Moody, Mike: Christ in O.T. chart overview

Would open your Bibles to the book of Luke twenty four, please. Luke twenty four. It's good to be with you again, and I would like to consider the topic of Christ in the Old Testament with you this morning by way of this visual we have before us. It's a large topic, but I'd like to give a few thoughts that might encourage our hearts about the Lord Jesus this morning. As we turn to Luke twenty four, we note on the chart itself, Christ in the Old Testament. You may ask yourself, well, I thought Christ was incarnate in the New Testament. He came, he was born in Bethlehem, and and he had his earthly ministry recorded in his death, burial, and resurrection in the four gospels, which is true. But as we see, fortunately we have before us in Luke twenty four, the Lord Jesus himself would refer back to the Old Testament about things concerning himself. So as he was on this road to Emmaus, Luke twenty four, we note there in verse twenty five. as we're reminded here is there were two that were in his presence that did not recognize him at first in his post-resurrection ministry. Verse twenty seven, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Verse thirty two, and they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? Later in verse forty four, and he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Yes, we find Christ in the Old Testament. We find throughout God's word truth concerning Christ. When we think about Christ in the Old Testament, from one respect, we think of how there are Bible characters, such as going through the book of Genesis, that point to Christ. When we think of prophetic passages, such as the Messianic Psalms, in places like Isaiah and Zechariah, that are repeated in the New Testament concerning Christ. We see various types and pictures, as we see some of those before us on the chart, such as the offerings in the Old Testament, in the tabernacle, and so on, that remind us and point out pictures of the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. So yes, we find Christ in the Old Testament. You know, the Lord's blessed me with different charts, and in one sense, this chart kind of culminates some other ones I have. I have one, uh, recently been encouraged to look at Isaiah, the movements of Isaiah, as you see here, Isaiah fifty three referred to, much concerning Christ in that miniature Bible, the book of Isaiah. Another chart is Egypt to Canaan, as you see some of these pictures would remind us of that time in the wilderness. Also thinking of a chart that deals with the uh, feasts of Jehovah, that is the the seven holidays of Israel, and how that reminds us of God's calendar, culminated with the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so on. And so today, I'd like to i- introduce the chart to start with before we look at a few verses in a particular passage, uh, section. You know, charts can be kind of busy. You first look at them, it's like, whoa, uh, where do I start? And, uh, whenever I receive a chart for the first time, that's kind of how it it seems to me at first. It's like, whoa, how can I speak on this? It's so much. But most of the time we have them color-coded or alliterated, so if you look at one section at a time, it really helps. So there's a half a dozen or so aspects we'll look at. Let me just note to start with, we have these, uh, pictures here. Uh, it reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Pentateuch, beginning with the second book of Exodus through Deuteronomy, we would see these reminders of. Another aspect is to look at some of the, some of the characters in the Old Testament that would remind us of his death and his resurrection. We see as well the word of God. The Old Testament is there in Luke twenty four when the Lord Jesus spoke of himself from the law of the prophets and the Psalms. We think of the Pentateuch, and then we think of some historical books included with the major or minor prophets, and then we think of the poetic books as we find the Law, the Prophets, and Psalms. And I was exercised to look at this topic a few years ago, and and largely at that time I was taking one Old Testament book at a time and picked several of them to, uh, to look at Christ. When I looked at Genesis, it was, uh, so many things concerning different pictures through characters. You might recall how, whether it's the stories of Abraham and Isaac, and how Isaac was willing to submit to, to his father there on the Mount, uh, and we see a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, uh, and all through the various characters in the book of Genesis. Or the book of Isaiah, as I mentioned earlier, there's so much, so rich, culminating in Isaiah fifty three. You know, when you look at Isaiah, that book, we find much about salvation. You look at chapters forty two to fifty three, and in that section it's referred to as the Servant Songs of Jehovah. These songs that would speak about a servant individual, pointing to Christ, as we see the one who came to do the Father's perfect will, and yet Isaiah would speak some seven hundred years before his incarnation, and yet would speak as if it had already happened. Amen. And