Category: Christ in the Old Testament

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 23

“Now when Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.  The priests could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.  All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, ‘Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting’ “ (II Chronicles 7:1-3).

“Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (I Corinthians 3:16).

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:22).

On the day that Solomon dedicated the newly constructed temple, the glory of the Lord came with power and filled the temple with His presence.  Fast forward 1000 years.  On the day of Pentecost, following Jesus’ ascension, the Holy Spirit came with power and filled God’s new temple, His believers.

In the Old Testament, God dwelt in holy places; the holy land, the holy city, the holy temple, the Holy of Holies in the temple.  God dwelt in holy places.

Under the new covenant, God continues to dwell in holy places.  But they are no longer geographic locations.  They are holy people; you and me, children of God.  You are now God’s temple.  If you have studied the New Testament, you are aware of this picture that we are now God’s temple.

But did you know that God is still filling His temple with His glory?  The dedication by Solomon of God’s earthly temple was accompanied by an incredible display of God’s glory.  And as God’s temple today, you are an incredible display of God’s glory.  Jesus said it, “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them” (John 17:22).

It is a false humility to call yourself anything less than glorious.  To do so is to make Jesus a liar.  You are glorious based on the promise of Jesus.  Believe it.  You and I, by the declaration of Jesus, are glorious.  And there is no room for pride in that statement; only gratitude.

The glory of Jesus, now present in you, was present in His holy temple, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 22

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

“But as it is, Jesus has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

Forgiveness of sin is at the heart of the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Or to put it more personally, the forgiveness of your sin, the forgiveness of my sin, is at the heart of the gospel message.  Or to flesh it out even further, the COMPLETE forgiveness of our sin is at the heart of the gospel message.

“When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us ALL our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14).

“And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us, saying, … ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more’ “ (Hebrews 10:15,17).

When we first believe the gospel message of Jesus Christ, our sins – past, present, and future – are completely and eternally forgiven.  Folks often have a difficult time believing that our forgiveness is this complete.  Because it flies in the face of the common teaching that we need to confess and be forgiven over and over.  But this is just not true.  Repeated confession and forgiveness is not found in the message of the New Testament.  Your forgiveness is a once-and-done complete cleansing.

I absolutely love the visual in Psalm chapter 103 that previews the complete forgiveness coming in the new covenant.  If you start at the north pole and travel south as far as you can, you will eventually reach the south pole, the final destination of your southward journey.  How far of a distance must you travel?  Google says 12,436 miles.  It is a distance that can be measured.

But let’s start our journey at the equator in Quito Ecuador, and travel east.  How far must we go to reach the “west”?  Various places along the trip may be called “west”, but there is no distinct final destination indicating arriving at the “west”.  There is no “west pole” to be reached when traveling around the globe in an easterly direction.  There are no east or west endpoints on our journey along the equator.

You could say that the distance from the east to the west is infinite.  You see where I am going?  That is how far your sins have been removed.  To infinity and beyond.  So far gone, that your heavenly Father is not remembering them anymore.  And it wells up within us a gratitude for the incredible grace we have received.  Thank you Jesus!

Jesus is the author of your complete forgiveness foretold in Psalm 103, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 21

“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1).

“And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ “ (Mark 15:34).

We have been taught that Jesus spoke these words on the cross because God the Father turned His back on His Son.  While the weight of the world’s sin was upon Jesus’ shoulders, God the Father abandoned the Son.  Is this really true?  I don’t think so.

The bond between the Father and the Son is unbreakable.  I don’t believe that there was ever any separation between them.  We have no support in Scripture that “The Father and I are one” was ever broken.  I don’t believe there is any reason to think that God abandoned the Son even as He became sin for us on the cross.

So what was Jesus saying from the cross?  Jesus was speaking line one from Psalm 22, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Psalm 22:1).  The rest of this Psalm is a stunning prophecy of what His death would be like with passages like, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.  My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.  My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws.  You lay me in the dust of death.  For dogs have surrounded me.  A band of evildoers has encompassed me.  They pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones.  They look, they stare at me.  They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots” (Psalm 22:14-18).  Wow, does that sound like a description of the death of Jesus?

It has been suggested that in first century Israel, it was a common practice for a rabbi to speak the first line of a Psalm and expect his students to recite the rest.  Could this be happening here?  Could Jesus be saying from the cross, “For those with ears to hear, I am pointing you to the prophecy of Psalm 22; and in My death, I am its fulfillment”?

Just as the Psalmist in Psalm 22 felt that God had abandoned him, so Jesus, in the dying of His human form, likely felt that God had turned His back on Him in that moment.  However, by the end of Psalm 22, we find that God had been protecting the writer all along.  “For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; nor has He hidden His face from him; but when he cried to Him for help, He heard” (Psalm 22:24).  I especially like the phrase that God has NOT hidden His face from the afflicted.  God did not turn His back on the Son.  I believe God the Father was there with the Son at the cross.

The final verse of the Psalm says it well, “They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it” (Psalm 22:31).  Jesus “performed it”; secured our salvation through His death in our place.  A death described a thousand years before in Psalm 22.

Jesus is in the prophecy of Psalm 22, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 20

“Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel … Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever” ‘ “ (II Samuel 7:8,16).

“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.  There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

In II Samuel chapter 7, King David makes plans to build a permanent temple to replace the tabernacle as a dwelling place for God.  For His part, God makes a promise to David that his house and kingdom will be established forever.  We know the rest of the immediate story.  King David’s kingdom did not last.  Soon after his son Solomon’s reign, it fell apart.  So what does this promise mean that David’s kingdom will be established forever?

We see the first hint to the answer in Isaiah chapter 9.  In this prophecy of the coming Messiah, the child born to us will sit on the throne of David.  His kingdom will be re-established; this time with Christ Himself on the throne.  Jesus is the promise of II Samuel 7.  Jesus is the promise of a kingdom that lasts forever.

Jesus is not only the spiritual fulfillment of the promise to King David, He is also the physical fulfillment.  Jesus was born in the line of David.  “And when He had removed King Saul, He raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’  From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus” (Acts 13:22-23).

Our savior king, our shepherd king is Jesus!

Jesus sits on the throne of David, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 19

“He also chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.  So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands” (Psalm 78:70-72).

“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15).

Shepherd David was taken from the sheepfolds to be a shepherd to God’s people.  As King David, this is exactly what he did.  Psalm 78 recounts that King David shepherded Israel with integrity and skill.

The shepherd theme comes up often in the Psalms that David wrote.  The most famous of which is Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.”  Shepherd David was a prototype for a greater good shepherd to come.

John chapter 10 is a tender message from Jesus identifying Himself as the good shepherd.  In verses 1 to 11, the shepherd themes that emerge are: the shepherd enters by the door, the sheep hear My voice, I call My sheep by name, I lead them out, they follow because they know My voice, I guard the door to the sheep, I give abundant life to My sheep.  And finally, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

The ultimate love of Jesus, the good shepherd, for His sheep was on display when He gave up His life for His sheep.  If you have believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ, you are one of His sheep.  And He will lead you to the safety and provision that you long for.

Jesus was present in the sheep fields of Israel, because Jesus was there from the beginning!