Christ in the Old Testament
From The Forum Magazine, Spring 2014 - view the full issue here
For various reasons, believers may occasionally be tempted to think that the Old Testament has little or nothing to say to the Christian today. Why bother dealing with all the obscure sacrificial, architectural, geographical, and genealogical details the Old Testament presents to us? It’s hard enough to comprehend and appreciate another culture in our modern world. When we encounter one that’s separated from us by thousands of years, the comprehension problem is only magnified. So, understanding the Old Testament can be difficult. And when we consider that we don’t hear the name “Jesus” until we get to the New Testament, we might conclude that the difficulty of dealing with the Old Testament is not worth our effort. But that would be a big mistake.
The Bible is not just divine revelation—it is certainly that—but more precisely, it is divine redemptive revelation. The Bible is a revelation of God’s gracious, redemptive plan for fallen humanity that culminates in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The entire Old Testament informs, foreshadows, and exemplifies the work of Christ, and the entire New Testament explains that work and its implications for its beneficiaries. We can usually recognize the Christ-focus of the New Testament. It’s the Christ-focus of the Old Testament that often eludes us. But we have the words of Jesus himself encouraging us to recognize that these Scriptures, too, are talking about him.
Once when Jewish leaders were giving Jesus a hard time, he responded by saying: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39). We should note that “the Scriptures” to which Jesus was referring at that time consisted of our Old Testament. So Jesus was challenging the Jewish leaders to recognize that the Old Testament Scriptures were testifying about him. How many of us might be worthy of a similar challenge?
After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to two disciples returning from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They were discussing the confusing crucifixion of the supposed Messiah and his reported resurrection from the dead. Jesus then made everything clear to them. Luke tells us, “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself ” (Luke 24:27, emphasis added). Once again, it is worth noting that Jesus is explaining how the Old Testament is talking about him.
If Jesus himself considered it worth taking the time to explain how the Old Testament testifies about him, then surely believers should want to explore how this is so. Also, the apostle Paul tells us, “Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). Consider the logic: if the understanding and focus of the Old Testament are found in Christ and believers are being conformed to the image of Christ, then it is logically inescapable that the Old Testament has continuing relevance for every believer. We don’t have the luxury of space here to investigate the implications of this in great detail. For now, however, we can skip through the major sections of the Old Testament to see in broad strokes how they find their ultimate focus in our Lord.
Some Old Testament books describe Israel’s history. These books include, for example, Joshua, 2 Kings, and Ezra. In such books we see God interacting with a specific people in order to demonstrate the salvation he would bring about through Christ. We read that Israel was chosen by God, was delivered from bondage into fellowship with God, was established as a covenant community, was sustained in their trials, was given victory over opposition, turned away from God, received his discipline, and was restored to the place of fellowship with him. If we substitute “the church” for “Israel” in the previous sentence, we recognize the truth of these historical moments for the New Covenant community as well. God has used Israel to act out or demonstrate the contours of his redemptive plan in Jesus Christ. After a brief recounting of the high points in Israel’s history, the apostle Paul concludes, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11, emphasis added). In other words, what happened to Israel in the pages of the Old Testament represents to us, perhaps in ways we are unaccustomed to seeing, what God would be doing redemptively through Jesus Christ. This perspective was not lost on our theological forebears. T.H.L. Parker notes that for John Calvin, “the history of the Jews was not only a preparation for the coming of Christ; it was also a deliberate pre-enactment of him and his work” (Calvin’s Old Testament Commentaries,Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986 [74– 75]). The history of Israel then, awakens us to the larger redemptive history that centers on Jesus Christ.
Some Old Testament books outline Israel’s laws. These books include, for example, Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus. In such books we might suppose we have encountered a formidable roadblock. How could these countless laws, statutes, commandments, ordinances, regulations, and prohibitions have anything to do with Christ? But such a question presumes a purpose for the law it never had. Jesus re-interpreted the law to make its original intent plain. The Law, as Jesus describes it, was not intended to be a fence to keep out life, but rather a fence to keep out death. It was not intended to be an enemy of life, but rather a description of life. The law is actually a gracious provision by the Creator to guide his creatures into the fullest possible human experience in fellowship with him and with one another. Jesus would make this positive goal of the law visible and possible for us. If the law were bad, Jesus would have eliminated it. But he says instead, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). By accomplishing the law’s purpose Jesus is the “culmination of the law” (Romans 10:4). He pays for all the violations of the law’s relational purpose, and at the same time brings to fruition its relational purpose by giving himself as a sacrifice.
Some Old Testament books present us with wisdom insights. These books include, for example, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. In such books we are instructed how to live our lives in conformity with the order God has placed in creation. By doing so, we realize the potential for much greater fulfillment in life than we would have otherwise. What this looks like practically is seen in Christ who “has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Becoming wise then is nothing else and nothing less than becoming like Christ. When we let our thinking and behavior be transformed by Christ’s Spirit, we achieve the wisdom God desires for us because we become like his Son.
Some Old Testament books present us with Israelite poetry. Chief among these books is the book of Psalms. In this kind of literature we encounter believers laying bare their inmost thoughts to God. That’s because the poetic literature emanates from an intimate relationship between the believer and the only One who is there in every trial and every triumph. He is the source of life whether the believer’s life is flickering or flaring. Even the most anguished laments are not expressed into the void, but rather are directed toward the God in relationship with whom, lies the only hope. The poetic literature presumes, nurtures, and celebrates this relationship with God. And who is the one who secures our relationship with God forever? Nothing in all creation, writes the apostle Paul, “is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). It is impossible to talk about relationship with God apart from the one who enables, guarantees, and strengthens that relationship.
Some Old Testament books contain prophecy. These books include, for example, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk. In such books, the judgment and salvation of Christ are foretold “at many times and in various ways” (Hebrews 1:1). A common prophetic theme for example, is “the Day of the Lord”—the day when God will judge those who rebel against him and deliver those who serve him. How much deeper is our understanding of the cross when we recognize the faithful servant receiving the judgment due us rebels? How much more powerful is our understanding of the cup Christ prays the Father would take from him (Luke 22:42) when we recognize it as the cup the prophet Jeremiah describes? That cup, says Jeremiah, is filled with the wine of God’s wrath against every nation on the face of the earth (Jeremiah 25:15–26). How much more clearly do we understand our individual and corporate responsibility to represent God and the new humanity he is bringing about when we see these prophetic tasks carried out by the Son of God and the Son of Man?
There is tremendous depth to explore in each of these areas of the Old Testament and in every book of these areas. Far from being irrelevant, the Old Testament informs and energizes our Christian lives. Rediscovering this portion of the Bible as Scriptures that testify about Jesus will enable us to read them with new perspective and focus. Seeing Christ in the Old Testament, as he himself encourages us to do, will enlarge our understanding of the Gospel, enrich our faith, and enhance our evangelistic witness by keeping us properly focused on God’s grand redemptive plan that centers on his own Son.
(Michael Williams, Professor of Old Testament, emeritus)
