There’s something about the second Sunday of December that stirs nostalgia in Pastor Josh White. Fifteen years ago — December 2006 — he began his ministry at Grace Bible Church of Phoenix. On this 2021 Advent Sunday, he marks the completion of year fifteen and the start of year sixteen, reflecting on how the people and choices of the past have shaped where he finds himself today.
To set the stage, he shared a story that’s become one of his favorites to tell: the true tale of a Scottish farm boy who saved a city boy from drowning in a rural lake. That city boy — Winston Churchill — would later be saved a second time by medicine discovered by that same farm boy, Alexander Fleming, who became the physician who developed penicillin. The point isn’t the coincidence. It’s that who we meet and what happens to us in the past shapes everything about our present — a truth every one of us can identify with.
That’s exactly how God worked in salvation history too.
The Bigger Story of Redemption
As the church entered the Christmas season, Josh pointed out that the birth of Christ is part of a much larger narrative — the progressive revelation of God’s plan to redeem mankind. The Old Testament prophets had glimpses of this plan, but it wasn’t until Jesus arrived that everything came into focus.
Working through 1 Peter 1:10–12, Josh described two categories of knowledge the prophets possessed and two categories of what remained hidden — not because God withheld it, but because certain details could only be revealed once the Messiah had arrived.
What the Prophets Did Know
First, God is a gracious God who saves by grace. While the Old Testament makes clear that salvation is by God’s mercy rather than human merit, Josh highlighted Jonah’s reluctant encounter with God’s grace toward Nineveh. Jonah knew exactly what kind of God he served — “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Jonah 4:2) — and it bothered him precisely because grace meant the Ninevites might actually be spared.
Second, salvation would come through a substitute. The Old Testament saints understood they were saved by faith in God’s promised Redeemer, even before knowing the specific mechanics. Paul later wrote to Timothy that the sacred scriptures were “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15) — this was true for people living under the old covenant, not just the new.
Third, there had to be a perfect sacrifice. Isaiah 53 is perhaps the most detailed Old Testament portrait of the Messiah’s suffering: “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastisement that brought us peace was upon him” (Isaiah 53:5). The prophets understood that sin required atonement, and that the coming Messiah would bear the weight of God’s judgment in humanity’s place.
Fourth, the Messiah would ultimately reign. Isaiah 9 paints the other side of the portrait — the King who would establish an everlasting kingdom: “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness” (Isaiah 9:7). The Jews understood there were two sets of prophecies about the Messiah: those describing his suffering and those describing his victory. Some scholars even referred to them as two separate Messiahs — Messiah ben Joseph (the suffering servant) and Messiah ben David (the conquering King).
“We can look back and see things very clearly that the Old Testament was giving us on the other side of the cross. Before Jesus was born, they didn’t know the things that we know.”
— Pastor Josh White
What the Prophets Didn’t Know
But there were two things the prophets simply could not know until after the fact.
They didn’t know who the Messiah would be. Joseph learned this firsthand when an angel appeared in a dream confirming that Mary’s child was from the Holy Spirit and would be the one to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Centuries later, Peter made the inspired declaration at Caesarea Philippi: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). It took Jesus’s earthly ministry — his miracles, his teaching, his resurrection — for the identity to become undeniable. John the Baptist, even in prison, wondered if Jesus was truly both the suffering servant and the coming King.
They didn’t know when these events would take place. Josh pointed out that God set the timing of Christ’s birth with such precision that the stars themselves aligned to mark the moment. In Galatians 4:4–5, Paul writes that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.” God had ordained every detail of redemptive history down to the day.
“We should celebrate this time of year what God has done. But we should always, by faith, look forward to what God is going to do.”
— Pastor Josh White
The Story Isn’t Over
The climactic reality of Christmas is that Jesus is both Messiah ben Joseph and Messiah ben David — he is the atoning sacrifice for sin and the coming King who will establish God’s kingdom forever. We know now what the prophets could only glimpse: the full arc of God’s grace in Christ.
But Josh closed with an important reminder: the story isn’t finished. While we know who will return — Jesus of Nazareth — we don’t know when. The “subsequent glories” that Peter mentions in 1 Peter 1:11 are still ahead. And so we live in the tension of Advent: celebrating what God has done in the past, trusting that what he promised he will also accomplish in the future, and looking forward in faith as we await Christ’s return.
Scripture References
- 1 Peter 1:10–12 — The prophets searched and inquired about Christ’s suffering and glory
- Jonah 4:2 — God’s gracious character
- Psalm 116:5 — Gracious is the Lord
- 2 Timothy 1:9–10 — Salvation through grace before the ages began
- 2 Timothy 3:14–15 — The scriptures make us wise for salvation
- Isaiah 53:5 — He was pierced for our transgressions
- Isaiah 9:6–7 — The government will rest on his shoulders
- Matthew 1:18–21 — Joseph learns the identity of Jesus
- Matthew 16:13–16 — Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ
- Galatians 4:4–5 — When the fullness of time had come