How Nancy Guthrie Began to See Jesus in More Than Just Prophecies

How the Whole Bible Points to Christ

For most of my life, if you had asked me if Christ was in the Old Testament, I probably would have pointed only to prophecies in the Old Testament that pointed to Christ. Perhaps the prophecy that he was going to be born in Bethlehem or ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. And, of course, maybe Isaiah 53, this picture where we see this suffering servant, and we can see so much of Jesus’s very real experience of his death in that.

But it wasn’t until my mid-40s that I began to hear teaching and preaching that no matter where they were in the Bible, it always connected to Christ—to his person and work. And honestly, when I heard that, I thought, I think I need to go back to kindergarten in understanding how to read the Old Testament—because I didn’t see how people got there.

Then I think my next step was to begin to see Jesus in types, in particular people, for example. We can see Christ in the life of Joseph. He’s hated by his brothers. And, of course, that was the case for Jesus. He overcame temptation. And, of course, that was Jesus. Joseph, in the Bible’s story, becomes the one person that the whole world must come to for bread, for life. And that shows us something of Jesus. So we can see shadows of who Jesus will be in particular people. Moses is another example, and there are so many more.

I also began to see how we can see Jesus in events, such as the Passover. We see that these people in Egypt, the Israelites, are to take a lamb into the house and then take its blood and mark the doorways of their homes so that when the death angel comes over, it will pass over their home. And, of course, that’s such an incredible picture of Christ as our Passover lamb. When our lives are marked by his blood, we don’t have to fear judgment.

I could also see Christ in objects. In particular, all of the aspects of the tabernacle and the temple show us something of Christ’s work. Going on from there, I began to see how the Old Testament reveals many needs that will not be met apart from Christ, and it begins at the very beginning of the Bible. This curse comes into the world, and we actually work our way through the whole of the Old Testament and never see that curse dealt with. In fact, if we go to the very last word in the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, it gives the warning of, “If this is not dealt with, you will surely perish,” or we could also interpret it, “You will be cursed.”

So, from beginning to end in the Old Testament, the curse is not dealt with. And so all of that shows us a need for Christ, a need that only Christ will meet.

Nancy Guthrie is the author of Beholding Christ: A Daily Guide to Seeing Jesus in All of Scripture.

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