.

CLICK TO TWEET:

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Books You Might Like

These are affiliate links for which I receive a small commission at no cost to you.

Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament, by me, Pam Farrel, and Karla Dornacher | Discover more about the hope of Immanuel, God With Us, in chapter 7
NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, edited by D.A. Carson
The Book of Isaiah: Chapters 1-39 (The New International Commentary on the Old Testament), by John N. Oswalt

December 22, 2020/7 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Jesus in the Old Testament, News, Old Testament, Online Studies

Online Bible Study: Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament

When times are crazy, it helps to remember God’s faithfulness to fulfill his promises about Jesus’s first coming. That’s because it assures us he’ll fulfill his promises about Jesus’s second coming. Join me in a new online Bible study of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament! Your faith will soar as you discover how the Old Testament unfolds God’s incredible plan. And your hope will rise as you grasp his promises for you when Jesus returns.

This 13-session study begins June 22. Subscribers can watch my weekly teaching videos for free. All you need is a copy of the Bible study book to follow along with the discussion and the subscriber password from my last newsletter. (Not subscribing yet? Get the password when you register).

online study Moses — Learn what Moses said about Jesus

Benefits

These are the benefits you can expect from this OT online Bible study:

Grow in faith as you see God’s eternal plan unfold.
Know God’s incredible, unchanging love for you.
Understand your place in the Bible’s big story.
Increase your joy as you learn and rejoice in the future awaiting you.

Here’s what one reader said of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament:

Amazing and mind-blowing and helped us all grow in our faith and our relationship with God.
Reader DeAnn Dinelli

How This Online Bible Study Will Work

Starting Monday, June 22, I’ll post weekly videos and discussion questions so you can interact with me and others learning from the study. When the video is up, I’ll email a link to it to those who have registered.

Each week:

Watch the video.
Answer the online questions.
Complete a chapter in the study book.

That’s it!

FAQS

What if that’s not a good date?

No worries! Begin any time from June 22 on. I’ll check in regularly.

What if I can’t complete a chapter in a week?

Go at your own pace!

Is there a fee?

The videos are free to my newsletter subscribers—you just need your subscriber specials password.

How do I get the password?

Newsletter subscribers: The password is in my latest newsletter. Not a subscriber? When you register, you’ll subscribe automatically and receive a confirmation email with the password.

Does the password unlock anything else?

Yes! There are timelines to go with the study and other materials here: Free Resources

How to Join This Online Bible Study

Here’s what to do:

Register here: Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament Online
Buy a copy of the book: Amazon

I’ll email registrants a link to the videos when I post them.

For bulk purchases and other buying options, go to the registration page: Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament Online. The Amazon link above is an affiliate link for which I receive a small commission.

More Details

online study prophets — Discover what the prophets said about Jesus

Your faith will grow as you journey in discovering all God has planned since before the foundation of the earth. You’ll see how God enfolded his plan, what Jesus fulfilled in his first coming, and what he has for you in his second coming.

You’ll never tire of studying Scripture with this fresh and engaging Bible study encounter. Through persuasive instruction and inspiring devotions, it reveals God’s redemptive plan from the beginning of creation. Explore…

timeline icons to help you track God’s plan through the Old Testament
key questions at the beginning of each section to guide your focus
opportunities for creative expression, including full-page graphics and bookmarks to color
sidebars that offer fascinating historical insights
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June 9, 2020/2 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Bible Perplexities, Bible Study, Old Testament

5 Things Christians Should Know about Omnipresence

It’s no surprise that when I was a child, I didn’t know the word omnipresence. In fact, I pictured God as a bald man with just a fringe of short dark hair behind his ears. I thought he lived above the sky and occasionally poked his head through the clouds to peek at what was happening in the world.

That’s far from what the Bible teaches us about God! Instead, God is Spirit and innately invisible to human eyes (John 4:24; Romans 1:20). He’s able to “see” everywhere in the universe at once. His ability to do that is what we call omnipresence. But omnipresence is often misunderstood. Therefore, here are 5 things Christians should know about God’s omnipresence.

1) Omnipresence means God’s presence fills the universe.

The word omnipresence isn’t in the Bible. But it describes something we do see in the Bible: God is present everywhere. For example, the prophet Jeremiah wrote, “Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 23:24).

Similarly, David described God’s presence everywhere like this:

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Psalm 139:7-12

God is Spirit

Jesus said, “God is spirit” (John 4:24). So he doesn’t have a physical body like we do. Therefore, according to theologian Millard Erickson,

he does not have the limitations involved with a physical body. For one thing, he is not limited to a particular geographical or spatial location.
Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 267-8.

Scholars sometimes debate whether omnipresence has more to do with God’s ability to know everything that happens everywhere or with his power to hold all things together (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). What matters, though, is what God’s ability to be everywhere means for us.

Omnpresence in Serpens Nebula — Serpens Nebula HBC 672. Credits: NASA, ESA, STSci. Public domain.

What this means for us

God’s omnipresence is frightful for wrongdoers, for the Judgment will miss nothing. In fact, God even knows thoughts and intentions (Psalm 139:2; Hebrews 4:12-13).

But for his worshipers, God’s omnipresence means that he is never out of reach. When those who belong to him pray, he hears. When those who want to know him seek him, he responds. When we suffer, he knows. When we try to please him, he rewards.

2) Creation is not God.

Sometimes people think that if God’s presence is everywhere, creation must be God. In fact, those involved with the new spirituality (or New Age movement) hold this view. Alisa Childers explains:

One of the core principles of the new spirituality is that everything in the universe (including you and me) is made up of the same substance and reality. In other words, there is no separation between you, your dog, and the tree outside that your dog just peed on. This worldview is called pantheism and believes that “God” is a type of divine consciousness or energy that is one and the same with the universe, something we can tap into as we become more “enlightened.”
Alisa Childers, “I’m Not Religious; I’m Spiritual! New Spirituality,” in Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies, ed. Hillary Morgan Ferer, 202.

While creation reflects God, creation is not the Creator. Rather, the Creator made the heavens and earth from nothing (Genesis 1:1; Acts 17:24-25). Moreover, God “is never identical to those created things” (Vern S. Poythress, Theophany: A Biblical Theology of God’s Appearing, 167).

Even though many today embrace pantheism as new spirituality, it is an old idea, as C.S. Lewis pointed out:

Pantheism is congenial to our minds not because it is the final stage in a slow process of enlightenment, but because it is almost as old as we are. It may even be the most primitive of all religions.
C.S. Lewis, Miracles: A Preliminary Study, 84.

That’s not the only reason people find pantheism attractive. The apostle Paul wrote that when humans abandoned God, they “worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:25).

What this means for us

God’s omnipresence does not mean he is identical to creation. Therefore, we worship the Creator, not creation.

God’s omnipresence does not mean he is identical to creation. Therefore, we worship the Creator, not creation. Click To Tweet

3) God has sometimes made his presence known via theophanies.

