The Old Testament, Jesus and Us
Source: Unsplash (Donald Giannatti@wizwow)
It’s New Year’s Eve. This is the year, you tell yourself. This is the year you finally read the Bible all the way through. You’ve bought a new Bible, you’ve got the little stickers with the names of the books of the Bible, and you attach them to your Bible. You’ve even gone and bought a booklet to take notes. This is the year!
You start strong. Genesis is good. Full of drama—creation, flood, promises, betrayal, a dysfunctional family that God keeps using anyway. Exodus is good. Kicks off like a blockbuster—plagues, miracles, escape, sea-splitting power moves. You’re into it. You’re highlighting verses. You're praying big prayers.
Then… the second half of Exodus hits. Tabernacle instructions. Curtain measurements. Gold rings and acacia wood. Priestly garments. It feels like IKEA furniture assembly, but maybe less helpful. You stall. You skip a day. Then a few more. Then a week. Then it’s February, and your resolution feels like a bit of a flop.
So what’s the deal? Why did it flop?
There are probably a few reasons. One of the biggies: sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with the less familiar sections of the Old Testament. So, we skip them. Especially the second half of Exodus.
You’re not the only person tempted to skip the hard bits. But here's the challenge: if we treat the Bible like a highlight reel—skimming the Psalms for comfort, flipping to the Gospels for a dose of Jesus, opening to the letters for relatable doctrine, and skipping the bits that confuse or bore us—we’re missing out on the riches of the Bible.
We Read the Whole Bible, Even the Tricky Bits
In Acts 20, Paul is giving a farewell speech to the elders of the Ephesian church. He knows he won’t see them again and wants to leave them with what really matters. And what does he say?
For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
Acts 20:27
Not just the easy bits. Not just the inspirational quotes. Not just the parts that fit neatly on your mug. The whole will of God. Even the difficult sections.
Because, as Paul also says:
All Scripture is God-breathed…
2 Timothy 3:16
Not just the New Testament. Not just the red letter bits. And there’s more
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Not only is it from God—it’s useful. More on that soon. But for now, the point: we read the whole Bible, even the tricky bits.
And how do we do this?
2. We Read the Whole Bible as Pointing to Jesus
When Jesus stepped into history, he didn’t toss aside what came before him. In fact, he affirmed it. Jesus wasn’t doing something brand new out of nowhere—he was completing a long story that had already begun.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.
Matthew 5:17
A great verse to memorise, if I may say so.
The phrase “the Law and the Prophets” was a Jewish way of referring to the entire Old Testament—the Law (the first five books, also called the Torah) and the Prophets (which included not only Isaiah and Jeremiah, but also historical and wisdom books). So, Jesus is talking about the entire Old Testament.
When he says, “I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them,” he’s making a huge claim: everything in the Old Testament points to him.
Jesus makes a similar claim in John 5:39. He’s speaking to religious leaders who diligently studied the Old Testament, but missed its central message—him: “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.” Just a few verses later in John 5:46, he adds, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” In other words, the lawgiver himself was ultimately pointing forward to Jesus.
We see something similar in Luke 24:27, where after his resurrection, Jesus walks alongside two disciples and “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” A little later, in Luke 24:44, he tells the rest of his disciples, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” That phrase—Law, Prophets, and Psalms—was another shorthand for the entire Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus is claiming that the whole Old Testament is about him.
Every single text points to Jesus. Even the hard-to-read stuff? Yes. Every text.
Does that mean we should read every pomegranate, goat horn, and cubit of curtain in the Bible as a secret sign pointing to Jesus—like some kind of divine Where’s Wally?
I like what Graeme Goldsworthy says about what counts as a “text”. It’s not necessarily every individual detail or sentence in the Old Testament. Rather, we need to think in terms of a coherent literary unit—a section of Scripture with identifiable limits and purpose. He says that a text should be understood as a literary unit—a passage of Scripture that holds together in terms of its structure, meaning, and message.
So, not every minor detail (e.g., a pomegranate or goat horn) needs to be forced into a symbolic fulfilment in Christ. The focus should be on the most important features and the main message of a text or passage, as these are what tend to point us to Christ.
So the big idea here? The whole Old Testament—laws, promises, stories, songs, prophecies—was pointing forward to Jesus. And nowhere is that more evident than in what we call “the Law.”
So, what does it mean for Jesus to fulfil the Law?
Let’s break it down.
First, we need to work out what we mean by “law”.
