030. Jesus Reveals What the Old Testament says about Him on the road to Emmaus

Lazarus

Cleopas, welcome to our home here in Bethany.
Jesus joined you and your companion on the road to Emmaus,
after he had risen from the dead, some time ago.
Tell my sister Mary and me about that.

Cleopas

With joy, Lazarus. At first, we did not recognize Jesus,
but our hearts burned within us when he told how Moses,
the Psalms and the prophets spoke of him.

Prompter & Echoes

The entire Old Testament!

Cleopas

In the beginning God said in Genesis,
“Let us make man in our image.” Notice the word “us.”
Our one God is three Persons. Jesus, along with God the Father
and God the Holy Spirit, created our world.

Lazarus

Tell me, Cleopas, did Eden’s Tree of Life point to Jesus,
who is the Vine of which we are branches?

Cleopas

Yes, Lazarus. Scripture also calls Christ the Final Adam,
a comparison by contrast.

Mary

Adam’s disobedience brought death to all;
Christ’s obedience brings life to all believers.
Right, Lazarus?

Lazarus

Yes, Mary. God told the serpent that tempted Eve
that he would wound the heel of the seed of the woman,
but the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.

Mary

Jesus was the only man born of a virgin; he was the seed of the woman,
and the rest of that prophecy came true at the cross.

Prompter & Echoes

Jesus, the serpent slayer!

Cleopas

Adam and Eve tried to hide their shame with fig leaves,
but only the blood of an innocent victim covers sin,
so God clothed them in animal skins, entailing shed blood.
This red thread of blood sacrifice runs throughout
the Old Testament.

Mary

God rejected Cain’s offering of grain, Cleopas,
because it had no blood;
but God was pleased with Abel’s offering from his flock.
Cain burned with envy against his brother Abel, and murdered him.

Cleopas

Yes. Later, Noah’s ark, like Jesus’ resurrection body,
gave refuge to the faithful;
we will rise in Christ as part of his eternal Body,
which is our ark; it will carry us to glory.

Mary

Later, God promised Abraham to bless all nations
through a descendant. Jesus is God’s blessing.

Prompter & Echoes

For all peoples!

Lazarus

God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son and heir Isaac
whom Abraham loved dearly, but at the last moment
God provided a sheep as a substitute,
just as Jesus the Lamb of God died in our place.

Cleopas

Isaac also pictured Jesus; his bride Rebecca came from afar by faith,
just as the Holy Spirit brings those who are far off to Christ.

Mary

Isaac’s son Jacob wrestled with the Angel of the Lord,
to get his blessing. Was it Jesus that he wrestled with, Cleopas?

Cleopas

Yes, Mary.
In Hebrew Angel of the Lord means Messenger of the Lord.
Among the three Persons who are God, only the Son has the role
of taking on flesh, not the Father nor the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the Angel of the Lord, when identified as God
and not a mere angel, was God’s supreme messenger Jesus.

Prompter & Echoes

Jesus, the living Word of God!

Lazarus

So it was Christ who spoke to Hagar, Moses and others,
and whom Gideon saw working wonders.
He also protected Daniel’s friends from the flames.

Cleopas

Jesus said all the Scriptures spoke of him, Lazarus,
so we are only scratching the surface.
Before Jacob died, he prophesied that the everlasting ruler
of God’s people would come from the tribe of Judah.

Prompter & Echoes

That was Jesus!

Cleopas

Jacob’s son Joseph pictured Christ in many ways:
loved above all others by his father, rejected by his brothers,
falsely accused and condemned although innocent,
raised from a dungeon to sit at the sovereign’s right hand,
interceded for his brothers
and provided what they needed to live.

Prompter & Echoes

Jesus, our provider!

Lazarus

Did Moses picture Christ in several ways also, Cleopas?

Cleopas

Yes, Lazarus.
Moses was Christ’s major counterpart in the Old Testament;
Moses did many things under the earthly covenant of Law
that paralleled Jesus’ works under the heavenly covenant of grace.

Mary

God spared baby Moses, as he did baby Jesus,
when an evil king gave orders to kill the babies.

Cleopas

Yes, and Moses left a position of power and wealth
to join his own people, although they were slaves.
Moses was zealous for justice, a caring shepherd,
and God’s spokesman to establish his covenant.

Lazarus

The Covenant of Law came by Moses;
the Covenant of Grace comes by Jesus.
Moses said another prophet like him would arrive,
whom God’s people would heed.

