Is Jesus present in the Old Testament?
Ask whether Jesus appears before the Gospels and you are really asking what the older half of the Bible is for. The writers below give a united answer — He is its subject, its pattern, and in some scenes its actual speaker — while differing in how far they press the details.
The Claim Jesus Made About Those Books
When Jesus told His critics that the Scriptures bear witness about Him, the only Scriptures in existence were the ones we call the Old Testament. One writer draws out what follows from that, and how God went about it:
C KnappThe Scriptures testify of Christ. This is the declaration of the Lord Himself: "they bear witness about Me," He says, referring to the Scriptures. And He does not here refer to the Gospels, as some might suppose, for they had not yet been written. He is speaking of the Old Testament Scriptures. So throughout the whole of the Old Testament we may expect to find allusions, direct and indirect, to Christ… God has chosen a double method of bringing Christ before us in these ancient writings. He speaks of Him by direct reference, as in the 53rd of Isaiah, Deuteronomy 18:15, and in many other places. Then He shows us Christ in type and figure.
Predictions Too Exact To Be Guesswork
The direct method produces details no writer could have arranged for himself. Centuries before the event, the manner of Jesus' death was described — in a form of execution not yet in use:
A J PollockKing David prophesied of a suffering Christ about ten long centuries before He hung upon Calvary's cross of shame (Psalm 22). He wrote of hands and feet being pierced. He could not have referred this to himself, for his hands and feet were not pierced. For hundreds of years these words lay a riddle on the sacred page, for crucifixion was a death unknown until the time of the Romans.
The same care runs through the smaller details — the price paid for Him, the treachery of a friend, His burial:
William KellyWas it within the compass of man's mind to say centuries before that He, over Whom Jehovah watched with delight and loving care without parallel, should, in His obedience, be handed over to the basest beating and the cruellest insult…? Was it a mere guess to lay down that not a bone of Him should be broken (Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:20) when the legs of the others were? or that only He should be pierced (Zechariah 12:10), while they were not? Was it chance that even in such circumstances He should be with the rich in His death, while His grave would naturally be made with the wicked? (Isaiah 53:9)
Portraits Drawn In People And Offerings
The second method works by resemblance rather than statement. Whole lives are shaped to sketch Him in advance:
A J PollockJoseph was a type of Christ. He was hated by his brothers. So was Christ. He was loved by his father. So was Christ. He was sold for twenty pieces of silver. Christ was sold for thirty pieces of silver. He went, in picture, into death and resurrection — that is, prison and promotion — and became the one whom Pharaoh called Zaphnath-paaneah, that is, the Saviour of the World.
A picture, though, is not the person, and the writers are careful not to overclaim for it:
An Outline of Sound WordsAll the sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament Scriptures, in connection with God's people, were types of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although we can learn much from them, in the light of the New Testament, the types were only shadows; they did not give a clear image of all the wonderful details of the perfect Offering of the Son of God.
The Figure Who Walks Into The Story
Beyond words and pictures, a mysterious visitor keeps appearing — called an angel, yet speaking and receiving what belongs to God alone. Commentators treat the identification as a conclusion drawn from the text rather than a bare statement of it:
Edward DennettIt is said for example here, "My name is in Him." So in Exodus 14, after being spoken of as an angel, He is identified with Jehovah… That He is divine is therefore clear; and the inference is thus justifiable (one that has been drawn by godly students of the Word in all ages) that in this angel we have no other than the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jehovah, and that as such, in His many appearings, we may see foreshadowings of His incarnation.
The Glory Isaiah Saw
One passage settles the matter without inference. John says plainly whose glory the prophet witnessed:
H J VineIsaiah saw the Lord, and the train of His robe filled the temple (6:1), while the seraphim covered themselves, saying, "Holy, holy, holy." Then the prophet said, "Woe is me… for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." But we are told in John 12:41 that this was the Lord Jesus; for "he saw His glory and spoke of Him." Again in chapter 19:37, "Another Scripture says, They will look on Him whom they have pierced;" and turning to Zechariah 12:10, we find Jehovah says "ME, whom they have pierced."
Reading With The Right Key
This turns Bible reading into something other than a hunt for lessons. It gives the older books a single centre:
F. B. HoleVerse 39 applies to all Old Testament Scriptures: they "bear witness about Me." Verse 46 refers specifically to the early books written by Moses; and he "wrote of Me." This, then, is the key which unlocks all the Old Testament — the main theme is the Christ, who was to come.
Summary
- Testimony. Jesus said the Scriptures bear witness about Him, and the only Scriptures then written were the Old Testament ones.
- Told. He is named directly in prophecy — the piercing, the price, the unbroken bones, the rich man's grave — described before crucifixion was even practised.
- Traced. He is drawn indirectly in persons and offerings, though these remain shadows and never give the full picture on their own.
- There. The divine visitor who speaks as Jehovah in Exodus and Genesis is understood by these writers as God the Son, appearing before His birth.
- The theme. Take Christ as the subject of the older books and they open; miss Him and the key is gone.