Suffering&glory
Key 5: The Sufferings and the Glory
Let’s look at the big picture given to us by the Old Testament and see how the New built upon it. THE PROPHETS SAW TWO ASPECTS OF MESSIAH’S WORK - His SUFFERINGS and the GLORY that would follow.
After the angelic rebellion, God’s original purpose for man (made in God’s image) was to reestablish His KINGDOM through man - giving him dominion on earth (Genesis 1:26). When man sinned, God did not change His Kingdom Purpose but He had to also bring in His SALVATION PROGRAMME.
These two programmes determine God’s action in history and the fulfilment of end-time prophecy. God is moving to establish His Kingdom on earth, putting all His enemies under His feet. But first, He must provide salvation for man, or else all mankind would be destroyed as God’s enemies. Rather than destroying everything and starting again, God purposed to redeem mankind and reestablish His Kingdom on earth.
Both programmes centred in the MESSIAH. The original Messianic prophecy revealed that He would accomplish both purposes: “I will put enmity between you (the serpent) and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed (Messiah); He shall bruise (crush) your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). First, this predicts that He would destroy the devil and his Kingdom. Christ’s death on the Cross provided the basis for satan’s final destruction which is yet to happen when Christ reclaims His full authority in every realm.
Second, this predicts that in crushing the serpent’s head, He would also suffer bruising in the heel (the serpent’s bite). This was also fulfilled on the Cross, where Christ bore a terrible assault of the forces of darkness and received into himself the poison of our sin. He did all this to redeem us from the hand of sin, curse and satan’s dominion over us.
This two-fold work of the Messiah was typified by two sons.
As the son of Abraham, He would be like Isaac, the willing sacrifice who would rise from death. As the son of David, He would be like Solomon, a King of glory. So the New Testament introduces Jesus Christ as:
“the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1).
He is also represented by two symbolic animals: The LION and LAMB. Christ is the sacrificial Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29, Isa 53:7). He is also the Lion of Judah (Genesis 49:9,10; Revelation 5:5). As the king of the beasts, the lion represents kingly authority. Thus, out of Judah would come a Ruler who would rule Israel and the world. These two are related in Revelation 5. In v5, ‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah’, is introduced, but when John looked at the throne to see Him, He saw a ‘Lamb that had been slain’ (v6). In fact, it was because He suffered as a Lamb that He is worthy of Kingly glory (Phil 2:6-11). This is stated in v12:
But Israel sinned and the prophets (God’s Covenant-Enforcers) were raised up to point out their sin and God’s judgements on sin, and also to point forward to the ONE who would come to SAVE His people from their sin and from their enemies. He would come and reign - fulfilling all the Covenants, because they were unconditional. (Even in the face of Israel's sin and the Gentile dominance, the prophets declared the fulfilment of the covenants). God knew the Mosaic (OLD) Covenant would fail to save them from sin - it was given to prepare the way for the NEW Covenant brought in by Christ Himself, which could save all men (Jeremiah 31:31-33).
(2) The DAVIDIC COVENANT promised a King and an everlasting Kingdom. The Son of David (the Lion of Judah) would rule the nations with a rod of iron from David's throne in Jerusalem. His son Solomon was a type of this King and Kingdom. Jesus is the ‘Greater than Solomon’.
We can get so involved in SALVATION that we forget that its purpose was
to restore man to his original purpose in THE KINGDOM PROGRAMME.
Thus, our salvation through Christ brings us into God's Kingdom so that we
can rule and reign with Him. Christ's work on the Cross was essential to establishing His Kingdom on earth, because men must be saved for it even
to be populated! Thus, Christ first had to come to SUFFER for our SALVATION as the LAMB, before He comes to reestablish His KINGDOM and reign in POWER and GLORY as the LION.
(2) The son of David - a Kingly Messiah, a conquering King.
WHAT THE OLD TESTAMENT MAKES CLEAR:
(1) Messiah would come to die for our sins to establish a NEW COVENANT (redemption and spiritual blessings) - the SUFFERING.
(2) Messiah would come to reign as King on earth on David's Throne - the GLORY.
How both prophecies can be fulfilled is made perfectly clear in the New Testament. Jesus came the first time as the sacrificial Lamb and will come again as the Lion King. The prophets saw visions of the Messiah coming as the KING (THE LION of JUDAH) and also as a SUFFERING SERVANT dying for our sins and rising again (the sacrificial LAMB OF GOD -see Isaiah 53).
