Looking for Jesus in the Old Testament

Dennis Dyson

• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781662446474
• eBook ISBN: 9781662446481
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Can you prove God exists? If you read the Bible in its entirety, you will know he does. Jesus is revealed to us throughout the New Testament, but God's plan of salvation can also be found in the Old Testament. The Bible is a marvelous book containing many seemingly unconnected stories each exhibiting wonders of their own, but you will also find they also are woven into a cohesive whole pointing to one thing—Jesus. Every word from beginning to end is breathed by God so we can get to know him and his plan to bring us back into his loving arms. Every word—and I do mean every word—is about Jesus. In Looking for Jesus in the Old Testament, you will discover Jesus looking back at you from every page.

Isaiah

The word gospel means “good news.” We know that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called the Gospels because they contain the “good news” of the life and death of Jesus which led to our salvation. That really is “good news” for all of us. In these four Gospels, we get to see God through the person of Jesus. We don’t need to guess as to God’s nature, we actually get to meet him in the flesh. I love a little story found in John 14:5–9, which says:

Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?”

Isn’t that beautiful? Jesus is telling us to look at him and the things he says and does because when we do, we are really looking at God the Father himself. I see so many people who have the wrong idea of what God is like. They see a God that is angry and distant, and that is because they are not looking at Jesus and seeing God. If you wish to get to know God the Father better, then read about Jesus in the four Gospels. They are full of the “good news” of God’s grace and forgiveness through Jesus. He is a God who loves all of his children and cares for them so much that he was willing to have his Son, the Son whom he loves, die in our place.

The four Gospels in the New Testament are a good place to find Jesus, but there is a fifth gospel, and it is found in a place which you might not expect. It is the book of Isaiah, which is found in the Old Testament, and it was written about seven hundred years before Jesus was born. This one book is jammed full of so many amazing prophecies about Jesus—so many, in fact, you might think Isaiah was present during the whole of Jesus’s life and not hundreds of years earlier. It is going to be great fun to go through it together to see what we can find.

Isaiah 2

The second chapter of Isaiah has a prophecy about “the last days.” Starting in verse 2 it says, “The mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it” (Isaiah 2:2).

What this is saying, to me and I emphasize me, is that Israel will be chief among nations and the center of commerce and learning. It continues:

Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways so that we may walk in his path.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah 2:3–5)

This is a wonderful prophecy about Jesus’ second coming. Did you notice that it said that “He” will teach us and “He” will judge? That “He” is Jesus. He is ruling from Jerusalem, and the whole world is coming to him for the law and judgment. I emphasize that it is the whole of the world coming. Did you also notice that there is peace on earth? Many people do not believe in the millennial reign of Jesus on the earth. I won’t say that they are wrong, but I don’t understand this way of thinking because of many prophecies like this one, and he commonly taught about the “kingdom of God.” If “the mountain of the Lord’s temple is to be established as the highest of mountains,” then this is saying Israel will become the leading country in the world. That has never been the case and as of today seems highly unlikely unless God steps in to make it happen. Now, if Jesus were to return and establish his presence in Zion, then it makes perfect sense. Israel would then become the center of the world. Make up your own mind. I cannot see how mankind will ever be able to bring about a time of peace like that mentioned here without God’s help. We all tend to be too self-important and greedy to accomplish such a thing without God’s direct involvement. We need God to walk beside us as he did in Eden with Adam and Eve.

Isaiah 7

The seventh chapter of Isaiah contains a story about Ahaz, king of Judah. He was under attack by Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, king of Israel. Isaiah was sent to encourage Ahaz, telling him that those two countries would eventually not be able to challenge Jerusalem. To prove the point God told Ahaz that he should ask for a sign. But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test” (Isaiah 7:12).

I don’t know what Ahaz was thinking, but this did not please God. So God himself said he would provide a sign. God said:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right… The land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. The Lord will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah—he will bring the king of Assyria. (Isaiah 7:14–17)

This is quite a prophecy. There are several things mentioned here, but I wish to focus on the part about Jesus. The one statement says, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.” First, the word, Immanuel means “God with us.” This is a definite reference to Jesus. Who else could we say is “God with us”? Now, the part of the prophecy that speaks about a “virgin” is interesting and has troubled some atheists to whom I have spoken. You see, the word translated “virgin” can also be translated as “young woman.” They contend that a young woman giving birth would not be unusual at all. I totally agree! The point is why would anyone give a prophecy saying, “Look for this marvelous sign; a young woman is going to give birth to a son”? Wow! That would be a very strange thing to happen. I’ll be on the lookout for that. No, the only way that a prophecy of this kind makes any sense at all is that a virgin would give birth to a son. Since Ahaz had not requested a sign, God gave him this one, but Ahaz would never see it fulfilled. So I believe the sign was really given to us. It is very difficult to believe in a virgin giving birth even two-thousand years after the fact, but it makes sense and adds to the credibility of the accounts of Jesus’s birth in Matthew and Luke. I have no problem believing in the virgin birth of Jesus as God is the one in control. Nonetheless, this is another example of the Old and New Testaments working together to point to God’s plan of salvation and Jesus, God’s Son, as the conduit for that salvation.

