204. Can we find Jesus in the Old Testament?

[00:00:00] Friends welcome to another episode of Making Disciples. My name is Chris and I am your host

[00:00:14] Hey, it's wonderful to be back. We've had a little bit of a break. I've been away at Spring

[00:00:20] Harvest and getting Easter done as a church so we've had a bit of a pause. So I hope

[00:00:26] that you're ready to go with this term and the Making Disciples podcast. I'm looking forward

[00:00:32] to it. We've got interviews with some interesting people this term and I am really thrilled

[00:00:40] to have pinned some of these people down to be able to spend half of them now with

[00:00:44] them to talk about discipleship. So over the coming weeks you will see and hear more

[00:00:49] about who some of those guests are but today we're going to jump in with a slight continuation

[00:00:55] of last term we ended in episode 203. We ended talking about the Bible and this is episode

[00:01:03] 204. We're going to continue talking about the Bible. So I was recently having a chat with

[00:01:10] someone and they said to me that they don't bother reading the Old Testament because this

[00:01:16] is boring, it's dull, it's got no bearing on their life and they said that you know, to

[00:01:21] be honest you just need the New Testament because it's all about Jesus. So they were

[00:01:24] about, I just don't read the Old Testament there's no point to it and I was going, no!

[00:01:29] That's just not the case at all. And sometimes to really unlock what is being said in the New

[00:01:36] Testament, you've just got to know what's been said in the Old Testament and things are

[00:01:40] referenced and there's different teaching mechanisms that we see in the New Testament where

[00:01:44] they're essentially quoting from things in the Old Testament. So do you understand the

[00:01:48] New Testament? You know, you can get so much more out of it when you've read the Old Testament.

[00:01:53] But also the Old Testament is just this incredible, it's like an arrow that is just pointing

[00:01:59] to Jesus all the way through the Old Testament. So right from the beginning of the Old Testament

[00:02:06] with the Torah Genesis Exodus, the Vizquez Numbers and Georonomi, all of these books are

[00:02:13] pointing towards the Messiah Jesus and some of them, you see Jesus appearing in them. He's there

[00:02:24] in and amongst the story or the story is pointing towards Jesus profetically

[00:02:32] and you're meant to see the characters as little pointers towards Jesus who then comes in the flesh.

[00:02:42] So what I want to do in today's episode is really just walk you through the Old Testament books

[00:02:49] of the Bible, just showing how Jesus is seen in those books. So in some ways it's going to be quite

[00:02:57] slug and methodically going to go through all the books of the Old Testament, just pointing out

[00:03:02] how in that book Jesus is seen. So it will be slightly throws. So you may want to take up a pen and

[00:03:08] paper and you might want to kind of jot this down. And then when you read those books of the

[00:03:12] Bible, you're like yeah I know where to find Jesus here. I can see how Jesus fits into this story

[00:03:18] here, how we went to see this character as a Jesus-like character that's pointing towards

[00:03:24] Christ coming as the ultimate redeemer and sacrifice. So I hope this just helps you see how the

[00:03:30] Old Testament is pointing us all towards Jesus. It's like I would describe it as what's called

[00:03:36] as a nudged, nudged wink wink. So you see something in the Old Testament and you think well this is

[00:03:41] just how we read it and that's like the Bible's going nudged, nudged, wink wink. This is actually about

[00:03:45] Jesus. So let me walk you through this and just unpack different ways of seeing in the text where

[00:03:54] you're meant to see Christ in the text. Friends, you know welcome if we've never met before my name

[00:03:59] is Chris Rogers. If you're one of our new listeners having joined us at Spring Harvest, you are very,

[00:04:04] very warm and welcome to you. There is 204 episodes now for you to explore, you know do pick and choose

[00:04:10] through them. Essentially the episodes are broken up into episodes about head, some about heart

[00:04:16] and some about hands. Today's episode is a head one it's like understanding more about the Bible but

[00:04:21] hopefully it will make your heart go wow Jesus is right here in the text all the way through. So I

[00:04:26] hopefully it will really inspire you. So let's jump in as we talk about Jesus in the whole Bible.

