Tag: John 1:1

Spotlighting the Savior

With his signature red and white striped beanie, matching sweater, and Coke bottle glasses, most of us would recognize the title character of Where’s Waldo anywhere. If you’re unfamiliar, these “spotlight search” children’s books contain detailed illustrations that always include Waldo hiding in plain sight. Author and illustrator Martin Handford delights readers with his creative scenes on each page.

At the risk of sounding irreverent, prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament remind me of Waldo as they foreshadow the arrival of the Messiah.  Many of the references to Christ are easy to miss without a “spotlight search.” Here are a few we’ve touched on as we’ve studied the grand narrative of Scripture in Elizabeth Woodson’s From Beginning to Forever:

1) Serpent Crusher: After Adam and Eve disobey God and open the world to sin, the Lord pronounces a curse on the serpent that deceived them: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15, NIV) God promises that the ongoing conflict between the enemy and humankind will one day end with Eve’s offspring crushing him. In our “spotlight search,” this is the first reference to the Messiah who would conquer the enemy and reconcile fallen humans with their perfect Creator.

2) Blessing for All People: Later, in Genesis 12 God makes a covenant with Abraham (called Abram at that time) that spotlights the One who will bring blessing to all the earth: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3, NIV) Here the Lord promises that through Abraham’s offspring the entire earth will be blessed. The Lord confirms this promise with Isaac and Jacob.

3) Eternal King: Continuing on in Scripture, the Lord spotlights the Messiah again when He makes a covenant with King David: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” (2 Samuel 8:16, NIV) He promises a king greater than David who will one day rule “Israel perfectly for the glory of God.” (Woodson, 79)

4) Savior: Many prophets also foretell the coming Savior throughout the Old Testament, as we see Isaiah spotlight in this familiar passage: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6, NIV)

Four hundred years of history unfold for the Israelites with no written record between Malachi at the end of the Old Testament and Matthew at the start of the New Testament. The silence breaks with the gospels; each of the four highlight different aspects of Jesus’ life and reveal Him as the fulfillment of prophecies about the Messiah. All four present Jesus as the sinless One who died to save sinners. While there are overlapping stories among them, each gospel writer emphasizes certain aspects of Jesus; together they provide a complete testimony. Let’s examine a few key parts of Jesus’ life that they spotlight:

Matthew: “Matthew, writing to a Jewish audience, emphasizes Jesus’ fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, proving that He is the long-awaited Messiah.”* For the Jewish people, ancestry was everything. Matthew opens his book  with the genealogy of Jesus to confirm that He is in the family line of the Messiah. Interestingly, he also lists five women in the genealogy, including three Gentiles, revealing the Lord’s intention to be a blessing to “all peoples on earth” as He promised to Abraham.

Mark: “Mark writes a fast-paced, condensed account, recording Jesus’ miraculous deeds and not recording His long discourses.”* Filled with action, Mark’s gospel reveals Jesus’ authority over both the physical and spiritual realms as He heals people, casts out demons, calms storms, and feeds thousands with a few loaves and fish. Mark also records key declarations such as Peter telling Jesus: “You are the Messiah” (Mark 8:29b) and a centurion exclaiming at His crucifixion, “Surely this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 8:39b, NIV)

Luke: “Luke portrays Jesus as the remedy of the world’s ills, emphasizing His perfect humanity and humane concern for the weak, the suffering, and the outcast.”* This gospel includes the most comprehensive version of the Christmas story (Matthew includes other aspects of it.) Luke also shows Jesus revealing Himself as the Messiah when He reads a prophecy from Scripture aloud in the synagogue: “’The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ Then [Jesus] rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’.” (Luke 4:18-21, NIV)

John: “John emphasizes Jesus’ deity by selecting many conversations and sayings of Jesus on the subject and also including ‘signs’ that prove He is the Son of God.”* John uses Old Testament language to reveal Jesus as the Christ, starting his book with a familiar phrase from Genesis: “In the beginning.” (John 1:1a, NIV) John’s gospel also includes the seven “I am” statements of Jesus, echoing the Lord’s words when Moses encounters Him speaking from a burning bush and identifies Himself as “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14, NIV) Among Jesus’ most important statements about Himself, John records Him saying: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, NIV) and “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;” (John 11:25, NIV)

John sums up the intention of all four gospels: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31, NIV)

May this “spotlight search” of the Messiah leave you with no doubt that Jesus is the Savior for our fallen, broken world. And may this head knowledge lead to a deep heart connection with the One who gave Himself for you.

*Quotes describing the four gospels from: https://www.gotquestions.org/different-gospel.html

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Elizabeth Woodson, From Beginning to Forever: A Study of the Grand Narrative of Scripture, Lifeway Press, 2022.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Looking at the story of the rock from Numbers 20, God’s punishment to Moses may seem harsh. However, the stark reality is that we are all sinners in a fallen world who deserve to be barred from entrance into the Promised Land of heaven. In the same way God’s grace provided water in spite of Moses’ sin, His grace provided Jesus to pay for our sins when we didn’t deserve it.

