by Gary L. Evans
Christ in the Old Testament — Part 1
Gen 3:14-15 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
The Lord declared that Eve’s seed (by Adam her husband) would crush The Serpent’s head. So umbilical cord to umbilical cord from Eve to Mary would come Christ, The Messiah, Who would destroy the works of The Devil, and ultimately destroy him according to prophesy. Christ Jesus was that “promised seed.”
In order for this prophesy to be fulfilled, it was necessary that the Adamic bloodline remain pure, therefore inter-marrying with any of The Sixth Day creation, the races of mankind, was forbidden. The Messiah must literally come directly from the Bloodline of The Man Adam and Eve his wife in order to fulfill The Lord’s Prophesy.
At this early point in Scripture, we begin to see Election by God unfold. It does not imply that the races were not good, because God declared that they were very good, but it shows that The Lord does the choosing of His servants foreordained for His Purpose.
Note that scholars estimate that this prophecy was given about 4,000 BC.
Gen 22:15-18 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
The Lord promised Abraham that “his seed” would bring a Blessing, or happiness, to all of the Gentiles (nations). The Promised Messiah through Abraham’s offspring would bring Salvation not only for Abraham’s descendants, but for All Races of Mankind.
This prophecy was given about 1,865 BC.
Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Jacob was on his death bed and was giving his blessings to each of his sons, and this is his blessing to Judah. Note the limit of this prophecy, “until Shiloh come.”
The word “Shiloh” is from the Hebrew “shee-lo'” and means “tranquil; Shiloh, an epithet of the Messiah.”
But Jacob’s prophecy continues, “and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be,” that is to say, unto Christ Jesus when He returns to establish His Kingdom in The Millennium.
Note that Jacob gave this prophecy about 1,700 BC.
Deu 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
The Lord declared to Israel that He would produce a Prophet from among their descendants, like Moses, and then they must listen to Him. And when Jesus began His ministry, some people wondered if He was “That Prophet” that Moses had spoken about and commanded their ancestors to be sure to listen to and to follow when He came.
Deu 18:18-19 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Christ Jesus was indeed “That Prophet” that the people listening to Jesus recognized that He must be the one that Moses spoke of.
Note that the phrase, “I will require it of him,” suggests severe punishment for anyone who would not listen to Him when He comes according to promise and speaks in The Lord’s Name.
Note that Moses gave this prophecy between 1,490 and 1,450 BC.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
Christ in the Old Testament — Part 2
Psa 22:6-9 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
Jesus quoted all of Psalms 22 while nailed to the cross. It describes in detail how He would suffer. He had become “a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” The Roman soldiers laughed and mocked Him and whipped Him with a cat of nine tails.
Mat 27:41-43 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
And some of the people mocked Him saying that since He had supposedly saved others, why can’t He save Himself, and they did this in fulfillment of Scripture.
Psa 22:13-16 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
The Roman soldiers drove nails through His hands and feet.
Psa 22:17-18 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
The Roman soldiers took His clothing and shared it, and gambled for His undergarments because they were seamless and could not be torn.
King David’s prophecy was given between about 975 and 925 BC.
Isa 7:13-14 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah foretells the virgin birth of The Messiah. The name He would be called was “Immanuel”, which means “God with us.”
Mat 1:22-23 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Matthew explains the literal definition of the Hebrew word.
Isa 9:1-2 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Christ is that “Great Light,” even The Light of the World.
And the “land of the shadow of death” is referenced by David in Psalms 23.
Psa 23:1-6 A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
This world is The Valley of The Shadow of Death, and our Lord and Savior walked through this Valley in the flesh just as we do, and He went to the cross for our sins.
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Note these names and titles ascribed to our Lord, which include “The Almighty God, The Eternal Father, and The Prince of Peace.”
Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
His government will be Eternal, and He will sit on the throne of King David, His forefather (through Mary), and His Kingdom will be Eternal.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
Christ in the Old Testament — Part 3
Isa 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Who has believed the announcement about the coming of Immanuel?
Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Our Lord’s form was perfect, no doubt a handsome man, but He did not present Himself with pride or in order to make Himself noticed by men.
Isa 53:3-4 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Christ took upon Himself all of our grief and sorrow caused by our separation from God, and so He was rejected and filled with sorrow; He was hated for no reason. The Lord allowed our Lord to be stricken and crucified. This was according to His Divine Plan of our Salvation. The Messiah had to be sacrificed because we are all transgressors.
Isa 53:5-6 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
We have all acted in rebellion and done according to our own will. But The Lord put all of our rebellion and lawlessness upon Himself so that we would not have to bear it.
Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Jesus spoke not a word to Pilot, who had power over life and death to Him. He was taken as a “lamb to the slaughter,” that is, The Lamb Slain in Revelation.
Isa 53:8-9 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
He was crucified between two thieves, but was buried in the empty tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea, His rich uncle, who had the authority to ask for The Lord’s body, because he was next of kin.
Isa 53:10-12 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Christ Jesus went to the grave to take our sins upon Himself and to make intercession as a defense councilor on our behalf before The Most High.
Isaiah lived around 712 to 650 BC.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
Christ in the Old Testament — Part 4
Dan 9:22-24 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Gabriel had appeared to Daniel to answer his prayer.
The term “weeks” represents weeks of years, or sevens, for a total of seventy sevens, which is a total of 490 years.
Also note that “the most Holy” can only mean “the Holy of Holies,” and does not refer to a man, so it refers to the final cleansing of the sanctuary. Recall that Jesus went into The Temple and became so angry because of the wickedness going on there that He took a cat of nine tails and literally whipped the backs of the money changers who were robbing the people and drove them out of The Temple.
Dan 9:25-26 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Note that the time of “The going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” was issued in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, the great king Astyages, in 454 BC.
The first “seven weeks” mentioned is 49 years which corresponds to those “troublous times” of Ezra and Nehemiah.
So to this starting date of 454 BC we must add sixty-nine weeks which is 483 years, which brings us to 29 AD, the prophesied date of our Lord’s crucifixion.
Note that it says “shall Messiah be cut off,” which means killed.
So Jesus was born about 5 to 4 BC, and died at the age of about thirty-three.
Mat 2:1-2 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
What wisdom did these men have that they were willing to travel a long distance to find The Promised Messiah who was to come about this time? They were confident that they would find Him. How did they know? The Knowledge of The Ancient Zodiac is another study, because they said they saw His star rise in the east. But do you think those Wise Men had also studied the book and prophesies of Daniel?
There is an unused week in this prophecy which is for the time of The Antichrist, which we learn about in our Lord’s teaching of The Seven Seals. In New Testament study, this floating seven year period is referred to as The Last Week of Daniel, which was prophetic for the very end of this world.
What is most important in Daniel’s prophesy is that the approximate time of our Lord’s appearance was clearly given to Israel. They at least knew what year He would be killed, and His ministry was only about three years. So at least the Old Testament Scholars of those days had no excuse not to understand what was going on when He walked this earth, and taught the people many things, and performed many miracles.
Note that Daniel’s writings were from about 495 to 424 BC.
Zec 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey for the last Passover feast, the one in which He would be crucified. And the people strewed palm branches before Him as they would for a king.
Zec 9:10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
As King of kings, His dominion will encompass the entire earth.
Note that Zechariah prophesied from 410 to 403 BC.
Psa 69:16-21 Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
After Jesus finished quoting the last line of Psalm 22, He said, “I thirst.” And this was to fulfill one last prophesy of Scripture.
Mat 27:48-50 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
Christ is mentioned in so many places in The Old Testament, that I cannot count them. But I have shown at least some of the most obvious references to Him in The Scriptures. Jesus declared that He came to fulfill God’s Word (including The Law) not to change it, and that not even a jot or title would change, meaning not even the sound of an “a” or “e” would change, until all of it was fulfilled, which includes The Eternity.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.