[00:04:42] So here we go, Jesus in the whole Bible now to understand what we're talking about here. I've got

[00:04:47] four words on a show with you metaphor image story archetype or illusion. So what we have in the Old

[00:04:54] Testament is these different moments where you've got these nudging as wink wink towards Jesus in

[00:05:00] the New Testament. So you as we read the Old Testament, you know start to see these little nudging

[00:05:05] and winks that are actually pointing at arrows to Jesus in the New Testament. Now we understand Jesus

[00:05:12] was there at the beginning of the middle on the end as Revelation says he's the Alpha and the Omega is

[00:05:16] the beginning of the end. And therefore we see Jesus waved them throughout the whole of Scripture but

[00:05:19] in some places the way Jesus is waving into Scripture is through what would either be a metaphor

[00:05:26] an image story archetype or an illusion. So a metaphor, a metaphor is a figure of speech that

[00:05:35] in some ways gives you this vivid imagery of something. So for example a metaphor you know

[00:05:41] Jesus is the lion and the lamb so you get this picture in the Old Testament of this sacred lion

[00:05:49] and the sacred lamb and that Jesus we now look at that lion and the lamb and we understand the

[00:05:55] lion of Jesus and the lamb of the sacrifice is pointing towards Jesus. Jesus is the lion and the lamb.

[00:06:01] So you have these things called metaphors, you know just an image that you know in the Old Testament

[00:06:07] you have this imagery that is set up either in picture form or word form where an image is there

[00:06:14] to try and point you towards. So for example the image of the temple in Jerusalem is this place

[00:06:21] of worship, you know so we as the church of Jesus Christ we're seeing is the temple of God

[00:06:27] the body of Christ. So these are these images they kind of get used. You have what's called a story

[00:06:33] archetype? So these saviors, a savior person who comes in where you think nothing can be done

[00:06:42] and someone comes in as savior. So you have these story archetypes of which Jesus would be

[00:06:47] one in the Old Testament and then you have this thing called illusion and this is where a story is

[00:06:53] being told and you think your the story's been told about one person but actually it's actually

[00:06:57] telling there's about another person. So I'll give you a really good example of illusion

[00:07:03] so sorry Jacobin Eesaw in the book of Genesis the story of Jupiter, there's Jacobin Eesaw

[00:07:09] bond only minutes apart but Eesaw is the hunter gatherer he's the perfect son Jacob is the least

[00:07:16] favored son and you know he's not a hunter gatherer he's not somebody who you would want to

[00:07:21] carry on the family blessing, the least favored son but what happens is Jacob ends up dressing as

[00:07:27] the brother Eesaw. He puts on the clothing of Eesaw and as he approaches a father Isaac

[00:07:35] the father reaches out and he touches the clothing which actually belonged to Eesaw or any

[00:07:40] he smells the clothing and he smells Eesaw but you can hear the voice of Jacob but he can smell and

[00:07:47] touch Eesaw. So the father reaches out and blesses Jacob with the family blessing as if he was

[00:07:54] Eesaw so Eesaw receives the family blessing dressed as the chosen son and it's a picture of Jacobin

[00:08:02] Eesaw but actually it's a picture of Euinai and Jesus, Jesus is the favored son we close ourselves

[00:08:09] in the favored son and therefore we get to approach the father and see the family blessing

[00:08:14] as if we were Jesus so there we have this illusion it's alluding to something else

[00:08:20] so you have these four kind of pictures, different ways of communicating about Jesus and the

[00:08:24] Old Testament metaphors images story archetypes or illusions. So let me fly through this then so I've

[00:08:29] got a lot I've got a long list here of where we find Jesus in the Old Testament and so some of

[00:08:37] them are metaphors, some of them are pictures, some of them are story archetypes, some of them

[00:08:40] were called illusions. So let's go through these fast Genesis. In Genesis we see Jesus is the word

[00:08:47] of God you know as John says the word was made flesh and we see God's word spoken in Genesis

[00:08:54] so we see Jesus as the word is the one that created the heavens and the earth. So in Genesis we

[00:09:00] see Jesus as the words of God being spoken making and creating and the heavens and earth were made

[00:09:08] by the words of Jesus. So in Jesus in Genesis we have Jesus the creator, there's a word has been

[00:09:18] spoken in the Exodus we have Jesus is the Passover lamb so the lamb that the blood was painted

[00:09:24] on the doorpost of the universe to say death was not welcome in those households. God's people

[00:09:30] did that when he Egypt so when death came death wouldn't get them but death would pass by

[00:09:37] well Jesus is the Passover lamb and he does the same for us as his blood is now painted on the

[00:09:41] doorpost of the universe. Leviticus, Jesus in Leviticus is the high priest is the representative

[00:09:47] of the tabernacle he is the lampstand, he is the the showbred he is the sacrifice on the altar.

