The Treasure of the Old Testament and Christ
One of the greatest treasures a believer has been given by the Lord is the revelation of who He is and the gracious nature of His salvation found in the pages of the Old and New Testaments in the Bible. Most Christians have some idea of the contents of the NT, even if only in ‘broad strokes’. When we think about the Old Testament, almost everyone knows about Joseph’s coat of many colours, the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Moses and the plagues in Egypt, Daniel in the lion’s den, Jonah and the fish, etc. Yet, for many, there are vast portions of the Old Testament about which very little, if anything is known at all. What is missing is a sense of how it all ties together. What is the ‘big picture’ which the Old Testament seeks to communicate? How is the Old Testament more than a series of seemingly random and unrelated narratives about various individuals or the nation of Israel? Does the Old Testament have anything at all to do with Christ and gospel?
This brief article will not to be able to provide answers to these questions in any detail (perhaps we can return to that topic at some point in the future), but it is hoped that we can make a start so that we can see the precious treasure that is ours in the Old Testament.
Quite often, even those passages with which we may have some degree of familiarity, are understood in a moralistic sense. This approach to the Old Testament seeks to apply a particular passage to our immediate context, asking what ‘timeless truths’ are taught in the passage which we might apply to our own lives today. However, this way of looking at the Old Testament completely by-passes any reference to Christ and the fulfilment which He achieved. In so doing, it unwittingly eliminates the necessity of the finished work of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to put those ‘timeless truths’ into practice. This approach comes to expression when children are 
encouraged to ‘dare to be a Daniel’ or to ‘stand up to giants, like David’, where Old Testament characters are seen primarily as models for our lives today, without any reference to Christ.
A better approach to the Old Testament is to view it in the same way Jesus did. The resurrected Christ taught that the entire Old Testament pointed toward Him. In Luke 24:27, 44-49, Jesus indicates that the three major divisions of the Hebrew Old Testament, the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, were about Him, and in particular, the necessity of His death and resurrection, which is the core of the gospel. We need to look at the Old Testament the way Jesus did and see it as anticipating what He would do.
Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
Luke 24:44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Lamb who was slain
It is sometimes difficult to see how a particular passage relates to Christ, but that is what we must try to do. It is like digging for buried treasure. It is hard work, but when the treasure is unearthed, it makes it all worth it. And in the Old Testament, there are rich treasures revealed about who Christ was to be and what He was to do. These treasures are given as types, and shadows, and are mere hints and fleeting glimpses of the wonder of the Messiah to come, but treasures they are. To use one more familiar example, the book of Hebrews speaks of Jesus as our Faithful High Priest. As our High Priest, Jesus offered, not the blood of bulls and goats, but His own precious blood. And he did not enter an earthly temple, but into the heavenly reality in the very presence of the Father to make atonement for our sin once and for all. But to really understand the role of a High Priest we need to look back to the book of Leviticus, particularly chapter 16 about the Day of Atonement.
The real treasure of the Old Testament is the way it slowly, in hints and shadows begins to prepare the way for the coming of Christ and the restoration He would bring about through His death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit was given to us to enable us to see Christ in the Old Testament (Jn. 14:26; 16:13). So, as you read God’s Word in the Old Testament, ask the Holy Spirit help you see Christ there, the real treasure of the Old Testament.
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Will Traub is a lecturer in Old Testament at Edinburgh Theological Seminary and an elder at St Peters.
July 2017