Christ In All The Scriptures (3)
Christ In All The Scriptures (3)
Yeow Chin Kiong
To demonstrate fulfilled prophecies, and foreshadows, about Jesus Christ, the books of the New Testament cite about 300 QUOTATIONS from the Old Testament with reference mainly to His life and death. In writing and speech, a "quotation" or "quote" is the exact repetition of a sentence, phrase or passage from a speech or text that someone else has said or written. Often, the original speaker or writer of the quotation is identified (or "cited") by name by way of attribution.
As the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the language of the Israelites, and the New Testament written in koine Greek, quotations from the Old Testament found in the New Testament were generally from the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures called the Septuagint (or the "LXX", Roman numeral for "seventy," the traditional number of its translators) produced between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC for the benefit of Greek-speaking Jews, especially of the diaspora, the movement of Jews away from their homeland in Palestine. The Septuagint was the primary collection of Divinely-inspired scriptures in Greek translation used by the early church, even before the collection of the New Testament was completed.
Some New Testament (NT) passages cite a named Old Testament (OT) source of a quotation. For example, Matthew 3:3 mentions the prophet Isaiah as the inspired speaker of the quote, "The voice of one crying in the wilddrness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make his path straight" (Isaiah 40:3) which is explained to be a prophecy of John the Baptist heralding the ministry of Jesus. When the NT quotes other OT passages of scripture, only a general attribution of its source ("it is written ...") is given. For example, Jesus quoted in Matthew 4:7, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 6:16). The Deuteronomy words were used by Jesus to rebut the devil's use of OT scriptures,- also without specific source attribution (but we know it to be Psalm 91:11-12), during his temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:5-6).
Besides a connection being made between the OT and the NT by the latter QUOTING the former (ie. repeating all or part of the spoken or written words of the former), such a connection can also be made by the latter ALLUDING to some phenomenon (an event, a thing, a person etc.) recorded in the former. The ALLUSION bears one or more characteristics of the final reality. An example is John 3:14 alluding to what happened as recorded in Numbers 21:8-9 and drawing a Divinely-intended final meaning from the earlier event. The OT event of Moses' fiery serpent on a pole which saved the lives of those victims of serpent-bites who looked upon the lifted-up serpent on the pole was alluded (i.e. referred) to to carry the idea that sinners would need to look up upon Jesus on the cross if they were to be saved through obedient faith in Him. The concept of the "fiery serpent" and its value in saving lives (physical life in the OT event but,- transposed to the concept of Jesus dying on the cross,- spiritual life in the gospel age).
There are many more ALLUSIONS in the NT of OT phenomenon in the NT than there are QUOTATIONS in the NT from the OT. However, both quotations and allusions in the Bible demonstrate the providence of a loving God who has devised an intricate yet exhaustive plan to save sinners. The original message was preserved through the centuries to be given new, fuller meaning in the Gospel Age by Christ and His inspired apostles (1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:19-21).