When Dr. David Murray was asked to teach Hebrew and Old Testament in a seminary, he asked himself, “Why would God have given us the majority of the Bible in the Old Testament?” The key came when Murray realized Jesus Christ answered that question Himself. He told His disciples the Old Testament was all about Him. Murray learned what we’ll discover in this lesson—
When His critics challenged His identity as recorded in John’s Gospel, Jesus replied, “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life” (John 5:37–40).
The word “Scriptures” here referred to the Old Testament, for the New Testament hadn’t yet been given. Jesus was claiming that God the Father spoke of Him in the inspired pages of the Old Testament. As we study this subject in the Old Testament, we can pinpoint more than three hundred specific predictions about Christ, plus a multitude of signs, types, indications, and foreshadowing—all pointing to Him. His birth, His life, His character, His ministry, His betrayal, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension were detailed hundreds of years before they occurred.
When you read the Old Testament with Jesus in mind, everything is different. It’s impossible to miss it. We realize the Hebrew Scriptures are more than a collection of stories; they present the portrait of the coming Messiah.
Jesus: The Seed of the Woman
The first presentation of the Gospel in the Bible occurred as early as the Garden of Eden. We find it in the third chapter of the book of Genesis—in Genesis 3:15. Theologians call this verse the protoevangelium. Proto means “first” and evangelium means “Gospel.” They call Genesis 3:15 the “first Gospel.”
The Bible begins with the book of Genesis and its story of Creation when God spoke and the universe came into existence. He created Adam and Eve for fellowship with Himself, but they violated His command and disobeyed Him. It was a sad day for all humanity as we fell into sin. When the first couple disobeyed the commandment of God, which was given in the abundance of His blessing, God punished them. But He never gave up on them. The Lord had already prepared a plan of redemption to take care of Adam and Eve, and to ultimately take care of us…Source – Read More!
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