The Old Testament
The Old Testament is about Jesus
"Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures." -- Luke 24:27
"What is the Bible really about?
"Is the Bible basically about me and what I must do, or is it basically about Jesus and what he has done? When you read in Luke and Acts, how Jesus, in those forty days, got his disciples together; forty days before he ascended, after he was raised; what was he doing? Basically he was saying, 'Everything in the Old Testament is about me.' He says, 'The reason you didn't understand what I was about was you didn't realize that everything in the Prophets and the Psalms and the Law was pointing to me.'
"Do you believe the Bible is basically about you, or basically about Him?
"Is David and Goliath basically about you and how you can be like David and Goliath, or basically about Him, the one who really took on the only giants that can kill us. And His victory is imputed to us.
"Who is it really about? That's the fundamental question. And when that happens, then you start to read the Bible anew.
"Jesus is the true and better Adam, who passed the test in the garden (His garden, a much tougher garden) and whose obedience is imputed to us.
"Jesus is the true and better Abel, who though innocently slain, has blood that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for our acquittal.
"Jesus is the true and better Abraham, who answered the call of God to leave all that was comfortable and familiar and go into the void not knowing whither he went.
"Jesus is the true and better Isaac, who was not just offered up by his father on the mount, but was truly sacrificed for us all. God said to Abraham, 'Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from me.' Now, we at the foot of the cross, can say to God, 'Now we know that you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love, from me.'
"Jesus is the true and better Jacob, who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserve, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wound of grace to wake us up and discipline us.
"Jesus is the true and better Joseph, who is at the right hand of the king and forgives those who betrayed and sold him, and uses his power to save them.
"Jesus is the true and better Moses, who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and mediates a new and better covenant.
"Jesus is the true and better rock of Moses, who, struck with the rod of God's justice, now gives us water in the dessert.
"Jesus is the true and better Job. He is the truly innocent sufferer who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.
"Jesus is the true and better David, whose victory becomes his peoples' victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.
"Jesus is the true and better Ester, who didn’t just risk losing an earthly palace, but lost the ultimate heavenly one. Who didn't just risk his life, but gave his life. Who didn't just say, 'If I perish, I perish', but, 'When I perish, I perish for them, to save my people.'
"Jesus is the true and better Jonah, who was cast out in the storm so that we could be brought in.
"He's the real Passover lamb, he's the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light the true bread.
"The Bible's not about you!" -- Timothy Keller, Youtube, "The Bible is not About You", November 10th, 2010.
Christ as the Burning Bush
It was the Word, breathed from the Father's mouth,
Who of the Virgin took a mortal frame.
The human form that not yet in the flesh
Appeared to Moses wore a brow like ours,
Since God, who would by power of the Word
Assume a body, made the face the same.
Flames rose and seemed to burn the thorny bush.
God moved amid the branches set with spines,
And tresses of the flames swayed harmlessly,
That he might shadow forth his Son's descent
Into our thorny members sin infests
With teeming briers and fills with bitter woes.
For tainted at its root that noxious shrub
Had sprouted from its baneful sap a crop
Of evil shoots beset with many thorns.
The sterile branches suddenly grew bright
As God enkindled with his mighty power
The leafy boughs, nor harmed the tangled briers.
He touched the scarlet berries, blood-red fruits,
And grazed the twigs that grew from deadly wood,
Shed by the tortured bush with cruel pangs. -- Aurelius Prudentius Clemens
