THE GOSPEL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Many people think the gospel begins in Matthew, but the good news of Jesus Christ is woven throughout the Old Testament from the very beginning.
Paul wrote that God “preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham” (Galatians 3:8). The gospel was not an afterthought. It was God’s eternal plan revealed in promises, prophecies, sacrifices, and shadows long before Jesus was born.
The first glimpse of the gospel appears immediately after man’s fall. God told the serpent that the Seed of the woman would bruise his head while suffering a wound Himself (Genesis 3:15).
Here is the cross in seed form. Satan would wound Christ, but Christ would crush Satan through His death and resurrection (Hebrews 2:14). Even in the darkness of Eden, God announced hope.
The gospel shines in God’s promise to Abraham. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). Paul identifies that Seed as Christ (Galatians 3:16).
Through Jesus, forgiveness and salvation would come not only to Israel but to the whole world. Abraham looked forward in faith to what God would accomplish through His Son (John 8:56).
The sacrificial system also proclaimed the gospel. Every lamb offered on Jewish altars testified that sin demands death and that a substitute was needed.
The Passover lamb pointed forward to Christ, “our Passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7). The blood on Israel’s doorposts in Egypt foreshadowed the blood of Jesus that delivers us from judgment (Exodus 12:13; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Isaiah saw the gospel with remarkable clarity. He described the coming Servant who would be despised, rejected, wounded for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:3-6).
Seven centuries before Calvary, Isaiah foretold the suffering, substitutionary death, and ultimate triumph of Christ. It is no wonder that when the Ethiopian eunuch read Isaiah 53, Philip “preached Jesus to him” (Acts 8:35).
Even the resurrection appears in the Old Testament. David declared that God’s Holy One would not see corruption (Psalm 16:10). Peter explained that David was speaking prophetically of Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2:25-31). Jonah’s three days in the great fish became a picture of Christ’s three days in the tomb (Matthew 12:40).
The Old Testament is not merely the story of Israel. It is the story of Jesus before His incarnation.
The law anticipated Him.
The sacrifices foreshadowed Him.
The prophets announced Him.
The kings pointed to Him.
The entire Old Testament whispers His name until the New Testament proclaims it openly.
The gospel is not a New Testament invention. It is the grand story God has been telling from Genesis to Malachi.
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Father, thank You for revealing Your Son throughout the Scriptures. Help us to see Christ in all of Your word and to marvel at the wisdom of Your plan of redemption. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
BDD
