SEEING JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Text: Acts 13:13-23
Introduction
1. Illustration: One of my biggest heroes was a man named Dr. Stanley Horton. Dr. Horton was the leading theologian in the Assemblies of God for over 50 years. One day, I had the pleasure of having lunch with him, and then spending the rest of the afternoon with him in this office. He told me that his greatest thrill in ministry was when he saw the light come on in a student’s eyes because they began to see Jesus in the Old Testament.
2. The answer to the question “when does the Bible start talking about Jesus,” is the Book of Genesis. The bible talks about Jesus from Genesis to Revelation, and everything in the Old Testament points to Jesus.
3. Read Acts 13:13-26.
Transition: First, let’s set the scene…
I. Setting the Scene (13-14a).
A. Luke begins this section by just giving us some background on what is about to take place. He tells us in vv. 13-14, “Paul and his companions then left Paphos by ship for Pamphylia, landing at the port town of Perga. There John Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem. 14 But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia.”
1. Paul and his companions leave Paphos for Pamphylia, and they land in the port town of Perga.
2. Two interesting things happen here. At first, they seem insignificant, but they are more impactful than it might seem.
3. First, Luke refers to the group as “Paul and his companions.”
a. Up until this point it was “Barnabas and Paul,” but now Paul takes center stage, and most likely, leadership in the group.
b. Not only does Barnabas’ name not come first, but it’s also not even mentioned.
B. Second, we are told that John Mark left the group and returned to Jerusalem.
1. We are not told why, and there are several reasons that could be considered, but we don’t know for sure.
2. However, what we do know for sure, is that this becomes a source of contention between Paul and Barnabas, since John Mark was Barnabas’ cousin.
3. Once they landed, they travel inland to Antioch of Pisidia.
4. This is not the same Antioch where the church that sent them was located, it shared the same name, but was in another part of the middle east.
Transition: Now, we see Paul…
II. Pointing to Jesus (14b-23).
A. Jesus, who is God’s Promised Messiah
1. Now that Luke has set the scene for us, he begins telling us what was about to happen. In the second half of v 14 and v. 15 he says, “On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services. 15 After the usual readings from the books of Moses and the prophets, those in charge of the service sent them this message: “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, come and give it.”
a. Luke tells us that as a group they went to the local synagogue for services.
b. Like us, they had a liturgy, or an order of service. They read from the Books of Moses (who can tell me what the Books of Moses are?), and the Prophets.
c. Now, while this was going on, one of the elders sent them a message, asking them if they wanted to speak.
d. There was a custom they had of asking itinerant preachers if they wanted to speak.
e. So, Paul took advantage of this to show them that the Scriptures they were reading from the OT were about Jesus!
f. He was going to show them that all the OT pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ, the Savior.
2. Now, Paul seizes the opportunity. Luke tells us in vv. 16-17, “So Paul stood, lifted his hand to quiet them, and started speaking. “Men of Israel,” he said, “and you God-fearing Gentiles, listen to me. 17 “The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them multiply and grow strong during their stay in Egypt. Then with a powerful arm he led them out of their slavery.”
a. Paul stands up, gets their attention, and proceeds to use the Scriptures to tell them their own history.
b. He shows them how God acted on their behalf, and how all of his actions pointed to Jesus.
c. He does this by using verbs that showed how God did the action and not them.
d. First, he says that God chose Israel.
e. This is verified in Duet. 7:6-8, “For you are a holy people, who belong to the LORD your God. Of all the people on earth, the LORD your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. 7 “The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8 Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.”
f. God chose them, they didn’t choose him, and he chose them because of his love and faithfulness.
g. The next verb that Paul uses is the word “made.” He “made them multiply and grow strong.”
h. In spite, of being in a foreign land he made them so prosperous that their hosts were afraid they were going to take over.
i. The next verb he uses is “he led them out of their slavery.” Here he points out that the Lord by his powerful arm led them out of slavery against one of the most powerful nations at that time.
