God Told You So :: Old Testament
[Introduction]
This year, on New Year’s Day, Pastor Kyler and I were thinking about Lent ... because that's what pastors do ... we are always thinking about Lent ... thinking about how we should, as Paul teaches us in 2 Timothy 4[:2], to be prepared in season and out of season to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching (2 Tm 4:2). So there we were, bantering and discussing, when it was as if the Holy Spirit came upon us, and we established the roots of this sermon, saying ...
GOD TOLD YOU SO
I. Long ago, in many and various ways, God told you this day was coming.
He told you he would give you rest through all of his work (Hb 1:1; Gn 2:4), first in creation, then redemption, and now in sanctification. He told you that he would remember his covenant for you (Gn 9:15). He told you that he would provide for you, on his mountain (Gn 22:14). He told you that he would fight for you, and prevail for you, even when the odds looked like they were stacked against you (Ex 14:14).
He told you that ... even when WE abandon him ... like we always do ... even when we rebel against him ... like we always do ... he will still repeat his promises to you (Dt 31:16), calling you to repent. And then we will behold him in all his resurrected glory (Jb 19:26) ... because we know our redeemer lives. So he told us ... Sing aloud ... Shout aloud ... be glad and rejoice! YHWH has taken away your judgments. He has cast out your enemy. [He] is in your midst. And you will see disaster no more (Zeph 3:14-15).
But there are so very many more promises God told you would find their fulfillment on this Day of Resurrection. We can find them in every book of the Old Testament.
II. [Let’s start in the beginning.]
In the beginning, God told you he would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). He told you that you would be his people (Ex 6:6). And that you will be holy just as he is holy (Lv 19:2). When the fiery serpents bit the people so that many of them died, God told you who have faith to just look up and see your sin on a pole. Then you will live (Nm 21:8-9).
And so they did. And so do we.
When the LORD finally gave Israel all the land that he swore to our fathers, and they took possession of it ... [and they were given] rest on every side ... there was not not one good word God told them about that failed. All of his promises come to pass, he told us in Joshua [21:43-45].
But God’s people are seldom faithful. They whored after other gods and bowed to them (Jdg 2:17). So God told you to repent.
Then he told you he would send a redeemer, one who is the restorer of life and the nourisher of your old age (Ruth 4:15). He then told you he would be a father, and the redeemer would be his son (2 Sm 7:14).
Though the Books of Kings and Chronicles are filled with all sorts of evil, most notably idolatry, we still hear God speaking to the people. In particular, God told you he would still have compassion on his people and his dwelling place (2 Chr 36:15), promises realized even after the exile through Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
III. All of these promises are reiterated in the Psalms, Proverbs, and Prophets.
God told you the virgin will conceive and bear a son, and will call his name Immanuel (Isa 7:14). God told you he would bear all sin for all time (Isa 53). God told you he would preach good news to the poor ... bind up the brokenhearted ... proclaim liberty to the captives (Isa 61:1). God told you he would create a new covenant for you so that we will all know him. In this covenant, God told you, I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jer 31:31-34).
God told you his mercies would never come to an end ... so great is his faithfulness (Lam 3:22-23). He told you he would sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean ... and he would give you a new heart and a new spirit (Eze 36:25-26), which he will pour out upon you (Joel 2:28), so that the righteous will live by faith (Hab 2:4). God told you he would show wonders in the heavens and on the earth. God told you would know the great and awesome day of the Lord has come when you see the sun turned to darkness and the moon to blood (Joel 2:30-31).
And so it came to pass on the Friday we call Good.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this redeemer who was born in Bethlehem, the city of bread, (Mic 5:2) died and rose again on the third day, just as God told you in Jonah (Jon 3:5). Jesus, whose name means God saves, is just and has salvation (Zec 9:9). He saves all who have faith in him. He will indeed raise you from the dead, and give you the breath of life (Eze 37:1-14). He will ransom you from the grave (Hos 3:14). His dominion will have no end (Dan 7:13-14).
God told you all of this. Therefore, Keep your feasts, O Judah. Fulfill your vows, for never again will the worthless pass through you (Nah 1:15). For the day of the Lord is near (Oba 1:15).
[Conclusion]
Yes, everywhere we look in the Old Testament ... we hear the promises of God in Christ. The great and awesome of the Lord has come (Mal 4:5) ... because He is Risen! He is Risen, indeed! Hallelujah! ... in Jesus’ name.