God as our Refuge Part 5
God as our Refuge Part 5: God is our Rock Part 2
In my last installment of this blog series, I discussed what it means that God is our Rock. I hope you will read that before you read this part 2 of God as our Rock. In that blog, I focused on God’s unchanging character and Word as the rock on which we stand. I am going to further explain that idea.
The biggest proof that God doesn’t change:
In order to help you find that firm foundation in Jesus we talked about in the last blog post, I want to give you a quick tour of the way God has been promising and fulfilling His promises regarding redemption of mankind throughout the Old and New Testament and continuing on to today. This is to show you how unchanging God is in His character and purposes. We can trust His word!
The first promise to fallen mankind is in Genesis 3:15 right after Adam and Eve disobeyed God and received the curse for their sin. He says to Satan who tempted Eve to sin, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” “Bruise you on the head” means to destroy him. Ever since then, God’s people have been searching for the promised one who would crush Satan.
In Genesis 12:1-4 God narrowed the ultimate fulfillment of that promise by focusing the promise on one man’s descendants: God promised Abraham a land (Israel), seed (descendants) and blessing to all the world through his descendants. Isaac was the miracle child through which God began to fulfill the promise of descendants. His son Jacob had 12 sons who would become the 12 tribes of Israel. To the tribe of Judah, a promise was made in Genesis 49:10 that the scepter would not depart from Judah. This further narrowed down how the promise in Genesis 3:15 would be fulfilled. The promised one had to be from the tribe of Judah. God promised in Genesis 15:13-14 that Abraham’s descendants through Isaac would be enslaved for400 years and then be rescued. That took place during the Exodus when God rescued the Israelites from Egypt by His power and might. How hopeless the Israelites must have felt. And yet God faithfully fulfilled His promise. God then miraculously sustained the Israelites in the wilderness for40 years, and gave them the Law so that they could know and obey Him, see the need for and have hope in the coming redemption.
In the book of Joshua, we read the story of how God’s people take a portion of the land promised in Genesis 12. This was done only through God’s power and might overcoming their enemies. That took place hundreds of years after Abraham was promised the land. Unfortunately, the Jews were not obedient to God, and never took full possession of the land promised. Instead they integrated with the pagan people and worshipped their gods.
God chose a king for Israel from the tribe of Judah to lead the people in righteousness. This was David, who was the greatest king Israel had. But he was full of faults as a sinful man. He would not be the one to crush Satan’s head. But to him was given this promise in II Samuel 7:16: his kingdom shall endure before God forever and his throne will be established forever. His descendant was going to be the one to fulfill Genesis 3:15. Isaiah 9:7 promises this regarding this coming king: “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”
David passed away, and his sons were disobedient. Because of this, the throne was taken away from David’s descendants. The Israelites were exiled to Babylon because of their sin. God promised He would return them to the land after 70 years of exile. (Jeremiah 25:11-12). Under the Persian king Cyrus this happened exactly as promised. However, the monarchy with David’s descendants was no more. But how then was the promise to David and the promise in Genesis 3:15 to be fulfilled? Even though there were no more Davidic kings in Israel, a meticulous record of genealogies was kept. We see in the genealogies in Matthew and Luke that Jesus Christ was from the tribe of Judah and in the kingly line of David. In Acts 2:29-31, Peter tells the people assembled in Jerusalem after Christ’s ascension: “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants upon his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.”
The Jews understood that a Messiah would come who would fulfill the prophecies in Scripture starting with Genesis 3:15 and II Samuel 7:16. There were 100’s of other prophecies regarding the Messiah. They looked and longed for His coming. Alas, they didn’t understand that He would have 2 comings-one to atone for sin and the second one to judge and reign. The atonement for sin was prophesied clearly in Isaiah 53 and symbolized in the sacrifices that the Israelites were commanded to do. They were commanded to do these sacrifices to show the seriousness of sin and be a symbol of the coming full atonement for their sins. Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of those sacrifices. In order to crush Satan’s head, sin had to be dealt with and defeated. Hebrews 9:9-12 tells us: “(tabernacle) is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption.”
At the time God appointed, Jesus Christ was born. His life, death and resurrection fulfilled hundreds of prophecies and accomplished the eternal salvation of those who believe. Here are just a few of the prophecies that Christ fulfilled. The Messiah would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14). He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2-5). He had to be of David’s kingly lineage (see the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke). He would live in Nazareth (Matthew 2:23). John the Baptist came before Him as the voice of one crying in the wilderness to prepare the people for God (Isaiah 40:3, Matthew 3:1-3). The people would reject Him (Isaiah 6:9-10, Matthew 13:14-15). Jesus came into Jerusalem hailed as king while seated on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9 and Psalm 118:26, Matthew 21:1-9). The disciples left Jesus after he was arrested (Matthew 26:31, Zechariah 13:7). Judas would betray Jesus and then give up the 30 pieces of silver he got for it, which would then be used to buy a potter’s field. (Zechariah 11:12-13, Matthew 27:3-10). He would be crucified (Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 and the whole sacrificial system). He would be put in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9, Matthew 27:57-60).
The reason I went through the way God has been fulfilling His first promise in Genesis 3:15 throughout history is to show you that God doesn’t change. What He decides will be. Regardless of events, time, and people’s sin, God never changes His mind about His promise. Through thousands of years, He has been steadily working His will to bring about redemption of those people He chooses, and to bring about the destruction of Satan. He is not finished yet because He promised to come again as judge and king to make everything right. He will finally defeat Satan and those who follow Him (see the books of Revelations, Daniel and Isaiah for some of the countless passages on His triumphant second coming).
Even now we see God setting the stage for His second coming. God has protected the Jews from countless efforts throughout history to eliminate them. The Jews have been restored to a portion of their land that God promised them. The peoples of the earth are rising up against them. The Jews are starting to turn back to God. There is a world wide desire for a one world government that will eventually by ruled by the antichrist. The gospel has gone to the ends of the earth and there are believers from every tribe, tongue and nation. This is all necessary to fulfill the prophecies of the second coming of Jesus. So, even though we are well beyond the time of Scripture, He is still fulfilling His word right before our eyes, thousands of years after promising it.
Since we see how God has been fulfilling His seemingly impossible promises so faithfully and miraculously throughout history, can we not trust Him to do that with all His promises to us in our daily life? My dear friends, why do we not trust God and stand firm upon the rock of His promises in life’s trials? He has promised to be our refuge, our rock, our hiding place, our strength, our peace, our hope. He has promised that He and His word are all we need to weather the storms of life. Stand firm then on these promises with faith. He will be faithful to fulfill them. Because God is unchanging, we have confidence that He will do what He said. We have a firm and stable foundation in this evil and ever changing world. When He makes a promise, He will fulfill it. The question is whether we will take hold of the comfort and strength and peace that comes from standing firm on the rock of God’s word. Turn your mind to meditate on God’s word. When doubts swirl in your mind, think on who God is and what He has said and done. Then you will be like the wise man who builds his life on the rock. You will stand firm no matter what.
Here is a hymn about standing on Christ as our Rock: The Solid Rock (My Hope is Built) | Reawaken Hymns | Official Lyric Video
Another great song that shows how Christ is the fulfillment of Scripture is:
Christ the True and Better (Lyric Video) - Matt Boswell & Matt Papa
I will have a third blog on God as our Rock in which I will talk about the Scottish Covenanters and their reliance on Christ and His word as their rock as they faced terrible persecution.
Verses to memorize in response to this blog: Matthew 5:17; Revelations 21:3-8
I also recommend that you read through the Psalms frequently.
Email me with comments or questions at candice_anastasi@hotmail.com