The initial promise, the initial revelation and the initiation in time of the Covenant of Grace [Genesis 3:15], is veiled to say the least and could not be understood without the continuing revelation of God. But God does not leave us without hope. As the Biblical history of man unfolds so does God’s purpose of redemption.
If the Redeemer was to be born of a woman and that birth was to take place in history the way must be prepared. The Redeemer must be identified with God since He was to reconcile sinful man to God and since He was a man, the seed of a woman, He must be identified with the people of God. It was necessary, therefore, that God call out a people for His Name. Unto that people would be given the oracles of God [Romans 3:2] and through that people would come the promised Redeemer.
In due time God called out of idolatry a man named Abram [Genesis 12:1-3], changed his name to Abraham [Genesis 17:5] and promised that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed [Genesis 22:18].
The Apostle Paul tells us that seed of Abraham through which all the nations of the earth would be blessed was Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3:16, KJV
16. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
As time passed the lineage of the seed of woman was further defined: Abraham’s son Isaac to the exclusion of Ishmael [Genesis 17:18-22], Isaac’s son Jacob to the exclusion of Esau [Genesis 28:10-15]. Out of Jacob would come twelve sons and the infant nation Israel which God, consistent with His promise to Abraham [Genesis 15:12-16, moved to Egypt. In Egypt the lineage of the seed of woman was further defined: Jacobs son Judah to the exclusion of the eleven [Genesis 49:8-10].
Under God’s providential care that nation of some 70 people [Genesis 46:27] which emigrated to Egypt grew to a great nation of several hundred thousand people. In time these people were placed in servitude to the Egyptians [Exodus 1:8-14], a servitude that caused them to cry out to God for deliverance [Exodus 2:23-25]. Under the leadership of Moses the children of Israel returned to Canaan, the land of promise, after residing in Egypt for about 400 years.
In delivering the children of Israel, the Hebrew nation, from bondage in Egypt God brought the entire nation into a covenant relation with Himself. As with Abraham the covenant was unilaterally imposed by God with the promise:
Exodus 19:5, KJV
5. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is] mine:
and the requirement:
Exodus 19:6a KJV
6. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.
To assist the Hebrew nation to become a holy nation in a pagan world God gave them the Ten Commandments, the Ark of the Covenant, and the tabernacle with its ordinances. The remainder of the Old Testament Scripture shows the utter failure of the nation Israel to meet the requirements of the covenant. Yet Scripture also shows that for ~1800 years this people, a chosen vessel through which the seed of woman is to be born, were under the providential care of God. Within that nation Israel there was at all times a people faithful to God, spiritual Israel, the Church in the wilderness [Acts 7:38].
In all this the lineage of the seed of woman was preserved and further defined eventually leading to David, a man after God’s own heart. As the lineage was further defined so was the mission and identity of the seed. He would be born of a virgin, fulfilling the promise made in Eden:
Isaiah 7:14, KJV
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.
He would establish a kingdom that would stand forever not a kingdom that would last only one thousand years:
Daniel 2:44, KJV
44. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, [but] it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
Daniel 7:13,14, KJV
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.
14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed.
And He would suffer for the sins of His people:
Isaiah 53:4-6, KJV
4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5. But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Now all this was prophesied to take place in history and did take place in history. The Apostle Matthew writes:
Matthew 1:21, KJV
21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Luke tells us that the virgin conceived through the power of God and that the fruit of her womb, this seed of woman, was the promised redeemer, the Son of God.
Luke 1:26, 27, 35, KJV
26. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27. To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name [was] Mary.
35. And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians writes:
Galatians 4:4, KJV
4. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
The promised Redeemer, the Son of God, the seed of woman promised in Eden, is born of the virgin Mary and rejected and crucified by national Israel. Israel’s action in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was according to the eternal purpose of God Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:[Acts 2:23, KJV]. The Kingdom they mistakenly thought was exclusively for them was taken away and given to another people:
Matthew 21:43, KJV
43. Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
What nation was to be the recipient of the Kingdom of God? The obvious answer is the Church. However, for evidence we turn to Scripture. We read in the Gospel of Luke:
Luke 12:32, KJV
32. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
The little flock is the Church, the called out ones, who would bring forth the fruits of the Kingdom. For those who would insist that the Church cannot be identified as a nation we turn to the writings of the Apostle Peter:
1 Peter 2:9, KJV
9. But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
There is no Scripture in the New Testament that indicates that the judgment pronounced against Israel in Matthew 21:43 was or ever will be revoked. Therefore, it still stands. The Kingdom belongs to the little flock, the Church .
The mission of the nation Israel in God’s purpose of redemption had been accomplished. The elect of Israel will be brought into the Kingdom just as the elect of the Gentiles.
