I wrote a really long post on this, looking at loads of verses and examples. While there were good points to that, I didn't really think it was the best way of approaching this on the blog. Instead, I'm going to do a quite simple (I hope!) post just explaining some of the methods I was shown to find out how the Old Testament is about Jesus, with only a few examples on the way. [Edit: Haha! I tried to keep it short!]
My supervisor gave me a sheet, which is basically what I'm going to work through.
How does Jesus view the Old Testament? What does he think it's about?
Check out: Matthew 5:17, John 5:39-47, Luke 24:25-27, Luke 24:44-47, 2 Timothy 3:14-15
Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them."
John 5:39-47, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ... But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
Luke 24:25-27, "He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ 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."
(This one is by Paul, not Jesus) 2 Timothy 3:14-15, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."
What're are we meant to get from that?
The Scriptures (here this means "the Old Testament") are able to bring us to have salvation (eternal life and relationship with God - I'll do a post on it) through Jesus.
Moses wrote about Jesus.
Indeed all the Scriptures are about Jesus.
In what ways does the Old Testament point to Jesus?
1) Promises: Check out 2 Corinthians 1:20, "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ..."
This means that all of the promises the Old Testament makes are somehow fulfilled through Jesus.
2) Prophecy: Check out: John 19:24, 36-37, Acts 10:36-43
John 19:24, ""Let's not tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.""
John 19:36-37, "These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Note one of his bones will be broken," and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the one they have pierced."
Acts 10:36-43, "You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached - how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him. We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen - by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
This is a pretty limited selection of examples - but like I said, to go through all of them would take a really really long time. The point is, if you check out the Old Testament prophecies, you'll see they are all in someway about Jesus (it may take a bit of working out, they can be confusing! But it's the only way they will make sense).
3) Precepts: Remember what Jesus said about fulfilling the Law? Jesus was perfect, he kept the laws of the Old Testament, he was perfect. The precepts (laws) are about showing us are need for Jesus.
4) Picture: Check out: John 1:29, 6:32-33, Hebrews 7:26-27
John 1:29, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (think of the Passover (Exodus 12) and passages such as Isaiah 53)
John 6:32-33, "Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."" (In Exodus God sends bread to the Israelites to eat in the desert)
Hebrews 7:26-27, "Such a high priest meets our need - one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once and for all when he offered himself."
There are so many more examples, many clearer. But again, to find them all, write them down, explain their contexts, I could be here for years.
5) Presence: John1:18, 8:56-59, 12:41 (referencing Isaiah 6), 1 Corinthians 10:1-15, Hebrews 11:26, Jude 5 (this and 2 before referencing Exodus)
John 1:18, "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known."
John 8:56-59, "Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he was it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds." (I AM is the name that God gives himself in the burning bush in Exodus 3-4, Jesus is saying he's the same God!)
John 12:41, "Isaiah said the because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him."
(Isaiah 6:1-4, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings, With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.""
1 Corinthians 10:1-4, "For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ."
(About Moses) Hebrews 11:26, "He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward."
Jude 1:5, "Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord (or Jesus) delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe."
Then there's the Angel of the LORD. I could go to town on this, and at some point I probably will, but for now, "angel" means sent one, or more widely messenger. So, "the Angel of the LORD" is translatable as, "the Messenger of the LORD." Notice that it says, "the" and not, "a". Interesting. Also think about where the Angel of the LORD pops up, my favourite being from Exodus 3, "Then the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush... When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him within the bush..." The name, "Angel of the LORD" and, "LORD" are used pretty interchangeably in the passage. My other favourite is from Judges, "When Gideon realised that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not bee afraid. You are not going to die." So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it The LORD is Peace."
Anyway, I could spend a long while on this post. This is the shortened version!!
What's all this been on about?
Well, I've hopefully just shown you a few of the things you can be looking out for when reading the Old Testament, so that you can spot when it's talking about Jesus, and understand what it's really on about.
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