Jesus in the Old Testament

Genesis 14:17-20

One of the glorious aspects about the New Covenant is how it reveals to us Jesus in the Old Testament. Jesus introduced to us the manner in which to preach the Old Testament when He opened the scriptures and expounded to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). We would do well to remember this lesson, and do our due diligence to see Jesus in the pages of the Old Testament.

Hebrews 7 retells the story of Melchizedek, the priest who meets Abram after his slaughter of Chedorlaomer. Melchizedek is described as the “King of peace” (Hebrews 7:2). That is our first hint that this is Jesus, for Christ is the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Next, we learn that he is “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Hebrews 7:3). This is a perfect description of Jesus as God, with no beginning of days or end; with no parents to birth Him and no children left behind. As a man, Jesus had all of these things (you and I are His children, though He fathered none in the flesh (Isaiah 53:8)), but as God He qualifies. Then we get the final, most important piece of information about Melchizedek, he was “made like unto the Son of God” (Heb. 7:3).

When Melchizedek approaches Abram he brings him bread and wine (Genesis 14:18). This action would be repeated by Jesus in the Last Supper, when he broke the bread as His body and offered the cup as His blood. Paul felt such power in the ceremony of Communion that he repeated the words of our Lord, giving credence to the taking of Communion as more than a mere observance of Christ’s death and resurrection. In fact, Paul said that when we partake of the bread and the cup, we “do show the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

This giving of the bread and wine to Abram by Melchizedek was Christ’s pointing forward to the finished work of the cross. Jesus said of the bread, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24). The breaking of Jesus’ body occurred at Calvary, so the breaking of bread symbolizes what His broken body accomplished. He said of the wine, “This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). The blood of Jesus was spilled at the cross, so the wine symbolizes the justification, redemption and sanctification that are provided by faith in the finished work.

Abram’s response to this pre-incarnate meeting with Jesus was to tithe of everything that he had just taken (Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:4). A tithe is a tenth of what you have, and this practice has been around every since. No one instructed Abram to do this; he simply did it out of worship due to the revelation of the bread and the wine. Many are tithing to this day under the law, paying the Lord by obligation, not realizing that their giving should always be out of revelation, not of obligation (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Communion shows forth Jesus’ death, while tithing shows forth His life (Hebrews 7:8). Abram’s response to the death of the Son of God was to speak of the new life of the Son of God. When we dwell on Christ’s finished work, we show forth His resurrected life. Hallelujah!

The Dividing Point

2 Timothy 2:15

What would you consider the dividing point of the Bible? You could accurately place it into two parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament, with the understanding that all that the Jews of Jesus day would have had were the writings of Genesis through Malachi. However, if this is the only dividing point, then we must assume that the New Covenant begins with the first word of the first book of the New Testament. If that be the case, then the New Covenant begins with the announcement of John the Baptist’s birth and with the Virgin Mary receiving the news of the impending birth of Christ.

Something is not quite right with that assumption. In reality, this theory makes the dividing point of the Bible the blank page between Malachi and Matthew. When Paul tells the young pastor Timothy to rightly divide the word of truth, he surely means more than “figure out how to find that blank page Timothy”.

The division of the Word of God must hinge upon some great event. Something cataclysmic, which is foreshadowed in the Old Testament and expounded upon in the New Testament, must be the dividing point of everything that is preached. That one event is the death of Jesus Christ. The cross is the introduction of the New Covenant, thus it is the division point of all that happens in God’s Word. Everything prior to Calvary is pointing forward to the event, while everything afterwards is hearkening backwards.

Jesus called Himself, “the truth” (John 14:6). When you preach or teach of the truth, you are preaching of Jesus. His day of division came when He was smitten of God on the cross. His punishment was for the sin of the whole world, and He was torn asunder by the righteous anger of God. As Jesus was divided at Calvary, so the preacher should always divide the Word with the cross on the horizon.

When we read the Old Testament, we must read it with the cross in our hearts. No statement or verse should ever again be read as if the cross did not happen. Anytime that you read something that is Old Testament, thus Old Covenant, you should make a habit of asking yourself, “What did the cross do to change this?” To read the Old Testament any other way is to read it out of context and to make a mockery of Christ’s finished work. In essence, to read the Word without taking the cross into account is to say that the cross made no difference at all.

The way to make this sort of interpretation come about is consistent study of God’s Word. When we study we make ourselves knowledgeable of Christ’s finished work and we have no reason to be ashamed of ourselves. As Paul investigated the Old Testament, he saw Jesus, just as Jesus had done on the road to Emmaus, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). When Paul saw Jesus in these Old Testament scriptures, he made a determination, and it is one that we should all determine in our own hearts:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

The Finished Work Litmus Test

How familiar are you with the finished work of Jesus Christ? When you think of the cross, do you think of a man suffering and dying, or do you think of the reasons why that man suffered and died? For that matter, do you consider why it had to be that man? Could it have been anyone else who died, and if not, why? These are fundamental, simple questions about Calvary upon which the bedrock of Christianity rests.