when you look at those four servant songs, we're reminded him of him in various ways, culminating with the end of fifty two on through chapter fifty three, the one who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, as we see the righteous servant, the Lord Jesus. So yes, we can go through one book at a time and see, uh, the Lord Jesus as we look at the books of the Old Testament. And then there's a fourth aspect of this chart to study, and that would be along the edges, we see a certain statement. Christ was there. As we look at the Old Testament, we see Christ was there in creation. We find in Genesis one, Elohim, the plural use of the term for God, as we see that the one true Godhead, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And yet, we turn to the New Testament, and these portions such as John one, Colossians one, Hebrews one, it clearly says that the Lord Jesus is the creator. He himself was not created, but he's the creator. And thus we see, uh, confidence we can have in the word of God and in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was there in creation. Christ was there in revelation, again, as we refer to some of these patriarchs and various Old Testament characters that would remind us of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, whether it be Abraham and Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, and others. Christ was there in revelation. Christ was there in expectation. We're reminded of the one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled these roles all in and of himself as prophet, priest, and king. Amen. That's a rich study in itself. So any of these that we point out is a section that you would do well to stop and look at one at a time. Christ was there in anticipation. You see the various covenants that God made, and the covenant, of course, i- is when God would speak forth and give his promise, his I wills, as it were. Some of the promises were conditional, like an if, like the Mosaic law. I- if you can do this. Well, then, of course, there were others, most of them were unconditional. It was all depending upon God. I will, I will, I will. And they would, they would anticipate the Lord Jesus. As you think of the various covenants, such as the Davidic covenant, Abrahamic covenant, and so on, would point to that one, the Lord Jesus, who would eventually sit upon that throne of David as the coming king. As we see the promise given to Abraham, as Galatians reminds us that we that know Christ as Savior, we are spiritual children of Abraham because of the promise. If we have faith and trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. So yes, Christ was there in anticipation through these covenants. As well, we see Christ was there in declaration. Here we see certain characters that are in the New Testament, such as, uh, the writers of the Gospels and so on, and some of the characters through the book of Acts, and yet it ties in with the Old Testament. If you remember in, in Luke, uh, four, how that the Lord Jesus was given opportunity as a, in the synagogue to speak, and he was given the scroll, and that it was the book of Isaiah. And he read from Isaiah in sixty one. and he stopped at the comma because what he read was pertaining to his first coming, and what he said, uh, w- would speak of himself from the Old Testament. And yet, when he said, this day, this scripture has been fulfilled, oh, they were ready to throw him over the cliff. How dare you acknowledge yourself i- to the one in Isaiah? And yet we see his message that was given, and so on. Christ was there in declaration from the Old Testament. And then we find Christ was there in substitution, as we see Isaiah, particularly chapter fifty three. If you go through that last of the four servant songs, there from fifty two verse thirteen to the end of fifty three, there's fifty or more times you'll see a pronoun, he, him, his, and it's very clear that it's pointing to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what he did for us, the one who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, it's the Lord Jesus. And yet he would speak there of our. And, and you know, in the context of Isaiah speaking of Israel and his r- his speaking in as the, the prophet Isaiah from the very beginning of that book was speaking, uh, to Judah and saying, you know, you're in sin and you need to repent, uh, and here are the judgments that are coming and so on. And yet, not only was that message for Israel, as you see in chapter fifty three, when you turn to the New Testament, time and again, this chapter is quoted. Look through the Gospels and so on, and how there's overlap to this particular passage, reminding us of the one on the cross. Thus, Isaiah fifty three is not just for those in Israel in that day, so seven hundred years before the cross, but it speaks in a broader sense to us, mankind. He was bruised for our iniquities. Do you know Christ is your Lord and Savior today? Can you say with surety, he died for me? So yes, Christ was there in substitution. That is, he took our place. He died in our room, in our stead. That little word for, time and again through the word of God, we see