09-CHAPTER V THE TESTIMONY TO CHRIST OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
CHAPTER V THE TESTIMONY TO CHRIST OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Jesus Christ is the innermost centre of the whole divine counsel of salvation. Everything which came to pass before Him took place with a view to His coming: everything in the history of the kingdom of God which is later than His coming is wrought in His name. In the centre of His saving work stands the Cross. By the sacrifice of His life the Crucified paid the purchase price of redemption:"ye were bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:20). The Surpassing Glory of the New Testament Purchase Price
How greatly this purchase price surpasses all the world’s standards and reckonings! "Ye know that ye were not redeemed with perishable silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ as of a guiltless and unspotted lamb . . . foreseen before the foundation of the world . . . raised by God from the dead, Who granted to Him glory" (1 Peter 1:18-21).
Here Peter allows us to see five different facts:
All other payment is temporal, but the purchase of Golgotha is eternal. All money—silver and gold—had its beginning with the creation of the world; but we are purchased with the blood of a lamb "chosen before the foundation of the world."
All other payment is earthly, but the purchase price of Golgotha is heavenly. The metals, the common means of payment in general business life, come out of the earth, but Christ, the Son of the living God, came out of heaven. As He left heaven He said:"a body hast Thou prepared for Me . . . that I may do Thy will, O God". By this will we are now sanctified "through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:5-10).
All other payment is human, but the purchase price of Golgotha is divine. In the mercantile life of the earth all values are settled by human agreement. Therefore there can be depreciation of the means of payment, inflation, change of values, indeed, departure from the gold standard, and it is men who determine the degree of these changes. Bt the purchase price of Golgotha derives its glory, its value, from God. It is God Who has chosen and glorified this Lamb with whose precious blood we are purchased.
All other means of payment are unclean but the purchase price of Golgotha is holy. It is the blood "of a guiltless and unspotted lamb." To all earthly money there cleaves always some history of sin; if perhaps not in every case a sin of the present possessor, yet perhaps some sin of a former owner, or at least from the whole contact of the Mammon service of this world (Luke 16:9). But Jesus is holy. He, the Holy One, gave His life for-us, the unholy, and now we, purchased through His blood, are privileged to be transferred into the world of purity and holiness. And finally:
All other means of payment have an end but the purchase price of Golgotha is of endless efficacy. In the destruction of the world, in the burning of the elements, all silver and gold will be at last dissolved (2 Peter 3:10). But Jesus in the glory, as the Lamb on the throne bearing the wound-marks of His love, will in all the endless ages be the central object of the praise and thanksgiving and worship of all the glorified (Revelation 5:1-14).
To lead to this centre of salvation was the task and meaning of the Old Testament. The Old Testament exists for the New Testament. Christ Himself is the goal and soul of the pre- Christian historical revelation. He is the Goal of Old Testament history; the meaning of the Old Testament worship of God; the fulfillment of Old Testament Messianic prophecy; already in Old Testament times the continually present and acting God in the whole Old Testament revelation.
Christ the Goal of the Old Testament Historical Revelation
Especially since Abraham the pre-Christian revelation was planned to find its goal in Christ. "Abraham believed the Lord, and this He reckoned unto him to righteousness " (Genesis 15:6). Abraham is the "father of all believers" (Romans 4:11-12). Already, before circumcision, and so before any "religious work," he received the sentence of justification by the free grace of God (Romans 4:10-12). He reckoned that God is able to create life out of death (Romans 4:17-25; Genesis 22:5; comp. Hebrews 11:8-19). He expected the coming " Seed" in Whom would be fulfilled all the promises given to him. He expected the city which has foundations, of which God is the Creator and Builder (Hebrews 11:10). Thus Abraham’s faith was a faith on the free grace of salvation, on the resurrection power of God, on the coming Redeemer of the world, on the glorious goal of final perfection.
All this is fulfilled in Christ. He procured the free salvation; He lives as the Risen One; He is the Savior of the world; He guides His own to the heavenly city of God (Revelation 21:14, Revelation 21:27). Thus Christ was the goal of Abraham’s faith and of the promises given in God’s covenant with him:"Abraham saw My day and was glad" (John 8:56).
Four hundred years later God gave the Law. Through Moses He revealed His holy will, and now what holiness is and what sin is was more clearly revealed than ever before. "Through law comes knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7).
Here, however, the reason for this exposing of man’s failure was not so much that the sinner might be smitten and humbled, but rather that he might see his real state and come to repentance. Only so could his terrible need be taken at the root and by Christ, as the Substitute and Sin-bearer, be annulled and removed (Hebrews 9:26). Thus the Law becomes our "tutor unto Christ" (Galatians 3:24), and it becomes clear that even as Christ is the goal of the covenant with Abraham, so is He of the Mosiac covenant. By reason of all this He is the goal of both, Abraham and Moses, and thus the uniting goal of the whole Old Testament history of revelation in its two-fold consummation and harmony.
