The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

1 John 3.8 - Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 5.5 - Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? These and other texts lay out for us the power of the promise of the Lord to “crush the head of the serpent” in his own self-chosen, anointed “seed of the woman.” God has determined to connect the entirety of human history to the fulfillment of a single promise that he made in regard to the restoration and redemption of his creation through Jesus of Nazareth. We now know that this promise has in part already been fulfilled in the coming and work of Jesus of Nazareth, and soon he will consummate his work that he began on the cross at his Second Coming. Is it not amazing that all of the history of the entire world and universe can be boiled down to a single promise and our sovereign and faithful God’s absolute determination to fulfill his Word? This is the ground of our faith, the heart of our worship, and the basis of our reading of the Scriptures. This divine promise coursed through the sacred history of the people of Israel until it was fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He is the center and end of all salvific work that God conducts in this world. Isn’t it amazing that our God, this great God, is a God of promise who fulfilled it in the person of Jesus Christ? Isn’t it wonderful to know that the one who promised us will never change his mind, but will fulfill his sacred promise, to the glory of his name, and the salvation of his own? Let us declare our faith in the simple affirmation of the promise of the apostle, and live as if we believe it with all of our hearts and minds: 1 Thess. 5.23-24 - Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. The God who laid out his sovereign purpose for the world in the Garden, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, indeed, he is the original Promise Keeper!

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