he died for us. Amen. So we find that clear message both Old and New Testament. Another aspect of the study would be ending these words ending with TION, and this is where I'd like to settle in a few moments. Uh, we have his generation. Uh, recently I went through a little message on his generation, speaking of his seed, seed of the woman, seed of Abraham, seed of Isaac, and so on. And here we find Old Testament references compared to the New Testament, uh, connection to that, his generation. Uh, incarnation, perhaps time, uh, willing, we may look at this a little bit in a few moments. We find again Old Testament compared to the New Testament as we see him in his birth and his incarnation. His manifestation, again, Old and New Testament, we see aspects of him being made known, the announcement of him, his miracles, his poverty, and so on. His humiliation, Old and New Testament compared, as we see things concerning this one who was willing to take the low place. This one, yes, this servant of Jehovah, the one that would be smitten by his own creation, and yet he went all the way to the cross, yeah, the death of the cross, where he was there, there's three hours of darkness, his soul was made an offering for sin. He was willing to take the low place, and we see he was condemned. We see him in his condemnation, the Old and New Testament references of this one, the one that was, uh, there were the transgressors, and no bone of him was broken, and various aspects that remind us of the one that was condemned for you and me. And then, finally, uh, as we find this little three-part section here, we th- see things concerning him, uh, his Beth, uh, his birth in Bethlehem, uh, the work on Calvary, and the empty tomb. And thus we see these things from Old Testament references to the New Testament. So before we, uh, settle down on a certain section, uh, let's look at a few aspects, uh, starting with these pictures before us. Again, these, uh, pictures we have are reminders of Christ from the Pentateuch, from the books of Moses, particularly starting in the second book of Exodus on through Deuteronomy. And when we think of the book of Exodus and the Passover, remember how children of Israel were there in bondage in Israel. I mean, in Egypt, I'm sorry. Before they went back to the Promised Land, we find that they had the various plagues that they witnessed that was poured out there upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And as the Lord used Moses as a deliverer, eh, we see a picture of our Savior, the a great deliverer, as we see he went before Pharaoh and said, let my people go. And eventually we find there was a time they were told to apply the blood. And those that applied the blood, well, they would live. As it were, the Israelites were able to leave. What a picture there of the world, Egypt. Picture of Satan of having his domain through Pharaoh, and yet through that one Moses there was deliverance. There is a way to to be redeemed, a way to be brought forth out of the bondage of Satan in the world. reminds us in chapter one, we've been delivered. Uh, we have a new master, and that is Christ. And so we find, through the application of the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Those are the wonderful words of the Passover. The Passover was a reminder of the application of the blood of Christ. You see, if we trust in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by faith apply that blood, we realize that he paid for our sins, we accept that by faith, we shall live. And thus we see in Corinthians five, we're reminded that Christ is our Passover. Through his shed blood, we have deliverance, we have redemption through his blood. And so in the wilderness way, once they did leave Egypt, we find that certain situations would occur, such as the brazen serpent. R- remember how they, the children of Israel, were bitten by, uh, serpents, and they were dying. A- and as this o- occurred, they needed rel- relief. And yet in the book of Numbers twenty one, we see this story, and they were told that if you look up to this brazen, uh, serpent in the wilderness, you shall live. We turn to the New Testament in John chapter three, that wonderful portion, you see the Lord Jesus there with, uh, with Nicodemus and for God so loved the world. In that same portion, he speaks about how the Son of Man, just as that serpent would be lifted up in the wilderness upon a pole, the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man, will be lifted up. You know what a wonderful picture that was of salvation through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, those in the wilderness, they were bitten, they they were dying. We, by application, we have been bitten by the disease of sin. We're born sinners, we're guilty sinners, and and we, uh, deserve judgment. But if we look up to that cross, the one on the cross, and we receive his finished work for us as he died for our sins and he said on the cross, it is finished. Oh, we can look up and live. There's spiritual life in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And as well, thinking about that time in the wilderness, well, there was a rock who was to be smitten