The Messianic Covenant (part 1)

About a thousand years pass between the time of David and the beginning of the Christian era. During this time the gift of prophecy became more prominent in the history of Israel. God began to use more people to receive the gift of prophecy.

The gift of prophesy was not new. Moses was given this gift in large measure but the circumstances in his case were quite different from all of the prophets who followed him up until the time of Jesus.

· Num 12:8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD.

Here God spoke directly to Moses in a way that makes him a special type of the Messiah who was to come and that this was an intimation of Jesus when we read:

· Deut 18:17-20 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.

Following Moses there were few prophets until the last of the judges. There was one special example and that was Samuel who was not only a prophet himself but was assigned by God to a special duty of founding a school for young men to be trained in the prophetic office, that is those who had a special knowledge of the Law and seemed suited for the tasks.

Then there was David, on whom the gift was given with an unusual degree of ability. This is apparent in the Psalms. During this period and beyond, the prophetic voice was more and more common and influential in Israel.

The work of the prophet is not always correctly understood. The idea of prediction has gotten an undue bit of attention and may be given more credit than is due. This is understandable because most Christians have an unusual interest in future things.

The main purpose of the prophet has been lost. Many are unaware that its primary function was the practical spiritual condition of the people. They were involved in instructing the people regarding their sin, calling them to repentance, and putting before them the expected behavior as God’s people.

So they spent much time denouncing idol worship. Now it is true that several of the prophets did predict the future events, but again, most of their ministry involved dealing with the spiritual condition of the people. An example of this would have been Isaiah, who of all the prophets gave the most predictions of the future. But a careful study of the book of Isaiah will show that he too, was largely concerned with the spiritual condition of the people.

The true idea of the prophet is that of a man raised up to witness for God; to be His spokesperson to the people. They encouraged and gave hope to those people who were inclined toward God. In many respects, they had the function of today’s pastors.

One of the problems we have in dealing with the Old Testament prophets is that they spoke in language that the people of their day would understand. They used terms familiar to the theocracy or theocratic events. In other words, the language of the type is familiarly used in speaking of the antitype. For example “Israel” is the term used when referring to the spiritual seed; “visions and dreams” describe the future operation of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel age; “David” is the name used over and over to refer to the Messiah, the true Shepherd of Israel.

Given this bit of information, we need to be careful about being committed to a literal interpretation of Old Testament prophecies. As we attempt to interpret Messianic predictions we must be mindful that while the interpretations of the predictions may seem plain to us, the people of ancient days did not have the light of New Testament fulfillment to guide them and therefore the proper understandings were not as plain to them as they are to us.

For example, the predictions of the Messiah included many references to His lowly condition, including His birth, His sufferings and death. At the same time there were the majestic occasions when He healed the sick and even revived the dead. He was highly exalted upon His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and He taught as no one else had taught. So without the knowledge that we have revealed in the New Testament the prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah were not that simple to interpret. And given the unbelieving nature of fallen man, how is He received even today?

With this in mind we will be taking a brief look at the ministry of the prophets, beginning with David and then there is a break in the line of prophets until Joel and beyond.

No one contributed more to Messianic prophecy than Isaiah. He provides the most vivid picture of the treatment the Messiah would receive and the nature and severity of His sufferings. At the same time Isaiah gave us a beautiful testimony of the dignity of Jesus and the extent of His glory and kingdom. Then there is the figurative language of the government and spiritual results of His reign.

Most of the prophets simply echoed that which came from Isaiah. The work of the prophets was adding to the understanding of God’s plan as being revealed in the covenants. But things were growing darker and darker in Israel as the corruption of the nation increased. Then there came the destruction of the temple and the captivity of the northern kingdom. All of this seemed to cause the prophets to become more explicit as to the changes that the appearance of the Messiah would bring. The future became clearer, though not fully revealed.

Can’t you just look around you today and get some sense of the frustration of the religious Jews of that time? Events did not look as though there was much to look forward to, given what they saw going on around them.

Arthur Pink described the situation as follows:

“The idolatrous propensities of the masses, the general immorality which was encouraged by idol worship, the common contempt with which God’s servants were treated, the wickedness of the kings, and the frequent invasion of their land by hostile forces, all presaged dissolution of their state.”

Now wouldn’t you agree that this was enough to make them wonder about the validity of the promises of the covenants?

Well this condition gave rise and reason to the ministry of the prophets of encouragement. So the prophets continue to insist that there was a new day coming when the Messiah would appear. The more that the earthly circumstances grew worse, the more God revealed concerning the Messiah.

A very practical application for us today of this ancient situation is that we should think more on the future and the sure plans of God and to walk by faith, not by sight. This is not to say that we ignore the evil of our time, but that we not become defeated by it.

The key to the interpretation of the many predictions regarding the Messiah’s work is provided in the predictions which dealt with the new order of things which God promised.