At certain significant times in history, God revealed his presence in a special way that humans could sense. For example, a cloud descended on the tabernacle and first temple at their dedications (Numbers 9:15; 1 Kings 8:10). These temporary manifestations are called theophanies.

Omnipresence and theophanies — God and two angels visit Abraham in “Abraham and the Angels” by Aert de Gelder, 1680-1685 [public domain]

But here’s the thing. A theophany doesn’t mean that God is present in just the place and time of the theophany. He’s still present everywhere even though he’s manifesting his presence in a special, intense way at a certain time and place (A.H. Leitch, Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Merrill C. Tenney, gen. ed., vol. 4, s.v. “omnipresence”).

Theophanies serve specific purposes. For example, the cloud theophanies at the dedications of the tabernacle and first temple showed people they had a place they could go to meet with God in a special way.

Dr. Poythress puts it this way:

According to biblical teaching, God is present as ruler and Lord in all places and at all times (Jer. 23:24; Rev. 1:8). This universal presence of God goes together with his special presence with the people that are his.
Theophany, 200.

Additionally, the Holy Spirit now indwells all those who belong to God, and their bodies are his temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19).

What this means for us

While God is omnipresent, he is present with his people in special ways.

4) God limits how much his presence is experienced by humans.

C.S. Lewis described why God doesn’t make his presence known more often in his novel, The Screwtape Letters. There, a senior devil named Screwtape writes to his nephew Wormwood to teach him about their Enemy, God.

The Screwtape Letters: Annotated Edition by [Lewis, C. S.]

You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat his cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. He is prepared to do a little over-riding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot “tempt” to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away his hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 46-7. Emphasis mine.

What this means for us

We can trust God’s promise to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) even when we can’t sense his presence.

5) God will one day dwell with humans in a greater way.

God is omnipresent and has at times demonstrated a special presence with his people. Now the Holy Spirit indwells his people. But something more is coming. God will resurrect his people so that they can dwell with him in the new heaven and earth in a fuller, more immediate, and more palpable sense:

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Revelation 21:3

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Revelation 22:4

What this means for us

Those belonging to God’s kingdom will dwell with him forevermore, his presence with them in a glorious way. Hallelujah!

Want to know more about God’s plan to dwell with humans? Check out my latest book, Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament.

Discovering Jesus in the OT cover — Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament

Books You Might Like

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies, edited by Hillary Morgan Ferrer
Miracles by C.S. Lewis
Theophany: A Biblical Theology of God’s Appearing by Vern S. Poythress

October 17, 2019/0 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Bible Study, Jesus in the Old Testament, Old Testament

3 Things Everyone Should Know about Jesus in the OT

Would you like to know more about Jesus in the OT (Old Testament)? Have you looked up a passage that the New Testament says Jesus fulfilled, but found it confusing? Does understanding the Old Testament seem daunting?

If so, you’re not alone!

Here are three things every Christian should know about Jesus in the OT, including timelines.

1. God Planned to Send Jesus Before He Created People

For my seventeenth birthday, my then-boyfriend Clay gave me a white leather Bible containing both the Old and New Testaments. Until then, I’d had only a paperback New Testament. Not having been raised in a Christian home, I was excited to finally be able to read the rest of the Bible and see what it said.

As I read through Genesis, I thought, So that’s what happened! God created people good, and that was Plan A. But they blew it and disobeyed, so God had to go with Plan B, a flood. Later, I read about God calling Israel to be a nation and giving them commandments. But the Israelites blew it and disobeyed God too. I thought, Israel was Plan C, and Jesus was Plan D! God had to keep starting over because people kept messing up his plans.

Wrong!

I had missed the significance of these verses:

Christ…was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times.
1 Peter 1:19-20

… the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world
Revelation 13:8

God…saved us and called us…because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 1:8-10

In other words, the never-changing God of love knew before he created the world and the first humans that Jesus would one day die for the sins of the world. He knew Satan would deceive Adam and Eve, and he had a plan in place to rescue humankind. There was always just one plan. God revealed that plan over time, beginning in Eve’s lifetime.

2. The Old Testament Points to Jesus in Three Ways

Many people think that the only way the Old Testament points to Jesus is through direct prophecy. But that’s not true. The New Testament tells us of three ways.

Promises about Jesus in the OT

In 2 Samuel 7:11-13, God promised King David an offspring whose rule would last forever. The angel Gabriel told Mary that this promise pointed to Jesus (Luke 1:31-33). The Old Testament contains many such promises, some of which take the form of covenants.

Jeremiah learning from betrayal — “The Prophet Jeremiah” from the Sistine Chapel, by Michelangelo (public domain)

Prophecies about Jesus in the OT

In the Bible, God sometimes revealed things to people that they could not see or understand through natural means. These revelations are prophecies. Most prophecies called people to repent to avoid judgment. But sometimes they predicted a significant future event. That is the case in Isaiah 53, which prophesies the coming of a suffering servant who would die and whose soul would make “an offering for guilt” (Isaiah 53:9-10). First Peter 3:22 cites this passage and tells us it refers to Jesus Christ.

Portents of Jesus in the OT

Portents foreshadow something in the future. Some Old Testament people, institutions, and events foreshadow either Jesus or something significant in Jesus’s service or life. Bible translations use a variety of words to describe people and things that foreshadow the future, including portents, patterns, copies, shadows, and types. Jesus and the apostles frequently identified Old Testament types that Jesus fulfilled. They show us the amazing way that God directed history so that people could see his redemptive plan unfolding throughout the ages.

For example, 1 Corinthians 5:7 reads, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Here Paul is saying that the sacrificed Passover lamb that saved the Israelites’ lives in Exodus 12 was a type of Jesus Christ, who now saves our lives through his sacrifice.

3. God Revealed His Plan at Significant Points in History

God revealed his plan to rescue people from slavery to sin and from death gradually. But at crucial historical events, he revealed large parts of the plan all at once. These revelations related to what was happening at the time.

Eve heard of Jesus in the OT — Eve’s Day

Eve’s Day

After Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, the Lord God promised her a deliverer who would crush the head of the serpent who deceived her.

Abraham had promises of Jesus in the OT — Abraham’s Day

Abraham’s Day

At a time when most people had forgotten God, the Lord called Abraham to journey to a foreign land. There God promised to give that land to Abraham’s descendants so that they could be his people and he would be their God. He promised that Abraham’s barren, post-menopausal wife would bear a child—and she did! Abraham and his son Isaac were both prophets to whom God spoke. The New Testament tells us which of God’s promises to Abraham referred to Jesus. God also instructed Abraham and Isaac to act out an event that foreshadowed something monumental in Jesus’s life. In fact, Paul tells us that “Scripture…preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham” (Galatians 3:8).