Mary

Also, Moses’ first miracle was to turn water to blood, a curse.
But Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water to wine, a blessing.

Cleopas

The faithful smeared the Passover Lamb’s blood by their doors,
so the death Angel would pass over when he saw the blood.
He killed the firstborn sons throughout Egypt
where there was no blood.

Prompter & Echoes

Jesus, our life-saving Passover lamb!

Mary

Then Moses led God’s people out of slavery and death into freedom,
just as Christ leads us out of sin and death into freedom and life!

Lazarus

A pillar of fire by night and of cloud by day led God’s people to safety; Jesus is our guiding light, showing our only way to eternal freedom.

Prompter & Echoes

Light of the World!

Mary

God had both Moses and Christ give a form of life-saving bread.
Moses gave manna from heaven for the starving Israelites,
Christ gives his own flesh for believers.

Cleopas

Moses lifted up a serpent on a pole in the desert.
Those whom snakes had bitten saw it and God healed them.
Jesus became sin for us and hung from a cross for us to see
and have our sin cleansed. We all need his healing,
as the old serpent has bitten all of us.

Mary

Moses also interceded for his people
when they deserved death, Cleopas.

Cleopas

Yes. The tabernacle and its furnishings,
sacrifices and ceremonies all pointed to Jesus.
It would take hours to describe them.

Lazarus

Yom Kippur, the annual Day of Atonement,
pictures Jesus, our High Priest in several ways.
Israel’s High Priest took sacrificial blood
into God’s presence in the Most Holy Place
to atone for the sins of the people;
this foretold how Jesus would ascend to God on high,
to intercede for sinners, having shed his blood for us.

Prompter & Echoes

Jesus, our perfect High Priest!

Cleopas

The golden Ark of the Covenant in the most Most Holy Place
pictured Jesus. It held God’s Law in its heart,
the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments.
That Ark of the Covenant was the Old Testament’s “Emmanuel,”
which means God with us. The glory of God shone visibly over it,
just as Jesus dwells among men now, and shines in our hearts.

Lazarus

The Philistines believed the ark was the God of Israel.
They gloated when they captured it and put it Dagon’s temple.
Dagon the fish god symbolized Satan;
Dagon’s statue could not keep the ark in Dagon’s den.
On the third day Dagon fell and his head broke off,
just as Jesus rose on the third day, breaking Satan’s power.

Cleopas

Yes. God plagued the Philistines,
and they sent the ark away on a cart;
it had no driver, but God led them back to the ark’s home.

Mary

The fish that God made to swallow Jonah
could not hold him in its belly.
It was like the Philistine god Dagon:
on the third day, it vomited Jonah up alive.
This all foresaw Jesus dying and rising on the third day.

Cleopas

The exploits of Joshua the conqueror, and of Israel’s judges,
prefigured Jesus’ work, such as Gideon’s strength through weakness, Samuel’s discernment,
and Samson defeating God’s enemies by his own death.

Prompter & Echoes

Jesus, God’s warrior!

Lazarus

Later, did some Old Testament kings picture Christ, Cleopas?

Cleopas

Yes Lazarus, especially David.
People often called Jesus “son of David.”
Both were born in Bethlehem; both were God’s anointed,
and both slew a giant. Jesus’ giant was the mighty archangel Satan,
who had fallen from heaven.

Lazarus

David and Jesus were both falsely treated as criminals;
friends turned against them, both loved God’s house passionately;
both brought peace, unity, justice and safety from enemies’ attacks.

Prompter & Echoes

Jesus, King of Kings!

Mary

David’s Psalms foretold his crucifixion vividly,
and also his resurrection.

Cleopas

For sure, Mary!
Also, God empowered both Elijah and Elisha
to do marvels that Jesus would do in a similar but greater way:
healing lepers, raising the dead, providing food miraculously
and resisting tyrants.

Lazarus

Isaiah foretold in detail Jesus’ willing death in the place of us sinners.

Mary

Jeremiah wept over Jerusalem, as Jesus did.

Cleopas

Ezekiel foresaw a Prince, a son of David, who would make
an everlasting covenant of peace with God’s people,
dwell among them, and be their God.

Lazarus

Daniel foretold the time of Messiah’s coming,
and that he would be cut off for the sake of his people.

Mary

Job knew he would see his Redeemer someday.
My heart’s greatest desire is to see Jesus face to face in glory.

Prompter & Echoes

Jesus, heaven’s greatest joy!