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Promise Kept - The Grand Story of Redemption

"For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him amen, to the glory of Godthough us." 2 Corinthians 1:20

House hunting is a tough thing, especially when trying to find one from a distance.On our last move, my husband and I were looking for a house that had very specificcomponents, land for the children to roam and explore, enough bedrooms toaccommodate six children (with some sharing), an area to set up a permanent homeschool, and a laundry ROOM. Our previous homes both had laundry pass-throughsthat caused major hazards for people coming into the house from our garage entry. Ourever-patient real estate agent took me to (what seemed like) hundreds of houses andnone were right. Some would work for our temporary needs, but not for our home.

After two house-hunting trips, my hopes were failing, my doubts were dauntingand my anxiety was at an all-time high. In the middle of looking for a place to live, wewere also trying to complete an adoption. In order to have all of the paperwork signedoff, we had to have a permanent dwelling. On my last trip we found a house that wethought might work and were willing to settle. We made an offer and I flew back toFlorida. The offer was accepted; but the house failed inspections. I was devastated.As we waited in Florida for God to perform a miracle, my husband said he wanted to goout to some open houses with the agent, and he particularly wanted to check on abrand new listing he had seen. He gave me the information and I pulled up the listingonline.

As I studied the outside of the house, I could not see how this could possibly bethe one. It just didn't seem like anything I'd ever pictured. If I had only seen the houseonline, without my husband telling me about it, I would have clicked right past it. Laterin the day, he called to tell me he was inside the house. He wanted to go room byroom, describing each as I looked at them online. During the virtual tour, he keptsaying, "I think this is the one. It has everything we've been looking for. I really thinkyou'll like it." I still couldn't understand. I needed to see it for myself. And, see it I did, aweek later, after our offer had been made and accepted, I pulled up to the house on theday of the inspection. And I discovered that everything my husband told me was true.He was right. It has everything we were looking for and most importantly, it is home.

After settling in and learning more about this place, I can see how God was at work inevery detail leading up to our move. There's so much more to the story, but basically,He made me wait until the right time, which was His time and not mine so that I wouldrecognize His provision for my life.

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Sometimes, reading the Bible can feel like a long-distance house hunt, especiallyreading the whole Bible. We know the Bible is a book about Jesus, and is often called"God's love letter," but confidently walking through the Old Testament can feel like anunachievable task. Finding Jesus there may seem too difficult. It's hard to make our

home in the first 39 books of the Bible, except for maybe the Psalms or Proverbs. We'drather run on ahead to the New Testament, where we clearly see Jesus. Can youimagine what it was like for the people who lived during Old Testament times? Or thepeople who lived in the days of Jesus' early ministry? The people looked for a Messiah,but they did not see Him because no one expected Him to come the way He came - sovery humble. No one expected Him to look the way He looked - so very ordinary. Andcertainly, no one expected Him to die the way He died - so very full of shame. No oneexpected these things, that is no one except those who had listened to God's Word,who had seen Jesus in the symbols and the pictures, the foreshadowing and theallusions - the Word, given through prophets and the actions of the priests, directed byGod to move on the people's behalf. The ones who listened to the Word of the Old

Testament were the ones who recognized Jesus, the One Who God sent at the righttime, to give them a future and a hope, a home in Him. They saw Jesus, the Messiah,the Redeemer, the Promised One.

2 Corinthians 1:20 says,"For all of the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Himamen, to the glory of God through us."

All the promises of God...in Jesus...Yes.

On our journey together, we will hunt for Jesus. And we'll find Him. And He willbe beautiful. He is in every promise the Father makes to His children. He is theSufficient One Who is called for in the repeated offerings of lamb after lamb, each one

insufficient to make eternal atonement for our sin. He is God's Provision for His people.God's timing is perfect. The Redeemer comes right on schedule. God waits so we willrecognize that the Promised One is Jesus. And in Jesus are all the Promises of Godkept forever. Join me as we discover how all of Scripture, all of history, truly is onegrand story of redemption, one grand story of the Redeemer.

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In his book, Six Hours One Friday,Max Lucado gives a gripping account of themost important event in history, the death of Jesus on the cross. Before describing thecrucifixion, Lucado imagines what those hours must have looked like to the "casualobserver." He says, "To the casual observer there was nothing unusual about these six

hours. To the casual observer, this Friday was a normal Friday. Six hours of routine.Six hours of the unexpected. Six hours. One Friday." (18) In the mind of a non-believer, the six hours of Jesus' crucifixion mean nothing. But, in the eternity of theirlives, those six hours mean everything. Those six hours on that Friday represent theclimax of all eternity past, as well as the marker of all eternity future. God appointedthose hours, that moment of Jesus' death to be the defining moment of all time. Lucadoenvisions those hours like this:

"The living must die so that the dying can live. The time has come to kill the Lamb.'Here is the cup, My Son. The cup of sorrows. The cup of sin. Slam, mallet! Be true to

your task. Let your ring be heard throughout the heavens. Lift Him high to His throne ofmercy. Lift Him above the people that curse His name. Now plunge the tree into theearth. Plunge it deep into the heart of humanity. Deep into the strata of time past.Deep into the seeds of the future." (103)

To the believer, it is those six hours, the crucifixion of Jesus that changes theway we see everything. As we look upon the cross, we don't see a poor teachersuffering for His radical teachings. We see our Messiah, paying the price for ourredemption. In His agony, we see our atonement. In his misery, we see God's mercyupon us. In the hatred He took, we see the love He gave. In His dying, we see our life.

It is through the blood-stained lens of sacrificial love that all of the Word and all of theworld becomes clear. Hebrews 1:1-3 unfolds the mystery this way:

"God, Who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by theprophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heirof all things, through Whom also He made the worlds, Who being the brightness of Hisglory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things, when He had byHimself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."

From the beginning, God spoke of this moment. In the Garden of Eden, Hespoke words of promise that were woven into the fabric of His people through symbols

and sacrifices and priests and prophets. God spoke redemption right into every book ofHis Word. All of it, all of Scripture, all of eternity past points to Jesus. Over the comingweeks, we'll move from the garden tomb back to the Garden of Eden. We'll travelthrough the historical accounts of Scripture, taking a look at the overarching message ofGod to His people. At every turn and at every stop, we'll hear God saying, "YourRedemption draweth nigh. The Messiah is coming." Amen and amen...