Is the Gospel in the Old Testament
Transcript
INTRO: Good afternoon and welcome back to the Sunday School Podcast, the pod all about digging deeper into the Bible using social, historical, and scientific context. I’m Sean Parker, and today we’re going to ask and hopefully answer the question, “Is the Gospel in the Old Testament?”
The term “Gospel” literally means good news. The first four books of the New Testament are known as the gospels. The “good news” represented in these books is the revelation of Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection.
Jesus’s perfect sacrifice would be the ultimate atonement for our sins, defeating satan and bringing about salvation for those who believe.
But, how long was this part of God’s plan? Is it possible that this was His plan all along? Stay tuned and find out in today’s episode of Sunday School with Sean.
(Transition)
Would you believe me if I told you the Gospel message is all over the first book of the Bible?
Genesis 3:15 says
15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
God is talking to Satan here. The offspring of woman possibly referring to Jesus' birth from the virgin Mary. “You will strike his heel” seemingly referring to Jesus’ crucifixion. While the crushing of the serpent’s head is a much more severe and permanent blow.
I see the gospel here, but there are many more examples to review. Our next one comes just 2 chapters later in Genesis. This one is pretty incredible, even if just a coincidence, though I don’t believe there are coincidences in the Bible.
Genesis 5 is the genealogy from Adam to Noah. It goes as follows:
Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah.
I’m going to give you their name meanings, and you will see something pretty neat when we put them all together.
Adam means “Man.” He was the first, so that’s pretty self-explanatory.
Seth means “appointed”. Eve said, “For God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.”
Enosh comes means “mortal” and comes from the root anash, which means “incurable or desperately wicked.”
Next comes Kenan. This name was hard to determine its meaning, but it likely means “possession.” Though some interpret it as sorrow.
After Kenan is Mahalalel. El means God, and Mahlal means blessed. So Mahalalel means blessed God.
Mahalalel’s son is Jared, which means “he descends” or “shall come down”
Enoch means “teaching”
Next is one you are most likely familiar with, and that is Methusaleh. Apparently Enoch was given a prophecy about his son’s life, so he named him appropriately. Methusaleh’s name comes from the roots muth and shalach, which means death and shall bring. Interestingly, Methusaleh’s death would be the year that would bring the great flood.
Next is Noah’s father Lamech, whose name means “to make low.” This could also mean despairing or debased.
Noah’s name means comfort.
When you put all of these name meanings together, using a small amount of poetic licensing, you get the following:
“Man (is) appointed mortal possession, (but) the blessed God shall come down teaching (that) his death shall bring the despairing comfort.”
Isn’t that a beautiful thing?
(Promo)
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(Transition)
The Passover written about in Exodus is a perfect reflection of the work Jesus performed on the cross. He was the lamb without blemish who was killed so that death would pass us over. Our death being eternal death and damnation.
If we look at the book of Ruth we can see the gospel at work. Ruth marries a jewish man, but soon becomes a widow. Her mother-in-law Naomi evangelizes her into the Jewish faith. She returns to Naomi’s homeland.
The story of Ruth is one of redemption. A kinsman-redeemer is the closest relative of a widow, whose duty it was to preserve the family name. Boaz would serve this purpose by marrying Ruth, thus saving her from poverty. Jesus is our ultimate redeemer, as he willingly paid the price for our salvation.
Interestingly, Ruth’s lineage would lead to the birth of king David and eventually the birth of Jesus.
The book of Isaiah is full of prophecy for the coming Messiah or anointed one. Isaiah 7:14 says
14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 53:3-7 says
3He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lordhas laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
The book of Daniel has some amazing prophecy about the gospel of Christ. Daniel 9:24-26 says
24“Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
25“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. 26After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing.
Pretty evident he was predicting the coming of Jesus and the redemptive work He would do.
Every book in the Old Testament ultimately points to Jesus. The gospel is apparent throughout the entire seamless story of the Bible. The story of God creating a perfect world, man rejecting God and bringing about the destruction of this perfect creation, and then God’s plan to win His creation back. The price has already been paid, and the victory already won. We need only make the choice to join the winning side.
Outro: As always, I hope you enjoyed this episode. If you did, don’t forget to leave a review in whatever player you use to listen to podcasts.
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Sources
https://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/44/
https://www.crossway.org/articles/the-gospel-in-ruth/
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/friend/1998/03/isaiah-prophesies-of-the-savior?lang=eng