Christ in the Old Testament, the principal theme of the Bible is Christ.
Christian scholars, from a wide-variety of denominational traditions and theological positions, continue to publish literature examining the person and role of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. This is not surprising, given the importance of the subject.
As France (1998) stated:
"The whole of the Old Testament is gathered up in him. He himself embodies in his own person the status and destiny of Israel, and in the community of those who belong to him that status and destiny are to be fulfilled, no longer in the nation as such" (p. 76) and “The whole theological system of the Old Testament points forward to his work, and in his coming the whole Old Testament economy finds its perfection and fulfillment” (p. 78); and “The patterns of God's working which the discerning eye could trace in the history and institutions of Israel were all preparing for the great climax when all would be taken up into the final and perfect act of God which the prophets foretold. And in the coming of Jesus all this was fulfilled. That was why he could find 'in all the scriptures the things concerning himself'” (p. 80).
Though the Christian scholars writing this literature represent a wide denominational and theological spectrum, and bring different viewpoints, when it comes to this subject they support the thesis. The result is a large body of excellent scholarly literature on the topic with even more planned for release.
Here are a few examples from many different types of authors:
Bird, C. (2023). The Christ key: unlocking the centrality of Christ in the Old Testament. 1517 Publishing.
Borland, J. A. (2010). Christ in the Old Testament: Old Testament appearances of Christ in human form. Moody Press.
Clowney, E. P. (2013). The unfolding mystery: discovering Christ in the Old Testament (2nd Ed.). P & R Publishing.
Concordia Publishing House (2022). The Messiah: revealing Jesus in the Old Testament. Concordia Publishing House.
Duguid, L. M. (2013). Is Jesus in the Old Testament? P & R Publishing.
France, R. T. (1998). Jesus and the Old Testament. Regent College Publishing.
Kaiser Jr., W. C. (1995). The Messiah in the Old Testament. Zondervan.
Limbaugh, D. (2017). Finding Jesus in the Old Testament. Regnery.
Lombard, R. D. (2019). Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Raymond Lombard Ministries.
Merida, T., Akin, D. L., Hunt, J. M., Platt, D., Akin, D. L., Hamilton, J. M., Howell, M., Fries, M., Rummage, S., Gallaty, R., Moseley, A., Dowden, L., Chan, F., Akin, J., Thomas, H. A., Greear, J. D., Redmond, R., Curtis, W., Fentress, K.,... Bethancourt, P. (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (45 volumes). Holman Bible Publishers.
Rose Publishing (2007). Christ in the Old Testament: types and illustration of Jesus. Rose Publishing.
Sorensen, A. (2023). Finding Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Follow Him Media Inc.
Sutton, C. (2023). Seeing Christ in the Old Testament. One Stone.
Veras, R. (2007). Jesus of Israel: finding Christ in the Old Testament. Servant Books.
Wright, C. J. H. (2014). Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament (2nd Ed.). InterVarsity Press.
Zondervan Academic (2022). Five views of Christ in the Old Testament: genre, authorial intent, and the nature of scripture. Zondervan Academic.
And many others…
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