The One Behind The BookSample

The plan of redemption - God’s promise to the world

THE STORY SO FAR...

People all across the earth continued to disobey God, so God chose the nation of Israel to be a special nation that would be a blessing to every other nation. However, even Israel disobeyed him, leaving us questioning how God’s plan to bring people back into relationship with him would ever come about?

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

By this point in the story, it is clear that there is no way that humans can make themselves right with God on their own. If we were to be rescued, God would have to step in and do
it himself. Although our disobedience means we don’t deserve to be rescued, thankfully God’s unfailing love for us means that he put a plan for redemption into action. His plan of redemption gives us the opportunity to come back into relationship with him.

God communicated this plan through certain people, who the Bible refers to as prophets. The prophets’ job was to hear very specific messages from God and give them to the people. Their messages were often a call for the people to turn from sin and return to God, however, another message was clear. They begin to speak of one who was coming to be

a faithful ruler for God and set the people free. This ruler, called the Messiah or Christ, would reconcile people back into perfect relationship with God by once and for all dealing with the issue of sin. He would bring redemption.

The prophets went even further in describing this curious promise. They gave numerous messages from God, called prophecies, which foretold various details of the life of this Messiah.

Some of these prophecies include;

• he would be born to a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)
• he would be born in the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
• he would suffer greatly and be rejected by mankind (Isaiah 53:3)
• he would be crucified (Psalm 22:16-17)
• his death would result in forgiveness of sins (Isaiah 53:4-6, 10-12)
• he would not stay dead but would be resurrected (Psalm 16:10)
• he would be glorified at the right hand of God (Psalm 110:1)
• he would be called ‘God with us’ (Isaiah 7:14)
• The King that was to come into the world would be God himself (Isaiah 9:6)

These prophecies brought great expectation and a sense of hope. Even though God’s people found themselves struggling because of their disobedience, they looked forward to the time when the Messiah would come and bring redemption.

30 Word Recap
God’s plan to save people from their sin is further revealed through his prophets. They begin to speak of one who will come and deal with sin completely – the Messiah.

Questions

1. Read Isaiah 53:4-6 and Isaiah 53:10-12. What descriptions can you identify in this passage that relate to what happened in Jesus’ life?
2. Why do you think God chose to continue to speak to people through the prophets even though they were continually disobedient towards him?
3. Why do you think it is so important to God that the issue of sin is dealt with?
4. What do you think true freedom is?
5. Even though humans continued to sin against him, God still persisted in desiring to restore people back into relationship with himself. What does this tell you about what God is like?

Personal reflection

God gave his prophets details about what would happen to Jesus hundreds of years before he came from heaven to earth. How does it make you feel to know that God knows everything about the future? Does this fact help you to trust him in your life today?