There are many benefits to be gained by studying sacred history and attempting to understand the dynamics of the relationship existing between a righteous, holy God and His sinful people. Ancient Israel was not only sinful, however, but they were also totally depraved. And their historical condition is also the present condition of the entire human race. We read,
“My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him. How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?” (Hosea 11:7 NKJV)
Their sinful condition merited severe punishment and rejection but The Lord Almighty still continued to pursue them in mercy and love. The prophet continued,
“How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror.“ (Hosea 11:8-9 NKJV). Incidentally, Admah and Zeboim were two towns located near Sodom and Gomorrah. They suffered the same fate as those two corrupt and perverted cities when The Lord Almighty overthrew them.
Shortly after the people of Israel were delivered from Egyptian bondage, God entered into a covenant with them. Where they promised that they would keep all of His commandments. We are informed,
“So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has said we will do.” And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.” (Exodus 24:3-8 NKJV).
The problem with this agreement unfortunately is that it was never honored by the Israelites. They never kept it during their long and colorful history as God’s chosen people. It is precisely for that reason that Hosea and other major and minor prophets have repeatedly referred to the incessant backsliding of God’s people. Israel’s apostasy was so chronic and pronounced that their oppression by the Assyrians and subsequently the Babylonians was permitted by the divine government. Not only to chastise them for their sinfulness but also to bring them back to God.
It was impossible for them to keep this covenant in their own human power. Because ever since Adam sinned, at that very moment human nature became totally depraved. The Lord Almighty already knew that. However, His people also needed to learn and understand that sobering TRUTH. Not only for themselves but also for the benefit of the entire human race. The history of ancient Israel is therefore symbolically the history of mankind. The Psalmist David pleads,
“For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight….Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psalm51:3, 4, 5 NKJV).
How then can anyone escape? Especially since the very act of reproduction is tainted with sin.
Accordingly, Israel’s God proposed a New Covenant. We read,
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34 NKJV).
That’s why the birth of Christ The Saviour was mandatory. Because without His intervention in human history the human race would be doomed. The only way that any descendant of Adam would be able to keep God’s holy Law was by divine aid.
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 2:18-21 NKJV).
Not only from the consequences of Adam’s original sin but from all sin. God’s sacred law demanded the death of the entire human race. They were Adam’s progeny and consequently were subject to the death decree.
“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.“ (Romans 6:23 NKJV).
The shepherds watching over their sheep in the Judean hills were focused on the Roman colonizers. The announcement of their heavenly visitors painted a much bigger picture.
“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a SAVIOUR, who is CHRIST THE LORD. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!'” (Luke 2:8-14 NKJV).
What the people of Israel had failed miserably to do during 1800 years of repentance and backsliding. The Son of God would accomplish during His 31 years of life on planet earth. Not only did He keep God’s Moral Law perfectly on our behalf. He also died a substitutionary death to pay for every sin that was ever committed by every member of the human race. Furthermore, His resurrection from the dead is a guarantee of eternal life. To all those who have accepted Him as their Saviour from sin. We read,
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23 NKJV).
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