Finding Christ in the Old Testament
Zechariah 9:9
Rev. Brian Bill
www.pontiacbible.org
4/1/07
As a way to introduce the sermon today we’re going to watch a clip from “The Mouk Story,” which describes how chronological Bible teaching from the Old Testament provided a framework for an explosion of faith in Papua New Guinea.
Play clip from “The Mouk Story” (see www.ntm.org for more information).
Isn’t it amazing that this missionary spent two months teaching the Old Testament before he taught about Jesus? Why did he do that? He did it because the first testament sets the stage for the second. By the time they learned about Jesus, they understood their sinfulness and their desperate need for a sacrificial substitute. Their guilt was overcome by the grace of God…and their joy knew no bounds. Did you catch that they broke out into spontaneous praise for two-and-a-half hours? It’s my prayer that a similar expression of jubilation will take place in our midst as we continue our expedition through the Old Testament.
Let me give you a map of our journey this morning…
1. The preaching part of our worship time will be at the beginning so that we can end with the praising part of worship. In other words, the sermon will be first and the songs will be last. But remember, everything is worship.
2. Sandwiched in-between the preaching and the praising will be the celebration of communion. This will help us see that everything in the Old Testament culminates in Christ.
3. As we go through a number of Old Testament passages, I’m going to put them up on the screen so we can read them in unison. I’d like us to stand when they appear, and using our voices as instruments of exaltation, speak the Scriptures loudly. This will help us see the Bible with our eyes, hear it with our ears, and by standing we’ll honor His holy Word. Plus, you’ll stay awake…unless you can sleep while standing.
The Bible Jesus Read
One of the most provocative book titles I have seen is called, “The Bible Jesus Read.” Jesus certainly didn’t view the Old Testament as a boring or irrelevant book. Rather, he saw it, from beginning to end, as speaking of Himself. He not only is the fulfillment of some 300 or so prophecies and pictures in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ is the main character. Dan Doriani notes: “Jesus does not simply figure in the Old Testament as the object of prophecy. He figures in all its pages.”
After the Resurrection, Jesus walked and talked with a couple guys while they traveled to Emmaus. Please turn to Luke 24:27: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Jesus then gave them a Bible lesson they would never forget as He started with the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses and concluded with what the prophets said about Him. The Greek verb used here for “explain” is where we get the word “hermeneutics,” or Bible interpretation. From Genesis to Malachi, the Scriptures point to the Savior.
In John 1:45, after Philip was introduced to Jesus, he came and found Nathaniel and said, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” In John 5:39, Jesus taught that the Scriptures testify about Him and in Luke 24:44, He added, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
It’s intriguing to imagine what passages Jesus preached from in His sermon that day. It was without doubt the greatest Old Testament exposition in history. Here are some verses He may have explained from the three main sections.
From the Books of Moses:
• Jesus probably started by recounting the prophecy about Satan’s demise in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” One day Eve’s offspring would do battle with the evil one and crush him. This was graphically portrayed in the Passion of the Christ film, as Jesus crushed the head of the serpent in the garden. Couched in the context of the very first sin, God has given us a glimpse of grace as Jesus the powerful conqueror will prevail and redeem humans from the bondage of the evil one. The apostle Paul states that we will share with Jesus in this victory according to Romans 16:20: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”
• Genesis 49:10 states that the Messiah must come from the tribe of Judah: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.”
• I’m sure Jesus enjoyed making the parallels between the Passover Lamb of Exodus 12:21-23 and His substitutionary sacrifice during that year’s Passover celebration: “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb…he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway…” Jesus is linked to Passover in 1 Corinthians 5:7: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Incidentally, the lamb for Passover would have been chosen on the day we know as Palm Sunday. Isn’t that cool? The Lamb of God arrives in Jerusalem on the day that Jews were picking their lamb for sacrifice.
• Jesus is the prophet to come in Deuteronomy 18:18: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” This is quoted in Acts 3:22.
From the Psalms:
• Psalm 2:7 reads, “He said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’” When Jesus was baptized, a voice boomed from heaven in Matthew 3:17: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
• Psalm 16:10 foretells the resurrection of Jesus: “Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.”
• Psalm 41:9 speaks of betrayal by a friend: “Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”
• Perhaps Jesus chuckled at the very thought of kings bowing before Him at His birth as predicted in Psalm 72:10-11: “The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him.”
From the Prophets:
• Writing 700 years before Christ, Isaiah 7:14 clearly states that the Messiah would be born of a virgin: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
• Isaiah 50:6 describes in vivid detail what was done to Jesus: “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.”
• Isaiah 53 is filled with precise prophecies of both the death and resurrection of Christ. Let’s read verses 4-7: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Jesus was crucified with criminals but buried in the tomb of a rich man. This is exactly what Isaiah said would happen in verse 9: “He was assigned a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death…”
• I’m certain that Jesus recited Micah 5:2 as He described the exact location of His birth, grinning as He described how a Roman census was used to get His parents to this little town: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel…”
• Zechariah 11:12-13 was fulfilled with stunning precision when Judas received his wages for his wicked betrayal: “So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’-the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.”
We don’t know how long Jesus took to exegete the books of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets, but we do know from Luke 24:27 that He preached from “all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
Palm Sunday
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, and this too has its roots in the Old Testament. First, everyone in Israel knew that the Messiah would be enthroned as King in Jerusalem. The Old Testament makes it very clear that the coming King would do His main work here. Since the Garden of Eden, all of heaven and earth have been waiting for that moment when Messiah would enter Jerusalem for the last time.
