The Promise of Christmas: The Promised Offspring

At Christmas, many of us open presents. And, oh, what a joy it is to open a present. Even adults must admit that they love the feeling. Some of us might try to suppress our excitement to be, you know, ‘grown up’ about it; however, inside, we’re giddy. Children, on the other hand, express the joy of opening presents far better. Consider for a moment how children often judge presents. If you were to set two different presents, one big and one small, in front of a young child, which one will they typically go for first? The big one. Why? Because as a child you often associate the value of the gift with its size. The bigger, the better. However, as we grow older we discover the most value is often packed into the smaller present. A diamond ring comes in a small package, so that small package proves far more valuable than a big box that contains a giant stuffed toy. This same principle applies to some of the words we come across in Scripture. There is often a payload of theological treasure jampacked into small, seemingly straightforward words. And we should be more excited about these little words than we are presents at Christmas. Let’s consider one very relevant word for this advent season.

In Galatians 3:16, Paul says this,

 

“Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.”

 

Paul takes one word, “offspring” and makes what on the surface appears to be quite the exegetical and theological leap by saying offspring refers to Christ, that is, Jesus the long-awaited Messiah who saves God’s people. Paul does the same thing when he writes Timothy,

 

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel” (2 Timothy 2:8).

 

Jesus is the offspring of David. Now David had many sons. What makes Jesus the offspring, and why is that so important? We may be tempted to say, “Well Paul can come to these conclusions and make these assertions because he is an Apostle.” But, I think Paul actually instructs us how to read our Bibles here. Paul offers a couple of clues in these two verses that inform his word choice. Paul connects Jesus being the offspring to two people: David and Abraham. So with those two clues in hand, let’s just consider this tiny little word offspring. One of the best ways to begin to unpack this wonderful gift is to read our Bible’s backwards, beginning with a couple of very well-known Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, Jesus. So let’s start unwrapping, because treasure of immeasurable worth lies hidden in this word, offspring.

 

The Offspring of David

First, Isaiah prophesies in Isaiah 9:6–7—a verse that often comes to mind around the Christmas season. In fact, many of us may have memorized—“to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” Isaiah says that son is divine, that “his name shall be called…Mighty God” among other divine monikers. And, Isaiah declares that God will send this divine child, this son, to be the righteous ruler of his kingdom. Isaiah says that this son will sit on David’s throne—“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…on the throne of David and over his kingdom” (Isaiah 9:7). Right before declaring this, Isaiah says in Isaiah 7:13–14, that this promised divine son who will rule on David’s throne is the same son who will be called “Immanuel” (God with us), who will be born of a virgin unto the house of David. It doesn’t get much more Christmas than that!

Well, so far we have not seen the word offspring, but David shows up a lot. Isaiah certainly understands that David is connected to this promised son . Where does Isaiah get this? Again, we’re tempted to chalk it up to Isaiah being a prophet. However, Isaiah, just like Paul, shows us what Holy Spirit empowered, Christ-centered reading of Scripture looks like. Isaiah teaches us how to read our Bibles. So let’s continue reading backwards. For Isaiah takes his cue from a promise that God had already made to David.

We see in 2 Samuel 7:12–13 (cf. 1 Chronicles 17:11–14), that God declared to David, “I will raise up your offspring after you…and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” Aha! Here we find our key word. The promised divine son prophesied by Isaiah is the offspring of David that God promised would reign forever. This promise to David ignited within David humble adoration and profuse praise to God (2 Samuel 7:18–29). Just consider some of David’s words in response to this promise,

 

“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?…You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you?…Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (2 Samuel 7:18–22).

 

David is obviously elated. Behind this elation, though, there does seem to be more than just joy for the promise of a son who will reign as king forever—as spectacular as that is. Indeed, David says this promise of God to him is “instruction for mankind” (2 Samuel 7:19). What does David have in mind?

David understands this promise of an offspring to be the coming fulfillment of an accumulation of God’s promises to his people. David is of the tribe of Judah the son of Jacob, and God had already made clear in Scripture—Scripture that David would have been familiar with—that a promised king would come from Jacob and specifically Judah, who would crush God’s peoples’ enemies and rule over all peoples (Numbers 24:17; Genesis 49:10).

Just as Isaiah understood the promised divine son to be the promised forever king who was David’s son, David understood the offspring promised to him, to be the promised ruler who would come from Judah and Jacob to crush all enemies and rule over all peoples.

So the offspring’s connection to David is clear. But what about Abraham? Well, Isaiah, David, and the people of Judah and Jacob all would have understood the promised offspring to be the promised offspring of Abraham, just as Paul did.

 

The Offspring of Abraham

Recall, God promised Abraham that his “offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 22:17–18). This is the promise Paul had in mind when he wrote the words of Galatians 3:16 and 2 Timothy 2:8.

Let’s review, then. The divine son born of a virgin, the son and offspring of David who would reign forever, the enemy crushing king of Judah and Jacob is one promise. And that promise is the promised offspring of Abraham who would possess the gate of all his enemies and bless all the nations of the earth. Paul, Isaiah, and David understood that it would be through a promised offspring that God would fulfill his promise to Abraham to bless all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1–3).

But we’re not quite done unwrapping this word yet. There is one more way Paul, Isaiah, David, and even Abraham would have understood this promise of an offspring. To discover that, we must go all the way back to the beginning.

 

The Promised Offspring of David Is the Promised Offspring of Abraham Is the Promised Offspring of the Woman

In Genesis 3:15, after that awful day in history we call the Fall, God declares to the Serpent, in earshot of Adam and Eve these words,

 

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15)

 

Paul, Isaiah, David, and Abraham all understood that the promise of an offspring was the promise to destroy Satan and save God’s people from the curse of sin and death. What Abraham, David, and Isaiah all hoped for but never saw fulfilled, Paul declares we now behold in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus Is the Promised Offspring

When Paul declares Jesus is the offspring of Abraham and David, this is what Paul has in mind:

 

Jesus is the promised offspring in Isaiah who is the divine son born of a virgin, God with us, who reigns in righteousness forever (Isaiah 7:13–14; 9:6–7).

 

Jesus is the promised offspring of David who will defeat death and reign on David’s throne forever (2 Samual 7:12–13; 1 Chronicles 17:11–14; Acts 2:22–32).

 

Jesus is the promised offspring who is the ruler from Jacob and Judah who will crush his enemies and have the obedience of all peoples (Numbers 24:17; Genesis 49:10).

 

Jesus is the promised offspring of Abraham who will bless all families of all nations (Genesis 12:1–3; 22:17–18).

 

And Jesus is the promised offspring of Eve who would crush the head of the Serpent and undo the curse of sin and death (Genesis 3:15; 1 John 3:8).

 

Great Treasure in a Small Word

Jesus is the promised offspring. It seems our principle proves true. A seemingly small package, the word offspring, contains with in it a payload of such immense worth and value, that we should be like a kid at Christmas when we happen to stumble across this word in our Bible reading. Hidden within this word “offspring” is the very promise our salvation. That is something worth getting excited for this Christmas when the promised offspring’s, Jesus’, first advent is so clearly in view.

Jesus Is the Christ: A Halfway Healing and a Halfway Confession

In Mark 8:22–26, we see Jesus heal a blind man at Bethsaida. Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t completely heal him all at once. Instead, Jesus heals him in stages. Recall the story:

And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Jesus lays his hands on the man the first time and only halfway heals. Only after this first stage of healing does Jesus then fully heal the man. What gives? Why does this miracle play out in this way? Is this just a harder case? Or, is it a problem with Jesus’ power—was Jesus just not quite feeling it that day? Well, I think we can eliminate those options. In fact, it might be helpful to first point out what is not happening here based on what Mark has revealed about Jesus.

 

Not a Harder Case

This is not just a harder case. Mark has shown Jesus to have absolute authority and power over demons, disease, nature, and even sin and death (Mark 1:25–26, 34, 40–42; 2:5, 8–12; 3:1–6; 4:35–41; 5:1–20, 21–43; 6:30–52; etc.). In fact, every miracle up to this point that Jesus has performed has been instantaneous. No matter how you rank the difficulty level of these cases here—of course, sin and death are the obvious choices of “most difficult” though, but you knew that—none have stood up to Jesus’ authority. Therefore, we can eliminate the notion that this is just a harder case.

 

Not a Problem with Power

This does not indicate a problem with Jesus’ power. Mark has made clear at the outset that Jesus is the Son of God.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)

The same logic we applied above to the first question (Is this a harder case?) applies here as well. Jesus has indicated by his actions that he operates with divine authority. Demons, disease, nature, and death all bend to his will. Jesus himself reveals by his self-proclaimed title the Son of Man that he is the one who receives all authority and dominion straight from God, the Ancient of Days himself (Mark 2:10; 28; cf. Daniel 7:13–14). This two-stage healing, then, does not point to a problem with Jesus’ power.