Principally is Christ the meaning of the Temple. In the Old Testament divine service a bridge was made by which the sinner, in spite of his helplessness and guilt, might pass into a measure of fellowship with God. This was effected through the sacrifice, the central act in Tabernacle and Temple.
Christ the Meaning of the Old Testament Divine Service
All the calling of the Old Testament priests, all holy anointings and official garments, all arrangements and appointments, all places and vessels, all acts in forecourt, holy place, and Most Holy Place, all festivals, Sabbaths and sabbatical years, all served the one God-intended goal that God and man might "come together" (Exodus 25:22), and man be received into the enjoyment of His covenant grace. To effect this sin must be treated with full seriousness and justice. But deed, however, can only be cancelled by deed, history only by history, actual sin only through actual atonement. This is the meaning of the Old Testament sacrifice of blood. In it are declared typically the basic truths of the sin Savior of man, the holiness of God, the substitution through holy atonement, the necessity of personal faith, the union of the sinner with the sacrifice (the sacrificial meal), and, on the ground of all this, the gift of the blessed assurance of the forgiveness of sins (Psalms 32:1-2). But in this its most significant central act the Old Testament Divine service became a type of the Cross. For only as the "lamb" of God has Christ solved the question of sin, only as the Crucified is He the Bringer of salvation, only as the Substitute is He Immanuel, " God with us." But because this saving act on Golgotha is so marvellously unique, so astonishing, so completely imcomprehensible, God, in the history of salvation, gave a preparatory school a thousand years long, a prophetic picture-book, a living exhibition, and the millions of sacrifices which in the forecourts of Tabernacle and Temple must lose their lives became a testimony repeated millions of times to the one sacrifice of the Son of God, Who through the offering of Himself once for all has made perfect for ever those who believe on Him and who through Him become sanctified (Hebrews 10:10, Hebrews 10:14).
Without this application to Christ as their goal all the Old Testament temple sacrifices were unreal, indeed, horrible; but in Christ they acquire a redemptive significance reaching into eternity. Christ is the meaning of the Old Testament worship of God.
Thus all the institutions and arrangements of the Old Testament have their goal in a Person. The moral laws reveal the necessity of His redeeming work; the ordinances of Divine worship show its nature and manner. He must come, for otherwise everything falls under sentence of death; but when He comes it is as the "Lamb of God," for only so has His appearing redeeming significance.
Concerning this the Old Testament speaks not only of the necessity of faith, but quite as clearly it indicates the expectation of faith. He will come. This is the purport of that wonderful series of God-given oracles which we call the Messianic prophecies of Israel.
Christ the fulfillment of Messianic Prophecy As a scarlet thread the announcement of the world’s Redeemer runs throughout the pre-Christian revealed history. The circles become ever narrower, the specializing proceeds ever more distinctly. The Person of the Redeemer and His work, His deity and His humanity, His home town and time, His first and His second comings, His sufferings and the consequent glory, together with intimation of an interval and waiting time between His first and second appearings—this all is like a God-given beautifully colored mosaic, or like concentric circles, or a pyramid ascending to its apex.
According to plan this rising to the summit moves forward in the course of the millenniums. There is first declared what must come to pass; then it is worked out ever more clearly who will complete it. Thus it passes from the general to the particular, from the matter to the Person, from office to the Bearer of the office, from expectation of Messiah (Anointed One, "Christ") to Jesus of Nazareth.
He comes out of mankind (Genesis 3:15); from the race of Shem (Genesis 9:26); out of Abraham’s seed (Genesis 12:1-3); out of the royal tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10); from the family of David (Isaiah 11:1; 1 Chronicles 17:11). His home is in Bethlehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2). He comes first in simplicity and lowliness, but then will be exalted to the throne of God, thenceforward waiting till all His enemies are set as a footstool for His feet (Psalms 110:1).
Then He enters upon His royal rule. Israel is renewed (Ezekiel 36:25-27), the nations are blessed (Isaiah 2:1-5; Isaiah 19:24-25), Nature rejoices (Isaiah 55:12-13; Hosea 2:21-22), and finally there is a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22). The Suffering Servant of God inIsaiah 53:1-12 But as in the Temple worship, so here in Messianic prophecy, there stands as the centre of the whole the expectation of His work of atonement. Brightly there beams forth from Isaiah 53:1-12 (the most wonderful prophecy of the whole Old Testament) the picture of the Redeemer, the suffering Servant of God as the Lamb of God.
Here shine four chief truths, each of them expressed in three verses: the fact of his suffering —He has suffered: Isaiah 53:1-3; the meaning of His sufferings—He has suffered as a substitute: Isaiah 53:4-6; the manner of His sufferings —He has suffered patiently: Isaiah 53:7-9; the victory of His sufferings —He has suffered for the salvation of the world, Isaiah 53:10-12. This is the Christ of the Old Testament, the God-anointed Prophet, Priest, and King, consciously awaited by Israel, unconsciously longed for by the nations. But in all this Christ is not only the Coming One but also, in that Old Testament time, is already the actually present One.
