To understand who Jesus in the Old Testament was, one must first understand who he was in the New Testament. The New Testament refers to Jesus as Christ which means Messiah borrowed from the Hebrew word and the Greek word which means the chosen one or the anointed one. Most of the apostles that came after the death of Jesus Christ and those who were his students refer to him as Jesus the Messiah. This means that they believed that he is the very same person that was prophesied in the Old Testament by many prophets, for instance, Jeremiah, Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. “It is not easy to determine what constitutes allusion in the Old Testament”[1]. The paper aims at relating the New Testament to the Old Testament to offer a summary and emphasis on the topic of discussion.
Summary
The Old Testament presents a God of juice and punishment on those who disobeyed his rules, for instance, he, the father, sent plagues on Egypt as punishment for what they had done to the children of Israel. He too gained freedom on Sodom, but Jesus comes in the New Testament and offers a different approach to love and compassion offering humankind forgiveness and in the most important part and foundation of Christianity, he as for their sins. The Old Testament offers a prophecy of a son, born in the lineage of David as a praise to God the father. It also describes that no one had seen the Father nor heard him directly unlike Jesus that is born of the origin Mary ad walks among men in a day that God the Father had not done before.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. In Genesis, God creates the world from the word of the mount and later but because of human sin, he offered a promise that the Messiah would be born in the very lineage of David. While he was under arrest, Jesus referred to Himself as ‘I AM’ which is also the divine name of God as He had used it while in the Exodus to Moses, and thus, he brought in a confirmation that God the Father has never been seen or heard by man before. In the same instance, Christ had predated Abraham, which made the Jews quite angry but it also brought out the new meaning. This offered a probability that he, Jesus had the probability of being the son of God[2].
The Old Testament has fifty-two prophecies on the coming of Jesus Christ and thus if we considered that the Old Testament prophesies are void and invalid, Christianity as we know it does not have meaning. The savior that had been affirmed in the Old Testament would not have been born and thus he would have been just a man fulfilling his mission, and thus, there is relevance that has been created by the Old Testament.
Jesus himself did not claim to be the Son of God in the New Testament he responded that it was the people that called him. Thus, it brings out a question on whether he was the actual fulfillment of what had been prophesied but in affirming the place of Jesus in the Bible. Jesus accepts to die for human sins as he had been ordered by God the father claiming that His will should be done which confirms the validity of his coming and the ascending to the father after his work was done[3].
After the death of Jesus Christ, Christianity evolved, and new movements were formed, unlike the olden days where the Roman Catholic church was dominant at that time[4]. The apostles of Jesus Christ had learned new philosophies that they had learned from their teachers. They spread out and continued the work that the Son of God had started.
Paul, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ, explains how the church was formed. He states that they built the development of the New Testament church that emerged after the death of Jesus through the New Testament. Then the prophets who wrote the Old Testament and Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone of all of it (Ephesians 2:20)[5].
Peter another apostle preached on the day of Pentecost a very powerful sermon at the beginning of the New Testament church and on that day he converted 3000 people and his sermon only entailed scriptures from the Old Testaments (Acts 2:14-41)[6].
Conclusion
Most of the books in the New Testament make lots of direct quotes from the Old Testament except for four books. Many individuals today misinterpret the New Testament living like the Old Testament is not part of the new teachings. This is not the case as it is seen on numerous occasions that we have seen the Old Testament being involved directly with the New Testament. Jesus Christ believed in the Old Testament teachings and prophets. The books of the Old Testament inspire and retain a permanent value, they do not depreciate but hold a huge significance as none of the old covenant has ever been revoked.
Bibliography
FRANCE, R. T. Jesus and the Old Testament. [Downers Grove, Ill.]: Inter-Varsity Press, 1971.
GUTHRIE, NANCY. The One Year Book of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2012.
[1] R. T France, Jesus and the Old Testament ([Downers Grove, Ill.]: Inter-Varsity Press, 1971). p.15
[2] Nancy Guthrie, The One Year Book Of Discovering Jesus In The Old Testament (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2012). Feb 4.
[3] Nancy Guthrie (2012). Feb 8.
[4] R. T France (1971), p.17
[5] Nancy Guthrie (2012). Feb 8. September 12.
[6] R. T France (1971). P.35-37
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