Some Jews found it hard to reconcile these two images and so looked for two Messiahs. Most just looked for the one they wanted - the King who would conquer and save them from the Romans. One reason they rejected Jesus is that He had to first fulfil His ministry of saving men from sin but in their self-righteousness they weren't looking for this kind of Saviour (and they didn't like the requirement to repent which was part of receiving this salvation to be ready for the Kingdom).
Only after establishing the New Covenant in His Blood could He establish His Kingdom on earth (or else it would just be an enforced external Kingdom rather than one where God reigned in men's hearts). Only when Israel accepts the New Covenant in Christ, can God set up the King and Kingdom on earth, because it is based upon Israel and the Abrahamic Covenant.
The Jews looked forward to the MESSIANIC AGE, when the Son of David will rule with Israel as the chief nation, and the Abrahamic Covenant would be fulfilled in all three aspects. But they overlooked the passages speaking of the Suffering Servant. They saw the need for a King to deliver them from the Romans but not to save them from their own sin (they were deceived into thinking they saved themselves by their legalistic obeying of the law - that they didn't need a Saviour). Thus the nation rejected their King. They didn't realise it was "the suffering then the glory" (Luke24:26; 1 Peter 1:11). Jesus didn't come as the King they were looking for because first He had to die for our sins. Had He moved as JUDGE, the Jews would be destroyed as well the Gentiles.
A careful reading of the Messianic prophecies makes it clear that the Messiah would FIRST have to be born and enter into His ministry of SUFFERING and THEN later enter His GLORY as KING of kings.
Likewise Jesus said: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in ALL that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the CHRIST (the Messiah) to:
(1) have SUFFERED these things and (then) (2) to enter into His GLORY?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-27). In one sense Jesus personally entered His glory in His resurrection and ascension, but the public manifestation of His glory awaits His Second-Coming and Messianic Kingdom. The Jews did not believe ALL that the prophets revealed, for while they looked for the GLORIOUS COMING of the Messiah, they overlooked the prophecies of Him coming first as a Suffering Servant.
"Of this salvation (the New Covenant blessings) the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching WHAT TIME or WHAT KIND OF TIME, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand of
(1) the SUFFERINGS of CHRIST and
(2) the GLORIES that would follow" (1Peter 1:10,11).
They saw the sufferings of Christ (His First Coming) and the glory of Christ (His Second Coming). WHAT WAS NOT CLEAR to the prophets was how much time (‘WHAT TIME’) was between these two Comings and what would happen in that time (‘WHAT KIND OF TIME’). What the prophets saw was like looking at two mountain peaks in the distance. They saw the FIRST Coming of Christ as the Suffering Saviour and the SECOND Coming of Christ as the Conquering King. But they could not see the Valley (the Church-Age) in-between.
The prophets could not see the TIME (the valley) in between the two Comings of Christ - that we now know as the Church-Age. Though they searched, it was a MYSTERY to them; as to HOW LONG ('WHAT TIME') it would be, and exactly what God had planned for that time ('WHAT KIND OF TIME'). So as they described what they saw ahead, their prophecies would often JUMP 2000 years across this GAP!
For example: "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given... (2000 years) .... and the government shall be upon his shoulders..." (Isaiah 9:6-8). Taken literally (as the original hearers would have understood it) the second half of the verse is talking of Messiah ruling the government of Israel and the whole earth from David's throne in Jerusalem which is still awaiting fulfilment. As we shall see shortly, there is a good reason why this time-period (now known as the Church-Age) between the two Advents of Christ was a Mystery.
Therefore, from the Old-Testament Prophets, we have this order of events:
- THE FIRST COMING OF CHRIST (the Sufferings)
- A MYSTERY TIME (Hidden by God in the Old-Testament time)
- THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST (the Glory)
- THE MILLENNIUM (the Messianic Age)
(1) The son of Joseph - the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, dying for our sins. This was a Priestly Messiah who would offer Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, before being raised and exalted as Lord.
(1) His Covenant with ABRAHAM promised the Coming of the Messiah (Christ), the Seed of Abraham () who would bless all nations with salvation. This promise was given more detail through the prophets as they described the NEW COVENANT-of salvation, regeneration and abundant spiritual blessings, that He would establish. This required the sacrifice of the LAMB OF GOD to take away the sins of the world. God gave Israel the temporary MOSAIC COVENANT to reveal their sin and need of salvation and also to show how salvation would be provided.