Jesus in the Old Testament Part 2

 

In these days of access to information like never before in human history, it is disturbing to see such deception and misunderstanding of truth. This has prompted me to continue with the theme of finding Jesus in the Old Testament. This is a crucial part of every believer’s journey, not only for evangelism but for edification. In this article, I’ll focus on why it is important to find Jesus in the Old Testament, how we can do that and where in the Old Testament we can find Him.

Why is it important to find Jesus in the Old Testament?

Individual moral responsibility

Each individual has inherent moral responsibility, and there are consequences to our actions. We know there was a fundamental rupture between man and God in the Garden of Eden. We also see a hint of the consequences of sin when the Lord kills an animal to cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness, which they discovered due to their sin. Restitution must be made to restore the relationship between God and man. In Leviticus 17:11, the Lord says: ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.’ Now, if Jesus is not the Messiah, then we are still lost in our sins and not right with God. We still need to make blood sacrifices for our sins but cannot do so without the Temple.

Evangelism

1 Peter 3:14-16 states: ‘in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.’ Showing that Jesus appears throughout the Old Testament is crucial to Jewish evangelism, as it equips us to explain why we believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

How can Jesus be found in the Old Testament?

The promise of Messiah

Throughout the Old Testament, the idea that a Redeemer is coming to set Israel free and save the Gentiles is a well-established and well-proved line of thought:

  • Job 19:25-27: ‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.’

  • Isaiah 64:5-6: ‘For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth.’

  • Jeremiah 16:19-21: ‘Nations from around the world will come to you and say,’ Our ancestors left us a foolish heritage, for they worshipped worthless idols. Can people make their own gods? These are not real gods at all!’ The Lord says,’ Now I will show them my power…. At last they will know and understand that I am the Lord.’

The Son of God

Proverbs 30:4 states: ‘Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son? Surely you know!’ This shows an established train of thought that God has a Son.

Looking backwards and seeing Jesus

Pre-incarnate Jesus

The Latin verb incarnare means ‘to make flesh’. When we state that Jesus is God’ Incarnate,’ this means that the Son of God took on a fleshly, bodily form (John 1:14). So throughout the Old Testament, we see examples of a Messianic figure who has God-like characteristics and whom we believe is Jesus before He came to earth.

Types and shadows

The word ‘type’ comes from the Greek word tupos, which can be translated as ‘example’. The New Testament communicates this idea with words like ‘shadow’: ‘For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near’ (Hebrews 10:1).

Prophecy

Micah 5:2 states: ‘But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.’ In Matthew 2:4-6, Herod has heard about the wise men coming to Jerusalem asking where the newborn king is: ‘... assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”’

Where can Jesus be found in the Old Testament?

Hints of the Godhead

Throughout the Old Testament, various hints point to a Godhead. Genesis 1:2 speaks of the Spirit of God hovering over the waters of the deep. In Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew word for God is Elohim, which is the plural form, i.e., Gods. But Genesis 1:3 reads, ‘vay‑yo‑mer Elohim’. The verb amar, meaning ‘to speak’, is conjugated as vay-yo-mer, which is singular. This essentially says Gods speaks, which is grammatically incorrect. Instead of assuming that Moses or the translators made a mistake, I believe that Moses is hinting at God not being singular but plural in His personhood.

The first mention of a Redeemer for all

The first mention of a Redeemer is in Genesis 3:15, where God says to the serpent, ‘he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.’ Here, we have a clear promise of the Messiah. The promise is not that the Messiah will save only Israel from her enemies; instead, the promise is that the Messiah will save mankind from sin, death and the eternal separation from the Father.

The Angel of the Lord

The Old Testament ambiguously interchanges the term the Angel of the Lord with God. For example, Genesis 22:11-12 states: ‘But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”’ A similarly ambiguous exchange can be seen in Judges 6 with the call of Gideon.

Types and shadows

People

Jonah

The Lord called Jonah to go to Nineveh (a Gentile city) and call the people to repentance (Jonah 1:1; 3:1-2), but he rebelled and ended up inside a great fish for three days (2:1). On the third day, the fish spat Jonah out, and so Jonah was ‘resurrected’. Jonah then fulfilled his mission to call the Assyrians in Nineveh to repentance and, thus, salvation. Jesus was called to preach the kingdom of God to Jews and Gentiles; He was entombed and resurrected to life on the third day (Mattew 17:23). Jesus also referred to the sign of Jonah as the only sign he would perform for ‘a wicked and adulterous generation’ (Matthew 12:39): ‘For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth’ (12:40).

Moses

Moses and Jesus narrowly escaped a king who was murdering babies, and both had a connection to Egypt (Exodus 1:22, 2:1-4; Matthew 2:13-14, 16-18). Both were sent to people who largely rejected them. Moses led a stiff-necked people (Deuteronomy 9:6) who tested God by rebelling against him (Numbers 14; 16:1-3). Likewise, Jesus ‘came to his own who did not receive him’ (John 1:11) and eventually killed Him (Matthew 27:22-26). Finally, Moses is a Messiah figure as he was a mediator between the people and God in the Old Covenant (Exodus 34:27); Jesus is our mediator through the New Covenant in His blood (Luke 22:20).

Events: The sacrifice of Isaac

Abraham, in an extreme act of obedience to the Lord, prepared to sacrifice his ‘only’ son, the son of promise (Genesis 22:2). Isaac carried the wood for his own sacrifice (22:6), was bound to the wood he carried (22:6,9) and was ‘returned’ to his father on the third day (22:4). Jesus, the only begotten of the Father, a descendant of Abraham – thus, his ‘son’ – had to carry his own cross, was nailed and tied to it and was raised to life by the Father on the third day (Matthew 1:1; John 1:14; 19:17; Mark 16).

Objects

Tabernacle

The Tabernacle was the earthly dwelling place of the Lord while the Israelites wandered in the desert (Exodus 25:8-9). This was where sacrifices took place, and the Israelites could approach God through the high priest, who functioned as their mediator. Hebrews calls the Tabernacle ‘a copy and shadow of the heavenly things’ (Hebrews 8:5). Jesus fulfilled the role of High Priest and is thus the mediator between God and man: ‘So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek”’ (Hebrews 5:5-6)

The Temple

The Temple was where God’s presence would dwell in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 7:13). Jesus referenced His body as the Temple in John 2:19: ‘Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty‑six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.’

What an awe-inspiring God we serve! He truly is able to do so much more than we could ever imagine. I also want to encourage you to mine the depths of Scripture and find the numerous other references to Jesus in the Old Testament, as this article has truly only scratched the surface.

Yours in Messiah Yeshua,

Rob Berman

P.S. If this topic interests you and you want to know more, then a good place to start your research is here.

 

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