Christ is in pre-Christian Times the Present and Acting God
It was the Spirit of Christ Who was in the Old Testament prophets (1 Pet. i:n). It was His glory that Isaiah saw when he was honored at his call to see the throne of Jehovah of hosts, the thrice holy One (John 12:41; Isaiah 6:1-3). Christ was the Rock which journeyed with Israel in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:4). He was the Angel of Jehovah Who revealed Himself as early as the time of Abraham (Genesis 16:7), the Angel of the Presence (Isaiah 63:9) the Angel of the Covenant (Malachi 3:1), who already in the Old Testament came forth mysteriously, so that now He was addressed and worshipped as Jehovah, but now distinguished from Jehovah (Exodus 3:2, with ver. 6:Genesis 22:11 with 1; 16:13 with 7; Judges 6:22 with 24).
It is in the New Testament that this mystery is first clearly opened. It belongs to the mystery of the trinity yet unity of the Divine essence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament is Jehovah-Jesus, the God from God yet in God, the eternal Son, the Word, Who in the beginning, Himself being without beginning, was with God and of like essence with Him (John 1:1).
Therefore the Old Testament Word of God was a self-testimony of the coming Christ. The Lord is not only the theme and goal but the Author and supporting Element of the whole Old Testament revelation. The Old Testament entire is a " word of Christ." Christ as God-Redeemer is both acting in the Old Covenant and expected under the Old Covenant.
Living Saving Faith and Jesus Christ
Thus is He the object of all faith, under both the Old and New Testaments. Attitude to Him determines all salvation for time and eternity. In the New Testament the word "faith" is associated with the Person of Jesus Christ in a fourfold manner.
We believe on Him, literally "into" Him (Gr. eis). This means that He is the object of our faith, its living goal, its magnet. Faith is always in motion towards Him. Although we have already come we are at the same time ever coming.1 In faith there is nothing static, but a dynamic. Each grace is a living movement granted to us by God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the living magnetic centre who draws us into His fellowship by His word and His Spirit.
We believe in Him (Colossians 1:4). Here a different Greek word is used which is employed to describe a determined place.2 Christ is the sphere of our spiritual life. He surrounds us on all sides. We are in Him. A Christian is a man "/« Christ." He experiences the blessed truth, "I in them and they in Me" (John 15:1-7). He not only believes on Him and into Him: he practices his faith and the life of faith in Him. He lives and dwells in Him. Christ is our fortress of salvation, our castle, our dwelling-place, our element. What the water is for the life of the fish and the air is for man, that Christ is to our soul. He is in us and around us. He irradiates us as the sun. The sun is in heaven; yet on cloudless days we on earth are likewise "in" the sun, "in" the sunshine. Thus Christ Who dwells in heaven is at the same time here on earth flooding our being with light.
We believe upon Him. This also is a New Testament expression. "Believe upon the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house", so runs literally the well-known word of the apostle to the jailer at Philippi (Acts 16:31). Under the influence of a psalm and a prophecy which speak of the Messianic "corner-stone" and "foundation" (Psalms 118:22; Isaiah 28:16), Christ is described as the foundation of our life of faith "upon" (Gr. ept) Whom we believe (1 Peter 2:6; Romans 10:11). "No other foundation can anyone lay apart from that which is laid, Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). It is upon this eternal foundation that, in the power of the Spirit of God, we build the structure of faith. And finally:
We believe Him. Paul said, "I know Himwhom I have believed" (2 Timothy 1:12). Here in the original language of the New Testament the word "faith" is joined to the dative case of the person trusted; "I know who He is to whom I have given my confidence" (placed my trust). Christ is not only the goal and the sphere, not only the supporting basis of our faith, but He is theperson to whom our faith refers and in whom personally it centres.
He himself loves us. There is a secret but wonderfully strong bond that binds together Him and me, His great divine "I" and my small human "I". I am permitted to trust Himself. He stands before me as a person, and I stand before Him as a person. Jesus Himself is my happiness. He is my joy, my helper, my strength. He is my friend and counselor. He knows all things most clearly, and He can do all things for the best.
I hearken to Him. I believe that He intends my good. I hold that His word and His plan is always wise. I do what He says. This means in truth that I believe—Him. This is the New Testament faith in Christ. He was similarly the goal of the preceding Divine revelation of the old covenant. Thus in experience of Christ-Jehovah-Jesus there is revealed the oneness of both Testaments: the prophetic testimony to Christ of the Old Testament and the experience of Christ of the New Testament.
Notes 1Comp. 1 Peter 2:4 :"to whom coming".
2In Colossians 1:4 the Greek word en is employed, not eis. En with the dative case does not, like eis, answer the question "whither?" but the question "where?"