Moses’s Day

After Egypt enslaved Abraham’s descendants, God sent Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery and take them to the land God promised to Abraham’s descendants. Through Moses, God made a covenant with the Israelites so they could be his people. They built a tabernacle where God’s presence could dwell in a special way. God gave them commandments so they could have blessed relationships with him and others. Moses told the people that one day a prophet like him would arrive, and the people must listen to him. The New Testament tells us that many of the institutions and events in Moses’s day foreshadowed Jesus.

David had promises of Jesus in the OT — David’s Day

David’s Day

Eventually, a king arose who had a heart after God. His name was David. The Lord promised David a descendant whose throne would last forever. David was also a prophet to whom God revealed other things about this future king, some of which David turned into psalms.

The major prophets prophesied about Jesus in the OT — Major Prophets’ Day

The Major Prophets’ Day

Many of the kings that followed David weren’t good. Eventually, kings led the people so far from God that he sent prophets to warn them to come back lest he remove them from the land. For example, the prophet Isaiah told a wayward king about coming judgment and restoration. But Isaiah also spoke of a future righteous king and a suffering servant. Later, God spoke through Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel during tumultuous times that included the people being exiled and the temple destroyed. They talked of a new covenant and a mysterious “one like a son of man” who came “with the clouds of heaven” to be presented before “the Ancient of Days” (Daniel 7:13).

Prophets during the days of the 2nd temple told of Jesus in the OT — 2nd Temple’s Day

The 2^nd Temple’s Day

After a 70-year exile, several groups of people returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. They remained under foreign rule, though. Yet prophets encouraged them to build a new temple and await the future righteous king.

Jesus’s Day

When Jesus came, he explained how the Scriptures spoke of him. The Jews had trouble understanding at first, partly because they didn’t realize that the prophet like Moses, the suffering servant, and the future righteous king were all the same person. They also hadn’t understood how the institutions that Moses put in place pointed to Jesus too.

Today

After Jesus’s death and resurrection, his apostles proclaimed what Jesus taught them. They explained how Jesus wants us to live today, and they told us to look forward to eternity.

Forever

The New Testament writers urged Jesus’s followers to always remember that eternity in Jesus’s Kingdom awaits. He’ll resurrect our bodies into glorious bodies. There will be no more sorrow or pain. We’ll be in God’s loving presence forever.

3 things every Christian should know about Jesus in the Old Testament Click To Tweet

Timelines to Download

I’ve created timelines for you to download and print on the Free Resources and Subscriber Specials pages. They’ll help you see at a glance the events surrounding God’s amazing revelations about Jesus in the OT. They go with chapters in our book, Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament.

Want to Know More about Jesus in the OT?

Jesus in the Old Testament
6 Things Every Christian Should Know about the Minor Prophets
Learn more about Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament (includes trailer)

Books You Might Like

Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament by me, Pam Farrel, and Karla Dornacher
From Eden to the New Jerusalem by T. Desmond Alexander
Christ from Beginning to End by Trent Hunter & Stephen Wellum
Kingdom of Priests by Eugene H. Merrill
Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. by D. A. Carson and G. K. Beale

September 18, 2019/5 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Bible Study, Jesus in the Old Testament, Old Testament

6 Things Every Christian Should Know About the Minor Prophets

An earlier form of this article on the Minor Prophets first appeared on Crosswalk.com on 1/19/2017.

By Jean E. Jones

Many Christians find the last 12 books of the Old Testament—known as the Minor Prophets—well, boring! Why? First, they don’t see how the books relate to today. Second, they don’t know what was going on at the time. And third, the prophets address a lot of unfamiliar people and places.

“Prophet Malachi” by Duccio di Buoninsegna

Some Christians even skip reading the Minor Prophets. That’s a shame because they tell us a lot about social injustice and what God thinks about the rich and powerful taking advantage of the poor and weak—a topic certainly relevant to our times! Plus, they give us insights into what everyday life was like during Old Testament times. They also show us how God deals with evil—then, now, and still to come.

Here I’ve put together some interesting facts about the Minor Prophets that will help you make sense of them.

1. “Minor” means short, not unimportant.

In ancient days, the books of the Bible were copied onto scrolls. The longer prophetic books required their own scrolls, but the 12 shorter prophetic books fit together on a single scroll. So the Major (“long”) Prophets were grouped together first, and the Minor (“short”) Prophets followed them.

2. The Minor Prophets are also called the Book of Twelve.

Twelve writers wrote the books in the Minor Prophets, the same number as there were tribes of Israel and apostles of Jesus. Four writers wrote the five books in the Major Prophets, the same number of writers who wrote the Gospels.

3. A prophet prophesies prophecy.

“Prophesy” is a verb meaning to communicate a message from God. “Prophecy” is a noun referring to a divine message.

4. The Minor Prophets are clustered around three events.

“Jonah and the Whale” by Pieter Lastman [Public domain]

The Minor Prophets are basically chronological except for Joel and Obadiah (although some scholars think they are, too). Here’s the background to them that every Christian needs to know.

The Background to the Minor Prophets

The Old Testament is the story of God calling the Israelites to be his people so they could show all nations how to come to him. When Moses rescued the Israelites from Egyptian enslavement and brought them to the promised land, he warned them that if they ever forsook God, God would drive them out of the land into exile.

The kingdom was at its greatest under the reigns of David and his son, Solomon. But after Solomon died, the united kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms: Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Israel abandoned God right away, descending into violence, injustice, oppression of the poor, sexual promiscuity, idolatry, and child sacrifice (horrific, but true). Judah had times of faithfulness but eventually turned to the same corruption.

“Prophet Hosea” by Duccio di Buoninsegna [Public domain]

When the nations abandoned him, God sent prophets to warn the people to return to him lest he drive them out. When they refused to repent, the prophecies changed to judgments. Yet the prophets also promised restoration.

The 3 Time Periods of the Minor Prophets

Chronologically, the Minor Prophets come after the reforms of Elijah and Elisha (which ended about 800 BC). They’re clustered around three time periods:

Israel’s end (722 BC): The first six books (except perhaps Joel and Obadiah) are from the time leading up to and surrounding Israel’s exile. Isaiah also prophesied in this time period.
Judah’s end (586 BC): Books seven to nine are from the time around Judah’s fall. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel also prophesied in this time period.
The restoration (538-430 BC): The last three books are from the building of the second temple to the end of Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s reforms.

5. The Minor Prophets call Israel and Judah by many names.

Most of the prophecies in the Minor Prophets are poems that use figures of speech, including large doses of synecdoche. Synecdoche is using a part of something to represent the whole or vice versa (for example, newscasters saying “Moscow” may be referring to all of Russia). Here are names the Minor Prophets use for Israel and Judah:

Names that refer to Israel

Samaria (capital city)
Ephraim (major tribe)
Bethel (temple site)
Jacob, Joseph (prominent people)
House of Jeroboam, Omri, Ahab, Jehu (prominent kings)

Names that refer to Judah

“Micah Exhorts the Israelites to Repent” engraving by Gustave Doré [Public domain]

Jerusalem (capital city)
Judah (major tribe)
Zion (temple site)
House of David (prominent king)

After the northern kingdom fell in 722 BC, the prophets sometimes used the names “Israel” and “Jacob” to refer to both kingdoms. After Judah fell, neither kingdom existed—only provinces under various foreign emperors—and the names “Israel” and “Jacob” often referred to all Jews.

