Jesus in the Old Testament 2: Jesus and Creation

Jesus and Creation

Thesis: Jesus is the God of creation.  While this is hinted at in the original text, it is fully revealed in the New Testament. Practically for us, as followers of Jesus, this means that there is nothing that is outside of His ability to affect for His glory and our good. He created in the past and is creating in us a “new creature.”

1. Nutshell with Kids (<5min)
1. Has anyone been somewhere really cool?  What is your favorite place?
2. What are some of your favorite animals? 
3. Hebrews 1:1-3
1. What are some of the things that Jesus is said to have done in this passage?
2. Why do you think that it is important that Jesus is mentioned as our creator?
3. If Jesus made everything, is there anything He can’t do?  Is there any problem He can’t solve?
4. Jesus made all of the amazing things you’ve ever seen or ever will see.  He made it all, and He can do anything with it!  You can trust Him in everything. 
5. He made you, too, and He is still working on making you exactly who he wants you to be.
2. Deeper (30 min)
1. Genesis 1
1. Eloheim, the plural of “god,” El.

a)    Used elsewhere to denote a council or collection of divine beings, real or imagined (Ex 20:23; Ps 8:6).

b)    However, when referring to the God of the Bible, always with singular verbs and pronouns (Bara, “He created”)

c)    Debate as to whether this is a preview of the doctrine of the Trinity or an expression of the “plural of majesty.”

(1)  All the members of the Trinity are referred to independently with the singular “El.”  So plurality here may be proto-trinitarian.

(a)  Father Gen 14:18

(b)  Son Isa 7:14

(c)  Spirit Job 33:4

(2)  Earliest uses of the plural of majesty outside of the Bible are much later and tend to be European before they are Near-Eastern. 

d)    Less debated are the “us” pronouns in Gen 1:26 and 3:22.  This is definitely not a majestic plural. Jews: a council of the angels.

2. Creation is a correction of chaos

a)    To the modern western thinker, the opposite of creation is nothingness (why is there something rather than nothing?)

b)    To the Semitic mind, the opposite of creation is chaos (vs 1)

(1)  Darkness and deep water

(2)  Formless and void

c)    Creation is about creating the form (days 1-3) and filling the void (days -6).

d)    Several of these images used in Psalm 30:4, in reference to God and God’s son.

e)    Interestingly, in the New Heavens and the New Earth, there will be no hint of this chaos Rev 21.

(1)  No seas: vs 1

(2)  No darkness: vs 25

(3)  Highly ordered form vs11-21

(4)  Highly populated: vs 24-27

3. Creation is accomplished through the spoken word of God.

a)    Gen 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26

b)    Heb 11:3

c)    Jesus is the word of God John 1:1-5, 14.

d)    While it is a stretch, based only on the text of Gen 1, to say that Jesus is the intention of “God said,” the NT helps us clarify.

2. NT Clarifications
1. John 1:1-5, 14

a)    “With God” a separate person

b)    “Was God” an identical essence.

c)    Vs 3: “All things created” Explicitly stated.  Nothing created outside of His agency.

d)    Vs 4: He is the source of life (Days 3-6).

2. Col 1:15-17

a)    Nothing made apart from Him

b)    Physical world and heavenly, ranks of angels.

c)    He is the sustainer of all creation.

3. Heb 1:1-3

a)    Creator and Sustainer

b)    Redemption tied to his role as creator.

3. Jesus creating in miracles
1. Feeding of the 5,000 and 3,000 Matt 14:13-21

a)    A small amount of matter was magnified into much more.

b)    Creation out of nothing.

2. Water into wine John 2:1-11

a)    Not just a miracle of accelerating natural process. Water doesn’t become wine. Grape juice and yeast do.

b)    Creation of new compounds where they did not exist.

3. Raising Jairus’ daughter Luke 8:40-42, 44-56 (and Lazarus).

a)    Creation of life where there was not life.

b)    Reminiscent of the creation of Adam.

4. Jesus controlling natural processes
1. Calming the storm (twice) Mark 4:35-31

a)    Demonstration of his control of nature.

b)    Disciples get it!

2. Walking on water Matt 14:22-33

a)    He triumphs over the watery chaos of creation (storm)

b)    He brings peace in the midst of the storm while standing in the middle of it with his people.

