Category: Christ in the Old Testament

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 13

God said to Moses, ” ‘Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.’  And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:6).

“Our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (I Corinthians 10:1-4).

The apostle Paul makes the connection for us in this Old Testament revelation of Jesus Christ.  The backstory in Exodus chapter 17 has the children of Israel complaining about the lack of water on their journey.  Moses appealed to God, worried that he was about to be stoned by the people due to the lack of water.  God instructed Moses to strike the rock at Horeb and water flowed.

The flowing rock is a picture of Christ.  Similar to the manna/bread, the water from the rock would not sustain them forever.  But Christ is the eternal spring of water, the water of life.  Jesus said to the Samaritan women at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

And again, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ”From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” ‘ “ (John 7:37-38)

And finally, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst’ “ (John 6:35).

Never thirsty.  Jesus is the Water of Life and His flowing in you will never end!

Jesus is the rock at Horeb, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 12

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction’ “ (Exodus 16:4)

“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:49-51).

In John chapter 6, Jesus makes a direct comparison between the manna in the wilderness and Himself as the bread of life.  And the contrast between the two is the difference between life and death.

The manna in the wilderness had no life-giving power.  It was only for daily sustenance.  The Jews ate the manna, but eventually they died.  The manna was a lifeless foreshadowing of a different kind of bread.

Christ, on the other hand, calls Himself “The Bread of Life” several times in John chapter 6.  Jesus’ connection with life forever not only contrasts to the manna in the wilderness, but also identified Jesus as born of God, “come down from heaven.”

“Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, ‘I am the bread that came down out of heaven.’  They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?’ “ (John 6:41-42).

But Jesus answered them, “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:58).  The sustenance that comes from the “Bread of Life” is life everlasting.  Jesus is our Bread of Life!

Jesus is the manna and so much more, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 11

“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household’ “ … “The blood on the doorposts shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt“ (Exodus 12:3,13).

“The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ “ (John 1:29).

The death of the Egyptian firstborn was the last of ten plagues God used to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt.  God instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and spread its blood on their doorposts.  When the Lord visited the land at midnight, He “passed over” the homes with the blood applied.  The Egyptians without the blood in place suffered the death of their firstborn.

In the sight of God, the only difference between the sons of Egypt and the sons of Israel on that night was the blood of the lamb.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  In God’s eyes at the final judgment, the only difference between the children of God and the lost will be the applied blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ.

If you have believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ that His blood was spilled for you and was the sufficient sacrifice for your sins, you are set free from the penalty of your sin and the judgment of God will “pass over” you.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb!

Jesus was present as the Passover Lamb, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

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!