once, and yet later it was to be spoken to, and there was disobedience, and the rock was smitten twice. Well, that's a reminder of how the Lord Jesus time and again is referred to as our rock, and he was smitten but one time on the cross of Calvary. Hebrews would say time and again that he died once for our sins. Oh, the rock was to be smitten but once, and yet we see the blessing that came from God and his mercy, as we see, uh, his provision. As well, we find the offerings. You see, in Leviticus, the first seven chapters, you see five offerings. In the Old Testament economy, as you can look in the New Testament book of Hebrews and see, here's what they did in the Old Testament. But Hebrews reveals Christ is better. All that happened in the Old Testament was yet a, a, a picture of the one to come. So when you look at those offerings, you're reminded of Christ. You're reminded of his pers- uh, perfect person and work. You see, he, he is seen as that burnt offering in Leviticus one, the one who would come and do the Father's perfect will. He ever gave himself wholly unto the Father's will. We see the meal offering. That was the only bloodless offering, uh, it's called a meat offering or a, uh, in some translation, but it's a, uh, it's a meal offering, bloodless. And so therefore, that was a reminder of the, the Lord Jesus and his humanity. The perfect man. You see, that offering had to be, uh, made up in the perfect ingredient of, of perfect ingredients. In that meal offering, there was no honey. There was no artificial sweetener. There was no, uh, leaven. You see, leaven in the scriptures time and again speaks of sin, speaks of evil. And so the offering that would picture that perfect God man to come, there could be no honey and and no leaven, but yet it had the frankincense and the salt and these things that reminded us of the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then there was the, the peace offering, the middle of these five, and rightfully so, because when you look at those offerings to begin with, the burnt and the meal offering, you think of Christ along with the sin, uh, excuse me, the peace offering, you think of the perfections of Christ. From the other side, you see the trespass and sin offering. There you see from our perspective, our need. We're sinners. We've trespassed a holy, righteous God. We need salvation. Thus, in the middle, we meet with Christ. Amen. And we have peace with God through the blood of his cross. Amen. We've been reconciled. We that were enemies before a holy God Mm. have now been, uh, made right with God, and we have peace with God. We've been reconciled. So through Christ, we see he is the perfect peace offering. And then again, similar offerings of the sin and trespass offerings, we're reminded of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for you and me. He was made sin for us, and we see this one, the Lord Jesus Christ, such as you see about, uh, in Leviticus, it talks about, um, the scapegoat such as this, we're reminded of what he did for us. He bore our sins away. As well, he's the trespass offering. For there we think of him, uh, as the one who, who, who has provided through himself so much more than what we lost in Adam. We have the fifth part added to. When we are saved, now we're in the family of God. Now we've been placed as adult sons. Now we're adopted into his family. Now we are looking forward to ruling and reigning with him. Oh, we have far more in our inheritance in Christ than what we lost in the garden. Oh, he's our trespass offering as well. So how rich it is, Christ in the Old Testament. And thus, as we think about these last two pictures, we see the tabernacle, and of course, the tabernacle is a rich study. I have another chart, uh, that's, um, dedicated to the tabernacle. And in this, we're reminded of how the children of Israel were told the way of approach, as we've already considered these offerings, there was a way of approach, such as also those holidays, uh, Leviticus twenty three. God prescribed Israel a way of approach, looking toward the coming Messiah. It was a temporary sacrifices. They would bring those animal sacrifices, and thus they would go inside to the courtroom, uh, the courtyard rather, uh, inside o- of the, uh, the door. And thus there were articles of furniture in the courtyard, more articles in the holy place, and then behind the veil in the most holy place, we find the ark with the mercy seat there upon. So when you count the mercy seat and the ark as two aspects, there are seven articles of furniture in the tabernacle, in the, including the courtyard. And thus they all remind us of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, to go in, uh, by the east gate, you would go first of all and and come here to this brazen altar. That's a place that would speak of judgment. Brass would remind us of judgment often in God's word. I- is there, there, there'd be the offerings of the animals. The animals would be slain, and we would see how there's death, and there was blood. A reminder of the cross of Calvary. That's what was first. First, there was the dealing with sin. We must first go to the cross. Amen. We can't go into