Home/Bible Studies/Who Is This King Of Glory? Part 2 of 3
in

Who Is This King of Glory? (part 2 of 3)

Mike Jackson

For this week, we're talking about the Old Testament God, and how God communed with man in the Old Testament. Then we're going to look at the New Testament as it relates to prophecies of the Messiah. Next week we'll put it all together by looking at the New Testament and how God communes with man today.

We looked at the Godhead last week, especially as it contrasts with the doctrine of the Trinity.

In the times of Isaiah, the people had many different cultures and many different gods. But the God of Abraham was always quick to remind them that he was the only true God, and they should worship no other god but him.

Isaiah 44:8
  1. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

God wasn't denying the existence of those other cultures and their gods; he just said that there was none beside him. You can take that two ways. When God said it was him and him alone, there was no dispute. The Trinitarian doctrine hadn't been invented yet. But another way to look at it is, there are other gods, but they are all false. None of them can stand beside the one true God, as Elijah showed to the prophets of Baal.

Jeremiah 10:10
  1. But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

Even though the children of Israel had been taught the magnificence of God; even though they knew his omnipotence, God had to continually remind them, lest they succumb to the influences all around them.

1 Kings 18:24
  1. And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

Here we have the story. Elijah told the people, let's make two piles of wood, and call on our gods, and whoever answers by fire, let him be God.

1 Kings 18:39-40
  1. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
  2. And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

Elijah wanted there to only be one God. Whoever disputed that, there was no more use for them.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
  1. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
  2. And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
  3. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
  4. And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
  5. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
  6. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Here's God telling them again that he was it; there is no other god. Even though there were all kinds of people and cultures who worshiped other gods, God was making it clear that for the children of Israel that he was the only one.

God's relationship with man in the Old Testament

God showed people in the Old Testament, time and time again, that if they went against him, there would be consequences.

What the Law Is

Romans 7:12
  1. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

The law is holy. It was. That's what God established to commune with man, and to show us when and where we erred. At the time, the law was just and holy, because it was brought forth by God for man.

Romans 7:14
  1. For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Secondly, the law is spiritual. Those who followed the law were spiritual, because they followed what God had laid down for them. We understand that God gave the law to bring the guilty man to the understanding of his sin.

What the law can and cannot do

John 1:17
  1. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3:17
  1. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.

The law was necessary. In the Old Testament, man could only find salvation through the law.

Romans 3:20
  1. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Man got to the point that there was no conviction in following the law. Whatever sin there was, they did what the law required, but there was no repentance. When that happened, the law could not save us.

Romans 8:3-4
  1. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
  2. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Since the law was imperfect in bringing salvation to man, God diminished the law. And the only way he could do that is to take all the sacrifices of the law, and roll them all into one perfect sacrifice, of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 7:19
  1. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

The law was unable to bring men salvation, so God abolished the law in order to bring a more perfect salvation through his sacrifice on the cross.

In the New Testament, we understand that as believers, we are not under the law, but under grace.

Galatians 3:12
  1. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

We are under grace, because it says that the law is not of faith. There was no faith in the law; it was all right there before them; it was all seen. There was no conviction in following the law. Now we are under grace, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:14
  1. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

So what was the difference between the Old Testament law and the New Testament grace? In the Old Testament, there was no escape from sin; therefore sin always had dominion over them.

Romans 6:15
  1. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Read Romans chapter 7 for a better understanding of this principle.

God chose to do away with the law, to come down in the flesh and make himself a sacrifice. Let's look at this sacrifice through the prophecies of the Old Testament. Next week, we'll look at their fulfillments in the New Testament. As homework, I'm going to ask you to find some of them yourselves.

Genesis 3:14-15
  1. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
  2. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

You may ask, "Where does it talk about the coming of Christ in there?" There are scriptures that make reference to this in talking about Jesus. This scripture talks about the serpent, that evil spirit, and the emnity between it and the seed of the woman.

Deuteronomy 18:15-19
  1. The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
  2. According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
  3. And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
  4. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
  5. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

It's talking about the messiah back in the time of the prophet Moses. God said, "I will put my words in his mouth." Next week we'll look at the manifestation of that prophecy.

Micah 5:2
  1. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

This is talking about Christ the messiah being born in Bethlehem. We all know that Christ was born in Bethlehem, and next week we'll see it in the scriptures.

All the things we see in the prophecies, Jesus did in the New Testament. But the Jews refused to receive him, because they were looking for a mighty warrior to deliver them from their enemies by force. That's not what they got.

Isaiah 53:7-9
  1. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
  2. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
  3. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

This is Isaiah prophecying that Jesus would be brought to die, without guilt or shame, as a perfect sacrifice. Next week we'll look in the New Testament and see that it all happened exactly as the prophet said. We'll look at how the One God of the Old Testament decided to commune with man in the New Testament. We'll also talk about the authority of Christ as he walked the earth.