Read: Hebrews 12:1-2

Reading through the stories of the Old Testament can be a challenge. Genesis contains some of the darkest, most devastating storylines of the Bible that can be difficult to read and even harder to understand. Many of us may even be wondering why the Old Testament is relevant for us as Christians today. We have the Gospels, the stories and teachings of Jesus. We have the writings of the Apostles that give us clear instruction on how to live the Christian life. What else do we need? 

The Old Testament is the historical record of our faith. Jesus and the Apostles based all of their teaching off of these ancient texts. Picture a first century believer, attending Church on a Sunday morning before the Gospels and Epistles were even written. What do you suppose they were studying? They were reading the Old Testament. The earliest Christians, many who were not even Jewish, would have been taught how to read the Old Testament. I’m afraid that this may be a tradition which has been lost to time, but all the more important to recover it for today. 

Genesis is more than just history. It also lays out our standard for morality. Many of the narrative stories serve as examples of what not to do. But if we simply read Genesis as history or moral tales, we’re still going to be confronted with some confusing examples that leave us scratching our heads and asking, “Why is God punishing sin so harshly there, but remains seemingly silent concerning this other sin here?”The stories of the Old Testament are doing something much more. They depict the struggles of those hoping in the promises of God and working out of their faith amongst an unclear backdrop. It is not always clean or pretty, but it is an honest portrayal of what it means to trust in God, walking by faith and not by sight. 

THE CLOUD OF WITNESSES

Ever since the first promise of a redeemer was given in Genesis 3:15, that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent, the faithful people of God had been looking longingly for its fulfillment. Although they erred in their understanding of the specific details, they were right to hang their faith on the words of God. 

Unfortunately, their lack of understanding led to devastating consequences. Adam and Eve put their hope in Cain. Can we blame them? They took the promise literally, and expected that at least one of their children would be the redeemer. Cain, however, murdered his brother Abel, crushing their misplaced hope. Cain was incapable of bearing that burden of responsibility.

Noah served as a type of Christ. He warned the people to repent in lieu of the coming judgment and built an Ark to save those who would trust in God. Yet, after the flood, the weight of his experience broke him. His story ends with him drunk, naked, and ashamed.

Abraham was told that he would be the father of many nations. Yet, the delay in God providing him a child drove Him into an insane obsession. He would eventually take matters into his own hands and sire an heir with Sarah’s maidservant. Another troubled story in the line of the redeemer.Jacob longed to wear the mantle of God’s blessing, but he knew that his father, Isaac, favored his twin brother Esau. Jacob was conniving. He found a way to trick his brother into selling his birthright, he deceived his father into giving him the blessing, and he ran away before his ruse could be discovered. When Jacob finally returned to the promised land, he was gripped with the doubts of whether or not he was worthy of God’s blessing. The means by which he had attained the birthright had left him with guilt and shame. Although he longed for the mantle, he was unable to bear its weight on his own merit. 

It might be easy for us to look back on these stories rather critically, but we have the advantage of living on this side of the cross. Although the Old Testament believers had unrealistic expectations and missed the finer details of how the promises and prophecies would be fulfilled, they still trusted in the God who made those promises. This is what the New Testament authors highlight when calling them the heroes of our faith, because they trusted in the promises of God without the full knowledge of how they would come to fruition. 

THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF OUR FAITH

When Jesus arrived on the scene, it wasn’t exactly what the Hebrew people were expecting. They were looking for another Noah, Abraham, or Jacob. Even John the Baptist was surprised that Jesus had not yet established the kingdom after he had been imprisoned. He sent messengers to Jesus asking Him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another” (Matthew 11:3)? 

Jesus was utterly unlike all of the candidates who had come before him. In fact, as we will soon discover, Jesus was the one who had made the original promise that He alone would be able to fulfill. 

The book of Hebrews was written for first century Christians to teach them how to read the Old Testament. This was what Jesus had taught His disciples after the resurrection, “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44). 

Apart from the obvious examples of the prophecies of a redeemer or the imagery of the sacrificial system, there is a deeper story arc being told that is pointing to Jesus. None of the best characters in Genesis were able to measure up to the glory of Christ. They were not meant to bear that burden. Instead, they make an obvious assertion that humanity requires a greater sacrifice than a mere mortal human, troubled and afflicted by sin. 

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Jesus is the only one who could truly measure up to the glory of God. He was the only one who could bear the mantle of God’s blessing and the burden of God’s wrath. There was no other candidate who could even come close to fulfilling the promises God had made for a redeemer. 

When the writer of Hebrews is telling us to “Look to Jesus,” he is saying that there is no one else in whom our hope can be found. He is the one who made the promise, and he is the only one who could fulfill it. 

LOOKING TO JESUS

Historically, Genesis teaches us where we come from and explains why we have so many challenges in our world today. It gives us an important glimpse into the reality of the human struggle to make sense of what it means to be made in the image of God, to hope in the promises, and to persevere in the race set before us. 

Morally, Genesis gives us essential lessons on what not to do. Adam and Eve teach us the consequences of disobeying God’s commands. Cain is an example of how sin is crouching at the door of our hearts, ready to snap at any given moment. Abraham demonstrates how dangerous it is to treasure the gifts of God over the giver of those gifts. And Jacob serves as a prime example of how the end does not justify the means. 

We can learn a great deal from the clouds of witnesses that came before Jesus. They show us how to, “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely.” They teach us that when we hope in the promises of God, we can be assured that they will be fulfilled, and we can, “run with endurance the race that is set before us.” But most importantly, the stories in Genesis are crying out for us to keep, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

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