6. Here are interesting facts about the Minor Prophets.

Every Christian should know at least one interesting fact about the Minor Prophets! Here are 12 from which to choose.

The Time of Israel’s End

In Hosea, God commands the prophet to marry a prostitute and likens their relationship to his relationship with Israel.
Joel’s prophecy about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (2:28-32) was fulfilled on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came on Jesus’ followers (Acts 2:17-21).
Martin Luther King, Jr., quoted Amos 5:24 in his “I Have a Dream” speech: “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until ‘justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’”
Obadiah is the shortest Old Testament book (292 Hebrew words).

“Zechariah” watercolor by James Tissot [Public domain]
Jesus likens his temporary burial in the earth to Jonah’s temporary burial in the belly of a huge fish (Matthew 12:40). Bonus fact: the huge fish that swallowed Jonah is never identified as a whale.
The U.S. Library of Congress uses Micah 6:8 over its religion alcove: “What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

The Time of Judah’s End

In Jonah’s day, the Ninevites (Assyrians) repent, but by Nahum’s time they’ve returned to cruelty. So, God tells them through Nahum that their destruction is certain and imminent.
Habakkuk asks why God allows evil and God tells him punishment is on the way. But Habakkuk initially protests the means. Later he understands God’s plan to eradicate evil and responds by rejoicing in the Lord.
Zephaniah was probably written by a black Jew (his dad’s name is Cushi, suggesting dad’s mom was from Cush—modern day Sudan).

The Time of the Restoration

Haggai encouraged rebuilding the temple, which ushered in the time period known as Second Temple Judaism. (That era ended when Rome destroyed the temple in AD 70.)
The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ suffering and death quote Zechariah six times (that’s second only to Psalms). Here are the stories: Jerusalem’s king riding on a donkey; 30 pieces of silver; looking at him whom they pierced; strike the shepherd and the sheep scatter.
Malachi reads like a courtroom trial about broken contracts. The people are restored to the land, but are still breaking their contracts with God. Therefore, they shouldn’t expect God’s blessings till they hold up their part of the agreement.

A prayer to learn from the Minor Prophets:

Lord, may we learn from your Word the importance of following you closely and embracing your ways. May we comprehend how you are ending evil and bringing your people into your Kingdom, where evil cannot exist. Thank you for the Minor Prophets that teach us these things. May we learn to respond to your plans as Habakkuk did:

“Though the fig tree does not bud And there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stall, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Habukkuk 3:17-18)

Amen.

Jesus in the Old Testament

January 22, 2019/2 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Bible Study, Jesus in the Old Testament, Old Testament, Reviews, Spiritual Practices

6 Bibles, Books and Study Guides for Understanding the Old Testament

In my last post, I offered seven free tools to help you understand the Old Testament. Here I’ll review Bibles, books, and study guides that help with that, too. Some are for those who are new to reading the Bible, and some are for seasoned Bible readers.

I end each review with an excerpt that shows how each explains Isaiah’s promise to King Ahaz to trust God to deliver him, and Ahaz’s refusal (Isaiah 7). That should let you know if the depth is what you’re looking for.

Bibles

If you’ve read the New Testament before and are ready to dive into the Old Testament, these two Bibles will help you understand it.

Review: NIV Zondervan Study Bible

Edited by D. A. Carson

Audience: Thoughtful Christians wanting historical, archaeological, and theological insights

Reading level: college

If you want a Bible with articles, charts, timelines, color photos, book introductions, and notes, this five-pound beauty is the way to go. This is the third edition of the NIV Study Bible that I own, and it’s the best of the three. It includes two dozen articles covering overarching topics such as “The Story of the Bible: How the Good News About Jesus Is Central” and “Prophets and Prophecy.” The introductions to each book are fabulous. (The link above is for leather, but there are less expensive options. I don’t recommend the Kindle version–I purchased that for version 2 and regret it. The pictures are too small and the hyperlinks overlap, making some unworkable.)

This Bible would overwhelm a new Christian. But for the thoughtful Christian wanting depth, this is the Bible to invest in. Here’s an excerpt from the Introduction to Isaiah (1308):

In ch. 7 Isaiah issues King Ahaz a challenge to trust Yahweh, not Assyria’s power. Ahaz refuses the challenge, and much of Judah’s history between that point (734 BC) and the destruction of Sennacherib’s army in 701 BC revolves around the results of Ahaz’s refusal. A burning question unites chs. 7-39: Will Israel trust Yahweh or the surrounding nations? Chs. 7-12 not only give the answer (no) but also give the answer’s implications.

Review: The One Year Chronological Bible NIV

Edited by Steve Benson

Audience: Anyone wanting to read the Old Testament and New Testament chronologically

Reading level: high school

The One Year Chronological Bible: New International Version

I read the Bible in chronological chunks fairly often, so I made things easier by buying a chronological Bible. In the table of contents, I color coded the prophets so I could see at a glance how they relate (see figure). I seldom read from this Bible, but I use its table of contents to guide my reading in other Bibles. The editors provide short italicized segues when switching between texts, but not a lot of historical notes. Here’s the transition from histories (2 Kings and 2 Chronicles) to Isaiah 7 (799):

Isaiah encouraged King Ahaz to trust in the Lord when Rezin and Pekah marched against Jerusalem. Through these prophecies of Isaiah, the Lord also gave Ahaz a sign of coming salvation—the coming of the Messiah.

Books

Review: Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel

By Eugene H. Merrill

Audience: Thoughtful Christians wanting to understand Old Testament history

Reading level: graduate

This superb book is my number one recommendation for thoughtful Christians who have read and studied the entire Bible and aren’t put off by academic works. Merrill divides Old Testament history into 15 parts and examines each thoroughly, weaving in historical documents from surrounding nations and archaeological finds. He keeps the overarching purpose of God establishing a kingdom of priests clearly in mind. His analysis of the ministry of the prophets is illuminating.

This is an academic work that carefully examines dating problems and apparent contradictions. His goal for this second edition was “to take on the task of bringing the narrative up to date so that the message of the Old Testament as not only a theological but also a historical work can resonate more clearly and relevantly with a new generation of readers” (11).

