So, I want to talk about a theme that's not in Proverbs but is in Proverbs. It's Jesus, the wise, obedient Son. The name ‘Jesus’ is not in Proverbs; don't bother looking, it's not there. But I think that Proverbs is a beautiful portrait of the Savior who would come and would live a life that just fits right inside of the Proverbs.
Proverbs has this father and son motif structure to it. God is the wise, loving, generous, kind, protective Father who says, “Son, listen to my voice; listen to my instruction; pay attention to my wisdom; always teaching, always controlling, always providing, always rescuing, always warning, always rewarding.
But the Proverbs is not just a portrait of the Father, but also a beautiful portrait of the Son. If God is the Father, who is the ultimate obedient Son? There’s only one name that you can give; it's Jesus. His name is never mentioned, but Proverbs is a prophetic portrait of what Jesus would be like when He took on human flesh and lived. It's telling you what this Messiah will be like.
Think with me, who's the only one who perfectly listened, who perfectly obeyed, who lived a perfectly submissive life, who was perfectly loving, perfectly generous, perfectly kind? Well, the answer is ‘Jesus.’ He was obedient, yes, even to death on a cross. He was generous, came not to be ministered to, but to minister and give His life as a ransom for many. He was submissive; Jesus said, “I came to do my Father's will.”
There's Jesus all over the Proverbs because all of us fall short; all of us have times where we refuse to listen; all of us have times where we actually think that we’re smarter than God; all of us fail in generosity; fail in stewardship, use our ability to communicate for things that are not good, don't always love our neighbor, or have sympathy for the poor, don't always work unto the Lord, but Jesus does!
And what's exciting about this portrait of Jesus is Jesus was the wise, obedient Son in our place. He came to be the obedient Son precisely because He knew we would never be that. We would always fall short of God's requirement, so Jesus came to live that wise proverb-life as a substitute for us so He could be the perfectly righteous lamb that would pay the penalty for our sin, so we could be welcomed again into the arms of our Father from whom we had been separated by our sin. What a gorgeous story!
You don't get the Proverbs fully unless you know the Proverbs are evangelistic; they’re meant to make you hunger for Jesus, to cry out for Jesus, to celebrate Jesus. There is a perfectly righteous Son; it won't be you and me, but that Son lived that righteous life on our behalf. So, there's forgiveness and transformation and eternal life for us even though we’ve lived as fools. What a beautiful story! And Proverbs gives you a portrait of that One who lived that way, not just for His own glory, but for our eternal good!