Take this little test with me to ascertain whether or not you truly understand the work that Jesus accomplished at the cross. It is a simple test and it will only be effective if you are 100% honest in your answer. I will pose one scenario with two possible responses. You pick the response that sounds like what you FIRST think of when you see that scenario.

Scenario: Soldiers are lashing at Jesus with a whip while the flesh is ripped from His back. He is punched in the face repeatedly, and is mocked and scorned while never lifting a hand to defend Himself. A crown of thorns is plunged into His skull and the blood flows down His face, stinging His eyes. He is forced to carry His own cross up a hill where He is stripped of His clothes and then nailed to the wood, with spikes through His hands and feet. His cross is set between two common thieves and then elevated so that all can look upon Him and laugh. He struggles to breathe while the thieves hurl insults at Him. The sky grows back and you hear Jesus scream as His body takes upon it all kinds of diseases and sicknesses. Finally, He utters some words and hangs His head and dies.

Response #1 – “Oh, what a price He paid for me. He went through all of that because of my sin. He suffered and died at the hands of the Father, the least that I can do is live for Him!”

Response #2 – “Oh, what a price He paid for me. He went through all of that because of my sin. He suffered and died at the hands of the Father so I can rest assured that the Father will never judge me!”

Notice that both responses are exactly the same right up until the end. I did this on purpose, because I believe that all of us feel sadness and pain when we see that scenario, and we all realize that Jesus suffered because of our sins. The difference lies at the end of our response. Some people view Calvary as a motivation to live right. If Jesus could suffer and die for them, the least that they could do is live for Him. Calvary then becomes a source of condemnation for these believers; for they feel that no matter what they go through, they will never live up to the price that Jesus paid.

If your response was #2, then you view Calvary as a finished work that guarantees that you will never be punished in the manner that Jesus was punished. He was disciplined for your peace (Isaiah 53:5), so you need never fear an angry God. He bore your sins and iniquities so that God cannot and will not judge you for them ever. This saint believe that if God judges them for sin, then He did not judge all sin in the body of Jesus, which Peter made clear that Jesus did (1 Peter 2:24).

Jesus did not suffer and die so that you could constantly be reminded of how poor that you are living up to His death. He suffered and died so that you could have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). The scenario remains the same, but if need be, may our response begin to change.

Jesus in the Old Testament

Genesis 14:17-20

One of the glorious aspects about the New Covenant is how it reveals to us Jesus in the Old Testament. Jesus introduced to us the manner in which to preach the Old Testament when He opened the scriptures and expounded to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, “the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). We would do well to remember this lesson, and do our due diligence to see Jesus in the pages of the Old Testament.

Hebrews 7 retells the story of Melchizedek, the priest who meets Abram after his slaughter of Chedorlaomer. Melchizedek is described as the “King of peace” (Hebrews 7:2). That is our first hint that this is Jesus, for Christ is the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Next, we learn that he is “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Hebrews 7:3). This is a perfect description of Jesus as God, with no beginning of days or end; with no parents to birth Him and no children left behind. As a man, Jesus had all of these things (you and I are His children, though He fathered none in the flesh (Isaiah 53:8)), but as God He qualifies. Then we get the final, most important piece of information about Melchizedek, he was “made like unto the Son of God” (Heb. 7:3).

When Melchizedek approaches Abram he brings him bread and wine (Genesis 14:18). This action would be repeated by Jesus in the Last Supper, when he broke the bread as His body and offered the cup as His blood. Paul felt such power in the ceremony of Communion that he repeated the words of our Lord, giving credence to the taking of Communion as more than a mere observance of Christ’s death and resurrection. In fact, Paul said that when we partake of the bread and the cup, we “do show the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

This giving of the bread and wine to Abram by Melchizedek was Christ’s pointing forward to the finished work of the cross. Jesus said of the bread, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24). The breaking of Jesus’ body occurred at Calvary, so the breaking of bread symbolizes what His broken body accomplished. He said of the wine, “This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). The blood of Jesus was spilled at the cross, so the wine symbolizes the justification, redemption and sanctification that are provided by faith in the finished work.

Abram’s response to this pre-incarnate meeting with Jesus was to tithe of everything that he had just taken (Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:4). A tithe is a tenth of what you have, and this practice has been around every since. No one instructed Abram to do this; he simply did it out of worship due to the revelation of the bread and the wine. Many are tithing to this day under the law, paying the Lord by obligation, not realizing that their giving should always be out of revelation, not of obligation (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Communion shows forth Jesus’ death, while tithing shows forth His life (Hebrews 7:8). Abram’s response to the death of the Son of God was to speak of the new life of the Son of God. When we dwell on Christ’s finished work, we show forth His resurrected life. Hallelujah!