As far back as the Book of Genesis, when man first fell into
sin, God had provided a Redeemer. Scripture says in Genesis 3 that
the "seed of the woman" would crush the serpent's head.
Now, we know that the serpent symbolized Satan (_see_ Rev.
12:9). And we know that the "seed of the woman" is a reference to
the coming Messiah. This Messiah was to come through the royal line
of David (2 Sam. 7:14-16). In direct fulfillment of prophecy, Jesus
was indeed born of a woman (Gal. 4:4) from the line of David (Matt.
1:1; 2:1).
Now, the early Jewish theologians in the time of our Lord had
a great deal of difficulty in understanding Jesus' messianic
office. The reason for this is that they were schooled to believe
that the Messiah would come in the clouds of heaven to crush the
earthly governments under His feet and establish Israel as the
ruling nation of the world. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus came,
presenting Himself as the Savior and as the sacrifice for sin, they
could not accept Him.
We must clearly understand that Christ's role in Scripture is
_twofold._ He is _both_ the suffering servant _and_ He is the
coming King. In Isaiah 53 we have recorded for us a prophecy
concerning the coming of Jesus Christ in His first advent:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows,
and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide
their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our
sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten
by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his
wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone
astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the
LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa.
53:3-6).
Clearly, then, Christ came the _first_ time to suffer
humiliation -- despised and rejected among men, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. But Christ is coming a _second_ time as
King. He who bore the sorrows of the world and who cried out in
agony on the cross, "Father, forgive them for they know not what
they do," will one day come again in great glory and majesty....
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