Where Is Jesus In The Old Testament? #1 “The Big Picture”
I. We Believe Jesus In The Old Testament Because Jesus Himself Teaches Us This!
A. Where?
· Luke 24 – On the road to Emmaus and in the Upper Room.
· John 5:45-46 - In the midst of an argument with the Jewish leaders.
B. Why Does This Matter?
· It matters for how we understand the Old Testament. What Jesus is teaching us is that no passage in the Old Testament is understood correctly unless we see how it points to Him! We must have this context to correctly interpret the Old Testament. We are not limited to what the original readers could have understood (and I think they often understood more than we give them credit for) because the Divine Author’s intent was for more than just the original readers! (See Hebrews 6:13-20, especially vs. 17!)
There are great stories in the Bible ... but it is possible to know Bible stories, yet miss the Bible story ... The Bible has a story line. It traces an unfolding drama The story follows the history of Israel, but it does not begin there, nor does it contain what you would expect in a national history .... If we forget the story line ... we cut the heart out of the Bible. Sunday school stories are then told as tamer versions of the Sunday comics, where Samson substitutes for Superman. David... becomes a Hebrew version of Jack the Giant Killer. No, David is not a brave little boy who isn't afraid of the big bad giant He is the Lord's anointed... God chose David as a king after his own heart in order to prepare the way for David's great Son, our Deliverer and Champion... Ed Clowney (Tim Keller’s mentor), from The Unfolding Mystery
· And it also matters for how we interpret and apply the Old Testament to our lives. The big question in understanding the Old Testament is, “Is it primarily a bunch of stories about what we must do, or is it primarily one big story about what God has done and promises to do?” If we get this wrong, 2/3 of the Bible is lost to us and we end up with moralistic “Christian” versions of Aesop’s Fables!
· Faith feeds on the promises of God and we need to see The Promise that was fulfilled in Jesus! “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [Christ].” 2Corinthians 1:20. Frankly, most people raised as Christians beat themselves up way too much and need to here more about the relentless love of God that sent Jesus to a cross in our place!
II. So Where Does Our Story Begin?
A. With A Good Creation (Genesis 1-2)
· Mankind created in flourishing relationship with God, creation, and each other.
· Set in a Garden in the midst of a good cosmos with the task of bringing order to all of creation. They were to bring about the fruition of the all the God-glorifying potential He had built into His creation.
B. With A Tragic Rebellion (Genesis 3) We need to see the multi-faceted picture of sin described here:
· Sin is epistemological (how do you know what you know) rebellion – substituting our word/judgment for His. God says not to eat of the tree, but mankind eats because Adam and Eve usurp God’s place and set themselves up as the ultimate judge of truth. All sin is always epistemological at its root.
· Sin is traitor to our King. Adam and Eve were called to serve God and His kingdom but instead they ally themselves with His enemy. Sin cuts at the heart of God because it is always about betrayal of our King.
· Sin is suspicion of God’s goodness. The power of the temptation lies in getting Eve to begin to doubt God’s goodness to her even in what He withholds. Sin always begins by our imagining God to be something less than He truly is, less good, less powerful, less faithful etc.
· Sin is disordered love. Adam and Eve choose to disobey God because of what seems “pleasing to the eye”, their affections, their loves are involved.
· Sin is ruptured relationship. It is so much more than breaking the rules! Whereas they used to walk with God in the cool of the day, now Adam and Eve are hiding in the bushes behind fig leaves. And fig leaves are a pitiful covering since they are large leaves with huge holes in them – just like whatever covering we try to provide for ourselves to cover our nakedness.
· We can’t really understand the rest of the Old Testament, or the Gospel itself, unless we understand just how terrible sin really is. “Sin is the dare of God’s justice, the rape of His mercy, the jeer of His patience, the slight of His power, and the contempt of His love.” (John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress)
· Like Humpty Dumpty, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put us together again! It is an inauspicious beginning, like the first time I ever got to drive by myself… I made a royal mess of things, but my father gave me grace beyond hope.
C. With Grace Beyond Hope (Genesis 3)
· The fact that the story goes on past Genesis 3 is pure grace! The story should have ended right there!
· Grace is God overruling our treachery and switching the teams! Adam and Eve had put warfare between themselves and God and allied themselves with Satan, but God says “I will put enmity where you tried to put peace and peace where you put enmity!” He outs Adam and Eve back on His side and puts enmity (warfare) between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent!
· Grace is God not taking no for an answer and pursuing His people in spite of their sin! I love God’s question, “Where are you Adam?” Didn’t God know? Of course He did. But did Adam know where he was? God’s questions are to provoke us to ponder what it really going on. Thank God for His dogged pursuit.
· Grace is God speaking an unbelievable promise into the midst of His people’s unbelief (Genesis 3:15.) This is the first preaching of the gospel and it comes from God Himself! He will send One to crush the serpent, One who will have to go under the sword to bring us back into the Garden of access to our Father.
· Grace is God clothing us when we could do nothing to deal with our shame. Here is the first sacrifice to cover His people, but it won’t be the last. There will be a day when God’s people will be clothed in a robe of righteousness that Jesus Himself earned for them at the cross – a robe that makes us spotless in His sight forever! Why do we still try to weave coverings for ourselves?is sight Hi
III. Genesis 3:15 Sets The Stage For The Rest Of The Story
· But when will He come, this promised seed? Eve thinks her first baby, Cain, is the one spoken of. In the Hebrew she says, “The Lord has given me the man.” But sadly he is not the one. And she names her next boy, Abel, which is the Hebrew “hevel” or frustration. And the whole rest of the Old Testament echoes with this cry, “Is this the One?” And even the best of the people in the Old Testament leave us still looking.
· The promise must withstand many threats! Basically the rest of the Old Testament is the story of God persevering to keep His promise in spite of overwhelming challenges. There are two main challenges to the promise being kept. The first is the threat that the seed-line would be wiped out by Israel’s enemies. The second is the threat of God Himself losing patience because of His people’s unbelief and sin provoking Him to give up on His promise. But our God is a God of patience and perseverance! (Ex. The story of Esther is not just a story of a possible genocide, but the story of how God intervened to save the seed-line to keep His promise.)
Conclusion: So What Will You Do With This?
Are you still running and hiding? Let Him clothe you tonight
Are you still doubting His goodness? Repent and rest in His promises that are all made true in Jesus!
Are you fighting against Him? Heed his invitation to embrace His kingdom and His ways tonight!