5. Application for us: Nothing is outside the power of God.
1. Christ created order out of chaos “in the beginning,” and he is still in the process of doing so.
2. Nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God! Rom 8:38-39
3. There will come a time when all the hardship of this life is over, when sin, death, and all the primordial chaos is finally done away with. Rev 21-22
4. When hardship comes, run to the only one who can overcome anything and create the peace that we cannot comprehend.

a)    Prov 18:10

b)    Phil 4:7

Follow-Up Questions:

1. Why is it important to understand Jesus as the creator with regard to:
1. His identity as God?
2. His ability to do anything?
3. His ability to save us from any danger, hardship?
4. His ability to save us from our sin?
2. What are some things that we need to trust Jesus with in our lives?
3. Spend a moment in prayer as a group/family, giving these things to Jesus and asking Him to exercise His power as creator over them.

Jesus in the Old Testament 01: Permission to Proceed

Jesus in the OT 1: “Permission to Proceed”

Thesis: Jesus Himself taught that the OT was about Him in its theology and contained Him in its History. His example is our template as we go forward in this study.

You can watch a video of the lesson here.  It was my first attempt at live-streaming, and it shows.  The next one will be better!

1. Nutshell: <5 min, with kids
1. The Bible is a big book! Who can tell me who it’s about?
2. There are lots of people talked about in the Bible, but it’s not about any of them.  It’s all about Jesus.
1. John 5:39-40, 45-47.
2. If we study the Bible and forget that it’s all about Jesus, it does us no good!
3. People can study the Bible without giving their lives to Jesus.  If they do, it doesn’t help them at all. 
4. Every time you read the Bible or hear a story, ask yourself, “what does this have to do with Jesus?” He’s in there somewhere.
2. Deeper
1. Do we have permission to look for Jesus in the OT?
1. On to something or on something?
2. Authorial Intent: Tolkien vs. Lewis
2. Luke 24: 13-35
1. Setting: Day of resurrection.

a)    After Women’s discovery, Peter and John’s return to the empty tomb.  Perhaps Mary Magdalene's encounter is happening as they are getting ready to leave. Nobody has yet seen the Lord.

b)    Emmaus: Four possible towns, most probable is El-Qubeibeh

(1)  A Roman road passes by from Jerusalem, 7 miles away.

(2)  Crusaders in 1099 found an old Roman fort named Castellum Emmaus there.  There has been a Christian presence there ever since, Franciscan and Lutheran.

2. Cleopas, Clopas, Alpheus, Brother of Joseph (Eusebius and Hegesipuus, AD 180). And wife?  Returning to Emmaus after being in Jerusalem for Passover and lingering with disciples.  If so, then Cleopas’s wife has had an angelic visitation, and Cleopas has disregarded his wife’s story.
3. Vs 15.  Cleopas and his wife were “discussing,” but the verb συζητεῖν can also mean “disputing.”  Is it possible that they were having it out about the status of Jesus’ resurrection?  She is insisting that the angel told her that Jesus was alive, and he was telling her that she was out of her mind?
4. Jesus appears to his disciples (family?), but they do not recognize him. 

a)    Cf John 20:14-15; 21:4

b)    People don’t recognize Jesus himself post-resurrection.

5. Vs 17 He uses a milder word to describe their conversation, ἀντιβάλλετε “to throw back and forth.”
6. Vs 18. Cleopas’ response is both sad (gloomy) and incredulous.  Demonstrative use of ἡμέραις ταύταις, “this very day!?” They had a degree of faith and hope, but it has been dashed by his crucifixion.
7. Vs 21. “Redeem Israel.” 

a)    OT hope of Messiah (Ps 130:8; Isa 59:20)

b)    Luke frames his work with the hope of the redemption of Israel (cf Luke 1: 16, 54, 68)

c)    Even the Apostles, after the resurrection, got hung up on Jesus’ political revolution (Acts 1:6). 

d)    They missed the distinction between the first and second advents of Christ.

8. They had reason to believe

a)    Angelic testimony

b)    Scriptural prophecy (although not understood)

c)    Eyewitness accounts, but they didn’t believe the Women

d)    Their problem was a heart issue.  They didn’t believe, which is what Jesus gets to.

