"JESUS: FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT TO THE NEW"

Good Evening to All!

I'm going to attempt this again.  I constantly think about posting my blog, but I have so many irons in
the fire, I get overwhelmed and become stagnant.

Hopefully, this will be the post that returns me to the feeling I had before when I posted.

I am in the middle of a book, that I am really enjoying.  It is a One Year Book, titled Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament.

What got me started on this book, was the fact that like so many others I always wanted to "skip" the Old Testament and get to the "meat of things" such as Jesus' teachings, salvation, and things that would pertain to us today.

This book has showed me in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that Jesus is brought up all through the Bible.  If not directly, then indirectly.  The Old Testament is a lot more than just history.  For example tonight's reading had to do with Israel.  Hosea described God's relationship with Israel as a loving father with a son:  "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt"  (Hosea 11:1).  Even though Israel was God's son, this son was disobedient and disloyal.  For Israel to experience all of the Father's blessings of the covenant it would require another son.  He would have to walk in perfect obedience before him in Israel's stead.

Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew showed that Jesus did exactly that.  He applied this statement from Hosea to Jesus:  "Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and the stayed there until Herod's death.  This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet :  'I called my son out of Egypt'", (Matthew 2:14-15).  Another instance is when the Children of Israel crossed over the Red Sea, so after baptism "Jesus came up out of the water" and a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son of whom I am well pleased".  This is found in Matthew 3:16-17.  Just as Israel faced temptations and failed, Jesus faced them, and because he had the spirit of God in him, he succeeded Matthew 4:1 revealed to us.  Just as it stated in Isaiah 44:3, God had promised through his prophets to "pour out my spirit on your descendants", Matthew wrote  that Jesus saw the Spirit of God descending down upon him like a dove and settling on him" (Matthew 3:16).

There are many other types and shadows in the Old Testament pointing toward the New Testament and Jesus Christ.  These are just a few.

I hope that the next time you pick up your Bible, you will look at the Old Testament differently.  Look at the Bible as a "whole", not two sections.

Have a wonderful night and May God Bless You!