We will discover a bit more about what the gospels are describing in the life of Jesus. He turned up when the people of Israel were still living in the aftermath of the exile to Babylon. Admittedly this was four or five hundred years before Jesus. And although they had rebuilt the Temple – and Herod had improved it quite spectacularly – there was something missing.
Well, the Ark of the Covenant had gone missing after the Babylonians sacked the Temple and carried of its treasures. More seriously, not only did the ark represent God dwelling with his people, it was as though the Lord himself was missing.
The famous “Immanuel” prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, even though he wasn’t called Immanuel. But he was “God with us”. What would you expect God to do if he took up residence amongst his people?
Well, that’s what the gospels tell us. But they tell us in a way that shows us that this is what God had been doing and leading up to all along.
In these studies and sermons we will start with Paul’s great cry of compassion at the beginning of Romans 9 and then trace what God had been up to and how it come to its fulfillment in Jesus.
Dale