Jesus is central to the whole Bible, even if we see Him most clearly in the New Testament. Tonight’s sermon looked at some of the ways we find Him foreshadowed in the Old Testament.
In Genesis, God promises that He will send a Saviour, a Deliverer, a Rescuer to deliver us from the problem caused by sin in the Garden of Eden (see Gen 3:15), a Messiah from the line of God’s special people (hence the importance of the genealogies in Matthew & Luke.)
In Exodus, we read how God delivered His people from slavery and the importance of the Passover Lamb (Ex 12). Jesus is described as ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29), and in many other places, we read of Jesus as the Lamb (see 1 Pet 1:19, where Jesus is described as ‘a lamb without blemish or defect’ or Rev 5:6, where John sees ‘a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain in the centre before the throne.’)
In Leviticus, all the sacrifices and offerings described in such detail there are fulfilled ultimately in Jesus, as the book of Hebrews makes clear. Numbers shows us that the Messiah will be a King: Num 24:17 says ‘a star will come out of Jacob, a sceptre will rise out of Israel,’ and the New Testament shows us wise men bringing gifts fit for a king – gold, frankincense and myrrh – to Jesus (Matt 2:1-12), with Revelation proclaiming Jesus as ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords.’ (Rev 19:16)
Deuteronomy shows us that the Messiah will also be a prophet (Deut 18:15-19, see John 6:14). In Joshua, the ‘commander of the army of the Lord’ appears to Joshua, thought to be a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ to Joshua, who himself is a picture of Christ as our leader. The book of Judges shows us how God gave Israel different judges or rulers to help them; Jesus said that the Father had entrusted all judgment to the Son (John 5:22) and given Him authority to judge (John 5:27).
Ruth not only teaches us that the Messiah would be a descendant of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:12-17, see Matt 1:5), but talks of how Boaz acted as a ‘kinsman redeemer’ (Ruth 2:1). Jesus, being fully human as well as fully God, is the only One able to redeem people (see 1 Pet 1:17-19).
In 1 & 2 Samuel, we see more about prophets and kings, roles which Jesus Himself fulfilled (see 2 Sam 7:11-12, Matt 1:1). In 1 & 2 Kings, we see glimpses of what will come in the life and miracles of the prophet Elisha (who multiplies bread in 2 Kings 4:42, just as Jesus does in the feeding of the five thousand, and heals a leper in 2 Kings 5, just as Jesus does (Mark 1:40-42, Luke 5:1-13). In 1 & 2 Chronicles, we hear of the wisdom of Solomon (2 Chron 9:22) whilst in the gospels, we see the wisdom of Christ as He answers all the trick questions of the Pharisees and other religious leaders who are constantly left astounded by how He speaks. 1 Chron 5:2 tells us that the Messiah would be from the tribe of Judah, a prophecy fulfilled in Luke 3:33.
Ezra and Nehemiah are both faithful servants of God, and this notion of the ‘faithful servant’ is taken by Isaiah, in particular, as a feature of the Messiah (see Ezra 4, Isaiah 40-53). There are many specific prophecies concerning the Messiah in this book, seen especially in Isaiah’s description of the ‘Suffering Servant’ (Is 53) which describes vividly the death and resurrection of Christ.
There are many specific references to Christ in the book of Psalms (see Ps 2, Ps 22, Ps 69, Ps 110, Ps 118 in particular.) Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are books that talk much about wisdom and foolishness, including wisdom from everlasting (Prov 8:22-23), which echoes Jesus’s assertion that He is eternal (‘glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.’ (John 17:5)) In the Song of Songs, we see a parable of God’s love for us acted out by the Bridegroom and the Bride. Revelation 21 makes it clear that God is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride; Christ identified Himself with the bridegroom when He explained why his disciples did not fast like John the Baptist’s (Luke 5:33-35).
Wherever we look in the Bible, we find God’s great plan of salvation being worked out and we can be confident that God is in complete control of our lives and of the world. As we celebrate Christmas this year, let’s do so knowing that Jesus is the real reason we have for celebration and let’s put Him at the centre of all we do during this season.
