Month: December 2022

“Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ And he said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’  Abraham said, ‘God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’  So the two of them walked on together” (Genesis 22:7-8).

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (I Peter 1:18-19).

Abraham climbed Mount Moriah by faith.  As he and Isaac climbed together, Abraham believed that God would provide the sacrifice.  And God did!

“Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son” (Genesis 22:13).

Jesus was the ram caught in the thicket, a crown of thorns as it were upon His head.  The ram, the burnt offering for Abraham, is a preview of the Christ who became a sin offering for us.  “But Jesus, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12).

God provided a sacrifice for Abraham and God provided a sacrifice for us.  Jesus Christ is the lamb who was slain.

Jesus was present on the mountain with Abraham and Isaac, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.  He blessed Abram and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand’ “ (Genesis 14:18-20).

“For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham apportioned a tenth part of all the spoils, was first of all, by the translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, which is king of peace.  Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest perpetually” (Hebrews 7:1-3).

Look at these New Testament descriptions of Melchizedek, King of Salem.  “King of righteousness … king of peace … without father or mother … no beginning or end of days … made like the Son of God … and a perpetual priest.”  These are all descriptions of the Jesus we know.

The book of Hebrews goes to great lengths to explain how Jesus is a forever priest after the order of Melchizedek; a forever priesthood that predated and outlasted the priesthood of Aaron and the Law.  Here is just a snippet, “And this is clearer still, if another priest arises according to the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become such not on the basis of a law of physical requirement (a description of the priesthood of Aaron’s line), but according to the power of an indestructible life.  For it is attested of Jesus, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek’ “ (Hebrews 7:15-17).

Jesus was present on the plains of Salem, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

I don’t think that it is an accident of translation that the first verse in the Bible and the start of John’s gospel begin with the very same phrase, “In the beginning.”  At the very birth of creation, God was there and at the very birth of creation, the Word was there.  Later in John’s opening chapter, the Word is identified as Jesus Himself.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  The bottom line?  Jesus was present from the very first verse of the Bible.

Paul writes the same thing in Colossians chapter 1, “For by Him [Jesus] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).  Jesus is both the creator and the sustainer of His creation.

As we begin this advent journey of seeing Christ in the Old Testament, let us start at the very beginning.

Jesus was present at the creation of the world, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

At the end of Matthew chapter 13, Jesus turned to His disciples with a question, ” ‘Have you understood all these things?’  They said to Him, ‘Yes.’  Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old’ “ (Matthew 13:51-52).

In Jesus’ day, the scribes were a class of men whose mission was to study, interpret, and expound on (and in many cases add to) the Old Testament Law.  Sometimes they were referred to as “lawyers” in the gospels.  They had many interactions with Jesus; conversations that revealed their opposition to Jesus’ message and mission.  So why does Jesus prophesy here that based upon their understanding of His gospel message, His disciples will become “scribes”?

The key is in the words that follow “scribe” in the passage.  The disciples and we who follow in their footsteps as believers have been “trained for the kingdom of heaven.”  This is so beautiful and so powerful!  Unlike the scribes who explained the intricacies of Old Testament Law to their countrymen, we will expound on the good news of the gospel, the new covenant, the coming of the kingdom of heaven.

And the “treasure” that we reveal and share with the world is Christ Himself.  “But we have this treasure – Christ in us, the hope of glory – in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (Colossians 1:27 and II Corinthians 4:7).  This “new” treasure is the new covenant message of all that Christ accomplished on the cross on our behalf.  This is the message the apostles taught in their sermons and letters just as Jesus said they would; scribes with a new treasure.

But what about the “old” treasure.  We can’t be sure about this, but I believe the “old” treasure is Christ as He appears in the Old Testament.  To quote from The Chosen; 40 Days with Jesus Book Three, “Jesus in the Old Testament is the fulfillment of every prophecy, the purpose of every story, and the culmination of God’s plan to save the world from itself.”

In the most famous sermon after Christ’s death and resurrection, the apostle Peter preached Christ from the Old Testament in Acts chapter 2.  Paul preached Christ from the Old Testament; reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jews in their synagogues.  Jesus preached Himself from the Old Testament on the road to Emmaus, “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures” (Luke 24:27).

We are scribes trained for the kingdom of heaven, sharing the treasure of Christ with a message that is both new and old at the same time.  New, because Jesus’ coming to earth revealed a new covenant, a new arrangement between us and God.  Old, because as we will see throughout this Advent season, Jesus was there in the Old Testament scriptures from the beginning.