Lesson 7: Christ as the Key
Christ and Interpreting the OT
In his article, “Where is Jesus in the OT?”, Glen Scrivener recounts a story that reminds us how hard it can be to interpret the OT with Christ as the key:
Ten years ago, I was leading a feedback group for young preachers. A youth pastor gave an exposition of Judges 14 for us to critique. At the very end, he spoke of “another Savior who came to deliver his people eternally.” He didn’t make anything of the point, and he didn’t mention the name “Jesus,” but he included the sentence. During the feedback session, I asked him, “Why did you include that line at the end?” In a flash, another student answered with a line I’ve never forgotten: “Because we’re supposed to.” The whole room groaned its approval. Everyone felt the same obligation. None of these preachers in training was sure why they ought to “shift gears to Jesus,” but apparently there was a rule. I see this everywhere among Christians. We feel we ought to view the Old Testament as Christian Scripture, but we’re not quite sure why or how. It seems like such a crunch of gears. But is it?
Well, we certainly won’t find Jesus without the Spirit-provided commitment to read with Christ as the key nor without the Spirit-empowered labor and skill to uncover him there. But we must also understand that while all Scripture speaks about Jesus, it speaks about Jesus in various ways. Yes, the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible, but he did so through the prophets and the apostles. We must allow the forms of human language and literature to guide us as we interpret. Both Proverbs and Ruth reveal Christ. But they do so differently. How, then, should we read such diverse writings with Christ as the key?
In his article, Scrivener provides a simple paradigm for reading the OT with Christ as the key: “he is patterned, promised, and present from Genesis onward.”
Christ Patterned
In its people, institutions, and events, the OT prepares us for Jesus by showing us what he will be like. In David, we see a shadow of the King that Jesus would be. In the OT sacrifices, we see a picture of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross. In Exodus and in Ruth, we see patterns that help us understand how Jesus would redeem and restore his new covenant people. As we read the OT with Christ as the “answer” and the “house” keys, we understand that these people, institutions, and events were speaking about him all along (Col 2:17).
For example, the book of Ruth recounts how the family of promise came to a dead end when Elimelek fled the Land to seek refuge in Moab. When her husband and two sons died in exile, Naomi was left alone (Ruth 1:5), and it seemed as if the Lord’s promise to send a redeemer through this family had ended (Ruth 1:11–13, 21).¹ Yet through marriage to a kinsman redeemer, the Lord restores Naomi and the family of promise.
When we read Ruth with Christ as the “house” key, we come to this book expecting the gospel to unlock the full meaning of this story. We now know to whom this story ultimately leads, and we now understand to what end God authored and directed Naomi’s life, including the devastating losses in chapter 1.
Further, when we read with Christ as the “answer” key, we understand how the patterns in this text point us to Christ. Ruth patterns Christ both in its overall story of how the Lord redeemed this family in order to restore them, but it also patterns Christ and his gospel in specific characters, themes, laws, and plot points such as Boaz, the birth of a son, redemption, and Ruth’s love for Naomi.
Provide an example of an OT text that patterns Christ. Briefly explain how the text does so.
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- As you interpret an OT text, read with Christ as the key to unlocking the full meaning and implications of that text. This is reading with Christ as the “house” key. Ask: How do Christ and his gospel reveal the full meaning and implication of this OT text?
- Also, read with Christ as the “answer” key
- Reading forward: How do the events, people, places, institution, story, etc. in this text pattern Christ’s person and work?
- Reading backward: How does the gospel reveal the full meaning of this OT pattern?
Christ Promised
The Spirit revealed Christ’s sufferings and glories to the OT prophets (1 Pet 1:10–12). In countless texts like Genesis 3:15, Genesis 22:18, and Isaiah 53, the OT promises that Jesus would come and save his people from our sin (1 Cor 15:3–4).
List three OT texts that promise Christ. Briefly explain each one.
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But we must not limit promises to specific verses or phrases. There are also larger promises and anticipations in the OT that are fulfilled only in Christ (2 Cor 1:20). The Temple is not merely a pattern that leads us to Christ. It also represents a larger promise that begins in Eden and cultiminates in Revelation, the promise that God will dwell with his people:
My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore. —Ezekiel 37:24–28
Thus we must read with an eye towards how specific prophecies as well as larger narratives and themes promise and anticipate Christ. When we read the OT with Christ as the key, we interpret OT promises as Christ fulfills them.
Let’s consider this by returning to the book of Ruth. The Lord redeems in order to restore, and the author of Ruth provides us with a glorious picture of restoration in Ruth 4:16–17. Through redemption, the Lord restores Naomi and her family. Every wound from chapter 1 he heals. Every burden he lifts. Every grief he comforts. Yet, in Ruth 4:17, the author sets David as the climax of this story. Obed‘s birth leads us to David and so connects this story to the larger OT promise that the Lord will restore his people through David‘s son.
When we read Ruth 4 with Christ as the “house” key, we can grasp that the Author did not merely intend to lead us to David but to Christ and his gospel. Further, we must now interpret Naomi’s restoration in the light of the NT promises about our own restoration when Christ returns. Her restoration becomes a promise (and a pattern) of our own restoration in Christ.
Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
—Isaiah 40:10–11
As you interpret an OT text with Christ as the key,
- Reading forward: Are there any specific prophecies or larger themes that promise Christ and his gospel in some way?
- Reading backwards: How does Christ fulfill this promise?
For more, read "Is Every Promise "Yes"? OT Promises and the Christian" by Dr. Jason S. DeRouchie or watch his lecture on the topic here.
Christ Present
When we confess that Jesus is Lord, we do not merely confess that he is king. Rather, we are confessing that he is Yahweh, the God of Israel. From the burning bush of Exodus 3 to the vision of the LORD in the Temple from Isaiah 6, we meet Jesus as the LORD, present in the OT.
Listen to the following quotation from theologian Michael Reeves regarding Christ’s presence in the OT:²
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Let’s return once more to the book of Ruth. Christ is not merely patterned or promised in this book. He is present as the Lord who redeems in order to restore. The very God who redeemed Naomi and her family came down to redeem us in our Lord Jesus Christ! In Christ, the redeeming LORD of Ruth 4 becomes the redeeming son, born into Boaz’s line, born to redeem us from Satan, sin, and death and to restore us to life in him.
So, then, as we interpret Ruth with Christ as the key, we ought to expect this book to reveal the person, heart, and work of Christ as it reveals Israel’s God because Jesus is the Lord. The heart of Yahweh revealed as he redeems and restores this family of promise is the heart of Christ.
As you interpret an OT text with Christ as the key, ask:
- How is Christ present in this text?
- Reading forward: What does this OT text reveal about the Lord Jesus and his character?
- Reading backward: What about the revelation of God in Christ brings light to this OT text?