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Heart~2~Heart
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Pastor Lynda MacDonald, Nova Scotia
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JESUS
IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Having
been brought up in the church since I was 6 (56 yrs ago) you can imagine (or
maybe you can’t) my amazement to find that Jesus (who I will call by his right
name –Yeshua) walked throughout the Old Testament. I knew that somehow He
existed eternally but I never once saw Him in the pages of the OT events.
Several years ago- God re-directed my
spiritual life and set me on His “ancient paths”. (Jeremiah 6:16-17) I thought
that His ways for me started with Yeshua’s death. I
didn’t know that he had designed a pattern for all who would love Him to walk
on. He is One- never changes and is forever the same
yet I was taught that He had changed everything when Yeshua came. That
confusion was the catalyst that sent me back into the OT to find out what truth
was and what was not. To my surprise I found Yeshua all over the pages. I just
didn’t know how to recognize him.
His appearances remind me of the books
our daughter used to enjoy while in university –“Find Waldo”. Each page was a
picture filled with masses of people. In the midst of that mass was a ‘geeky”
character dressed in red stocking cap, turtleneck sweater and hiding in plain
sight –but oh!!! He was hard to find until you adjusted your vision to recognize
him. Sometimes I just could not find him and had to turn to the next page. Even
though I could not find him - he was still there. So is Yeshua IF you know what
to look for.
I would like to share a few of those
scriptural places so you can see him in “all his fullness”.
In Genesis 15:7-21, there is the event
where Yahweh met with Abraham to make an eternal covenant with him. In ancient
times one type of covenant required to dividing of animal parts and the blood
mingled in a trough-like ditch. The two making the covenant walk through the
cut parts. The submitting person says, in essence, “May it be done to me as to
these animal parts if I breach the covenant made today.” So there is a death
penalty for breaking the covenant.
Abraham well knew what the blood
covenant was and how serious it was to be regarded. What were the terms of the
covenant? In verse 7, HaShem told Abraham it was to
seal the promise that he was making to Abraham and his descendants that the
land of Israel would “always” be theirs. Such a covenant required a guarantee
between the two parties. Like you and me- Abraham could never control what his
descendents did and God well knew it. But, God had made it clear that the land
of Israel would always belong to the descendants of Abraham through Isaac (not
Ishmael). To insure that this covenant could never be broken, HaShem caused a “death-like” sleep to fall on Abraham so he
would not attempt to walk with God through the blood. God walked through it
alone –as the smoking fire pot (representing Himself –like on Mt Sinai) and as
a flaming torch (representing Abraham). (Verse 17)
Here Yeshua is present –walking though
the fire for as we well know, Abraham’s descendents did break faith with God
and Yeshua did die and his blood was spilled on the earth to atione for the broken covenant make centuries before.
In Genesis 22:8, we see the picture unfolded where
Abraham –in obedience –took Isaac –his son- to Mount Moriah
(where Jerusalem is today) to sacrifice him. Isaac asked his father “I see the
fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham answered his son with these
amazing words “God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering”.
Now- a burnt offering was offered to
atone for sin and to be acceptable by HaShem (God).
In the Hebraic language, we would read
this verse as “God will provide himself as the lamb.” Yeshua was our
Lamb who was sacrificed for our sin and to open the door for us to go into
God’s presence. Amazing!!!
In Genesis 28:10-19, Ya’akov
(Jacob) was running from his brother Esau after the deception in stealing
Esau’s blessing from his father, Isaac. Ya’akov
needed to camp for the night so he picked a stone as a pillow (ouch) and fell
asleep. He saw a ladder resting on the ground and its top reaching to heaven
and angels going up and down on the ladder. Now –that is strange for we would have said
that the angels were coming down (from heaven) and going back up.
Adonai stood next to Ya’akov
and spoke to him even though he was still asleep. He said “I am Adonai, the God
Abraham your grandfather and the God of Isaac.” HaShem
continued with his covenant words to Abraham. “The land on which you are lying
I will give to you and to your descendents...”
When Ya’akov
awoke he was astonished and knew that God had really been there for he said
“Truly God is in this place –and I never knew it”. (Verse 16) In John 1:51,
Yeshua, having called Nathaniel as a disciple said to him "Yes
indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God
going up and coming down on the Son of Man!"
Do
you see it??? The same wording is here as in Genesis 28:12. Furthermore-Yeshua
added that the ladder was Himself –“on the Son of Man”!
In Exodus 17, the children of Israel
complained because of no water. Yahweh told Moses that he would provide water
for all the people. He instructed Moses to strike a “rock” when he was
standing on Mt Horeb (same mountain as Mt Sinai) and
all Israel were provided for with water.
In 1 Corinthians 10:4, Shaul (Paul) said that this “rock” was Yeshua. “And they all drank the same drink from the Spirit - for they
drank from a Spirit-sent Rock which followed them and that Rock was the
Messiah.”
Yeshua
was seen by Moses, Joshua and Manoah. The Bible
teaches that God the Father is a spirit (John 4:24) and that He is the eternal,
immortal, and invisible God. Due to God’s spiritual nature, we as finite human
beings are incapable of seeing His face.
In Colossians 1:15, Shaul
told us that Yeshua is the” visible image of the invisible
God. He is supreme over all creation.” Every time that man (or women) saw God
–that person saw the “visible image of God –Yeshua.
The
most compelling appearance of Yeshua was told by Yeshua himself.
In
Exodus 3:14, the descendents of Israel (Jacob) were in slavery in Egypt. Yahweh
called for Moses to go and deliver the people from bondage and bring them into
the land of Israel. When Moses asked Him who he would say was sending him –in
other words “what god will I say sent me?” HaShem
answered "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh
[I am/will be what I am/will be]," and added, "Here is what to say to
the people of Isra'el: 'Ehyeh
[I Am or I Will Be] has sent me to you.'"
In
John 8:56-58, we read “Avraham, your father, was glad
that he would see my day; then he saw it and was overjoyed." 57 "Why, you're not yet fifty years
old," the Judeans replied, "and you have seen Avraham?"
58 Yeshua said to them, "Yes, indeed! Before Avraham came into being, I AM!"
This wonderful “Jesus” –our Yeshua whose
very name in Hebrew means salvation, was and is and will be- eternally our
redeemer.
