Was
Jesus in the Old Testament?
Would it surprise you to know that
Jesus was present in various ways throughout the Old Testament? Many
know that the first 39 books of the Christian Bible contain numerous
prophecies that Jesus fulfilled during His lifetime on Earth, but
few seem to recognize his "guest appearances" in the Old Testament.
Although He is not mentioned by name, it can logically be inferred
that certain depictions indicate His appearance to mankind.
My case is predicated on the
following conditions:
1. The Bible is the literal
Word of God. If the Bible is not what it claims to be, then
Christianity really has no firm foundation upon which it can stand.
2. According to
John 1:1, Jesus is also the Word
of God:
In the Beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
After all, God did create the universe by speaking, "Let there be
light." Thus, Jesus has always existed.
3.
Exodus 33:20 states that
nobody can look upon the face of the Lord Almighty and live. Yet the
Lord still interacted with His people, even speaking to
Moses as a friend (showing God's desire for personal relationships
with His flock). He also conversed with Abraham - face to face. Is
this a contradiction? No - as we shall see.
4. God frequently allows a veil
to be drawn over our understanding of spiritual matters. There are
many instances of this throughout the Bible.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18 elaborates:
Therefore, since we have
such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would
put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it
while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull,
for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is
read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken
away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers
their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is
taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces
all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his
likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the
Lord, who is the Spirit.
The best example is that the Jews,
who mostly failed to recognize the Lord in His incarnation as Jesus,
would also not recognize His Old Testament characteristics. Jesus
commented on their lack of belief in prophecy many times. It it
written, however, that the Jewish people will eventually recognize
Him who they have pierced (Zechariah
12:10). In addition, they will one day praise and worship
Him! (Currently, there are people who refer to themselves as
"Messianic Jews.")
Other instances come from the end
of Luke. In the 23rd chapter, right after Jesus dies on the cross,
the Roman commander began to praise God as he belatedly realized
that Jesus was innocent. Then, in the next chapter, Luke relates the
story of 2 of Jesus' followers who were walking toward Emmaus, a
village near Jerusalem, after the resurrection. In the 15th verse,
Jesus joined them. But the next verse states that they were
prevented from recognizing Him. They walk along, discussing all of
the recent events that involved Jesus. The men finished their story
with the discovery of the empty tomb. At that point, He chastizes
them for not comprehending the words of the prophets that spoke of
Jesus in the Bible. Verse 27 says, Then, beginning with Moses and
all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself
in all the Scriptures. You'd think that they would have identified
Him as Jesus at this point, right? But no... Then, the three of
them reached the village; Jesus was going to continue on His way.
The two men begged Him to stay with them because it was late. Jesus
agreed, and they sat down to eat. He blessed and broke the bread,
passing it on to them. At that point, they finally recognized Him -
only to watch Him disappear! Do you think that, after everything
He'd been through, God was having a little bit of fun?
Another occurrence happens in the
last chapter of John, during His third appearance to the disciples
before He ascended to Heaven. Seven of them were fishing and having
no success. Someone from the beach asked them if they had caught
anything; the disciples responded that they hadn't. The man then
suggested that they cast their net from the right side of the boat.
They did...and caught 153 fish! The net was so full that they could
barely lift it! John (who refers to himself as the 'beloved
disciple') immediately responded, "It is the Lord!" Peter jumped
into the water and swam ashore. Meanwhile, Jesus was there, cooking
breakfast for them! He was heating some fish and bread over some hot
coals. That had to be the
best
fish and bread
ever!!
It seems that the Lord uses
progressive as well as sudden revelation - as He chooses. Without
the gift of faith, however, a person will have neither. So, if you
believe in that the Lord Jesus Christ is who He says He is, then be
thankful. Be very thankful!
Getting back to the topic at hand,
the Book of Daniel is one place where Jesus makes an appearance.
This book is filled with symbolism, leading some to speculate that
perhaps the entire book is allegorical. As I understand it, the
Bible is to be taken literally, except where common sense tells you
otherwise. Also, when symbolism is employed, the interpretation is
provided. This happens throughout Daniel - he has a vision that is
later explained to him.
In fact, Jesus Himself referred to
the words of Daniel, indicating that the passage was meant to be
taken seriously. Matthew 24:15-16:
"So when you see (standing in the holy place) 'the abomination that
causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the
reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the
mountains."
Notice that the phrase, "let the reader understand" is used here to
draw even more attention to this passage.
In chapter 7, Daniel has a vision
of four beasts, the last one being more terrifying and bizarre than
the ones that preceded it. Right after this, he sees the Ancient of
Days in a court setting, sitting down to judge. Then he sees a man
being led into the presence of the Ancient of Days and being given
power over all the people and the entire world. Note the
similarities in the following passages:
Daniel 7:9-10
As I looked, "thrones were
set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as
white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.
His
throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
A
river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.
Then, verse 13: In
my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a
son
of man,
coming with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.
Revelation 1:12-15
I turned
around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I
saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone
"like a
son of man,"
dressed in a
robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his
chest.
His head and hair were
white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing
fire.
His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was
like the sound of rushing waters.
Matthew 24:30
"At that time the sign of
the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the
earth will mourn. They will see the
Son of Man coming on
the clouds of the sky,
with power and great glory."
Interestingly, the only physical
descriptions of God and Jesus are provided in the books of Daniel
and Revelation. And they are extremely similar! What other man would
be allowed to be in the presence of the Lord and be given dominion
over all? If it's not Jesus, then who is it? Remember, nobody can
yet
see the face of God. Moses asked to see God's glory.
Exodus 33:19-23 explains:
And
the LORD said,
"I will cause all my
goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the
LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But," he
said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." Then
the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a
rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock
and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will
remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be
seen."
Many books in the Old Testament
contain instances where Jesus shows up; the book of Daniel is but
one example. There are many reasons to believe that He was present
on earth way back in Genesis. If the Bible is true, then Jesus has
always existed. It does make sense that, instead of waiting for His
incarnation, He helped the Jewish people in various ways. Although
man can't see God, he was able to observe Jesus when He was here on
earth. But even then, many still didn't perceive His significance.
This is why faith is the key, because two people reading the same
facts may arrive at different conclusions. It is only by faith that
we may understand the truth that sets us free!
