Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

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.

Passages expressing this theme

  • 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 2:36 — 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.
  • 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
  • Deut 18:15 — 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;
  • Gen 3:15 — 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.
  • Gen 12:3 — And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
  • Gen 49:10 — The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
  • Isa 7:14 — Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
  • Isa 9:6 — For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prin
  • Isa 9:7 — Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even
  • Isa 11:1 — And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
  • Isa 11:2 — And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
  • Isa 42:1 — Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
  • Isa 53:3 — He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
  • Isa 61:1 — The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and th
  • Jer 23:5 — Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
  • Mal 3:1 — Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold,
  • Matt 1:1 — The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
  • Matt 16:16 — And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
  • Mic 5:2 — 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, f
  • Num 24:17 — I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the c
  • Ps 2:7 — I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.