This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Christmas In The Old Testament.
People ask, “How do I understand the Old Testament?” There is a master key to understanding all of the Bible, Old Testament, and New. His name is Jesus.
Some mistakenly get the idea that the Old Testament is about Israel—its histories, its ceremonies, and God’s care for His people, and then there is a departure from this theme, and the New Testament is about Jesus. But all of the Bible is about Jesus; He Himself said so.
You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me (John 5:39).
When Jesus said this, the New Testament had not yet been written.
The Old Testament was finished 400 years before Jesus was born. God the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the Old Testament, and they shaped and formed their writings so that the Old Testament says exactly what it says—the history of Israel, the ceremonies, etc., are all there—but when you step back and look, you see the face of Jesus Christ.
Without the Lord Jesus, the Old Testament is simply a bundle of unfulfilled prophecies, unexplained ceremonies, and unattainable laws.
Jesus came to this Earth, lived a righteous life, bled and died, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day. After this, He appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus—but they did not recognize Him in His resurrected form. So as Jesus was walking with these two as the resurrected Messiah, He revealed to them the ways in which He fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament.
Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).
In the days of Israel’s monarchy and theocracy, there were only three officials who received an anointing: kings, priests, and prophets.
Man needs a prophet who can speak the Word of God with truth and finality. He needs a priest who can deal with his sin and bring him to God. He needs a king, a righteous ruler with authority.
We find that all three of these offices come together in one person: Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the one who fulfills all of the unexplained Old Testament ceremonies and figures.
Jesus helps us to understand the ark of the covenant because He is the ark of the covenant. He is the mercy seat and the sanctuary. He is the water from the rock. He is the manna from the sky. He is the bronze serpent lifted up for our sins, the Passover Lamb, the scapegoat who carries away our sins, the Lion of Judah. He is the Good Shepherd and the Lily of the Valley. He is the root out of dry ground, the faithful branch.
Without Jesus, all of these ceremonies and types lead nowhere. If you read the Bible and you do not see Jesus, go back and reread it.
God said to the serpent in the garden,
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel (Genesis 3:15).
This was the first evangelistic message, the first messianic prophecy. No angel, no animal can redeem us. It must be the seed of the woman. The Old Testament rabbis used to ponder over this, because generally when “seed” is spoken of in this way, it speaks of the seed of a man, not of a woman. But Jesus was virgin-born.
The human race corrupted itself. God sent a flood. Three sons of Noah, three families, came out of the ark: Ham, Shem, and Japheth.
God tightens the focus a little more. “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem” (Genesis 9:26b). Then out of that section of the human race, God chose a nation.
Now the LORD had said to Abram… “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing” (Genesis 12:1a,2).
Isaac was born to Abraham. Then Isaac’s two sons were Jacob and Esau, and from those God chose Jacob.
“I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; a Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult (Numbers 24:17).
Jacob had twelve sons. From which one would the Messiah come?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people (Genesis 49:10).
Now God chooses a family out of the clan of Judah.
There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots (Isaiah 11:1).
God not only chose the family of Jesse, but the house of David, king of the Jews. God said concerning David: “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). It was not by accident that Jesus, the Son of David, was born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, the city of David.
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
One man was the son of that woman, out of that household, out of that family, out of that tribe, out of that nation, out of that section of the human race, and His name is Jesus. Do you think this happened by chance?
The Old Testament predictions and portraits of Jesus serve as a presentation of Him. He is there. What must we do?
You believe Him, or you disbelieve Him. You accept Him or reject Him. But you cannot be neutral. Jesus Himself said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad” (Matthew 12:30).
Here are the conclusions we can come to by studying these fulfilled Old Testament prophecies of Jesus.
There is no way possible that this tapestry could have been woven, this story written in perfect harmony, this portrait drawn by many people over different centuries—apart from divine inspiration.
God’s Word, which we trust, presents the Savior.
The Bible that prophesied Jesus’ first coming is the same Bible that prophesies His second coming. If we can believe that these Old Testament Messianic prophecies were so minutely fulfilled, why should we not believe that the prophecies of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be fulfilled?
The Savior who came the first time as Messiah is the one who is coming the second time as King of kings and Lord of lords. He is Prophet, Priest, and King.
You can trust the Scriptures, and you can trust the God who said in Micah 5:2 that a little baby would be born in Bethlehem.
Micah 5:2; John 5:39; Luke 24:27; Genesis 3:15, 9:26, 12:1-2, 49:10; Numbers 24:17; Isaiah 11:1; 2 Samuel 7:16; Matthew 12:30
Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: “Yet I have set My King an My holy hill of Zion.” “I will declare the decree: the LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel’” (Psalm 2:1-9).
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him…. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:2).
