Introduction
There
are Christians that do not know that Christ is in the Old Testament. In these
cases those Christians do not read or meditate on the Old Testament. There are
also some that believe that the New Testament should be the only books that
should be read because it has the New Covenant. They also believe that the New
Testament is only portion of the Bible that Christ can be seen. The purpose of
this lesson is to demonstrate how the Old Testament points to Christ.
Outcome: After this lesson the student will know how the Old
Testament points to Christ.
The Incompleteness of
the Old Testament
The
arrangement of the Old Testament is in a way that when you get to the last
prophetic book it seems like there should be more. The history (the Pentateuch),
the Poetic Books, and the Prophets all give a glimpse of something more. The
last book in the Old Testament even leaves the reader desiring to know more. Duguid
stated, “History is the story of God carrying out His grand plan in this world
for the redemption of His people in Christ.”[1] Malachi 4:5 states, “I
will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord
comes.” This kept the Israelites looking for Elijah and the last Old Testament
prophet did not show up until a little over four hundred years which was John
the Baptist.
The Symbolism of
Salvation
In
Israel’s history they were enslaved by the Egyptians and was rescued by God. At
that point they had to cross the Red Sea which symbolizes salvation for the
Israelites, but judgement for the Egyptians.[2] Jesus was born in Egypt
due to a king that would have sought Jesus out to kill Him. In the same
respect, the Israelites were enslaved in such a manner by a tyrannical ruler. Christ
also had a Red Sea moment when He was baptized. Symbolically, in the way the
Israelites were saved by the Red Sea, Christ did this through baptism. He did
not do this for Himself as it was known for repentance and confession of sins,
but for the sins of everyone.
The New David
The New
Testament tells the reader that Christ is the new Adam. Adam is the father of
all creation that was living in Paradise which was a perfect world. In the beginning
Adam was a perfect human however, he fell causing all humanity to fall. Christ
fulfills that perfection that cannot be done by humanity. His life was a
perfect example of a perfect human. Not only was He the new Adam, He was also
the new David. Jesus’s lineage can be traced from Abraham to David and then
born by the Virgin Mary. Though there was some unlikely characters in David’s
lineage, Christ came to restore the throne in a way that no human could do so. He
came as a King, restored the kingship on the cross, and after His resurrection
He sits back on his throne. The Son of David, the New David, was thus fulfilled
just as the Lord promised.
He is the Central
Theme of the Old Testament
Christ
fulfilled the incompleteness of the Old Testament, He demonstrated salvation by
being baptized, and He is the New Adam and New David. From the Book of Genesis
to the Book of Malachi the Old Testament is pointing the reader to Christ. He
spoke through the prophets about Christ, the psalmists sang about Him, and the
sacrifices all pointed to a better way of salvation that no man could ever do
other than the Messiah. It is only through His sacrifice that people can be
saved from their bondage of sin and have a right relationship with God. From
Adam falling to the four hundred years of silence God had a master plan for the
salvation of all mankind which can be found in the Old Testament. Jesus
encompasses every page of the Old Testament that every Christian should read
and meditate on in order to better understand the ministry and work of Christ.
Important Scripture
I like
to read the Old Testament to discover great insights about the Lord. One of my
favorite Scriptures that is thrilling to see is Isaiah 44:6. It states, “Thus
says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am
the First and I am the Last; besides me there is no God.”
The significance: This is important because there is no other
prophet or anyone else could ever make this claim. We can turn to the Book of
Revelation and see that Christ made this claim about Himself in Revelation 1:8
and 17.
Another
telling verse in the Old Testament that points to the suffering of Christ is
Zechariah 12:10 which states, “I will pour on the house of David and on the
inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of Grace and supplication; then they will
look on Me whom they pierced.”
The significance: As discussed earlier David’s lineage was filled
with rough characters. This Scripture tells the reader that God will pour out
grace onto that same lineage. He did this by sending Christ Who was also in
that lineage and demonstrated the perfect life for all humankind. The very
telling part of the Scripture tells the reader that “they will look on Me whom they
pierced.” This tells us that Christ was God and it also prophesied that He
would be pierced. This can be found in the Gospels; hundreds of years after the
prophecy. Finally, it was Israel that had to look upon Him!
Bibliography
Duguid, Iain M. Is
Jesus in the Old Testament? Philipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing,
2013.
