God’s plan for a savior is fundamental to His plan of salvation. Messiah, or “lit. ’the anointed one,’ is a saviour or liberator of a group of people”. We can read about the life of this Messiah, Jesus Christ, in the four Gospels. However, looking at God’s plan for a savior is another dimension all together.

Knowing that a savior came is important, but understanding how it fulfilled a plan for a savior through history shows God’s profound wisdom and sovereignty.

How Scripture answers "What was God’s plan for a savior?"

God’s plan for a savior literally began at the beginning1. The picture of this Messiah develops throughout history:

  • (Creation; ~4,000BC) He would be born of a woman1, therefore human.
  • (~2,000BC) He would come from Abraham2 and all people would be blessed by Him through His sacrifice3.
  • (~1,500BC) He would be a prophet of God4 – speaking God’s words – and a Jew.
  • (~1,000BC) He would come from David5 and establish an eternal kingdom and throne.
  • (~700BC) He would be born of a virgin6 and his name would be “God with us”.

The gospels all confirm that the savior was born in the person of Jesus Christ7 in the first century – the exact right time. God’s plan for a savior was fulfilled in Jesus Christ who confirmed His own Kingship over an eternal, spiritual kingdom8.

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1

Genesis 3:15

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.

I [God] will create hostility between you [Satan] and the woman, between your offspring and hers.  You will wound him, but he will destroy you.

In the garden of Eden when God has discovered Adam and Eve’s disobedience.  He pronounces judgment on the Tempter and shares the curses for both man and woman as a result of their disobedience.

How does it apply here?

God would provide an offspring from woman (a human) that would ultimately defeat Satan in spite of Satan wounding him.

2

Genesis 12:1-3

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

God told Abram to go from his home country and relatives to a land that He would show him.  He promised to make from him a great nation and make his name great.  God would show favor to those that showed favor to him and disfavor to those that wouldn’t, and all the people of the earth would be blessed through him.

Abram has just been introduced in the Bible narrative.  Born of Terah in Ur of the Chaldeans and married to Sarai (11:31).

Genesis 12 begins accounting for a period known as the “Patriarchs”, or the “Patriarchal Dispensation”, beginning with Abraham.  Approximately 2,000 years have passed since Creation (Genesis 1). 

How does it apply here?

God promises Abraham an offspring that would form a great nation through which all people would be blessed.

3

Genesis 22:1-2

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Later, God tested Abraham by telling him to take his only begotten son Isaac, whom he loved, and sacrifice him on a  mountain that He would tell him about in the land of Moriah.

The account of Abraham offering Isaac, where God stayed Abraham’s hand (vss 11-12) and it was “counted to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6, Galatians 3:6, Romans 4:3, James 2:22-23).

How does it apply here?

The account of Abraham’s sacrifice of his only begotten foreshadows the Messiah’s sacrifice.

4

Deuteronomy 18:15

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

God is going to raise up a prophet to whom they should all listen.

God speaking to Moses before Moses’ death and the people enter the Promised Land.  This verse, in particular, is quoted by Peter in his sermon in Acts 3:22  and referenced by Stephen in Acts 7:37, 52 – each of them in their full context interpreting this to be Jesus Christ.

How does it apply here?

Like Moses, he would be a prophet (spokesman of God) and Jewish.

5

2 Samuel 7:12-13

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

When you [David] have passed, I [God] will raise up a descendant from your seed and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

A key passage of the Old Testament when God, through the prophet Nathan, makes His covenant with David. David wants to build the temple of God in Jerusalem, but God tells him not to – that his son will do it.  It’s an inescapable example of prophetic dualism.

In fact, we can plainly see this distinction in the very next verse (14): “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. [true with both Solomon and Jesus] When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, [true with only Solomon]”

How does it apply here?

God promised King David an offspring that would become king of an everlasting throne/kingdom.

6

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Therefore, God will give you a sign: the virgin will give birth to a son and call him Immanuel.

God (through Isaiah) is telling King Ahaz the fate of his son, but this verse, in particular, is also interpreted by the inspired writer Matthew to apply to Jesus, son of Mary (
Matthew 1:21-23
).
How does it apply here?

With now more specificity of the promise made in the Garden of Eden1, God through Isaiah reveals the savior would be born of a virgin and called “Immanuel” (God with us).

7

Matthew 1:1

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The book of the lineage of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The gospel of Matthew, recording the events of the life of Jesus with particular emphasis for the Jewish reader – including many prophetic interpretations.

How does it apply here?

Jesus was from the seed of David4 and Abraham2 before him.

8

John 18:36

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.

Jesus said His kingdom wasn’t of/about this world.  If it were, His followers would be physically fighting against those trying to kill Him.  But, as it is, His kingdom isn’t of/about this world.

Jesus is standing trial before Pilot in the early morning hours before His crucifixion. Pilot asks Him twice if He is a King.  Jesus never directly answers.
How does it apply here?

Jesus identifies himself as the King of a kingdom4 that is “not of this world” (e.g. spiritual, heavenly, eternal).

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