Have you ever watched a skilled artist draw a picture? When the first lines are drawn the final object seems so far away, even non-existent. Even as several more lines take their proper place, nothing seems proper at all. Early in a drawing the beautiful result is only clear in the mind of the artist. To those watching the image it is fuzzy at best. Only as the artist nears the completion of His creation does everything begin to fall into place for us non-talented bystanders.
My brother-in-law, Jerry Ferrell, is a gifted artist and I recently asked him to draw a picture in several different stages for a sermon I was preaching. In the first of seven pictures there is simply one lonely pine tree. In #2 you can see the addition of the front of some kind of building. In #3 a walkway and a creek begin to take shape. In #4 a couple of rolling hills fill the background. In #5 the rest of the building begins to take shape, maybe a barn or a rustic house. In #6 another tree appears to fill even more of the page. Then in #7 the building gets its steeple and crosses in the windows. The final product is a beautiful picture of a country church in the mountains of Colorado with its very own trout stream and mountains for decorations. The whole picture was real to Jerry before the first stroke was made.
So it was with the coming of the only begotten Son of God. Over 30 different prophecies, the first from the Garden of Eden itself, paint a masterpiece of God’s answer to the human sin problem. In Gen 3:15 the picture of the coming Messiah was so faint that it only lived in the mind of the God Himself. But then comes Gen 18:18; 49:10; Num 24:17 and Deut 18:15 and the field of the picture begins to narrow to the families of Abraham, Jacob and Judah and we learn to look for a prophet.
Then we jump to David’s time (1,000 BC) and we discover that the coming one will be betrayed by a friend, that the betrayer will be replaced, that the Messiah will be hated without cause, falsely accused, mocked and insulted, will have his hands and feet pierced, be given gall and vinegar, not have a single bone broken, that his garments will be divided and the best news--RESURRECTION! (Ps 41:9; 109:7; 69:4; 27:12; 22:16; 22:6-8; 69:21; 22:18; 34:19-20; 16:9-10)
But still the masterpiece is missing too much to see clearly the image of the Creator/Artist. So we leap to the time of the prophets of Israel (725-500 BC) and find revealed before our eyes that the coming one will escape to Egypt, inherit David’s throne, be born in Bethlehem, be born of a virgin, live in Galilee, be rejected by the Jews, be silent when accused, be struck and spit on, suffer for others, that he will pray for his enemies, die with sinners, be buried with the rich, enter Jerusalem in triumph, be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver and be pierced. (Hos 11:1; Isa 9:7; Mic 5:2; Isa 7:14; 9:1-2; 53:3, 7; 50:6; 53:4-5, 12, 9; Zech 9:9; 11:14-13; 12:10)
You and I now live far past those days when the image was obscure, faint and fuzzy. We now look at those lines in scripture and see JESUS with clarity, boldness and surety. May we all remember, as this Christmas time draws near, that Jesus was the one promised from the Garden of Eden. He, and no other, is the fulfillment of every single one of those “lines” in scripture. May we worship Him and adore Him as the one and only Savior, God Himself incarnate. No greater masterpiece was ever painted than by God in the book we call the Bible. God bless.
Mike “Pawdad” Sublett, Pastor @ Hi-Land Christian Church, Pampa, Texas 79065, 630-730-8015