3. The next set of verbs that Paul uses illustrates God’s incredible patience and mercy. In vv. 18-20 he says, “He put up with them through forty years of wandering in the wilderness. 19 Then he destroyed seven nations in Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years.”
a. First, Paul says, “he put up with them,” and boy did he put up with them!
b. They doubted, complained, whined, and even asked to go back to being slaves in Egypt.
c. Christian song writer Keith Green, wrote a song called “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt.” In it he said, “So you wanna go back to Egypt Where it's warm and secure. Are sorry you bought the one-way ticket when you thought, you were sure? You wanted to live in the land of promise, but now it's getting so hard. Are you sorry you're out here in the desert instead of your own back yard.” And them later in the song he says, “Well we once complained for something new to munch. The ground opened up and had some of us for lunch. Ooh, such fire and smoke. Can't God even take a joke? Huh? NO!”
d. Paul, and Keith, are pointing out that God was so incredibly patient with Israel.
e. In v. 19, he uses two verbs. The first one is “he destroyed,” and “gave their land.”
f. Here Paul is saying that it was God that went in a destroyed the nations in from of them, and it was God that gave them their land as an inheritance.
g. God did all the work, and in fact, when they tried to do it without God, they got whopped!
4. The verbs continue! (y’all didn’t know you were getting a grammar lesson this morning). In the second half of v.20 through v. 22 it says, “After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. 22 But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’”
a. First, Paul says that “God gave them judges.”
b. Again, God took the initiative, and gave them mighty men and women of God to lead them.
c. Then the people begged for a king because you know, they wanted to be like everyone else. Which goes to show, just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it a good thing!
d. So, God gave them Saul, who disobeyed God, and everything fell apart for him.
e. So, God removed, another verb, and replaced, you guessed it, a verb, him with David.
f. David, God said, was a man after my own heart.
5. So, Pastor, what’s all this have to do with Jesus? Look at v. 23, “And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel!”
a. All of this has to do with Jesus because the entire OT leads us to Jesus.
b. He was a descendant of King David, and everything from Adam and Eve, to David, points to Jesus as the Messiah, the savior of Israel and anyone who believes in him.
c. From the time of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden, God had a plan to redeem his fallen creation.
d. And the center of his plan was his own Son, Jesus Christ, who became like us, in everything but sin, and died on the cross in our place.
e. He is the central figure of all of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, and he is the central figure in all of history. He is our Savior!
B. Fix Our Eyes on Jesus
1. Illustration: In his book, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, Christopher Wright wrote, “For these are the words he read. These were the stories he knew. These were the songs he sang. These were the depths of wisdom and revelation and prophecy that shaped his whole view of life, the universe and everything. This is where he found insights into the mind of his Father God. Above all, this is where he found the shape of his own identity and the goal of his mission. In short, the deeper you go into understanding the Old Testament, the closer you come to the heart of Jesus…For it saddens me that so many Christians in these days love Jesus, but know so little about who he thought he was and what he had come to do.” (Wright, ix).
2. You cannot understand Jesus in the New Testament until you learn about Jesus in the Old Testament.
a. “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” (IS. 11:1-2).
b. Too many Christians avoid the Old Testament because it doesn’t talk about Jesus.
c. They wrongly assume that the Bible doesn’t talk about Jesus until Matthew, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
d. The truth is that Jesus is the center figure of the Bible, and it talks about and points to him from Genesis to Revelation.
e. If we are going to understand Jesus, and understand who he really was, we need to study about him in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.
f. It’s true that the New Testament is the fulfillment of what the Bible says about the promise of Jesus, but it’s the Old Testament that spells out the promise!
g. All of Scripture is inspired by God…all of it!
h. Read and study your Bible daily, but don’t ignore the Bible that Jesus and the apostles knew.
Conclusion
1. The entire Bible points to Jesus.
2. What’s the point preacher? The point is that Jesus is the focus of the Old Testament, so don’t ignore it, but rather embrace it.
