“Do not think that I [Jesus] have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” – Matthew 5:17
Not only does the Old Testament reveal Jesus through promises, appearances, and foreshadowing types, but also through titles. There are many titles for God in the Old Testament that refer to Jesus Christ as God. In Daniel 7:13–14, God is called the “Son of Man,” and Jesus adopted that as His favorite title, using it some 80 times in the four Gospels. Jesus is the Suffering Servant that was promised in Isaiah (Isa. 42:1–4, 49:1–7, 52:13–53:12, cf. Phil. 2:1–11). Jesus is also known by many other Old Testament titles for God, including “first and…last,” “light,” “rock,” “husband” or “bridegroom,” “shepherd,” “redeemer,” “savior,” “ransom,” and “the Lord [of] glory.” (Isa. 41:4, 44:6, 48:12; cf. Rev. 1:17, 2:8; Ps. 27:1, cf. John 1:9; Ps. 18:2, 95:1, cf. 1 Cor.10:4; 1 Pet. 2:6–8; Hos. 2:16; Isa. 62:5, cf. Eph. 5:28–33; Rev. 21:2.; Ps. 23:1, cf. Heb. 13:20; Hos. 13:14; Ps. 130:7, cf. Titus 2:13; Rev. 5:9; Isa. 43:3, cf. John 4:42; Isa. 42:8, cf. 1 Cor. 2:8)
To properly understand the Old Testament, we must connect it to the person and work of Jesus. This should not be done in an allegorizing manner where arbitrary meanings foreign to Scripture are assigned to Old Testament words and images, thereby changing their meaning. Rather, the meaning of the Old Testament includes symbolism and identity that are most fully revealed in Jesus.
Unless Jesus is the central message of the Scriptures, errors abound. The most common is moralizing. Moralizing is reading the Bible not to learn about Jesus but only to learn principles for how to live life as a good person by following the good examples of some people and avoiding the bad examples of others. That kind of approach to the Scriptures is not Christian, because it treats the Bible like any other book with moral lessons that are utterly disconnected from faith in Jesus, salvation from Jesus, and life empowered by the same Holy Spirit of Jesus. All these themes connecting the Old Testament to the person and work of Jesus Christ culminate in the book of Hebrews, which we will learn more about studying next in this devotional series.
What is your favorite title for Jesus from the above-mentioned list?
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