The book contains numerous chronological tables and maps, as well as both Scripture and subject indexes. Here’s an excerpt (420):

Ahaz had paid a staggering price for survival not only in monetary terms but especially in the moral and spiritual compromises his bargaining had required. As the Chronicler notes, in the final analysis, Tiglath-pileser gave Ahaz trouble and not help (2 Chron. 28:21). Ahaz had had to loot the temple to pay the heavy protection fees that Tiglath demanded, and as an act of thanksgiving, Ahaz offered sacrifices to the gods of Assyria, whom he credited for his salvation. He also installed their shrines throughout the land. It is little wonder that Isaiah the prophet chastised Ahaz in the bitterest terms and predicted the day when Judah also would come to know the awful Assyrian scourge (Isa. 7:17).

Review: The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People

Selections from the New International Version

Audience: Churches desiring to teach the entire congregation the main story of the Bible and willing to use supplemental supporting material

Reading level: youth and adult versions are available

The Story divides selections of text from the NIV Bible into 31 chapters arranged mostly chronologically. Short italicized segues summarize skipped material and add a few historical notes. Simple timelines begin the book; some use increments of thousands of years, others decades. The back material includes discussion questions and a character list.

Zondervan intended for churches to use The Story as part of Sunday sermons, adult small group studies, youth studies, and children’s materials. They provide DVDs, curriculum to go with the DVDs, and other support materials, including a church resource library. I offer a companion study guide (see below).

The Story highlights a dozen or so kings and includes only five excerpts from Isaiah. It skips King Ahaz and Isaiah 7, so here’s the first transition between histories and Isaiah (224):

The greatest of the writing prophets, Isaiah, began his work in Jerusalem (capital of Judah, the southern kingdom) in 740 BC, shortly before King Uzziah died. Isaiah achieved prominence during Hezekiah’s reign, helping the king to stand-down the Assyrian threat by relying on God alone. Such a strategy must be founded on rock solid faith, and this kind of faith Isaiah clearly practiced and developed. His call to service came in a powerful vision—an apt start to a prophetic vocation that would span nearly 60 years.

Study Guides

The first of these is ideal for new Christians; the second is good for those who have read a bit of the Bible already and are willing to put in 31 weeks of daily study.

Review: Seamless: Understanding the Bible as One Complete Story

By Angie Smith

Audience: Women’s Bible study groups with a mix of new and mature Christians wanting to understand how the Old Testament and New Testament relate

Reading level: high school

The women at my church just finished going through Seamless: Understanding the Bible as One Complete Story, by Angie Smith. It’s terrific, funny, and touching. Those who had never read the Old Testament before felt it made sense of the Bible. Those who have read the Bible many times loved the clarifying way Smith laid out the stories. I had a brand new Christian in my group who had never gone to church until a few months ago, and she kept up fine.

Icons that represent major events adorn the footer and make the story easy to follow and review. The back cover folds out with the icons in order and linked by a thread. My group loved turning to the back cover to review the icons together. In the margins, Smith provides a dozen-word summary of every book of the Bible.

The women loved the book and videos, and they had tons of questions every week (which shows how engaging they found the material, but also shows the need to have someone around to answer questions). Some had trouble following the chronology of Week 4: The Kingdoms & the Prophets, so I recommend supplying a few timelines (feel free to use the ones I provide in 7 Free Tools for Understanding the Old Testament).

Covering the entire Bible in six chapters, Smith broadly summarizes Israel’s history. In this excerpt, she introduces some of the prophets, including Isaiah (104):

Several prophets preached in Judah before and during its destruction: Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. Isaiah and Micah overlapped our division of times. They lived and preached in Judah both during the Divided Kingdom—the same time as Hosea and Amos—and after the Northern Kingdom was destroyed. See how this all fits together?

Review: The Story Personal Journal and Discovery Guide

By Jean E. Jones

Audience: Thoughtful Christians with some Old Testament understanding who want an in-depth Bible study guide to accompany The Story

Reading level: high school; languages: English & Korean

Free Download here

The Story: Personal Journal & Discussion Guide

I wrote this companion to The Story for my church and later updated it for Zondervan’s church resource library. It explains historical details and has ten timelines to keep the events in perspective. Practical application questions apply the Bible’s message to the reader’s life. It’s written so that people can read a chapter in The Story, and then answer questions from their Bible. Headings summarize what’s happening, and there are plenty of footnotes with additional details for those who want them. You can get it free from my website (see the link above) or Zondervan’s church resource library.

This excerpt is on Isaiah approaching King Ahaz:

God sent the prophet Isaiah to encourage Ahaz king of Judah not to be afraid, for he wouldn’t let [the kings of Israel and Aram] overthrow him. He told Ahaz to ask for any sign as proof. But Ahaz refused and instead sought Assyria’s help. He voluntarily became a vassal to Assyria’s king, paid him a large tribute, and set up shrines to Assyria’s gods in Jerusalem.

Jesus in the Old Testament

6 Bibles, books & study guides to help you understand the Old Testament Click To Tweet

November 7, 2017/1 Comment/by Jean E. Jones

Bible Study, Encouragement, Old Testament, Spiritual Practices

7 Free Tools for Understanding the Old Testament

My church’s women’s Bible study just completed Angie Smith’s Seamless: Understanding the Bible as One Complete Story. It was perfect for small groups that have a mix of new believers and mature Christians (more on that next week). Several women told me they’d love to understand the Old Testament even better, especially where the prophetic books fit in with the histories. They also wanted to dive deeper into their understanding of the entire story of the Bible. So I’m offering a two-part series on tools to help you do just that.

Timeline: Daniel in Exile 620 to 530 BC

Here I offer

A link to a free downloadable Bible outline
A link to six timelines to help you understand the Old Testament
Tips on using those tools to read the Old Testament chronologically
A short explanation of how the Old Testament prophetic books fit with the books of history

Old Testament and New Testament Outline

The Bible’s books are arranged by genre. You need to know a book’s genre to understand what you’re reading. If your Bible’s table of contents doesn’t outline the books for you, go to my Free Resources page and click the link to Subscriber Specials. There you’ll find a downloadable Bible outline you can use to add headings to your contents page.

Bible Outline

As the Bible Outline shows, the Old Testament books of Joshua through Esther are histories. Reading the histories chronologically gives us a better understanding of what happened. The histories are listed chronologically with three exceptions:

Ruth takes place somewhere within Judges.
1,2 Chronicles were written around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, but they chronicle King David’s reign and the reigns of his descendants.
- Chapters 1-9 are genealogies starting with Adam. Part of chapter 9 goes with Nehemiah 11.
- The rest of 1,2 Chronicles goes with 1 Samuel 31 to the end of 2 Kings.
Esther goes with Ezra 4:6.

How to Read 1,2 Chronicles Chronologically

Saul, David, and Solomon reigned over all of Israel. After Solomon, the kingdom split into two kingdoms: Israel to the north and Judah to the south. David’s descendants ruled over the south. While 1,2 Kings summarizes the reigns of both kingdoms, 1,2 Chronicles summarizes only the reigns of David and his descendants. Therefore, to read Kings with Chronicles, use two bookmarks. When you finish reading about David, Solomon, and any king of Judah, hop over to Chronicles and read about the same king.

