People sometimes say as a result of their Bible reading (me for one:), that the God of the Old Testament seems different from the God of the New Testament. Is that really true? Well, of course not, we know it's not really true, but many of us experience this disconnect. I won't say that I've got this one figured out (not by a long shot). But, God has been giving me some wonderful "Ah ha!" moments lately. Both, as part of my general Bible reading, and while reading for a class I'm currently taking, I have happened upon several New Testament scriptural texts that point back to the Old Testament and categorically declare that Jesus was there! Here are a few of them...
1 Corinthians 10:4
"For they all drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them,.."
Hebrews 11:26
"...He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt."
Jude, verse 5
"Jesus, who saved a people..."
Nothing terribly surprising there. Oh! But I left out the context (sneaky, eh?). Let's take a little closer look at those texts...
Author: The Apostle Paul
1 Corinthians 10:1-5
"1 For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness."
Apparently, New Testament writer, the Apostle Paul, saw Jesus as the "spiritual drink" that was nourishing the hearts of the people of Israel as they were in the wilderness.
Author: Unknown (perhaps Paul, or an associate of Paul's)
Hebrews 11:24-26
"24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward."
The New Testament writer of the book of Hebrews clearly saw Christ (meaning "Messiah," whom we know to be Jesus) as the God Moses was obeying when he chose to live as an Israelite.
Author: Jude (brother of James and Jesus)
Jude, verse 5
"3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe."
New Testament writer, Jude, brother of James and step-brother of our Lord Jesus, once he came to see his step-brother as the Christ (Messiah) viewed the God of the entirety of the Old Testament as non other than Jesus! In other words, there was no differentiation in Jude's mind between Jesus as the Son of God, and the God he grew up knowing about from the Scriptures he was familiar with.
Additionally, the above passage from Jude is quite sobering when you consider the admonishment it presents to the believers who were the recipients of the letter. Some people had crept into their fellowship and were perverting the grace of God into a license to live in sensuality. A few verses later Jude identifies the sins specifically as "sexual immorality" and "unnatural desire" (vs 7). What is sobering is that Jude declares that Jesus punished the people who came out of Egypt who did not believe (those who died in the Wilderness and did not enter the Promised Land) (vs 5), that Jesus put rebellious angels into "eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day" (vs 6), and that Jesus brought Sodom and Gomorrah under "a punishment of eternal fire" (vs 7) (and that means they are sill burning).
We know that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were of "sexual immorality" and "unnatural desire." That is, they were engaging in every form of sexual perversion - the same sins that we see running rampant in the World today, and increasingly so in our own United States of America. If people are under an the notion that Jesus is just that "graceful and loving Savior" and will not bring such sins under wrath, they are living in an illusion. Jesus has already demonstrated he will bring unbelief in God, rebellion against God, and sexual immorality under his wrath - he has done it before, and he will do it again. Colossions 3:5-6 instructs believers to "put to death" sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, and goes on to say "On account of these the wrath of God is coming."
It is a sobering word that Jude and Paul (author of Colossians) are bringing to believers in Jesus Christ. Those who make a willing practice of such behaviors cannot reasonably claim to be Christians, and are destined to come under the wrath of God, which is the wrath of Jesus.
Lest I end on such a heavy note, let me try to bring some scripturally-based cheer back into the discussion that both celebrates Christmas and makes the tie-in between Jesus and the God of the Old Testament.
Isaiah 9:6
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
"A child is born," that would be Jesus in the manger. "A son is given," that would be Jesus, Son of God. And, who is this Jesus, Son of God? Why, he is "Mighty God." No less. I expect to be reading the Old Testament a bit differently from now on :-)