Month: June 2024

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 10

“Jacob came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place.  He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants’ “ (Genesis 28:11-13).

“Jesus said to Nathanael, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’ “ (John 1:51).

In Genesis chapter 28, we find Jacob on the run.  After cheating his brother, Esau, out of their father’s blessing, Jacob fled to the safety of his uncle, Laban.  One night along the way, Jacob has a dream.  He saw a ladder between heaven and earth with angels ascending and descending upon it.  The ladder was a portal to heaven.  Jacob called the place Bethel (house of God), the place where he heard God’s voice.

Fast forward to John chapter 1.  Jesus’ new recruit, Nathanael, was more than likely familiar with the story of Jacob’s ladder.  Nathanael recognized Jesus as the Son of God, the King of Israel (John 1:49).  Jesus replied to Nathanael, “You were impressed that I saw you under the fig tree from far away, but you are about to see even greater miracles” (John 1:50).

One of these greater miracles?  “You will see the Son of Man as the ladder of Jacob with angels ascending and descending” (John 1:51).  Jesus is foreshadowed in Jacob’s ladder.  Jesus will become the portal between earth and heaven, between God and man.  Jesus is the portal, the mediator, the way.

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:5-6).

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’ “ (John 14:6).

Jesus was present in Jacob’s dream, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 9

“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).

On the third day of their journey (Genesis 22:4), God provided a sacrifice for Abraham; the ram in the thicket.  Jesus, raised on the third day, is the sacrifice for us.  Jesus is the lamb who was slain.

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

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 8

“Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.  When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, ‘My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by’ “ (Genesis 18:1-3).

” ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.’  So the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?’  Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am’ “ (John 8:56-58).

Who were these three strangers who appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre in Genesis chapter 18?  The passage starts with, “the Lord appeared”, suggesting God is in this group.  Could one of these men be God, the pre-incarnate Jesus?

Throughout Genesis chapter 18, the man doing the talking is referred to by phrases such as “The Lord said to Abraham” (vs 13), “And the Lord said” (vs 17), “And the Lord said” (vs 20), and “So the Lord said” (vs 26).  Additionally, when two of the men left to go down to Sodom, Abraham was “still standing before the Lord” (vs 22).  And finally, the two men who left to go down to Sodom are called “angels” in the opening verse of chapter 19.

So it seems to me that the three strangers were most likely Jesus and two angels.  And what was Jesus’ message to Abraham?

“The Lord said, ‘I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.’  And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.  Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing.  Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’  And the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying, “Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?”  Is anything too difficult for the Lord?  At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son’ “ (Genesis 18:10-14).

Jesus visited Abraham and Sarah to announce the coming of the child of promise.  This child would be the seed through which the earlier promise of Genesis chapter 15 would come to pass.  “And He took Abram outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’  And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be’ “ (Genesis 15:5).

Not only would the child of promise launch a skyful of descendants, but he would also be the child through whom the Messiah would come.  Jesus announced to Abraham and Sarah the birth of a child whose descendant would be Jesus Himself.

Jesus was present at the oaks of Mamre, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 7

“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!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 6

“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 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!