Someone better has come…

Written by Darby Bell Adcock

Someone better has come…

Some thoughts around our ‘Better than Isaac’ song we've just released.

The beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that He is the fulfillment of the Scriptures. Yahweh, the Creator, set humanity apart from the beginning to be His partner in reflecting who He is to the world. In humanity’s rebellion, Yahweh begins that partnership again with one man, one family, one nation: the family of Abraham, Israel.

Abraham and Isaac. Moses and the Exodus. The wilderness. The Law. The priesthood and sacrifices. Joshua and the land. David and the kings. The prophets. Exile. Return. Promise. Longing. Expectation. All God’s chosen Story of partnering with Israel to reflect who He is in a broken world.

The Scriptures are continually looking forward to the One who is to come.

As Israel fails to reflect who Yahweh is, they find themselves in chains and under the thumb of empire.

Enter King Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man.

The Good News of Jesus Christ is that He is the long-awaited partner of God who is Himself God. Jesus’ story is not just starting in the book of Matthew, His story reaches all the way back to Genesis and threads all throughout the Torah, the story of Israel, and the Hebrew Scriptures. He is the fulfillment of the Story from Genesis to Matthew. The New Testament IS the testimony of Jesus.

Scot McKnight argues in his book 'The King Jesus Gospel' that the Story of Jesus is the fulfillment of the Story of Israel. The Gospel is not merely a collection of truths about how an individual can be saved; it is the announcement that Israel’s long Story of salvation for the world is resolved in Jesus, the Messiah.

This is why Paul can say that Christ died for our sins “according to the Scriptures,” that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day “according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).

According to WHAT Scriptures?

When Paul wrote those words, there was no completed New Testament sitting on the shelf. Paul had the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament, and he was locating the death and resurrection of Jesus inside the Story the Scriptures had already been telling.

This was the surprising accomplishment of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus had the final word when He willingly laid down His life on the cross and rose again, conquering death and the grave. The cross and resurrection are absolutely central to the Gospel. But as McKnight emphasizes, the Story of Jesus cannot be reduced to the moment of His death alone.

His life, death, and resurrection were revealing that the One Israel had been waiting for had finally come.

He was born into the line of David as the promised Davidic King. He announced the arrival of the Kingdom of God.

He opened blind eyes, made the lame walk, opened deaf ears, raised the dead, and cleansed lepers—the very kinds of works the prophets had associated with Yahweh’s coming salvation and restoration (Isaiah 35:4–6; 61:1). When John the Baptist sent his disciples asking, “Are You the One who is to come?” Jesus did not simply answer with a title. He pointed to what was happening: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and good news is proclaimed to the poor (Matthew 11:2–6).

His works were answering the question.

The One who was to come had come.

Even the cleansing of lepers carries enormous significance within Israel’s Scriptures. Leprosy and other serious skin diseases were bound up with ritual uncleanness, exclusion, priestly examination, and restoration (Leviticus 13–14). Scripture also contains striking accounts in which such affliction comes through divine judgment, as with Miriam and Gehazi (Numbers 12; 2 Kings 5). Yet Jesus does what no ordinary teacher could do: He reaches toward the unclean, cleanses them, and sends them to the priests as Moses commanded (Matthew 8:1–4). Rather than uncleanness overcoming Him, His holiness and restoring power overcome uncleanness.

This kind of healing is specifically a sign of Yahweh’s authority!

His life was not a collection of random miracles.

His actions were announcing something.

Israel’s God was restoring His people.

The Kingdom was arriving.

The Scriptures were being fulfilled.

The promised King was standing among them.

Jesus gathered twelve disciples around Himself, deliberately echoing the twelve tribes of Israel. He taught with authority. He forgave sins. He confronted demonic powers. He touched the unclean. He welcomed the outcast. He announced good news to the poor. He embodied Israel’s calling faithfully where Israel—and humanity—had failed. Then He laid down His life, was buried, rose from the dead, ascended, and now reigns as King.

The Gospel announces WHO this Jesus is and what God has accomplished through Him.

Jesus is Israel’s Messiah.

He is the fulfillment of Israel’s Story.

So when we read the Old Testament, we aren’t simply collecting disconnected moral lessons about heroes of the faith. We are reading a Story that is going somewhere.

Isaac makes us long for Someone better.

Moses makes us long for Someone better.

David makes us long for Someone better.

The priesthood makes us long for Someone better.

The sacrifices make us long for Someone better.

The prophets tell us Someone better is coming.

The Scriptures, the promises, the testimonies, the patterns, the longing.

All pointing toward JESUS.

The promised King. The Messiah. The Lamb.

God Himself would provide.

Someone better had come.