Isaiah 9

The area around the Sea of Galilee is the area in which Jesus spent most of his time. Isaiah chapter 9 gives us a glimpse of his ministry there. It says, “In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations” (Isaiah 9:1).

Now, Naphtali and Zebulun are tribes of Israel and if you look on a map you will see that they include the towns of Nazareth and Capernaum. These are places in which Jesus spent much of his life. Isaiah goes on to say, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2).

Isn’t this great the people in this out-of-the-way part of the world will be blessed by Jesus, “the Light of the World”? This area did not have a good reputation among the Jews in Jerusalem; in fact, when Philip, one of Jesus’s disciples, was trying to convince Nathanael that they had found the Messiah, Nathanael was skeptical and did not think there was much of value that could come from Nazareth. Not only was Jesus from this area but he also recruited many of his disciples from there as they were fisherman who made their living on the Sea of Galilee. When it says that people “have seen great light,” it is true. They saw Jesus heal many, they heard him preach, cast out demons, and raise the dead. They were able to get to know him on a personal level in a way that few other places were privileged to do.

This same chapter has another great messianic prophecy. Starting at verse 6, it says:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal to the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6–7)

What a marvelous prophecy about Jesus, the one who will bring light and joy to Naphtali and Zebulun. The first thing it says is “to us a child is born.” Like in chapter 7 that mentions the birth of a son, God is saying that he isn’t just going to pop up in our midst. He is going to be like one of us and actually come to the earth as a baby boy. He is going to be human, and he is going to be Immanuel or “God with us.” We were created in the “image of God,” and because Jesus will be a man like us, we will get to see what that “image” is supposed to look like. The next phrase emphasizes this when it says, “To us a son is given.” Jesus, God’s Son, is given to us. God loves us so much that he is giving us Jesus as a gift. His Son would be born on the earth to become just like us. He would live with us and be a mirror of his Father and an example of godly living. But much more than that, Jesus would come to be that “gift” of salvation who would allow all mankind to rejoin God in paradise. The next part is also very interesting. It says, “The government will be on his shoulders.” Later it also says, “He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom.” David’s throne was in Jerusalem, and he ruled over the kingdom of Israel. This gives me another reason for thinking that Jesus will be the literal King on earth. Yes, this could be saying that Jesus’s kingdom will be in heaven, but why just on David’s throne? It just seems to make more sense that Jesus would be, for a short time, king over David’s kingdom on earth and then would be King of kings over all of God’s creation in heaven. To me, this is saying that God will use Jesus as an example of how we should have been governing ourselves from the time we left Eden. It will be like saying, “This is what things could have and should have been like had you not rejected God and tried to do things on your own. You will learn how to rule with justice and righteousness.” No matter how you look at this prophecy, we can all be encouraged to know that we are in the hands of a loving God who will not leave us to our own failed devices. He will step in and lead the way. Remember, he has promised his Son as a “gift.”

Isaiah 11

There is a lot about Jesus packed into the eleventh chapter of Isaiah. I could write it here but I am feeling a little lazy, so I’ll just wait for you to go read it. I’ll wait so hurry. Are you back already? You read fast.

This chapter is again pointing in the direction of Jesus and a world this side of Eden we have never seen. It begins speaking of a branch from the stump of Jesse. Basically, it is pointing to a descendent of Jesse. Maybe I shouldn’t assume that everyone knows who Jesse was. He was King David’s father. I don’t know why Jesse is mentioned rather than King David. Nonetheless, the idea is the same. Jesus will be one of their descendants. You can look up Jesus’s genealogy in Matthew’s first chapter and the fourth chapter of Luke. Matthew’s is Joseph’s genealogy that goes back to David through his son Solomon, and Luke’s is Mary’s that goes back to another of David’s sons, Nathan. Earlier, in this book, we stated that God had promised King David that one of his descendan...

Table of contents

• The Beginning
• God Builds a Nation of Promise
• Melchizedek
• God Tests Abraham
• Patriarchs
• Building a Family into a Nation
• I Am
• Plagues
• Passover
• The Law
• The Commandments
• Sacrifices
• Firstborn Son
• Feasts
• Snakes
• Judges and Kings
• Center of the World
• Job
• Psalms
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Ezekiel
• Daniel
• Hosea
• Joel
• Micah
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi