Does the old testament point to Jesus?

When presenting a case, an advocate will explain how earlier ‘authorities’ should be applied, i.e. how this particular case fits with what’s gone before and with known principles; the closer the fit, the stronger the case.

In presenting his case for Jesus, John adopts the same approach. He is saying, ‘Look, Jesus hasn’t just come out of the blue – he is the one the Old Testament (that part of the Bible pre-dating Jesus’ birth) has been pointing to all along. Everything that God has been revealing to us over the past thousand-plus years, well, Jesus is the one who fulfils it all!’ Here are just a few examples:

At the start of Jesus’ ministry, we have John the Baptist quoting the words of the prophet Isaiah, written hundreds of years before: ‘Make straight the way for the Lord’. John the Baptist says he is preparing the way for the Lord, who is Jesus.

In chapter 2, Jesus causes a stir at the temple in Jerusalem, turning over the tables where greed and commercialisation were disrupting the true worship of God. In these actions, the followers of Jesus made the connection (verse 17) between Jesus’ actions and what was written by Israel’s greatest King, David, in a psalm a thousand years prior. 

Jesus later describes himself as the Good Shepherd. This reference evokes profound images from the Old Testament. David had written in another of his psalms ‘The Lord is my shepherd’, and to the prophet Ezekiel God had promised a merciful and just shepherd, greater than David, who would one day come to lead his people.

And then we have the ultimate aid to our understanding: the Jewish people experienced an amazing rescue when God liberated them from slavery in Egypt, and brought them into the promised land (as described in the Old Testament book of Exodus). Jesus’ death and resurrection would bring about an even more dramatic rescue.  He was going to rescue people from sin and death!