Second, the Passover feast was just about to begin. This celebration brought many spiritual pilgrims to Jerusalem and fueled the fires of spiritual and messianic expectations. Historians tell us that it was not unusual to have between two and three million people in Jerusalem for the Passover. On the Passover, the paschal lamb is slain, just as it was at the beginning of the exodus. This yearly reminder served to help the Israelites never forget that it was the blood of the lamb that provided their deliverance. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is about to be slain once-for-all, for the remission of sins.
At the hill called the Mount of Olives, Jesus called for two of his disciples to do a special assignment for him. The Mount of Olives is a place of great significance. According to Zechariah 14:4, the Messiah is to appear on this mountain: “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.” Interestingly, during His last week on earth, Jesus spent His nights there. It’s also where He gave the Olivet Discourse, where He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and from where He ascended into heaven (see Acts 1:12).
In Luke 19:30-31, the two disciples are told to “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’” When the disciples were sent to get a colt, Jesus was putting into place yet one more very specific prophecy about who He was. In Zechariah 9:9, which was written some five hundred years earlier, we read, “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Now, keep in mind that many of the followers of Jesus were hoping that the Messiah would come with power and overthrow the Roman government. The one who raised Lazarus from the dead could certainly defeat the Romans. They longed for a warrior king who would come on a great white horse, like King David did one thousand years earlier when he wiped out the Philistines. You can imagine the confusion in their minds when the people looked at their leader on a baby donkey.
Not only did Zechariah prophecy about the Messiah riding a colt, the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem on the back of a donkey brought back memories of King Solomon’s procession to Gihon in 1 Kings 1:38-40: “…they put Solomon on King David’s mule…the priest anointed Solomon…then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted…so that the ground shook with the sound.”
Luke 19:36 adds, “As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.” They willingly took off their outer garments and laid some of them on the colt and others were placed on the road in front of Jesus. Can you imagine what all this commotion would have done to the colt? Remember, it had never been ridden before and now Jesus was on its back, the crowd was shouting, and cloaks and palm branches were being laid in front of it as it walked down the hill toward Jerusalem. Several years ago, when I read this passage to our family I asked our girls what kind of insight they had. One of them mentioned that the colt was probably afraid. I then asked them why the colt didn’t buck Jesus off and just run away. Becca, who was five at the time, gave a profoundly theological answer: “Because the donkey knew it was Jesus.”
The laying of cloaks on the road would be like rolling out the red carpet for someone today. In 2 Kings 9:13, people spread cloaks under King Jehu as he walked on the bare stairs. The people recognized Jesus as royalty and gave Him the honor afforded a King. Matthew 21:8 tells us “…others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.” This was a common way to welcome a victorious King when he would return from battle. These palm branches were also a symbol of joy and victory and were placed on graves as a sign of eternal life. Since they often grew out in the desert near water, palm trees were a sign that life-giving activity was near. By laying palm branches on the road, the people were signifying that Jesus was the victorious King who gives eternal life to those out wandering in the desert of life.
We see next that they welcome the King with their praise. In verse 37, we read: “When He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen.” The language suggests that it was more than just the 12 disciples who were praising God. At this point, there were many followers of Christ, and as they move down the mountain, the city of Jerusalem comes into view, causing them to get even more excited.
They shout out in verse 38: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” This is a quotation from Psalm 118:26. The phrase “comes in the name of the Lord” means that Jesus is coming according to the promise of God. This Psalm speaks of the Messiah and was sung out loud during the Passover meal. By singing this Psalm, the followers of Christ are declaring that Jesus is the sent King, coming with the very authority of God. Look at verse 27: “…with boughs in hand, join in the festal procession.” Matthew 21:9 tells us that they included the word, “Hosanna” which means save now. The Mouk tribe in Papua New Guinea would say, “Ea-Taow!” It’s true! It’s good! It’s very true! There was a sense of celebration and unbridled exaltation as the people realized who Jesus was. All their hopes and longings from the Old Testament were being fulfilled in their presence!
Putting into Practice
I’d like to suggest some application steps to help us capture this same joy.
1. Welcome your King with worship. Do you have moments in your schedule in which you stop and break out into adoration? Do you begin and end your day with praise and worship? When you come here on Sundays to worship collectively with others is it the culmination of a week of personal worship experiences or is it your only time of praise?
2. Read the Bible Jesus read. You may want to meditate on Isaiah 53 this week as a way to prepare for Good Friday and Easter. We’ll be studying the books of Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah in a few weeks so you may want to finish them before we get there. Today is known as April Fool’s Day. Proverbs 28:26 says: “He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.” Proverbs 10:14 tells us that the Word makes one wise: “Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin.”
3. Make your profession public through baptism. Our next baptism service is three weeks from today. Contact the church office if you’re ready to take the plunge.
4. Each one bring one on Easter. As Pastor Ray reminded us last week, there’s nothing wrong with the harvest. The problem is with the laborers. Start with prayer and then invite a friend or two. See www.wruw4.com for more information.
Communion
We’re going to celebrate communion a bit differently today. I’m going to make all my remarks right now so that after we take the bread, the men will immediately distribute the cup, with no additional comments. As the elements are passed, we’re going to watch a video called “Psalm 22” as a way to be reminded that the predictions in the Old Testament are fulfilled with pinpoint precision by Jesus. You may want to open your Bible to this Psalm so you can follow along. One other thought. As you watch, pray for that friend or neighbor or coworker who doesn’t yet understand what Jesus accomplished on the cross.
Play “Psalm 22” Video
After the disciples celebrated this Passover meal with Jesus, the Bible says that they sang a hymn of praise before heading out to the Mount of Olives (see Matthew 26:30). We’re going to do the same after we receive the Mercy Fund Offering.
Mercy Fund (Joan Plays)
Worship Through Singing
Closing Benediction from Daniel 7:13-14:
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
