Here are many pictures from the Bible that help us understand WHO Jesus really is. Sometimes we don't really get it (neither did the disciples - the were confused a lot of the time). All of these portions of scripture paint a picture of what God did when we entered History and became a human being. The major focus of this paper is to help us grapple with what happened when God died on the cross and why He wanted to do that.
Noah's Ark:
You had to get 'inside' Noah's ark to be protected from the condemnation that the people's sins deserved during this time. Once inside the Ark you would safely pass through the judgment of the flood, even though you yourself were not sinless. However, because you were trying to follow God and do what was right, you would follow His directions and get into the Ark and safely pass through the judgment.
It is the same with Jesus. Those who are not perfect (no one is) but are trying to love others and reject selfishness and sin - these come to Jesus, accept His forgiveness, and thereby are 'In Christ.' Scripture clears says that those who are 'In Christ' are not condemned along with the world at the Judgment Day! (See Colossians 3:1-14, John 5:24 etc...)
Animal killed to cover Adam and Eve:
Genesis 3:21 says that God made a covering of skin for Adam and Eve after they sinned. This is the first time blood is shed - right after Adam and Eve followed Satan's advice and rejected God's advice. The result was that some living animal had to die to provide a covering for Adam and Eve. This is the first of a theme in scripture that something has to die to atone or make payment for sin. Death either claims the one who sins or something or someone else has to die. The death of living animals in the Ultimate prophetic picture in the Old Testament that God Himself, when He became a man in Jesus, would die. He would do this to 'cover' us like He did in the Garden. Covering is significant because sin destroys and causes shame. God intervenes and covers our shame and sin with His sacrificed life! Read Rev 13:8b ".... the lamb that was slain from the creation of the world." This verse indicates that God sacrificed Himself before the world was even made. In other words.... before we even sinned and died spiritually in the Garden, God had already died and prepared a way to forgive us! This death, however, physically occurred, in time, when Jesus died on the cross. As we look back in History to the death of Jesus for forgiveness, so did those in the past look forward to the Messiah coming to take away all their sins. The sacrifices were merely a symbol or prophetic picture of how God would do this.
Passover:
Exodus 12 3-13 God told the Israelites to take a spotless lamb and kill it on the night when the Angel of death would pass through the land of Egypt to Judge the false Egyptian god's. The Angel of death would put to death all the 1st born of the Egyptian people. (Remember that the Egyptians had killed all Israelite male children - not just the first born of each family. But doing this they may have rejected God's protection over them and opened the door to this judgment?) Whoever would kill the Passover lamb and put some of the blood on the door posts of their homes would have the Angel of death passover their homes and families. This was a perfect picture of whoever has accepted the Blood of Jesus' death to cover their sins. The Angel of death would Passover this person when they die (physically) and they would be safe in Heaven.
Day of Atonement:
Lev 16:21-22 says that the Priest representing the people is to lay his hands on the head of the goat thus transferring the sin of the people onto it. Then the scapegoat is lead into the desert and released. Thus taking the sin of the people away from them and being left in the desert. Again this is a picture of Jesus drawing all the sin off of us and the world onto Himself and then taking it away with him in death. He has removed our sins from us and taken it away.
Regular Sacrifices:
The regular daily and yearly sacrifices are pictures that a death is required to remove or forgive sin. The people would see this year after year. The Israelite culture would be filled with this. Once Jesus arrived, lived and died, the people would understand that He was the REAL sacrifice for sin. That only God who became a man would be sinless and thereby be able to take the sin of the world onto Himself to pay for it. If Jesus wasn't God then he would have be a regular sinful human and would already have to die for his own sins. There was no innocent human life to do this. Only God Himself was innocent - Hence all the pictures of spotless or perfect lambs. Lambs without blemish or defect for the sacrifices merely prophesied of God Himself, innocent, spotless and pure who would sacrifice Himself to pay for our sins.
Snake on the Pole:
Num 21:4-8 gives us a picture of Jesus. People who was bitten by a snake of judgment in the desert would die. Moses made a bronze snake and nailed it to a pole. Anyone who looked at this was healed and would not die. Strange? Perhaps. However isn't this saying that people should look up and see that the thing that has bitten and infected them had been killed. It has been nailed to the pole and killed. Jesus references this passage in John 3:14 in regards to Himself: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." Aren't we supposed to look up at the body of Jesus on the cross and see that He has taken ALL sin onto Himself and it has been nailed there and destroyed. Therefore we are free and forgiven!
Conclusion
By understanding the Old Testament you can better understand WHO Jesus was. The Old Testament sets a stage over 4000 years to discuss the subjects of sin, death, redemption, atonement and life. As we look at the sacrificial system we see that the forgiveness of sin was accomplished by the death of the innocent animal. Seeing this picture we begin to understand why Jesus (God) was the only one who could be the real sacrifice to take away the sins of the human race. He is the only innocent, pure, sinless and loving One. No one else could be the sacrifice to purge sin. We come to understand how valuable we are to Him because we see the incredible price that He willingly paid for us! We are precious in His sight!
