Seeing Jesus and His impact in the New Testament is super easy since it is all about Him. In a previous blog, "Jesus is the Bible, " some direct messianic prophecy from the Old Testament was highlighted. Jesus shows up often in the Old Testament, just not by name and often not in human form.
Moses, who delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery as God guided him, wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, called the Torah. These five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, are read and studied in weekly portions by Jews on a yearly cycle that starts in the fall after the festival of Sukkot.
Here are a few instances where the future Jesus is alluded to in each of these five books.
1. Genesis In a previous post, "The Sacrifice of Isaac", there is a section that compares Isaac and Jesus. Three highlights: both Isaac and Jesus were conceived under miraculous circumstances; Isaac's halted sacrifice and Jesus' actual sacrifice both took place on Mount Mariah; a lamb substituted for Isaac as a sacrifice, and Jesus was the sacrificial lamb that substituted for us all. Abraham uttered pretty prophetic words when Isaac asked about a lamb. Genesis 22:7-8 And he (Isaac) said, "Look there is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son."
2. Exodus Sacrifice and deliverance from evil are the Jesus themes running through Exodus. Moses was sent by God to demand that Pharoah let the Israelites leave Egypt. Pharoah refused and God sent 10 plagues (see previous post "The 10 Egyptian Plagues and the Israelites"), number 10 being the death of all firstborn sons. The Israelites were told to mark their doorposts with the blood of a lamb so that the angel of death would pass over their home and spare their firstborn.
The Passover lamb became a symbol of sacrifice that God told the Israelites to remember and celebrate every year. And Jesus was the ultimate lamb sacrifice on Passover, over 1780 years later.
Just like Moses delivered the Israelites out of a life of slavery in Egypt and into the Promise Land, Jesus leads us out of the darkness of sin into the light of forgiveness and eternal life.
3. Leviticus Jesus was not only a sacrificial lamb, but also a scapegoat. Leviticus 16:21-22 Then Aaron (high priest) shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the wrongdoings of the sons of Israel and all their unlawful acts regarding all their sins; and he shall place them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands ready. Then the goat shall carry on itself all their wrongdoings to an isolated territory; he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
Christ is our atonement for sin. Christ bears our sin, just as the scapegoat bore the sins of the Israelites. Paul reminds us of this in 2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. After the sins were laid on the scapegoat, it was driven into the wilderness like an outcast. Similarly, Jesus was crucified outside of the city.
The hundreds of rules given by God to the Israelites in Leviticus were not to make things hard, but to make things clear so that they could live holier lives (be more like God). Likewise, Jesus takes on all sin so that we are free to live more like our sinless Savior.
4. Numbers Numbers 19:1-3 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, "This is the statue of the law which the Lord has commanded saying "Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished red heifer in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never been mounted. And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence." The red heifer would be burned and the ashes available to all Israelites to mix with water and bathe in after handling dead bodies so that they would be deemed "clean". Numbers 19:9 Now a man who is clean (has not recently handled a dead body) shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them outside the camp in a clean place and the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep them for water to remove impurity; it is purification from sin.
The red heifer was the only animal sacrificed outside the camp. All other sacrifices were done in the tabernacle/later the temple. The Israelites had open access to the ashes to cleanse themselves of sin. They did not need to go through a priest.
Impurity (uncleanliness) was associated with death and sin. Purity was associated with life. Like the red heifer, Jesus was sacrificed outside the city. And like the ability to go to the ashes and get what you need to remove "sin", we can all go to Jesus with our sin. We do not need an intermediary.
5. Deuteronomy This is probably the most well known Jesus reference in the fifth and final book of the Torah. Deuteronomy 18:18 (God speaking to Moses) "I will raise up for them a prophet from among their countrymen like you , and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him" Jesus Christ fulfilled this prophecy. Like Moses, Jesus spoke God the Father's words with authority, and performed signs and wonders. But Jesus is a greater prophet than Moses. He is authority in heaven and on earth. He is God.
Here is another Jesus reference. Deuteronomy 30:6 (Moses speaking) "Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live." Circumcision to remove the foreskin was a physical sign of the covenant between God and Abraham, required of all male Israelites on their eighth day of life. Circumcision of the heart refers to pure love, obedience and dedication to God so that you can live forever. This is a spiritual circumcision, not done by humans, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, sent by God the Father, as promised by Jesus as He prepared His disciples in His final days on Earth.
Quoting Jesus from Matthew 5:17 "Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law of the Prophets I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill."
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