Numbers 24:17-20 17“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth. 18Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong. 19A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.”
Isaiah 53
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
When my boys were young they loved to get me gifts for special occasions and surprise me with them. On one occasion, when my youngest was very young, my husband took the boys shopping for my Birthday gift. When they came home I started asking questions about what the gift was. My oldest kept his mouth shut. His Dad had told them both to be quiet about where we shopped, where we went, and even what department they were in! I was playing with them and just kept asking questions. They did not budge. Finally I asked one more question; ‘just give me one hint, Please!’ Our youngest, Eliot, thought and thought then finally blurted out, “well, you wear it around your neck.” Dad and Aaron groaned and scolded Eliot because his hint had virtually only one answer for a gift for Mom…a necklace!
Funny thing is, all through the Bible we see ‘hints’ about what God is going to do next. He used ‘hints’ with the Hebrews from the beginning. If we become ‘hint’ finders, we can learn from those hints in the Old Testament, and since He continues to use ‘hints’ in the New Testament, we can learn about our future. In somewhat general terms, not dates or places, but we can learn enough to find out in general terms, studying God’s Word.
In this passage we find a ‘foreshadowing’ of the coming of Jesus. We don’t know when, or we might wait until the day before to get right with God. We don’t know exactly where, or we might camp out near there like groupies for a rock concert and forget all about the work we should be doing. We don’t know how, or we might try to capitalize on it, as only people know how to do!
He gave us a hint. Something to think about so when we get discouraged in this life, we have a hope coming. It’s like waiting for Christmas as a child. Just the image of that beautiful day motivates us to get through this mundane day.
He gave us a hint. A reminder that He is on the throne-we are not. There is no possible way that any human could embed this beautiful information about the coming of Christ thousands of years before the event.
He gave us a hint. It is a motivating tool to help us remember that we must be about the Father’s business. He promised He was coming, and He does not lie.
I really liked the hint I received about my Birthday gift. It was a beautiful necklace. But as beautiful as it was, I like the hints about Jesus coming even more! How about you?
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