Knowing Jesus Through The Old Testament

We cannot know Jesus without knowing his story. Today the debate over who Jesus is rages on. Has the Bible bound Christians to a narrow and mistaken notion of Jesus? Should we listen to other gospels, other sayings of Jesus, that enlarge and correct a mistaken story? Is the real Jesus entangled in a web of the church's Scripture, awaiting liberation from our childhood faith so he might speak to our contemporary pluralistic world? To answer these questions we need to know what story Jesus claimed for himself. Christopher Wright is convinced that Jesus' own story is rooted in the story of Israel. In this revised and updated book he traces the life of Christ as it is illuminated by the Old Testament. And he describes God's design for Israel as it is fulfilled in the story of Jesus.

We cannot know Jesus without knowing his story. And that story began long before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Gospels tell us clearly that Jesus himself, along with his earliest followers, understood who he was and what he came to do in the light of the story of Israel as told in the pages of the Old Testament. Like them, we too will find that our own understanding of both Jesus and the Old Testament is transformed as we see each in the light of the other. Engaging with the Scriptures, Christopher J. H. Wright uncovers Jesus’ self- understanding as Son of Man and Son of God, following the path and fulfilling the call that God had placed before Israel. Through this we discover that the deeper we go into understanding the Old Testament, the closer we come to the heart of Jesus. In this revised and updated second edition Wright digs deeper into the Old Testament revealing the God whom Jesus embodied. Each chapter is followed with questions and exercises, which can be used either in personal study or in group discussion.

Christians often pay scant attention to the Jewishness of Jesus. Chris Wright's book sets out to redress the balance, exploring the identity, values and teaching of Jesus in the light of the Old Testament.

Christopher Wright explores in depth the Father images that pervade the biblical narratives, psalms and prophetic texts of the Old Testament. God is acknowledged as tender yet terrifying, challenging to the nations and yet intimately personal, offering loving care, provision, discipline and forgiveness.

We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as the straggler of the Trinity, a latecomer in God's interaction with the world. But our first introduction to the Holy Spirit is not the drama of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts. We first meet the Holy Spirit in the second verse of the Bible, hovering there, speaking the world into existence. Christopher Wright begins here and traces the Holy Spirit through the pages of the Old Testament. We see the Third Person of the Trinity in the decrees of prophets and psalmists, in the actions of judges and craftspeople, in the anointing of kings and the promise of a new creation. Knowable and discernable in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is thus eminently knowable to us. The witness of the whole of Scripture, from its first pages to its last, directs us to a Holy Spirit empowering the people of God, and sustaining and renewing the face of the earth.

Combining three volumes into one, Knowing God Through the Old Testament brings together three of Christopher J. H. Wright's best loved books: Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, and Knowing the Holy Spirit Through the Old Testament. Knowing God the Father Through the Old Testament explores images that pervade the biblical narratives, psalms, and prophetic texts of the Old Testament. God is acknowledged as tender yet terrifying, challenging to the nations, and yet intimately personal, offering loving care, provision, discipline, and forgiveness. This is the God whom Jesus knew, and whom we can know, as Father. Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament uncovers Jesus' self-understanding as Son of Man and Son of God from his deep roots in the Hebrew Scriptures. As the Jesus who fulfilled the mission that God had given to Israel is revealed, we discover that the more we understand the Old Testament, the closer we come to the heart of Jesus. Knowing the Holy Spirit Through the Old Testament traces the Holy Spirit through the pages of the Old Testament. We see the Third Person of the Trinity in the decrees of prophets and psalmists, in the actions of judges and craftspeople, in the anointing of kings, and the promise of a new creation. The witness of the whole of Scripture directs us to a Holy Spirit empowering the people of God, and sustaining and renewing the face of the earth. This three-volume work will strengthen and deepen readers' personal relationships with the triune God by enabling them to know him through deep immersion and engagement with his Word, especially in the less familiar voices of the Old Testament. This is a voyage of biblical discovery, crossing many horizons and exploring especially the sources of our knowledge of God the Holy Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Some people think the Old Testament has nothing to say about God as our Father, or about the Holy Spirit, whilst others try to find Jesus somewhere on every page of the Old Testament. Chris Wright brings a much-needed corrective to these misconceptions in his masterful three-in-one volume, Knowing God – The Trilogy. After exploring the identity and mission of Jesus in the light of the Scriptures he knew so well – our Old Testament, the book goes on to see how God reveals himself as Father in the same Scriptures, and works powerfully through his Spirit. Wright’s thoughtful and engaging exposition of multiple biblical texts invites us to encounter the Trinity not just as a doctrine we affirm but as persons we can know.

We tend to look to the New Testament to tell us about Jesus, yet it was the Old Testament about which Jesus said, “the Scriptures point to me!” In The One Year Book of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament, Bible teacher Nancy Guthrie takes readers from Genesis through Malachi, shining the light of Christ on the promise of a descendent who will put an end to the curse of sin; the story of a father who offers up his son as a sacrifice; the symbol of a temple where people can meet with God; the prophecy of a servant who will suffer; the person of a king who will rule with righteousness—and so much more. Day by day throughout the year, readers will see the beauty of Christ in fresh new ways, creating a deeper understanding and appreciation for who Jesus is and what he accomplished through his Cross and Resurrection.