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Holy Moses Was Wholly About Jesus

Shocked by the Bible, Joe Kovacs

It is not only a few isolated verses that support this concept of Jesus being the God of the Old Testament. John noted that Jesus told the Jews who were persecuting Him that the Old Testament writings of Moses were mainly about Him–Jesus.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.  (John 5:39)

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. (John 5:46)

Notice, Jesus was saying that Moses wrote and testified about Him.  He did not mention God the Father.

Furthermore, John went out of his way to make a distinction between Jesus and God the Father, stressing that no human being has ever even seen God the Father or heard His voice at any time:

“No one has ever seen God.  But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart; he has told us about him.”  (John 1:18, NLT)

“And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me.  Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.”  (John 5:37)

“No man hath seen God at any time.”  (1 John 4:12)

This is the core of the matter.  According to the Bible, God was seen and heard many times in the Old Testament.  He appeared in person to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and even talked with Moses face-to-face.  But if Jesus is correct that no one has ever seen God at any time, neither hearing His voice nor seeing His shape, then who was it that everyone in the Old Testament saw and heard?  It was Jesus Christ in His life before being born as a human!

Believe it or not, the Bible does not say “God the Father” created all things.  It does not say “God our Father” destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.  Nowhere does it say “God the Father” spoke to the patriarchs or the prophets.  It does not say “God our Father” led the Israelites out of Egypt and on a forty-year tour through the wilderness.  “God the Father” did not wrestle with Jacob.  It is the God who later came to be known as Jesus who did all these things.

Somehow, many people have understood it backward.  They assume “God the Father” is the God of the Old Testament, , and God the Father, though He existed eternally with Jesus, was finally revealed and explained by Jesus in the New!  Stunning, isn’t it?

Here is more proof to demonstrate that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament.  What did the God of the Old Testament say would be His name for all eternity?  Did He ask to be called “Father”?  No.

“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name?  What shall I say unto them?  And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.  And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”  (Exodus 3:13-15)

There you have it.  The God of the Old Testament is not named “Father.”  He is “I AM THAT I AM,” or more simply “I AM.”

Over the centuries, there has been a lot of discussion about the true meaning of this name of God, the “I AM.”  Scholars have suggested alternatives such as “I will be what I will be.”  In today’s modern language, here are some additional phrases to help you grasp the significance of God’s name:

I am what it’s all about.

I am the be-all and end-all.

I am the ever-existent one.

I’m da bomb.

Jesus Christ:  I AM

While the God of the Old Testament said “I AM” would be His name forever, Jesu was nearly stoned by the Jews for calling Himself by the same name.  He called Himself “I AM,” no less, when He was explaining to them that He had personally met the patriarch Abraham thousands of  years earlier.  John’s gospel records the questions from Jesus’ fellow Jews:  “Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead?  And the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?”  (8:53)

Jesus responded in verse 56, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”

And the key question and nearly deadly answer:

Then said the Jews unto him, ‘Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?’  Jesus said unto them, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. ‘  Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the  midst of them, and so passed by. (John 8:57-59)

The Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant.  He had a relationship with Abraham and publicly identified Himself as the “I AM” of the Old Testament, the same one who spoke to Moses.  Thus, they sought to stone Him for calling Himself God, the God of the Old Testament.

It’s strange how the Jews who hated Jesus during His earthly  ministry were able to understand this truth, and yet so many Christians today who say they “love the Lord” have no idea Jesus clearly identified Himself as the God of the Old Testament.

(To Be Continued, Part Three, The Old and the New)

Categories: Christian Fun, Christian History, Christian Living, Creation, Interesting Bible Topics, Old Testament Truths

Tags: Abraham, Bible, God, God the Father, Jacob, Jesu, Jews, John, Moses, Old Testament, Old Testament God