[00:09:54] So in Leviticus we see that Jesus is the high priest and he's the sacrifice

[00:09:58] that is alluded to and pointed to in the book of Numbers Jesus is the pillar of cloud by day

[00:10:03] the pillar of fire by night how do you say that Chris well what is it that Jesus says in the

[00:10:09] temple in Jerusalem during the feast of tabernacles when they had a giant menorah candle that

[00:10:16] represented that fire that led God's people through the wilderness what does Jesus say I am

[00:10:21] the light of the world so that the light that led to God's people in the book of Numbers through

[00:10:27] the night as this fire Jesus says I am the light so that the light that leads God's people

[00:10:33] through the wilderness is Jesus though the light of the world. Joshua Jesus is the commander

[00:10:40] of the army of the Lord leading these people into the promised land and you know Jesus describes

[00:10:44] as the commander of the army because of Judges Jesus is the true and final judge yet all of these

[00:10:50] judges but it's all pointing to the illusion of there being one judge that will be the judge

[00:10:57] of all so that was Jesus in the book of Ruth at Jesus is the Kingsman Redeemer the one who takes

[00:11:06] and takes her in and makes her part of Dops are into the family and looks after her as his own

[00:11:14] so in the book of Ruth Jesus is the depiction of the Kingsman Redeemer the one that redeems

[00:11:20] and brings the lonely into his family the story there is a woman who's widowed and the Kingsman

[00:11:26] Redeemer adopts her into the family that's what Jesus does with us one or two Samuel Jesus is

[00:11:33] the anointed shepherd king let's just to work one Samuel 17 for a second write favorite Bible

[00:11:41] planted David and Goliath so just spend a moment on this one so yes throughout the book of Samuel

[00:11:48] we see a shepherd who's looking after sheep is the perfect shepherd all pointing to Jesus but then

[00:11:52] you got the story of David and Goliath and many times I hear that story preached about where

[00:11:58] David is the young boy who stands in front of Goliath the challenger and everybody else is scared

[00:12:05] and hiding and David comes as this young lad to challenge Goliath and I've heard it preached

[00:12:13] look with God you can stand in front of the challenger because you will fight with God's strength

[00:12:21] not your own strength and we place ourselves in as David Fred I don't think we meant to do that at all

[00:12:26] I think David is actually meant to be Jesus and I think Goliath is actually meant to be Satan why can

[00:12:32] you say that Chris well actually we're told in the scriptures in Samuel that Satan is wearing armor

[00:12:38] and that this armor has got snakes all over it snakes skin armor so I think we're meant to see Goliath

[00:12:44] as Satan the snake from the Garden of Eden who comes to challenge Jesus but the evil one looks

[00:12:53] more powerful otherwise young lad but then the young lad has more power than you could ever

[00:12:58] imagine so I don't think you meant to see yourself as David I think you meant to see Jesus as David

[00:13:02] Satan as Goliath well where are we in the story then well we're the quivering scared ones at the edge

[00:13:09] hiding away because we we we dance approach the challenger so I think in the story David and Goliath

[00:13:15] we're actually meant to see David as Jesus so there's a really good example of where you know

[00:13:21] traditional story and just the clue that Goliath is wearing armor that's got snake scales on it

[00:13:29] I think that's meant to give us a clue but we kind of missed that so in in the book of Samuel one

[00:13:35] and two Jesus is the anointed shepherd king the one that challenges the challenger one and one

[00:13:43] and two kings well in the book of kings Jesus is the righteous king of kings and the Lord of

[00:13:49] Lords all these kings come and go but Jesus is the righteous king and all these kings are meant

[00:13:55] to tell us that we can try leading on our own but we're never going to be the ultimate there is a

[00:14:02] king that stands more glorious than all the kings in one of two chronicles Jesus is the faithful

[00:14:09] restorer of the kingdom in the book of Ezra Jesus is the faithful restorer of the temple so

[00:14:17] Ezra the prophet is all about the rebuilding of Jerusalem and for Ezra Jesus is the Messiah figure

