In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…
Yesterday I yet again finished the Old Testament, and I thought I'd post some of my general thoughts about it. I think a one word summary would be more than worth a few keystrokes.
Christ. Or, if you think that is too Greek, Messiah. (That word is actually also derived from a Greek word, but that is another topic for another time.)
I doubt anyone reading my post will question that summary, though a good many who are not reading it probably would. For one thing… Jesus isn't even in the Old Testament…
Oh, but he is! When not in direct prophecy, he is represented by a person, or a thing. (Noun: person, place, thing, idea, concept. All have been used to represent Christ.)
Look no further than Adam. Romans 5:14 says, "Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come." Or Abel, more indirectly. Hebrews 12:24, "and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel."
Then there are objects, places and things. Consider the ark of Noah, which saved a few from a wicked, perishing world - that is exactly what Christ has done! There are many, many others, such as the temple or the cities of refuge.
Sacrifices are probably more in number than all other types. (A type is basically a representation of what is to come, at least for the purposes of this post. Even if I am typing it.) Think back to the first animal killed to clothe Adam and Eve after their sin. So too Jesus was slain that we might be clothed.
That animal was but the first in a long line of countless sacrifices. There were two daily offerings, besides many others - freewill offerings, sin offerings, etc. Sometimes, in fact commonly throughout the Old Testament, a large number of animals were slain on a "special occasion", whether it was a feast day (seven such feasts took place in one year), or the dedication of the temple. 2 Chronicles 7:5, "King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God."
How much blood flowed from the veins of these sacrifices! If it were run together, I imagine it would form an immeasurable sea - filled to overflowing with the hot, scarlet blood of millions of unblemished sacrifices. It is hard to imagine.
Yet even this typical ocean cannot compare in the slightest degree to the sacrifice of a single Man! Hebrews 10:4, 12, 14: "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God," "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."
By a single offering! Christ's was not an ocean, but how much more hot, how much more potent was the lifeblood of the truly sinless Son of God, offered once for all!
Not only in type, but also in prophecy do we find Christ. Isaiah is famous for this, and it is easy to see why! Isaiah 9:6 (a verse commonly quoted), "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
But the prophet does not stop at the birth, he continues to the death. Isaiah 53:4a, 5, 7: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;" "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth."
Besides being interspersed with many references to Christ, the Old Testament constantly carries the closely related theme of redemption. The calling of Abraham, the sacrifice of a ram instead of Isaac, the exodus of the children of Israel, the return from exile, to name a few examples.
The Old Testament makes the perfect prologue to the New Testament and the work of Christ. The Old Testament begins with the first Adam, the New begins with the second, last, and perfect Adam! The nation of Israel was led from slavery in the Old Testament, as is the Church in the New Testament. The Old Covenant, was established as a type of the New Covenant. God made the heavens and the earth in the Old Testament, so he will make a new heavens and new earth as prophesied in the New Testament!
When I read the Old Testament, not only do I see vivid chronicles of the miracles of God, deeds of kings, the glorious temples, and blood - I see those things, yet in those things I see him about whom the entire Bible was written. Christ, the Messiah, and Savior of the world.
…And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”