Finding Jesus in the Old Testament

As you read the Bible, God’s Word, you will find Christ Jesus mentioned throughout the pages. He is the Good News of the New Testament. But we know about Him amongst the writings of the Old Testament. The prophet Zechariah tells us in verse nine of chapter nine: “Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation.” Zechariah’s writings date over 500 years before the birth of Christ. Yet, the people of Israel were given advance notice of the coming of the Messiah -  the One who will save God’s people.

Moses, the man God chose to lead His people to the Promised Land, tells them in Deuteronomy 18:15 that “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, Him you shall hear.” When does Moses say this? Over fourteen hundred years before Jesus was born. Joseph Farah has authored a marvelous book, The Gospel  in Every Book of the Old Testament, in which he points out that Deuteronomy contains the gospel “from beginning to end.”

We can go back to the Beginning, in Genesis 3:15, to find the Gospel. After Adam and Eve had sinned by eating from the forbidden “tree of knowledge of good and evil,” God hands down not just His punishment but also what is to come. He tells the deceiving and lying Serpent of its fate (“On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life”). He also states that “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.” What makes this such a telling verse? God is proclaiming that Jesus, thousands of years before He came to earth, will suffer on the cross but with His resurrection, He will deliver the final blow to Satan, defeating him once and for all.

Perhaps nothing is more telling in the Old Testament of the coming of Christ and His meaning in our own lives than from the book of Isaiah who states in 53:4-5 (NKJV):

Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;

Yet we esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten by God, and afflicted.

But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities;

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

And by His stripes we are healed.

Or Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV):

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,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

Through God’s grace and mercy, He sent His Son to die for our sins. Have you ever done something that you knew was wrong and then were disciplined? Did anyone step up and say “punish me instead?” Jesus did. As we see, God had this planned from the Beginning. What an awesome Heavenly Father!