Week 74: Seeing Jesus in Old Testament

Stare at the four black dots in the center of this picture for about 15 seconds.

Close your eyes and keep them closed until an image appears.

What did you see?

I remember many years ago, I heard a Pastor said this in one of the Sunday service "This Bible is all about Jesus." I was puzzled with that remarks. Back then, I thought to myself " I thought Jesus is only mentioned in the New Testament? Why is this pastor say the entire Bible is about Jesus? I don't get it."

Many years has passed and praise be to God, He "open" my eyes to this revelation. In fact, when we read the account on the road to Emmaus, we are comforted and encouraged that Jesus refrained the disciples' eyes from seeing Him physically after His resurrection.

Instead, Jesus revealed to them about things concerning Himself in the Old Testament. And the effects was the disciples felt warm in their hearts. Today, you and I can have those warm feeling as well. We do not need to see Jesus physically, all we need is to see Jesus in the Bible, be it Old or New Testament. Hallelujah!

Not only we will be comforted and warm, we will be strengthened as well. The two disciples, upon seeing Jesus, were overjoyed and walked back to Jerusalem and shared the Good News with the rest of the disciples! Their Emmaus' experience had given them strength to from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a seven miles journey and back! That's fourteen miles in total! Amen!

Therefore, when we read the Old Testament, we need to keep in mind there is a principle for interpreting the Bible. It is a rule given by Jesus Himself in Luke 24. 

After revealing Himself to the two disciples in the road to Emmaus, Jesus appears to the other disciples at the upper room and says to them: “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. ”

So what is the principle for reading the Old Testament? Everything in the Bible is primarily about Jesus. We have this tendency to put ourselves in those Old Testament stories and make them about us. And certainly there are things we can learn and apply to our lives from the great examples of faith found in the Old Testament. 

However, first and foremost, everything and everyone in the Old Testament points to Jesus: His life, death and resurrection. Amen! So that’s the principle we need to keep in mind whenever we read the Old Testament. These stories ultimately point to Jesus. And because everything Jesus did, He did for us, these stories in the Old Testament do have great meaning and significance in our lives. Amen! Hallelujah!

In the coming weeks, we will examine the Old Testament in the light of Jesus. Let's read the Old Testament with the Emmaus (warm bath) experience. Let's be strengthened physically and emotionally when we see Jesus in the Old Testament. Amen! Hallelujah!

Grace and peace be with you.