Revealing Christ In The Old Testament I: Inception

With this post I will begin a comprehensive and "nowhere near complete" series based on casual perusal of the Old Testament and noting some of the things that jump out to me concerning the revelation of Jesus Christ within it. I will barely be scratching the surface as there is just too much to note. This series which will allow us/me to encounter Jesus as He was revealed in an archetypal manner will be called: Revealing Christ in The Old Testament. It must be absolutely understood by every Bible believing Christian (and any that wishes to be saved to eternal life) that The Old Testament Scriptures all point to Christ, just as the New Testament speaks of Him too. All paths from the Old Testament converge on the Cross and Christ. All paths diverge and spread out  from Christ and the Cross in the New Testament. To miss this obvious fact is to miss the centrality of Scripture. If you cannot find Jesus in very single verse of the Bible, you are not viewing it correctly.

Genesis:

We see the inception of everything of the created order in Genesis. It is in the very inception of time and matter that we see one of the most profound miracles of God besides Him taking on the attribute of humanity. We see things spoken into existence or creatio ex-nihilo (created out of nothing). We see Jesus as Creator (along with the other persons of the Trinity).

“For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers 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

In Genesis we see the record of Creation, In the end in the New Heavens and New Earth we will see its counterpart at the other end of time in Christ Jesus. It is hardly surprising that non-believers that know nothing of spiritual light will not believe of the narrative of if light (day/ yom) being created on the first day nor of the light that dwells within the new creation that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) or even of the light that with manifest from Christ as there will be no more night nor a need of the sun…Revelation 22:5 “And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

The natural man of Romans will see only a myth and legends of yore here in Genesis. They will only see a thinly veiled version of the Code of Hammurabi in Israel’s reception of the Law and inception of their kingdom. Secular humanists will chose to believe in even the more far-flung and far-fetched accounts of Babylonian gods and goddesses and that the Bible is actually a poor corruption of these co-called original Mesopotamian “truths”. Lots of laughs.

In the Bible's Creator we see Christ (John 1:1-3). In the Adam (the first human) we shall see the last Adam (Romans 5:14) who is salvation apart from the Law that was bore witness to by the Law and the Prophets (Romans 3:21). In the "seed of the woman" or the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15 we shall see the coming son of Abraham and the son of David, the Son of Man who is literally the Son of God who will inevitably crush the serpent’s head and devoid him of power and make the Devil a defeated foe for all that will trust in Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Christ those in Rome and of the modern world see either a helpless infant or a misplaced/missing dead political dissident. In Issac we see Christ the true chosen seed of Abraham. In the announcement to Abraham and Sarah we see the announcements to Mary (and to a lesser extent Zechariah). In Sarah and Mary we see two women who should not have been able to conceive: Sarah because she was clearly past child bearing years and the other because she had not “known” or had sexual relations with a human male. Both instances should be considered miraculous and find their origins in the divine both physically and in terms of revelation.

We see a clear picture of Jesus in Noah's Ark. The Ark built built to the exacting plans of God Himself became the vessel of salvation for the ones who listened to Noah, as the Cross of Jesus and the preordained plan to have Him hang on it became the vessel of salvation for everyone that believes. Outside of this vessel all will die, those in the Ark or In Christ live.

It is in the planned death of the one (Isaac) we see the foreshadowing of the other, two thousand years before, and in the same exact place, Mt. Moriah also known as the Temple Mount. This site of the future altar of burnt offering Gen. 22:2, 1 Chronicles 21:28-22:1. The wood that Isaac is to be offered upon is carried by Isaac himself up the hillside and not carried by the servants or on a donkey. We see that Abraham will not need to sacrifice his own son but will be able to sacrifice the offering given by God instead. One points to the other. Neither Isaac nor the ram would've removed the sin anyway. We will see the same episode unfold again 2000 years later when we see the Lord led forth bearing His own Cross up the same hill, as God will once again substitute the offering. This time though, the sacrifice will overturn the sin since He will send Himself as the propitiation.

In the story of Joseph, we see his brothers ask him, "Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.” Genesis 37:8. In Jesus’ parable of the Ten Minas (Luke 19:14) we see the same, "We will not have this man to reign over us" Also in Joseph we see the brother or family member rejected by his own but loved by his father. Once thought dead only to arise and give those who left him for dead…salvation.