Even though the whole Old Testament — Old Covenant — points to the coming of Christ as the Redeemer, we looked mostly at the promises concerning the Messiah as a brief overview of the Old Testament. The inspiring verse for this study was
John 5:46
“… For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”
So, we started with some of the things Moses had to say about the coming of the Messiah (Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy).
PROPHECIES FULFILLED BY JESUS (partial list)
FROM MOSES:
- From the offspring of Eve
- (Gen. 3:14-15) – The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
o (Galatians 4:4) – But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law…
o (Matthew 1:17) – So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
- From Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:
- (Genesis 12:1-3) Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
- (Genesis 17:17-19) Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
- (Numbers 24:17) I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.
o (Matthew 1:1-17) So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. 1:17
o (Luke 3: 34-38) … the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor… the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
- From Judah
- (Gen. 49:10) – The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
o (Luke 3:23-33) Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli … the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah…
- Serpent would strike his heel
- (Genesis 3:15) – I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
o (John 12:31-33) — Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
o (John 19:18) — There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.
- No Bones Broken
- (Exodus 12:43-46) And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired servant may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
- (Psalms 34:19-20) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
o (John 19:33-37) — But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness–his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth–that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”
- Passover Lamb
- (Exodus 12:3-6) Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
- (Isaiah 53:7) He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
o (John 1:29) – The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
o (1 Cor. 5:7) – Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
o (1 Peter 1:17-19) – And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
- Prophet Raised Up Like Moses
- (Deuteronomy 18:15) – “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers–it is to him you shall listen—“
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN JESUS AND MOSES
(Acts 3:22): Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.”
- Both were prophets, priests, and kings
o King:
- (Ex. 18:13) The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening.
- (Matt. 28:18) And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
o Priest:
- (Ex. 40:29) And he set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
- (Heb. 7:17-22) For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.'” This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.
o Prophet:
- (Exodus 9:13) The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel…”
- (John 7:16) So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.”
- (Matt. 13:57) And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.”
- Both were endangered in infancy
o (Ex. 1:22; 2:2) Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live…The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.”
o (Matt. 2:16) Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men…
- Both voluntarily renounced power and wealth
o (Hebrews 11:24-26) By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
o (Philipians 2:5-7) Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
- Both were deliverers, lawgivers, and mediators
o (Psalm 106:23) Therefore he said he would destroy them–had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
o (Matt. 1:21) She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
o (1 Tim. 2:5) For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…
o (Matt. 5) And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying… (5:2)
- Both were rejected by their kinsmen
o (Ex. 15:24) And the people grumbled against Moses…
o (Acts 7:35) “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’–this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.”
o (Mark 8:31) And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
- Both performed signs to show that their message of deliverance was from God
o (Ex. 4:9) If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
o (John 10:38) but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
- Moses raised up the serpent and Christ was raised
o (John 3:14-15) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
thoughts and songs 