9. Jesus’ response, the ALLs of vs 25-27.

a)    They are not chided for not believing the women.  Not disciplined for doubting the angels.  They should have known and believed the scriptures.

b)    All the prophets (vs 25)

c)    Moses and All the prophets (vs 27)

d)    All the scriptures (vs 27)

e)    Everything in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms (vs 44)

10. “The greatest sermon never recorded” in vs 27!  It’s all about Jesus.
11. They finally saw him, in vs 31, in the breaking of bread.

a)    It was still Passover, the Festival of Unleavened bread (Sunday, day 3 of Passover that year). They would only be eating unleavened bread that night.

b)    It would have looked and sounded just like the celebration of the Passover over which Jesus presided on Thursday night. Luke 22:19).

c)    Their eyes were opened when they remembered what Jesus had said then and subsequently accomplished, in light of Jesus’s sermon on the road.

12. Veiled and Opened:

a)    Closed eyes (vs 16) and eyes were opened (vs31) passive voice.  They had nothing to do with their eyes not recognizing Jesus. The action lies outside them. (Lk 9:45; 18:34)

b)    Regarding the law (2 Cor 3:12-16; Rom 11:25)

c)    Spiritual eyes opened to physical realities (Num 2:31; 2 Kings 6:17)

d)    Only through the action of God can minds be opened (vs 32, Matt 13:13; Mart 4:12; Luke 8:10; 1 Cor 2:6-16; John 6:44)

e)    Once the eyes are opened, they understand (vs 31-32, vs 44-46). Recognition is active, in contrast to the passiveness of their eyes being opened or closed. 

3. A quick tour of all of the sermons in Acts reveals that the early church always preached based on the OT sermons, which spoke clearly enough about Messiah to make them accountable and lead to a desire for repentance.
4. The scriptures from which the HS used the apostles to draw in their own writing were only ever OT scriptures.  These had rich teachings about Christ latent in them.
1. The prophets and angels have longed to understand scripture this way: 1 Pet 1:10-12
2. Romans begins and ends with this message

a)    Rom 1:1-3

b)    Rom 16:25-27

3. The cannon closes with this message: Rev 19:10
4. Where’s Waldo parallel. 
1. You have to know what Waldo look like in order to find him in the pictures.
2. We who know Christ can look through the OT scriptures and find him there, while others, who don’t know Him, will not.
5. Where we’re going from here:
1. We have the permission of the Grand Author and Subject of all scripture to read him in everywhere that it shows itself as appropriate to do so. Not fantastically, but where there is literary merit or theological importance that can be drawn from the act.
2. We can follow NT authors to specific examples of Christ in the OT and use their Holy-Spirit inspired interpretation to guide our own.
3. Three main categories of Christ-in-the OT that we will see:

a)    Allegory or “type”: Something or someone in the narrative makes us think of Christ’s life, person, teaching, or mission and can be seen to cast a new interpretive light on both the OT story and the aspect of Christ it points to:

(1)  The Ark in the flood

(2)  The Bronze Serpent

(3)  The Rock that is struck

b)    Prophecy: Direct, concrete, statements that literally point to a verifiably Christological truth.  These are either:

(1)  About his first advent, and therefore already fulfilled

(2)  About his second advent, and therefore yet-future.

c)    Christophanies: Where Christ himself shows up in a pre-incarnational manifestation and interacts with men.

(1)  Angel of the Lord

(2)  The “Man” who speaks to Abram about Isaac and the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah.

(3)  Melchizedek?

4. Rather than dealing with these OT elements topically, we will deal with them chronologically, starting next week in Gen 1.

Wrap-Up Questions: In the next 10 minutes, discuss in Family units or small groups.

1. Before tonight, how would you have described how you looked at the Old Testament?
2. How does Jesus’ claim that all of scripture is about Him change the way you see the Old Testament?
3. Are there passages that you have skipped or not enjoyed reading because you thought that they were not applicable to you?  If so, how might you view these parts of the Bible in light of tonight’s teaching?
4. In both passages we looked at tonight, Jesus was upset at people for not believing the entire Bible. Are there any parts of the Bible that you think are hard to believe or understand?  If so, what does tonight’s lesson do to your view of those parts of scripture?
5. Fathers/Group Leaders: Lead your group in a short prayer asking God to open your minds to the truths of his Word in general and any difficult passages in particular.