Timelines for Reading the Old Testament Prophets with the Histories

Timelines that show historical events and when the prophets ministered will help you understand what events the prophets were talking about. They’ll also help you coordinate reading the histories and prophetic books together.

How the Prophetic Books are Arranged

The books of the prophets are divided into two groups:

The Major Prophets ministered over decades so their books are longer (“major” means long)
The Minor Prophets ministered for shorter times so their books are shorter (“minor” means short).

How to Read the Prophetic Books with the Histories

NIV Timeline showing the prophets’ ministries (Zondervan)

To read the prophetic books with the histories, keep timelines at hand. My NIV Zondervan Study Bible has timelines that show key historical events, the kings’ reigns, and the ministries of the major prophets and half the minor prophets. I wrote five additional minor prophets’ names on the timeline approximately where they go (see figure). Two prophetic books are missing from this timeline: Lamentations, which Jeremiah wrote so it belongs with Jeremiah’s ministry on the timeline, and Joel, whose date is unknown. If your Bible has timelines, use the figure to the right to fill in any missing prophets.

Free Timelines

I often create additional timelines that zoom in on time periods that have a lot of related material. Over on the Free Resources page, click the link for Subscriber Specials to find six timelines I created for The Story: Personal Journal and Discussion Guide (the guide is there, too). The timelines show you at a glance where the main prophets fit within the histories.

1 Kings Of Israel and Judah 930 to 850 BC
2 The Beginning of the End 750 to 680 BC: The fall of Israel and the prophetic ministries of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah
3 The Kingdoms Fall 655 to 570 BC: The fall of Judah and the prophetic ministries of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel
4 Daniel in Exile 620 to 530 BC: Shows Daniel’s chapters chronologically
5 The Return Home 540 to 470 BC: The return from Exile, Esther, and the prophetic ministries of Daniel, Haggai, and Zechariah
6 Rebuilding the Walls 480 to 430 BC: Esther, rebuilding the walls under Ezra and Nehemiah, and the prophetic ministry of Malachi

Understanding How the Prophetic Books and Histories Relate

The key to understanding how most of the prophets and histories relate is this cycle:

When Moses brought the Israelites to the Promised Land, he warned them that if they ever turned away from God and started committing the sins of the current inhabitants (such as sacrificing children to idols), God would drive them out of the land.
Whenever the people went astray, God sent prophets to call them to repent and return to God lest God drive them out of the land.
Eventually the people quit listening to the prophets, so the prophets’ message changed to one of impending judgment via exile followed by grace; the messages of grace talked about a new King who would one day rule righteously.

The northern kingdom of Israel quit listening to the prophets first, so God sent Assyria to deport them from the land. Later, the southern kingdom of Judah quit listening to the prophets and God sent Babylon to deport them. After 70 years, God allowed the people to return to the land, but they were ruled by foreign powers. There they awaited the new anointed King, the Messiah. The New Testament tells us about him: Jesus Christ.

Tips About the Major Prophets

NIV Zondervan Study Bible with Old Testament Notes

NIV Zondervan Study Bible (affiliate link to Amazon)

Here are a couple helpful points about the major prophets.

All the major prophets are from Judah (the southern kingdom)
Isaiah prophesied around the time of the fall of Israel (the northern kingdom); the rest prophesied around the time of the fall of Judah
Judah’s exile happened in three stages, resulting in 3 prophets speaking from diverse places
- Daniel went to the Babylonian king’s palace in the first deportation; he served in government and showed God was in charge
- Ezekiel went to Mesopotamia in the second deportation; ministered to exiles
- Jeremiah stayed in Jerusalem until the third deportation and Jerusalem’s fall; he helped the people who ignored his warnings mourn
Only Ezekiel is chronological

Tips About the Minor Prophets

The Minor Prophets are clustered around 3 events:
- The time leading up to and surrounding Israel’s exile: The first 6 books except Obadiah and perhaps Joel (Joel’s date is unknown)
- The time leading up to Judah’s exile: Books 7-9 plus Obadiah
- Between Judah’s restoration and the end of Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s reforms: The last 3 books
They tell us a lot about social injustice and what God thinks about the rich and powerful taking advantage of the weak
Want to know more? Here’s an article I wrote for Crosswalk: 6 Things Every Christian Should Know About the Minor Prophets

Next week I’ll review Bibles, books, and study guides that are helpful for understanding the Old Testament.

The key to understanding how the Old Testament prophetic books relate to the histories Click To Tweet

Free Bible outline and timelines Click To Tweet

How to read the Old Testament chronologically (not as hard as you think!) Click To Tweet

November 1, 2017/2 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Bible Study, Old Testament

6 Things Every Christian Should Know about the Minor Prophets

Many Christians find the last 12 books of the Old Testament—known as the “Minor Prophets”—well, boring! Why? First, they don’t see how the books relate to today. Second, they don’t know what was going on at the time. And third, the prophets address a lot of unfamiliar people and places.

The book of Jonah is one of the 12 minor prophets

Jonah preaching to the Ninevites, by Gustave Dore (d. 1883). Public domain.

Some Christians even skip reading the Minor Prophets, which is a shame because they tell us a lot about social injustice and what God thinks about the rich and powerful taking advantage of the poor and weak—a topic certainly relevant to our times! Plus, they give us insights into what everyday life was like during Old Testament times and show us how God deals with evil—then, now, and still to come.

Here I’ve put together some interesting facts about the Minor Prophets that will help you make sense of them.

1. “Minor” means short, not unimportant.

Click here to read the rest of this article on Crosswalk.com.

February 6, 2017/0 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Bible Perplexities, Old Testament

Telescoped Genealogies: Was Rahab the Mother of Boaz?

In a discussion about the Bible’s book of Ruth, this question came up: Was Rahab the mother of Boaz? Rahab, you may remember, was the Canaanite prostitute who hid the Israelite spies.

In the book of Ruth, the young Moabitess Ruth cares for her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi. Both are destitute widows. Ruth accompanies Naomi to Bethlehem, even though she’ll have little prospect of finding a husband to rescue her from poverty. There, she gleans grain in the field of a rich man named Boaz, who provides food and protection. Later he plays the part of kinsman redeemer by marrying Ruth and giving her a son who can inherit for her dead husband.

The question about Boaz’s relationship to Rahab comes up because it could help explain his extraordinary care for Ruth during a time Israel and Moab were on unfriendly terms, even though a closer relative refused to be a kinsman redeemer.

Was Rahab the mother of Boaz, shown in this painting of Boaz and Ruth

“Ruth in Boaz’s Field” by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1828

Matthew 1:5’s genealogy in the New International Version says, “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.” The more literal New American Standard Bible reads, “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab.” That should settle it, right?

Not quite.

