Waiting for the Son

BY HEATH JARRETT

Nine months ago, I got a phone call from my wife. She was pregnant with our third! With each passing week, the anticipation builds. Soon, we'll lay eyes on the son we've been waiting for.*

After the fall in Eden, a son was promised to Eve who would crush Satan's head. As the pages of the Old Testament unfold (and the centuries with them), the anticipation of this promised son continues to build. Many more promises about him are given, each like a tributary adding to a river.

Regarding his identity, the son would be Abraham's seed and bless the world (Gen 12:3), come from Judah (Gen 49:10), through the royal family of David (2 Sam 7:12–14 ), be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) to a virgin and called Immanuel (Is 7:14).

Regarding his work, he would be a suffering servant who dies for the sins of others (Is 53), be raised from the dead (Ps 16:10) to govern the nations in righteousness and subdue all enemies (Is 9:6–7; Psalm 2). He would excel in his priestly work and be the greatest prophet (Psalm 110; Heb 1:1–2; Deut 18:15). Much more could be added to these lists.

The watershed of the Bible flows to Jesus Christ, the confluence of all God's promises to Israel and the rest of mankind. With each promise, the details of the gospel become clearer, the portrait of the promised one sharper. Paul said that he was “set apart for the gospel of God, which he [the Father] promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son” (Rom 1:1–2).

While the Old Testament has often been taught as mere history or moralism, it is actually gospel. It's all about Christ. Jesus is not only the focus of the prophets but the one who actually fulfills their extraordinary promises!

These promises, however, were often hard for the prophets to piece together (1 Pet 1:10–11). The son was man and the son was God? Paul tells us that Jesus “was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom 1:3–4). For Christ to fulfill prophecy, he had to be both.

Jesus: the Son we've all been waiting for.

*At the time of printing the Jarretts were still awaiting the birth of their 3rd child.