 

A Problem with Faith

So it is not a more difficult case and Jesus is not having a problem with power here. In fact, Jesus has shown nothing but absolute authority and control up to this point. So based on this, what is going on? Well, the logical conclusion is that Jesus, who has all power and all divine authority, must be in control here as well. That is, he must be doing this on purpose. Why? Because there is a problem present here. The problem is faith.

This faith problem is not Jesus’, and it is not the blind man’s. The faith problem is the disciples’ faith problem. Unlike most of us, Jesus is an extraordinary multi-tasker. Here, Jesus is not just compassionately addressing the issue of this man’s blindness, he is also compassionately addressing the issue of his disciples’ lack of faith in him. In fact, just a few verses before Jesus rebukes the disciples for unbelief and asks

Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?… (Mark 8:18)

The point is driven home even further by the fact that right before saying this, Jesus healed a deaf and mute man (Mark 7:31–37). That point is this: the disciples are spiritually like this blind man. They see Jesus, but not clearly, not fully. They don’t fully grasp who he is and what he has come to do. They don’t fully believe in him for who he is…yet. Peter illustrates this spiritual reality in the very next scene.

 

A Confession and A Rebuke

Immediately on the heels of this miracle, Jesus poses the question of the ages to his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29). Peter, ever eager, gives an answer that proves to be the confession of the ages: “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29). Peter at the very least believes that Jesus is the promised son of David who would restore the kingdom of Israel, rout their enemies, and reign on the throne as king in justice and righteousness (2 Samuel 7:12–13; Isaiah 9:6–7). He might even have a sense of this king’s special nature in that in some way he would be considered God’s son (2 Samuel 7:14; 1 Chronicles 17:13). And he might have a sense that his reign, his kingdom would endure forever in some way shape or form (2 Samuel 7:13; Chronicles 17:12, 14). Perhaps he believes his throne would endure forever through an unbreakable line of kings that followed. Regardless of the full extent of Peter’s knowledge here, Peter knows the promise of the coming Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed, a son of David who would restore God’s kingdom and be king. And Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ. But in what follows, it becomes clear that Peter gives a halfway confession. That is, Peter does not fully know the way the Christ will restore the kingdom. He only sees partially in that he does not understand the messianic mission. There is more to this confession than Peter knows.

After Peter’s confession, Jesus begins to teach them the path he, the Son of Man, the Christ, must take to the throne. And power in any earthly sense does not mark this path. Pain marks this path.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31)

This does not fit into Peter’s category for the Christ. So he immediately takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. This earns him nothing but an even fiercer rebuke from Jesus.

He [Jesus] rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Peter only halfway sees who Jesus is as the Christ and what Jesus will do as the Christ. Peter does not fully see that the Messiah has come to destroy sin and Satan, not earthly enemies (1 John 3:8). And Peter does not fully see the way that the Christ will do it—through suffering. The Christ is the suffering servant of Isaiah 53.

 

The Christ Suffers in order to Save

Jesus makes clear that you cannot confess him as the Christ who saves without confessing him as the Christ who suffers in order to save. Jesus the Christ “was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him” (Isaiah 53:10). Because, as the perfectly righteous one, he will “make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11). Jesus the Christ, “bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).

Peter’s ignorance and partial spiritual eyesight is on full display here. But the Christ would not leave him in his partial blindness and halfway confession. Indeed, it is the very path Peter disagrees with, that ends up saving him and restoring his sight. Because the Christ suffered, was rejected, was killed, and rose, Peter’s “sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.” Jesus heals Peter’s half sight so he that he no longer holds to a half confession. There is no confessing Christ without confessing the suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection of the Christ. Don’t take my word for it, take Peter’s.

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it…Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Jesus is the Christ. And he is the Christ who suffers in order to save his people. Like Peter and the rest of the disciples, we were spiritual blind, but the Christ has come in order to restore our sight. And while our battle with this sinful flesh will often blur our vision again, the promise of the Christ is that through his suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection, he will save us. He will restore our sight fully, and we will behold the son of David, the Son of God, reign forever over God’s kingdom that never ends. And our lips will utter this confession in all it fullness: Jesus is the Christ.