In its narrowest sense, “the Law” (Hebrew: Torah) refers to Genesis through Deuteronomy, often called the Pentateuch or the books of Moses. These books contain all sorts of material: narratives (like creation and the exodus), commands (like the Ten Commandments), laws for priests and sacrifices, lists of numbers (like in the book of Numbers) and instructions for how God’s covenant people were to live.
Within these, we often talk of three categories of law:
Moral law: timeless ethical commands (e.g., “You shall not murder”)
Ceremonial law: sacrifices, feasts, tabernacle rules
Civil law: rules for governing ancient Israel as a nation
So, how does Jesus fulfil all of that?
a) Fulfilling the Moral Law through Perfect Obedience
Jesus lived the only sinless life. He kept the moral law in full—never once breaking a command. Where Israel failed in the wilderness, Jesus succeeded in his temptations (Matthew 4). He was the faithful one.
b) Filling Out Fully the Moral Law
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), Jesus doesn’t water down God’s ethical standards in the Old Testament—he intensifies them. Anger becomes murder in the heart. Lust becomes adultery of the mind. Jesus brings the law to its deepest intention, showing what it really looks like to love God and neighbour.
c) Fulfilling the Ceremonial Law
All the tabernacle rituals, sacrifices, festivals, and priesthood were shadows (Hebrews 10:1) and copies (Colossians 2:16). Jesus was the reality to whom they pointed. He is:
The final sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10)
The perfect high priest (Hebrews 4:14)
The true temple (John 2:19–21)
Everything the ceremonial law pointed to is found in him.
d) Fulfilling the Civil Law
Jesus doesn’t just step into a Jewish legal system—he fulfils its kingdom vision. Laws about justice, restitution, and refuge find their climax in his reign. He becomes the king the Law anticipated (Genesis 49:10, Numbers 24:17) and the one who rules a new, global kingdom.
e) Fulfilling the Purpose of the Law
The Law was never meant to save—it was meant to show God’s holiness, expose sin, and drive us to grace.
Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Romans 3:20So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:24
Jesus fulfils that purpose. As Romans 10:4 puts it:
Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
f) Fulfilling the Promises in the Law
The Law included promises, like blessing all nations through Abraham (Genesis 12:3) or sending a prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18). Jesus is the “yes” to all of these (2 Corinthians 1:20). He is the promised offspring (Galatians 3:16) who blesses the nations (Galatians 3:8) by inviting them into his family (Galatians 3:26–29) and to the Promised Land (Hebrews 4:8-11, 11:16, 12:22). Similarly, he is the long awaited prophet like Moses (Acts 3:22–23).
g) Fulfilling the Prophecies in the Law
The Law also contained prophecies, like a ruler coming from Judah (Genesis 49:10) and a star rising from Jacob (Numbers 24:17). Jesus is that King. He is the Lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5) and the bright Morning Star (Revelation 22:16).
All of it—the sacrifices, the ceremonies, the symbols, the statutes—was a giant arrow pointing to Christ. He fulfils the law, not by scrapping it, but by completing its purpose.
So: we read the whole Bible as pointing to Jesus.
3. We Read the Whole Bible to Be Equipped
So why does this all matter? Back to the start.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
The Old Testament isn’t a spiritual warm-up act before Jesus arrives. It’s for us. It equips us for every good work. How does it do this?
a) It Shows Us What God Is Like
When we see how Jesus fulfils the Old Testament, we see that God is faithful, holy, sovereign, and patient. He doesn’t change. He doesn’t abandon his plans. He finishes what he starts.
b) It Shapes How We Read the Bible
Instead of a disconnected anthology, we see one unified story—all leading to Jesus. Even the supposedly “boring” parts become powerful when we see how they prepare the way for Christ.
c) It Shows Us Who We Are and What We Ultimately Need
The law exposes our sin. Jesus’ fulfilment of it shows us our Saviour. The whole Bible reveals our identity as people saved by grace and called to live under his kingship.
All Scripture—even the second half of Exodus—is from God and is written to equip us for good works. Once we’ve worked out what the Old Testament passage says and how it points to Jesus, we’re supposed to consider what this means for our lives.
So: we read the whole Bible to be equipped.
What’s Next?
So… what now?
In the next nine posts, we’ll explore one key theme from Exodus 20–40 at a time:
Law, Festivals, Covenant, Tabernacle, Priest, Sacrifice, Sabbath, Intercession, and Glory.
Each post will follow a simple format:
Intro
___ and Exodus. What does Exodus say? (Because we read the whole Bible, even the tricky bits)
___ and Jesus. How does this point to Jesus? (Because we read the whole Bible as pointing to Jesus)
___ and Me. What difference does this make? (Because we read the whole Bible to be equipped)
Strap in. This is going to be fun.
