Photo by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash
Years ago, someone gave me advice that has enriched my enjoyment of the Old Testament more than anything. “Look for Jesus,” they said, “It’s all about him.”
The gravity of the Bible pulls us to Jesus. Seeing Jesus in the stories of Genesis, Esther, Proverbs, Isaiah, and every Old Testament book is not an arbitrary Christianizing of the Jewish Bible. Rather it is how Jesus taught the Apostles to handle the Bible.
In Luke 24:44-47 Jesus says, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. He also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”
He opens their minds to understand scripture, showing them how all the Bible is about him. “Time and time again," Brandon Smith notes, "Jesus teaches them (and us) that the Scriptures are a unified story centered on him. One cannot understand the Old Testament without him; one cannot understand him without the Old Testament.” His death and resurrection on the third day, repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name, and the proclamation of this good news to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem, is the central idea of the Old Testament according to Jesus.
When the Apostles make connections between Jesus and the O.T. they aren't abusing the author's intent but bringing out the fullness of truth God intends to reveal in those passages. In Galatians 4 for example, Paul says Hagar and Sarah represent two covenants. Hagar represents the law and hers are children of slavery. Sarah represents promise and her children are free. It’s a strange interpretation to most modern Bible readers, but that’s not because Paul is playing fast and loose with the text. Rather, he reads his Bible with gospel eyes because it’s all about Jesus.
The Apostles didn’t have a license to read Jesus into the Old Testament. Instead, they saw Jesus, crucified and resurrected, as the unifying center of all scripture and they read their Bible in that light. The gospel opened up the true meaning of all of scripture.
While we must read the whole Bible through the lens of the gospel, we need to be aware and cautious that we don’t twist scripture to say something it isn’t saying. Calvin gives a wise caution when he says we can’t “twist Scripture without restraint, thus making anything we please out of anything.” Our aim is not to make the Bible say what we want but to discern God’s intended meaning.
Learning to read the Old Testament with Jesus at the center is to learn to read the Bible the way Jesus taught us to. We do this because the O.T. is “able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15). Look for patterns, prophecies, and promises and always ask "How does this passage point forward to Jesus?"
Jesus is the prophet like Moses through whom God powerfully liberates his people from bondage.
Jesus is the true David who, as God's anointed, defeats the Goliath's and gives his people the spoils of victory.
Jesus is the Psalmist in prayer.
Jesus is the bridegroom who excites and delights in his bride (Song of Songs).
Jesus doesn't just teach wisdom, he is the wisdom of God for us (1 Cor 1:30).
The riches of God’s word open up to us the more we read all of scripture with gospel eyes.