Jesus in the Old Testament

Intro

We all know Jesus from the New Testament, He didn’t come to be a hero in a nice story or just fix our past, he came to transform our lives. When he says follow me, he is not asking for us to simply agree with a set of belief’s, He is inviting us into a complete life redesign and the Bible is our plan for that redesign.

Every book in the Bible is ultimatley pointing us to Jesus, inviting us into a stronger and closer relationship with Him.

(Verses on Post-it Notes)

John 5:39 “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,”

Jesus was speaking to the Jewish leaders and His discisples at the time and the sctiptures he refers to were the Tanak or as we call it, the Old Testament.

Luke 24:25–27 “He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

Jesus talked through the Old Testament and all it said about him.

Acts 26:22–23 “But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen—that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.””

Paul is testifying before Agrippa a powerful deputy of Emperor Augustus.

So the New Testament points us towards Jesus being in the Old Testament but where and how?

First, what can you tell me about the Old Testament?

39 books arranged into 5 blocks

(Post-it Notes)

5 - The Pentateuch

12 - The Histroy Books

5 - The Poetry Books

5 - The Major Prophets

12 - The Minor Prophets

How does Jesus Appear in the Old Testament?

I want to look at three ways:

Promises

Prophecy

Types and Shadows

Promises

These are unconditional and will stand regardless of a human response. The covenantal guarantee aspect to send the Messiah.

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.””

This is God talking to the serpent after he tricked Eve. The offspring of the woman will crush the head of the head of the serpent. A pretty fatal event. Who is the serpent, the devil and who will crush his head, the woman’s offspring, Jesus.

2 Samuel 7:12–13 “When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

This is Samuel speaking to David about his offspring who will establish a kingdom, where God will establish a throne for him forever. Jesus was from the line of David.

Matthew 1:1 “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

John 18:36 “Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.””

Luke 22:69 “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.””

Prophecies

These are often considered to be conditional and can be averted through repentance. The prophecies about Christ however are a subset that are unconditional. The specific predictive content of Christ, who He will be and what He will do.

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

We know the story of Jesus and his birth in Matthew 1:18–24 “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.”

Micah 5:2 ““But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.””

Where was Jesus born? Luke 2:4 “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.”

Types and Shadows

Divinely appointed Old Testament realities that point towards truths, events or people in the New Testament. They are not fully detailed or give 100% of the pitcure but there is enough to understand what my be. God has deliberatly designed them.

Colossians 2:16–17 “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

A shadow, not the complete reality, which is found in Christ.

Exodus 12:1–5 “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.”

They are to be without defect

John 19:31–33 “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.”

Not one bone was broken in his body on the cross. Roman soldiers would breaks the legs of those being cricifuied the speed up death so that the bodies could be removed before the Sabbath. It was called curuifragium. But they did not do this to Jesus, he was without defect.

Exodus 12:22–23 “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.”

The blood was the marker for salvation

Luke 22:20 “In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. By his blood we are saved.

Numbers 20:1–11 “In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.”

We all need water to live. The Israelites needed that and God provided. Jesus gives us water not to quench earthly thirst but to quench our eternal thirst for life

John 4:10–14 “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””

Conclusion

There are many more examples of Christ in the Old Testament and many sources that help point to and explain these examples.

The Bible has a coherent storyline : Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration. Jesus is central to this storyline. So as you read the Old Testament, remember that every ultimately it is pointing you toward Jesus and inviting you into a deeper relationship with Him.