Spiritual articles

The Lord Jesus Christ In The Old Testament

 Some people imagine that we believe in a great man who claimed and whom we claim is God, but the truth is diametrically opposed to this. We believe that our great God took human flesh and appeared in our midst.  
 For a man to claim that he is a god means that he is either a liar or mad.  But for God to take the body of man so that He is near us, so that we see Him and He sees us,  so that we  hear  Him  and He hears us,  this is both logical and reasonable.  It is not logical for a human to become a god, but it is reasonable for God to manifest Himself in any way He wants: as a man, fire, or a voice.  This is what happened in the Old Testament many times.

1.  Manifestations in the Old Testament: God appeared in the shape of man many times in the Old Testament:

1. He appeared to Adam in the Garden of Eden; He called him and talked with him (Gen.3:8).

2. He appeared to Abraham in the guise of one of three men, one of whom talked to him as God and the other two were angels who went on to Sodom (Gen. 18: 1,13,17).  He also appeared as Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18), the king of righteousness, who accepted tithes and was the owner of the sacrifice of bread and wine.

3. He appeared to Jacob as a Man with whom he wrestled till the break of  day,  and Who then blessed him and gave him the promises (Gen. 32:24).

4. He appeared to Moses in the cloud, walking on it, and the children of Israel saw Him (Ex. 24: 9-11).

5. He appeared to Manoah and his wife in the form of a man and promised that they would beget Samson (Jud. 13: 6, 18).

6. He appeared to Daniel in the shape of the Ancient of Days, a symbol of the eternity of God (Dan. 13: 14).

2.  The Old Testament Prophecies:
 God was not satisfied with His many manifestations as man in which He  prepared us for the Incarnation, but He prophesied about the Incarnation in clear and unmistakable terms.

• God told the snake: "And I will put enmity  between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Gen. 3:15).

• "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and to Him shall be the obedience of the people" (Gen. 49: 10).

• "I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob, and a Scepter out of Israel" (Num. 24: 17).

• "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name   Immanuel"   (Isa. 7: 14), and Immanuel means ‘God with us’ although  He  is  also  the  son  of the Virgin, that is, He is the son of man or God made flesh.

• "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, (therefore, He is God, Incarnate God) Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end," (that is, He is eternal and immortal) (Isa. 9: 6,7).

 Thus, the Old Testament includes more than 300 prophecies that accurately describe  the details of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ from his virgin birth in Bethlehem up to His ministry, crucifixion, resurrection and His appearance to the disciples and His ascension to heaven.  The following is a table showing some of these prophecies and their realization in the New Testament.

Prophecy Old Testament New Testament

Personalities in the Old Testament:
 All the events of the Old Testament aim at declaring salvation through Christ; that is why even the personalities of the Old Testament clearly point to the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Adam: he is the head of the old creation and indicates the Second Adam, the head of the new creation.

2. Abel:  he was sacrificed without having sinned, symbolizing the greater Sacrifice Whose blood, which is better than Abel’s, speaks. (Heb. 12: 24).

3. Isaac: he is the only beloved son who offered himself as a sacrifice, and who was given by his father with joy.  He carried the wood for the offering and returned alive exactly as Jesus Christ carried the cross and rose from the dead.

4. Joseph: he was called the savior of the world because he saved his people from physical death by giving them material bread.  This is a symbol of the Lord who saved us from eternal death, giving us the Bread of Life.  Just as Joseph’s brothers sold him for silver, so did Judas sell his Master.

5. Jonah: because of him the nations believed.  He spent three days in the whale exactly like the days the Lord spent in the grave.

6. Solomon:  he is the successful king who symbolizes the King of Kings, the wise man who symbolizes the Source of Wisdom, and the man of peace who symbolizes the Prince of Peace.

Thus, many symbolized the different aspects of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, The Lord Jesus Christ is the Incarnate God of whom the  Old Testament  tells  a great deal, the Desire of generations and the secret of men’s salvation.

Let us approach Him with reverence, worship, and love, praying that His Holy Spirit might work in us, so that we may be saved by His Blood, and so that we live with Him and for Him for ever.