Rahab Being the Mother of Boaz Presents a Problem

The problem is Matthew lists five generations from Salmon to David, but between Rahab’s meeting the spies (traditionally 1406 BC) and David’s birth (1040 BC) stretch 366 years, making the average age of the dads up where what little hair remains turns white and giving extra meaning to Boaz’s claim not to be young: ^[1]

Year BC	Person	Estimated Age	Event
1406	Rahab	20	Meets Israelite spies
~1376	Rahab	50	Bears Boaz
~1264	Boaz	112	Fathers Obed
~1152	Obed	112	Fathers Jesse
1040	Jesse	112	Fathers David

Although it’s possible Boaz, Obed, and Jesse were bearing sons as centenarians, there’s another possibility: Matthew may have skipped some names—just as he skipped three in verse 8 and one in verse 11. ^[2]

Translation Issues and Ancient Customs

According to scholars, there are both translation and custom issues involved. The Greek word translated “was the father of” could also mean “was the grandfather of” or “was the ancestor of.” Additionally, unlike today, ancient Jewish writers often telescoped genealogies—that is, shortened them to the most important names.

New Testament scholar D. A. Carson explains:

Therefore approximately four hundred years (Gen 15:13; Exod 12:40) are covered by the four generations from Perez to Amminadab. Doubtless several names have been omitted: the Greek verb translated “was the father of” … does not require immediate relationship but often means something like “was the ancestor of” or “became the progenitor of.”

Similarly, the line between Amminadab and David is short: more names may have been omitted. Whether such names properly fit before Boaz, so that Rahab was not the immediate mother of Boaz (just as Eve was not immediately “the mother of all the living,” Gen 3:20), or after Boaz, or both, one cannot be sure. ^[3]

So was Rahab the mother of Boaz? She was his mother or grandmother or ancestress, and one of the people God used to mold Boaz’s extraordinary tenderness for the foreign widow Ruth.

Telescoped Genealogies: Was Rahab the Mother of Boaz? Click To Tweet

Book You Might Like

If you want to know more about the Old Testament, check out this book by me, Pam Farrel and Karla Dornacher (affiliate link):

^[1]Some scholars argue for a later date of 1250 BC for Joshua’s invasion. If Rahab gave birth ten years after, then the three men fathered their sons at an average age of 67 if Matthew has not telescoped between Rahab and David—more doable, though still short.↩
^[2]Verse 8 skips Ahaziah (2 Chr. 22:1), Joash (2 Chr. 22:11), and Amaziah (2 Chr. 24:27) between Jehoram and Uzziah (Azariah). Verse 11 skips Jehoiakim (2 Chr. 36:5) between Josiah and Jechoniah (Jehoiachin). Matthew 1:1 is even more telescoped: “Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.”↩
^[3]D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” Matthew, Mark, Luke, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Regency, 1984), 8:65. ↩

October 23, 2012/3 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

Bible Perplexities, Encouragement, Old Testament

Sins of the Fathers?

Does God punish innocent children to the third and fourth generations for the sins of the fathers?

Last week, someone asked several questions about children being punished for their parents’ wrongdoings, including whether events in Jewish history were examples of this and whether he should be concerned that he’ll suffer for his parents’ and grandparents’ sins.

What did God mean when he told the Israelites he would punish the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation?

The second of the Ten Commandments says this:

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:3-6

Painting of Israelites worshipping golden calf

“The Adoration of the Golden Calf” by Nicolas Poussin

If the head of a household worshipped false gods, typically his descendents would join in that idolatry. The successive generations would be punished for committing the sins they learned from parents. (Exodus 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18; and Jeremiah 32:18 are similar.) Douglas K. Stuart wrote:

In other words, God will not say, “I won’t punish this generation for what they are doing to break my covenant because, after all, they merely learned it from their parents who did it too.’ Instead, God will indeed punish generation after generation (‘to the third and fourth generation’) if they keep doing the same sorts of sins that prior generations did. If the children continue to do the sins their parents did, they will receive the same punishments as their parents.”

Stuart goes on to point out that “‘Third and fourth’ is idiomatic in Hb. for ‘whatever number’ or ‘plenty of.’” ^[1]

That this verse does not mean innocent children will be punished is supported by Deuteronomy 24:16: “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.”

Is the Babylonian captivity an example of the sins of the fathers being visited upon children?

The children who were exiled or born in exile endured the consequences of their parents’ sins: they could not live in the Promised Land during the exile. Moses warned of this consequence for persistently rejecting God, but also promised when a generation confessed their sins and their fathers’ sins, God would restore them to the land (Leviticus 26:39-42).

During Babylon’s siege against Judah, people quoted a proverb showing their belief that they were being punished for their ancestors’ sins, not their own. Ezekiel 18 addressed their error at length:

The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die. Ezekiel 18:1-4

God said if a man is righteous, he will live (18:5-9). If he has a wicked son, the son will die (18:10-13). If the wicked man has a righteous son, the son will live (18:14-18). The Israelites complained that the righteous son should share his father’s guilt, but God said no, only the wicked man will die for his wickedness (18:19-20). Additionally, if a wicked man repents, he will live, but if a righteous man becomes wicked, he will die (18:21-29).

Through Jeremiah God said that after the exile, people would finally stop quoting that proverb and realize people die for their own sin (Jeremiah 31:29-30).

Despite the people’s wish to believe that they themselves didn’t deserve punishment, in actuality, the generations had increased in wickedness as they learned their parents’ sins and added to them until God finally said, “Enough.” The exiled generation ignored the prophets’ warnings against child sacrifice to Molech, the highly sexualized worship of Canaanite gods, gross mistreatment of the poor, and blatant injustice.

Note that the exile happened in three stages: 605 BC, 597 BC, and 586 BC (when Jerusalem was destroyed). The exiles returned in 536 BC, just 50 years after the last deportation. Many first generation children saw the restoration.

Is the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 an example of children being punished for their parents having crucified Jesus 40 years earlier?

No, the Jews that died in the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome were not being punished for Jesus’ crucifixion, but for their own rejection of Jesus as Messiah.

Moses had warned the Israelites that God would one day raise up a prophet like him and they must listen to him, or they would be called to account (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19). The apostles reminded the Jews of this and warned them they would be cut off if they rejected Jesus as Messiah (Acts 3:22-23).

In AD 66, Jews in the provinces of Galilee and Judah revolted against Rome. They were led by the Zealots, a Jewish sect which taught the Messiah would come when the Jews were righteous enough to deserve the Messiah; the righteousness they demanded included rejecting all other human governance. They refused to pay taxes and assassinated Roman officials.

An initial victory led many Jews to join the Zealots in their revolt. Those who revolted rejected Jesus as Messiah and sought from among their own a Messiah who would establish an earthly kingdom free from Roman rule. As Rome crushed the revolt, the Zealots assassinated Jews who didn’t give them their full support, preventing them from surrendering. Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70 and finished putting down the revolt in AD 75. The Jews entered exile again.

Are we destined to endure divine retribution of some sort of pain, suffering, and physical death here on earth because of some of the sins committed by our fathers or grandfathers?