[00:14:27] that comes to restore the temple and that's very similar to the book of Niamaya so Niamaya Niamaya

[00:14:35] to Jerusalem to rebuild Jerusalem and in this story the Messiah Jesus is the redeeming rebuilder of

[00:14:43] the wall so in the way that Niamaya has gone to rebuild this city it's meant to point us towards

[00:14:49] Jesus the Jesus that would destroy the temple but then rebuild it in the same way that Niamaya

[00:14:55] is going to rebuild at Jesus would rebuild the temple but he would do it after three days

[00:15:01] then you got the book of Esther in the book of Esther Jesus is the sovereign protector of his

[00:15:05] people in the way that Esther defends her people it's alluding to Jesus who would come and

[00:15:12] challenge the systems and the powers of the day to protect his people look of Job actually in

[00:15:20] the book of Job Jesus is the living redeemer and the true comforter so in the whole book of Job

[00:15:26] are debating where is God and all the debate we see that there is God is coming to redeem and to

[00:15:35] comfort and defend his people and therefore it's a joke the book of Job is alluding to the Messiah

[00:15:42] that would come and do the same in the Psalms actually the Psalms have got so much metaphors

[00:15:47] and so many pictures in there but the Psalms Jesus is the good shepherd who hears our cries

[00:15:54] the perfect shepherd who comes and hears the cries of his people in the book of Proverbs there is

[00:16:01] all of this wisdom in Proverbs and we meant to it's kind of alluding to the wisdom of God

[00:16:09] and that the Messiah would come and the Messiah would have all this wisdom and what we see in the book

[00:16:15] of Proverbs is that this wisdom has a name and his name is Jesus. Cleasiestes is all about meaning

[00:16:27] but less meaningless everything is meaning us until you find hope in God well actually the

[00:16:32] hope in God is Jesus Jesus is the meaning of life so the whole point of the cleasiestes is

[00:16:37] without God in your life without Jesus in your life then everything is just going to be pointless

[00:16:43] meaningless and will actually worthless in the long run then you got the book of song of Solomon

[00:16:49] and in the book of Solomon Solomon Jesus is the loving bridegroom coming for his bride so the whole

[00:16:54] picture of the book of Solomon is that there's a bride and a bridegroom and that the the

[00:17:01] loving bridegroom is coming to defend and take care of the bride and we see that echoed in

[00:17:08] the New Testament as Jesus comes as the as the groom for his bride at the end of revelation

[00:17:14] there is a wedding banquet where the groom is coming for his bride the first miracle that Jesus

[00:17:20] does in the book of John is water into wine at a wedding he blesses the wedding so this wedding

[00:17:28] imagery is all way through the scriptures particularly in the book of song of Solomon and you're

[00:17:33] meant to see the bridegroom as Jesus and the bride as the people of God then you got Isaiah

[00:17:39] really old full of Jesus one of the books that has the most about Jesus in it so Jesus is the promised

[00:17:45] Messiah is the wonderful counselor mighty god everlasting father and the prince of peace

[00:17:50] Isaiah talks about the Messiah as the suffering servant who's wounded for our transgressions

[00:17:56] and bruised for our iniquities you can't read the book of Isaiah without seeing Jesus all the way

[00:18:02] through that book then the book of Jeremiah now Jeremiah it talks about the potter

[00:18:09] Jesus is the potter the one that takes the broken pots the one that takes the broken clay the

[00:18:15] damaged clay and makes something new he's also described the book of Jeremiah as the righteous

[00:18:20] righteous branch that from him there would be life and fruitfulness so Jeremiah points to

[00:18:29] Jesus as the perfect potter and as the branch of the tree that would bear fruit lamentations

[00:18:37] depicts there as a Messiah that is weeping as a weeping prophet and therefore in the book of

[00:18:43] lamentations we see Jesus as this weeping prophet that's crying out for the injustice in the world

[00:18:50] then you have the book of Ezekiel and in the book of Ezekiel Jesus is the river of life the one

[00:18:55] is flowing alive to all these people bringing healing to the nations you've got the picture of

[00:19:01] the valley of dry bones where the bones are coming back to life depicting Jesus the resurrected who

[00:19:10] will resurrect all dead things the book of Daniel Jesus in the book of Daniel is the fourth man

