Is He Really?

Was Jesus a megalomaniac? No, Jesus was not a megalomaniac. Jesus told us the Old Testament was about Him, and it is about Him.

The First Book of the Bible

First, we see it in Genesis 3 in the seed of the woman. God said to the serpent Satan. “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.” (Genesis 3:15 ESV). God is foretelling the appearance of Christ. The New Testament opens with the genealogy of Jesus. This genealogy is the story of the seed of the woman ending with Jesus.

In Egypt

We can see a divine pattern in Exodus. The liberation of Israel from bondage in Egypt was not a one-time event and, to the contrary, is a paradigm of all acts of God’s redeeming mercy. God is foretelling Christ’s passion and resurrection that would release a world from the bondage of sin and death.

On Sinai

Jesus also appears as the replacement for the law covenant. God gave Moses the then commands, and Moses gave the people the commandments and the 613 Mitzvot, or laws, developed from the law of Moses. However, the people could not keep the rules. God gave us the commandments to identify sin so people could avoid sin a have peace and a relationship with God. So, in seeing our sins, we realize we cannot keep the commandmants or laws. Since we cannot keep them, God sent Christ to replace the covenant of the law with the covenant of his blood, offering true peace and freedom from the law to all who believe in Him. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 ESV).

We also hear Moses speak of Jesus. In Deuteronomy 18:15, Moses tells us, “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.” Here, Moses tells us of a new prophet who comes from the people. This new prophet is Jesus. There were no more prophets after Malachi until Jesus.

On the Throne

David was an exciting king for Israel. At face value, all the biblical things God promises from Noah, Abraham, and Moses can be found in the person of David. King David, however, was flawed, and we saw his flaws in his actions. However, the Davidic writings help us look ahead to a future King.

Psalm 72 gives us four attributes of a future King, a King in the line of David, only better. In dissecting this psalm, we find four key things:

In verses five through four, the psalmist wrote: “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son! May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice! Let the Mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!” Give the King your justice. The future king is a judge who judges all things with unfailing justice. He is a righteous king, a completely holy king. Yet he is a King who loves and has mercy.

In verses five through seven, we see the following: “May they fear you while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations! May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass” like showers that water the earth! In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more! As long as the sun shines, eternally. The psalmist tells us the future King has a kingdom that never ends. It is eternal.

The verses eight through eleven, another attribute appears: “May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth! May desert tribes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust! May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him! The psalmist wrote that the future king is a king for all countries. He will rule over everyone, and all kings will help him.

Verses 12-19 reveal a King of love and giving: “For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.” The new King is a redeemer of life. His people are precious to Him and he loves them, giving them new life.

Add it all up

If we pull the descriptions from these verses and compile them, we get this king. We see a king who is just. He is righteous or holy, morally right. This king is eternal; this king will rule forever like the shining sun and glowing moon. He is a king over kings, and his rule is over all nations, and he delivers to needy people. His life-redeeming actions save those from oppression and violence. This king of Psalm 72 is eternal, all-loving, holy, and all-just. I do not know about you, but that sounds like Jesus to me.

Throughout the Old Testament, the writers remind us that Salvation is through God. Jonah writes Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). God’s plan of Salvation is made possible through a sinless sufferer. Isaiah points this out in Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 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. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand, Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah

This passage in Isaiah is about Jesus; it describes Jesus, and it mirrors Jesus. “The Lord will crush him” is Jesus. “The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand, out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” That is Jesus and what He did for us.

Do You See Him Now

There are more and more examples of Jesus in the Old Testament. If we look at the Old Testament as something we do not need or no longer apply to us, we will wind up with a wrong view of the cross. God’s plan of redemption is Jesus, and God describes this savior through the Old Testament. Do not neglect the Old Testament. Read it and strive to understand Jesus through the Old Testament. You will have a greater understanding of Jesus and the cross.