No, absolutely not. We sometimes suffer the consequences of our parents’ sins: a gambler may lose his house and plunge his family into poverty. We sometimes learn and repeat the sins our parents teach us, bringing more consequences and even discipline. But we won’t endure divine retribution for our ancestors’ wickedness.

Besides, “in Christ” all of this is irrelevant anyway because when we’re “born again,” we’re born into God’s family.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ~2 Corinthians 5:17

^[1]Douglas K. Stuart, New American Commentary – Volume 2: Exodus, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2006), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 454.↩

May 14, 2012/1 Comment/by Jean E. Jones

Apologetics, Bible Perplexities, Jesus in the Old Testament, Old Testament

Abraham, Isaac & Child Sacrifice

In Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. This story distresses some Christians who wonder how it could possibly be fair or right for God to ask this.

The story begins in Genesis 22:2.

Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

Now the Law had not yet been given, so God was not asking Abraham to disobey a commandment. Still, this request must have torn Abraham’s heart. What purpose could it serve?

Let’s start with some background.

Background

Abraham and Isaac Were Prophets

At times, God called prophets to perform actions that foreshadowed and explained future events. Abraham and Isaac acted out God the Father’s offering of His beloved Son, Jesus, to save the world.

God Carefully and Lovingly Prepared Abraham for This Task

By the time of this event, Abraham had seen God’s miraculous intervention in

the blazing torch and fire pot when He made His covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15:17);
the rescue of nephew Lot with only 318 men from the armies of four kings (Genesis 14); and
the saving of Lot from the destruction of Sodom (Genesis 19).

Most importantly, God had shown Himself faithful to His promise even when all looked impossible through the miraculous birth of Isaac to his wife Sarah, who was barren, past menopause, and 91 years old.

Abraham had talked with angels and God himself. God gave Abraham more evidence of His nature than He gives most people to prepare him for the position for which God chose him: the father of the nation that was to represent God on earth. But to whom much is given, much is required, and God required Abraham to demonstrate unwavering faith.

God Made Promises about Isaac

The Lord had promised Abraham Isaac would be his heir in Genesis 17:19:

Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”

God tested Abraham’s faith in this promise by asking him to do something that appeared to make the promise’s fulfillment impossible.

Abraham Believed God’s Promises

Because he believed God’s promise about Isaac, “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead” (Hebrews 11:19). And so as Abraham took leave of his servants, he placed the wood for the offering on Isaac, took torch and knife in hand, and in faith told his servants, “We will come back to you” (v. 22:5). Turning, father and son climbed Mount Moriah together.

Abraham constructed an altar, piled the wood atop, and bound and laid Isaac on it. As his fingers wrapped around his knife, he heard the angel of the Lord call out: “’Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son’” (Genesis 22:12).

Abraham had passed the test. He saw a ram trapped in a thicket and sacrificed it instead.

What did this test achieve?

One, the test proved the strength of Abraham’s faith.

Most of his life was materially and spiritually blessed; his faithful passing of the test demonstrated unbought love. Now his descendants could know they too could trust God, though they had less visible evidence than he. They would need this through the Egyptian captivity and at other difficult times. Abraham’s faith was realized and proven.

Two, it proved Abraham loved God.

Abraham loved God more than anything on earth, including his son, and thereby set the example for his descendants. Jesus said anyone who loves son or daughter more than Him and refuses to take his cross and follow Him is not worthy of Him (Matthew 10:37-39). All of us have times in our lives where we must choose whom and what we love most, times we must face the loss of something dear to us and decide whether we will trust in God’s goodness through it. Abraham shows us we can trust God to keep His promises.

Three, Isaac’s willingness to trust his father foreshadowed Jesus’ later willingness to die for the sins of the world.

Isaac was at least an adolescent (Jewish tradition has him an adult) and Abraham was over 110, making Isaac the stronger and faster of the two, yet Isaac allowed his father to bind him and lay him on the altar. This differed significantly from the Canaanite practice of sacrificing young, defenseless children to the fire of Molech.

Four, this prevented the Canaanites from boasting.

They couldn’t claim they were more devoted to their gods than Abraham was to his God because they were willing to sacrifice more.

Five, God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, showing He did not want children sacrificed.

Later through Moses God forbade child sacrifice (Leviticus 20:2).

Six, the test foreshadowed the Father’s sending of his willing Son to be sacrificed for the sins of the world.

When Jesus talked about the Father sending His Son to save the world (John 3:16) by paying for our sins like a sacrificial lamb (John 1:29), the Jews had a reference to relate to so they could understand Him better and have more evidence Jesus’ teaching came from God.

Seven, Abraham’s sacrifice of the ram foreshadowed Jesus’s sacrifice.

The ram was a substitutionary sacrifice. It foreshadows Jesus’ dying instead of those who deserve death, but receive life by trusting in Him. Abraham named the place, “The Lord Will Provide.” Indeed the Lord has provided a suitable substitute for us that we might live, like Isaac.

Eight, God greatly rewarded Abraham and Isaac.

This demonstrated His faithfulness to reward us when we trust in His goodness and love when we go through difficult times and experience loss.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ~Romans 8:32

October 3, 2011/3 Comments/by Jean E. Jones

What do I mean by “fulfilled”?

The Four Feasts Jesus Fulfilled

For Detail Lovers

1) Passover: Pesach

For Detail Lovers

Jesus’s Feasts Fulfillment

For Detail Lovers

2) The Feast of Unleavened Bread: Chag HaMatzot

Jesus’s Feasts Fulfillment

3) Feast of Firstfruits

Jesus’s Feasts Fulfillment

For Detail Lovers

4) Feast of Weeks (Pentecost): Shavuot

For Detail Lovers

Jesus’s Feasts Fulfillment

The Three Feasts Jesus Has Not Fulfilled

5) Feast of Trumpets: Rosh HaShanah

For Detail Lovers

Jesus’s Future Feasts Fulfillment

6) Day of Atonement: Yom Kippur

Jesus’s Future Feasts Fulfillment

7) Feast of Booths: Sukkot

For Detail Lovers

Jesus’s Future Feasts Fulfillment

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1) Omnipresence means God’s presence fills the universe.

God is Spirit

What this means for us

2) Creation is not God.

What this means for us

3) God has sometimes made his presence known via theophanies.

What this means for us

4) God limits how much his presence is experienced by humans.

What this means for us

5) God will one day dwell with humans in a greater way.

What this means for us

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Books You Might Like

1. God Planned to Send Jesus Before He Created People

2. The Old Testament Points to Jesus in Three Ways

Promises about Jesus in the OT

Prophecies about Jesus in the OT

Portents of Jesus in the OT

3. God Revealed His Plan at Significant Points in History

Eve’s Day

Abraham’s Day

Moses’s Day

David’s Day

The Major Prophets’ Day

The 2nd Temple’s Day

The 2^nd Temple’s Day