[00:19:18] in the fiery furnace you have a story of Mishak Shadrach and Abendigo and we're told that while

[00:19:23] in the furnace being burnt to death a fourth one like the son of man standing in the fiery furnace so

[00:19:31] in the book of Daniel Jesus is their present in the sufferings of his people as they're burning to

[00:19:37] death giving their lives because they're faith in Yahweh an amazing book of Daniel where you just

[00:19:43] see Jesus at work and in amongst that that that book but also a particular moment in the furnace

[00:19:50] then you have the book of Ozea Jesus is the ever faithful husband pursuing his unfaithful bride

[00:19:56] so in the book of Ozea it's the story of a prophet who marries an unfaithful woman and unfaithful

[00:20:03] prostitute and she is married to the prophet but yet keeps running off and sleeping with other men

[00:20:11] and in the story we kind of come to realise as we read it that Jesus is the faithful husband

[00:20:17] who's got a wife who will just keep prostitute in herself to other men but yet he's still there

[00:20:22] waiting for her and we are the woman who prostitutes herself to all these other gods but yet Jesus is

[00:20:31] waiting for us so in Ozea Jesus is the ever faithful husband pursuing his unfaithful bride

[00:20:39] right you ready do you need a pause for a moment are you getting all of this

[00:20:44] because we're now going to approach the book of Joel so in the book of Joel Jesus is the

[00:20:48] Histora of what the Locust ab eaten so in the book of Joel the Locust have come to strip and take

[00:20:57] away that they they're eating the harvest there is nothing left and yet Jesus is the

[00:21:02] Histora of what the the Locusts have eaten and taken away and he is the one who will pour his spirit

[00:21:09] onto his people that his people would receive the Holy Spirit because he has commissioned it

[00:21:15] then you got the book of Amos Jesus is the burden bearer and the true restoration so in the book

[00:21:23] of Amos another prophetic book Jesus is the one that comes to carry the burden of his people

[00:21:30] during fall and true restoration so what he's been alluded to in the prophecies the Messiah

[00:21:35] coming but we know that Messiah is Jesus it's book of Obadaya Jesus is the judge of all the earth

[00:21:44] and he's mighty to save he's the Messiah that is coming as judge and as savior then you have

[00:21:51] the book of Jonah because Jonah Jesus is the salvation of all the lands so Jonah is running away

[00:21:58] because he doesn't want everyone to receive the salvation and he's running away from Nineveh

[00:22:03] and God takes Jonah back on a journey he gets swallowed by the whale is in the whale for three days

[00:22:08] get spurt up on the beach and Jonah goes in preachers then to the people of Nineveh and his healed

[00:22:13] so Jesus is the salvation of all the lands not just the ones that we want to pick and choose

[00:22:18] and he's the prophet that is cast out into the storm that spends three days in the depths

[00:22:24] is buried in you know if generous the whale Jesus is buried in the tomb and on the third day

[00:22:32] death coughs up Jesus and Jesus leaves leads his people to freedom so Jonah and Jesus

[00:22:41] near these archetypes of the savior that gets swallowed by death but then spat out and he

[00:22:46] leases people to freedom my car Jesus is the promised Messiah that was going to be born in Bethlehem

[00:22:52] so you have the prophecy in that book of the Messiah coming from Bethlehem

[00:22:57] Neum well it says in Neum that Jesus is the Avenger of God's elect that he is the one that's

[00:23:04] going to come and save it's a prophecy of the Messiah coming and the Savior coming

[00:23:09] Habakkuk when Habakkuk Jesus is the reason for rejoicing and our strength even when the

[00:23:16] fields are empty again so these are all what we call the minor prophets, prophet,

[00:23:21] prophetical books that are pointing towards Jesus. So Habakkuk Jesus is the reason for the rejoicing

[00:23:27] and his our strength when everything has gone wrong when the fields are empty.