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Thirty-nine years into their desert wanderings Moses and the Israelites were on the brink of entering the Promised Land. Just when it was finally within their grasp, Moses and his brother, Aaron, committed a sin so grievous that God barred them from leading the people into Canaan. They were doomed to die in the desert. It all started with a familiar problem: the Israelites were grumbling because they had no water. Once again, Moses and Aaron sought help from the Lord:

“Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.’

So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, ‘Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.’” (Numbers 20:6-12, NIV)

In this week’s study Priscilla Shirer asks: “How did Moses offend the Lord? Why do you think the Lord withheld entry into Canaan rather than assigning a lesser punishment?” (One in a Million p. 116)  For me, these weren’t easy questions to answer. If you’re feeling the same, continue reading to see what I learned from consulting different teachers and commentaries.   It may help you understand the reason for God’s severe punishment of Moses and Aaron in spite of their prominent positions.

Disobedience to God’s Clear Instructions

God gave a simple direction to Moses and Aaron. They were to speak to a specific rock while the community watched. God promised that water would pour from the rock as a result. However, Moses chose to respond to the people’s grumbling with exaggerated anger.   Instead of simply speaking to the rock, he struck it twice with his staff. Psalm 106:32-33 provides some commentary on this:

“By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.” (NIV)

Pinpointing What Went Wrong

In his anger, Moses over reacted to the Israelites’ complaints about having no water. He let his emotions take control and spoke rashly to the people. “It was not God but Moses who was angry at the people. Therefore, the pronoun we was a form of blasphemy… If Moses had merely spoken to the rock, as the Lord had directed, the miracle would have pointed to the power of God. As it was, Moses took God’s place both in word and deed. Moses’ sin was a willful refusal to point away from himself to God’s power and thus sanctify the Lord in the eyes of the people. Moses and Aaron shared the chastisement for this sin.” (Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 138)

Several things stand out to me in this explanation:

1) Moses let his emotions get the best of him–his anger led him to sin

2) Moses characterized God inaccurately to the people

3) Moses spoke for God when he was not instructed to do so (the commentary labels this as a form of blasphemy)

4) Moses demonstrated pride in his “willful refusal to point away from himself”

The truth is, we’re not much different from Moses:

-There are times when we let our emotions take control and lead us into sin.

-We all have moments of inaccurately portraying God to others. It’s called hypocrisy. (Have you ever encountered someone who wants nothing to do with God because they’ve previously had a negative experience with a hypocritical Christian?)

-There are times when we’re tempted to speak for God or to bend His Word to fit our agendas.

-All of us also struggle with pride. It’s human nature to place us in the center of the universe and to want everything to revolve around our personal wants and needs.

God’s Grace

One thing that is easy to overlook in this story is that despite Moses and Aaron’s sin, God still provided water from the rock to meet the people’s needs that day. In fact, the fingerprints of God’s grace are smeared all over the Israelites’ story. Jesus is present throughout their wanderings even though He’s never mentioned by name. Consider this: God’s daily provision of manna and water give tangible examples of what Jesus does for us spiritually as the Bread of Life (John 6) and the Living Water (John 4 & 7).

The apostle Paul links Jesus directly to the Israelites:

 “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4, NIV)

One commentary explains the rock mentioned in Numbers “was the visible means of the supply of water which came ultimately from Christ. Since people of Israel obtained this water in the opening years of their wilderness wandering (Exodus 17:1-9) and in the closing years (Numbers 20:1-13), it is only natural to infer that he, Christ, the Supplier of the water, was with them all along the way.” (Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1245) Sometimes we forget that as a member of the Trinity, Jesus was with God from the beginning:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth…. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:1,2,14,17 NIV)

Looking at the story of the rock from Numbers 20, God’s punishment to Moses may seem harsh. However, the stark reality is that we are all sinners in a fallen world who deserve to be barred from entrance into the Promised Land of heaven. In the same way God’s grace provided water in spite of Moses’ sin, His grace provided Jesus to pay for our sins when we didn’t deserve it. Because of this, we’re freed to receive God’s grace so that we can enjoy His abundance in our present lives and spend eternity with Him.

Moses first encountered God in the burning bush at the foot of Mount Sinai. He returned with the Israelites to worship there later. From the heights of Mount Nebo, he had sweeping views of the Promised Land that he would never enter. Because of this, it seemed fitting to include a song describing the spiritual moments that happen in our mountain top experiences. Click on the link to hear Crowder’s “This I Know.”

Pfeiffer, Charles F. and Harrison, Everett F.; Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Editors; Moody Press, 1962, 1990.

Shirer, Priscilla; One in a Million: Journey to Your Promised Land; Lifeway Press; 2010, 2014.