Theme · christological
Messianic Promise
The messianic thread begins with the protoevangelium in Genesis 3:15 — the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent's head. It narrows through Abraham's seed, Judah's scepter, and David's throne. The prophets add detail: born in Bethlehem, preceded by a forerunner, entering Jerusalem on a donkey, sold for thirty pieces of silver, pierced and yet vindicated. Isaiah's Servant Songs merge kingship with suffering. By the first century, Israel is saturated with expectation. The Gospels systematically show Jesus fulfilling these promises, and the apostles preach that what God promised the fathers he has fulfilled in raising Jesus.
Related doctrines
Passages expressing this theme
- 1John 3:8 — He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
- 1John 4:9 — In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
- 1John 4:14 — And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
- 1Pet 1:11 — Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
- 1Pet 1:20 — Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
- 2Sam 7:12 — And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
- 2Sam 7:13 — He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
- Acts 2:22 — Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
- Acts 2:30 — Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
- Acts 2:36 — Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
- Acts 3:18 — But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
- Acts 3:22 — For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
- Acts 3:25 — Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
- Acts 4:10 — Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before y
- Acts 4:27 — For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
- Acts 9:15 — But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
- Acts 9:20 — And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
- Acts 26:16 — But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I w
- Acts 26:17 — Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
- Acts 26:23 — That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
- Col 1:26 — Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
- Col 4:3 — Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:
- Dan 2:34 — Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.
- Dan 7:13 — I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
- Dan 9:25 — Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street
The Church Fathers on Messianic Promise
(Verses 7, 8.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the land of the East, and from the land of the setting sun. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in justice. Likewise in the Septuagint.…
The two women indicate to us the church and the synagogue. The latter, after it tried to suppress the sacrament of human redemption and persecuted and killed the Redeemer through false accusations, claims, nevertheless, that its child should still be alive, that is, that the Jewish people should still be pleasing…
Because I will give you the holy and faithful promises of David, that is, whatever I promised David, I will surely and faithfully fulfill to you, namely, that Christ would be born from his lineage. For Isaiah, tasting the mysteries of the New Testament in this way, says: "And I will make with you an everlasting…
Once more Paul urges both Jews and Gentiles to unity with each other. He agrees with the Jews that Christ was promised to them and came to them first and that the Gentiles were called later on, because of God's mercy. Nevertheless, both peoples have now been made into one.
Just as God's promise made to Abraham is already visibly fulfilled in Christ, so other promises made to the seed of Abraham will be no less certainly fulfilled. The promise to Abraham was that "all the nations of the earth will be blessed in your seed." It is one of many such promises. Some of the prophecies…
"might come to the Gentiles." For it is said, Christ was willing to be accursed so that it might be to the Gentiles, that is, to those who do not possess the law, the things of the promise of Abraham might come. And let it come through this Christ. How through him? Since the promises are bound to the seed of…