[00:23:32] Zephoniah Jesus is the preserver and the restorer of his remnant people so Jesus will come

[00:23:39] to preserve and to restore his remnant people and he comes to restore his kingdom so the Messiah

[00:23:46] again is coming so all the minor prophets are all about Messiah coming so it's very easy to kind

[00:23:51] of pinpoint Jesus in these ones. Haggai Jesus is the desire of all nations it's what all the nations

[00:23:59] are looking for. Last two books the Old Testament. Zechariah Jesus is the cleansing fountain

[00:24:08] and the pierced sun with whom every iron earth will one day behold it says so again that

[00:24:15] about the Messiah, that's about his death and the restoration of all things and then one of my

[00:24:21] favorites in Malachi. So in Malachi it describes Jesus as the son of righteousness and that when the

[00:24:28] son of righteousness comes then they will be healing in his wings and when you see the story of

[00:24:37] the woman that's been bleeding for 13 years that comes and touches the hem of Jesus as Garmin.

[00:24:41] That's because it was believed that when the Messiah came there would be healing founds in the hem

[00:24:48] of his Garmin because it said in Malachi that when the son of righteousness comes they will be

[00:24:54] healing in his wings so the edges of his Garmin while the edges of his wings so the belief was

[00:25:00] that when Messiah came there would be healing if you touch the hem of his Garmin so that's why

[00:25:03] the woman reaches out she touches the hem of the Garmin because she believes she's read Malachi and

[00:25:08] understands that Jesus is the son of righteousness where they'll be healing in his wings so she

[00:25:12] reaches out and touches him and she's healed. So in the book of Malachi he is the righteous one

[00:25:18] with healing in his wings so when she does that she touches them over his Garmin and she's healed

[00:25:24] all that affirming that Jesus is the one that is spoken of in the book of Malachi. So there you

[00:25:30] got this bit of a whistle stop tour there through the Old Testament but each of these books

[00:25:34] is just pointing towards Jesus so what I'd love to encourage you to do is read the Old Testament

[00:25:39] you know please you don't need to read hours and end and hours and end and hours and end

[00:25:43] just reading bits of it and trying to work out you know how does this passage that you're reading

[00:25:48] ultimately point to Jesus. How is it a metaphor for Jesus? How is it an image of Jesus?

[00:25:54] How is it kind of this archetypal person or an archetypal story you know the story of a Messiah

[00:26:02] figure you know how is that point Jesus? Oh is there an allusion to you like that story of

[00:26:06] jicapinesis or there's a looting to Jesus and ours and how we clothe ourselves in the favour of

[00:26:12] since clothing. So what I would say is as you read the Old Testament you're looking essentially

[00:26:17] to ask the question is where do I see Jesus in this now it may well be that as you're reading

[00:26:23] line for line you are not going to find Jesus in every single line in the sense that it you know

[00:26:29] Jesus is there but it's not massively clear how it applies but through chapter to chapter

[00:26:35] you will be seeing Jesus woven into these books as you see Jesus has this Passover lamb or you see

[00:26:43] Jesus as the Lion of Judah. So my invitation to you would be as you read the Old Testament where

[00:26:51] you see these images these metaphors these archetypal images all these illusions of Jesus get it

[00:26:57] highlighted and write it down because then there'll be times when you see that in the New Testament

[00:27:03] you're going oh I've already read a story like this in the Old Testament and that Old Testament

[00:27:08] story will help you unpack something that's happening in the New Testament Paul does this quite a

[00:27:15] lot actually in his letters where he essentially nicks ideas from the Old Testament

[00:27:22] if we were to realise where they were from would seek some of the deeper truths of what he's

[00:27:27] alluding to but because we don't read the Old Testament that much we don't necessarily see them

[00:27:31] that quick. So there is a bit of a whistle stop to all the Old Testament yes we do see Jesus

[00:27:37] woven throughout the Old Testament is not just hidden he's there like this golden thread that runs

[00:27:43] through the entire Old Testament. The question for us is where do I see Jesus in this passage how

[00:27:48] does this passage link to Jesus? How is it pointing me to Jesus as the amazing Messiah? So that's my

[00:27:56] encouragement to you is go looking for imagery or metaphors or archetypes or illusions to Jesus

[00:28:04] in the Old Testament and just recognise where they're pointing to in the New Testament where do we see

[00:28:10] this played out in the New Testament how is this alluding to something that's there I'd love to

[00:28:14] encourage you to do that keep your eyes open for where Jesus is in the Old Testament. Friends

[00:28:20] until next time Grayson peace have a blessed week and I hope you find that interesting as we look

[00:28:25] at where he's joined Jesus in the Old Testament. Until next time Grayson peace and have a

[00:28:30] fantastic week.