his tabernacle as the priests as well. They couldn't just go straight to the holy place. They had to deal with sin first. We can't just say, I'll be religious. I'll just do what I think will please God, and I'll go about trying to serve God. I'll go to the, to the, to the meetings, or I'll be a good neighbor, or I- I'll do this, or I'll do that. No, we can't just go straight on our terms and try to appease a holy, righteous God. Sin has to be dealt with first. And this is a reminder of the cross of Calvary, that this one, the Lord Jesus Christ, shed his precious, innocent blood for you and me. It begins. They had to first go to that brazen altar and deal with sin. And then after that, ba- behind that was this laver, a place to wash. If you recall, that's a place, uh, uh, dealing with, uh, once we know Christ is our Savior, we still walk through this pilgrim pathway, and our hands and our feet get dirty. And before the priest could go in and do the service of the priest in the tabernacle, they had to go to the laver to be washed. Remember how in the book of, uh, John and the Gospels and such, where one like Peter would say, oh, wash me all over, Lord, when the Lord was going to wash his feet. Oh no, Peter, you need not to be washed all over. Once we know Christ is our Savior, we don't need to be saved all over again, but we do have to deal with sin in our lives. We still have that sin nature. We still have the enemy of the world, the flesh, and the devil. So there was a need for the, the priest to go there before that labor and be prepared and consecrated, they say in the Old Testament, so that he could go in to the tabernacle. All of these things are based on the work of Christ for you and me. For the New Testament, we are called, in one Peter chapter two, we are called holy and royal priests. Oh, we're not the priests of the Old Testament that, that had to slay animals and bring their, their, uh, blood and such. No. Our sacrifice, as the scripture tells us, is to present our bodies, Romans twelve. And, and in Hebrews thirteen and first Peter two, we're to, by the fruit of our lips, we worship God. Amen. And we see as well, uh, we're told to give a sacrifice of giving, such as Philippians four, it talks about how we take our mon- uh, our material goods and put that to the work of the Lord. So these are sacrifices that we make, but we can't do that until we first get to the cross. We first must be his. And so we find those priests could then, after being consecrated, they could go into the holy place, into the first compartment before the veil, and there, to one side, we would find, uh, the, uh, table of showbread. Oh, those that were inside could feed on the things of the Lord. It was a reminder of us in, in, in the bo- body of Christ that we can feed on him. He brings us all our spiritual need. A- and thus also we see there was to the other side, there was the, uh, the tape of the golden candlestick. Thus there was light inside of this holy place. Through the Lord we have light. We have spiritual light. There's illumination. And so those that were in the holy place would have guidance. First Corinthians chapter two reminds us as believers that because we're born again, we have the Spirit of God, then we can understand the deep things of God. We have light because of the, the Word of God, uh, through the Spirit of God. We've been illumined, and so we can serve him. And then as well, inside, uh, that first holy place, there is the altar of incense. You might recall how the beginning of Luke and then a couple of portions in Revelation, it points to that as a reminder of the prayer to the saints, is the incense would go up, as it were, as a reminder of our communication with the holy God, because we are able to serve him because our sins have been dealt with out in the courtyard. And then we see beyond that veil. That veil which we n- moved to the New Testament in our thinking, and remember how the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross and said, it is finished, and we see how that veil was written twain from top to bottom. It was God's doing. Behind that veil, we see the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. Inside that ark, we remember three things. There was the pot of manna. Uh, there was the table of stone, eh, the Ten Commandments was written there on, and there was that Aaron's rod that budded. You could be reminded of one of the great I ams in the book of John. I am the way, the truth, and the life, represented by those three items in the ark. He's the way, the truth, and the life. And yet there was that mercy seat. That mercy seat on top. That word mercy seat, we find in the New Testament, is the word for propitiation, the satisfaction. Christ is our propitiation. He's the satisfactory payment for our sins, and not our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. So through the articles of furniture in and around the tabernacle, we are reminded of Christ. So with this, um, let's move on for time's sake and, and uh, take a few moments and look at a particular passage, uh, passages or so. In doing so, uh, let's please turn to the book of Micah, we want to begin looking at a series