Christ in the Shadows

The world begins with water and the Spirit hovering over the deep. Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one enters the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. The first creation quietly sketches the new creation that comes through Christ.

Adam sleeps, his side is opened, and from it his bride is formed. On the cross the second Adam sleeps in death, His side is pierced, and blood and water flow out — and from that opened side His people, the church, are brought into being. Many have seen the echo; the text leaves it for the eye to notice.

Adam and Eve stitch fig leaves to hide their shame, and it is not enough. So God clothes them Himself — and an animal dies to do it. We cannot cover our own guilt by our own effort. God provides the covering, and in Christ we are clothed in a righteousness that is not our own.

In the same breath that curses the serpent, God makes a promise: the offspring of the woman will crush the serpent's head, and the serpent will strike His heel. At the cross Satan strikes — and is himself undone. It is the first announcement of the gospel, spoken before the first child is born.

Abel brings the firstborn of his flock, and his offering is accepted. Envied by his brother, the innocent one is killed — and his blood cries from the ground. Hebrews says the blood of Jesus speaks better things than the blood of Abel: not for vengeance, but for mercy.

Judgment falls, and a family is carried safely through it in the ark. Peter calls the flood a figure of baptism — God bringing His people through the waters of judgment into a new beginning.

A father is asked to offer his beloved son. The son carries the wood for his own sacrifice up the mountain. At the last moment God provides a ram in his place. Centuries later another Father gives His beloved Son, who carries His own cross up a hill — and this time there is no substitute, because He is the substitute.

God promises Abraham that through his offspring every nation on earth will be blessed. Paul points to the single word 'seed' and says it means Christ — the one through whom the blessing finally reaches the whole world.

A mysterious king of Salem — king of righteousness, king of peace — meets Abraham with bread and wine and blesses him. He is both king and priest, with no recorded beginning or end. Hebrews says he is a picture of Christ, whose priesthood is greater than the one that came through the law.

The father's favourite, envied by his brothers, stripped of his robe and sold for pieces of silver. Jesus too was the beloved of the Father, envied by the leaders of His people, and betrayed for silver by one of His own.

In prison Joseph is placed between two men — a cupbearer restored to life and a baker put to death. On the cross Jesus hangs between two criminals — one who turns to Him and is promised paradise, and one who is lost.

The rejected brother is raised from the prison to the right hand of Pharaoh, and becomes the one man who can save the world from famine. The rejected Son is raised from death to the right hand of the Father, the only one through whom sinners are saved.

His brothers stand before the one who can save them and do not know him — until he reveals himself and forgives. It is a picture of a people who did not recognise their Messiah when He came, and a hope that one day they will look on Him and know Him.

A lamb without blemish is killed, its blood painted on the doorposts, and death passes over every house that shelters behind it. Not one of its bones is broken. Jesus is our Passover — sinless, His blood our shelter — and on the cross, John notes, not one of His bones was broken.

Israel passes through the sea on dry ground while the waters bury their enemies behind them. Paul calls it a baptism — the old life of slavery drowned, a new life on the far shore.

Each morning God rains down manna to keep a people alive who cannot feed themselves. Jesus says plainly: I am the bread of life. We cannot give ourselves spiritual life any more than Israel could bake bread from the sky.

Moses strikes the rock and water pours out for a dying people. Paul says the rock that followed them was Christ — struck once, pouring out life for all who are thirsty.

Bitten by serpents and dying, Israel is told to look at a bronze serpent lifted on a pole, and whoever looks will live. Jesus takes this as a picture of Himself: as the serpent was lifted up, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

David is a shepherd boy from Bethlehem, anointed in secret, who faces the giant no one else will fight and wins with a single stone. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, born in Bethlehem, who faces down sin and death itself.

Anointed as king, David is hunted for years by the king he never harmed, refusing to take vengeance even when he could. The true King was also rejected by His own, and refused to fight back, entrusting Himself to His Father.

God promises David a son whose throne will never end. The angel tells Mary that her son will be given the throne of His father David, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

Solomon's wisdom draws the nations, and he builds a house of prayer for all peoples. Jesus points to Himself as one greater than Solomon — the wisdom of God in the flesh, building a temple of living stones from every nation.

Isaiah describes a servant pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, silent before his accusers, who bears the sin of many and by whose wounds we are healed. When an Ethiopian official reads it and asks who it means, Philip begins there and preaches Jesus.

God promises to come Himself and search for His scattered sheep, to seek the lost and bind up the broken. Jesus says: I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

Jonah spends three days and nights in the belly of the deep, then comes out to preach to a Gentile city that repents. Jesus names it as the one sign He would give: three days in the heart of the earth, then risen — and the gospel goes out to the nations.

The last book of the Old Testament closes with a promise: a messenger will prepare the way, and then the Lord will suddenly come to His temple. Four centuries of silence follow — and then John the Baptist appears in the wilderness, and the waiting ends.