Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Finding Jesus in the Old Testament: The Coming King Revealed

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Discover how the entire Old Testament points to Jesus Christ in this deep dive into biblical prophecy and the grand narrative of Scripture. From Genesis 3:15 to the prophets, learn how every story anticipates the coming King.KEY TOPICS COVERED:The Road to Emmaus encounter (Luke 24) and why it mattersGenesis 3:15 - The first Messianic prophecyTracing the "seed" promise through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and JudahWhy First and Second Kings matter in the biblical narrativeHow Matthew 1's genealogy connects 42 generations to JesusUnderstanding the Bible as one cohesive story, not isolated booksSCRIPTURE REFERENCES:Luke 24:13-27 | Genesis 3:15 | Genesis 12, 15, 26, 35, 49 | 2 Samuel 7 | Zechariah 9:9 | Matthew 1Whether you're struggling through your Bible reading plan or wanting to understand how the Old and New Testaments connect, this episode will transform how you read Scripture. Learn to see Christ in all of Scripture and understand the dramatic storyline from creation to redemption.

Hey, in this episode, one of the things that I want to look at is finding Jesus in the Old Testament. If you ever get stuck in First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles, okay, why is that there? It's there because the entire story of the Old Testament is asking the question, where is the coming king? And to understand that grand theme, I want to take you to a conversation that takes place on Easter morning. Even in light of the Christmas season, you will never be able to understand Christmas until you understand this conversation that takes place with, Jesus and two men that are on a seven-mile journey from Emmaus to Jerusalem. And if I had to go to any spot in the scripture and I could have been there, it would have been this conversation. I want to immerse us into the story.

Hank, how are we doing? I've been better, Johnny. Are you talking about the bears? Obviously, you're dressed in black. It is a day of morning. Lost to the Green Bay Packers. You guys can be praying for us. This is a road I've been down many times. Yeah. This episode is called Where is God? Dashed Hopes. All jokes aside, good to have you back. It's good to be back. Hey, in this episode, one of the things that I want to look at is finding Jesus in the Old Testament. You know, one of the things I love about the Bible is that the scripture itself is not just propositional truth for us to live our life by, which it contains.

But it is the grandest story of all. I love what R.C. Sproes used to say. He used to say, when you look at the scripture, you need to find the drama. meaning that's why when I'm preaching I don't just say hey the context here is this even though that's not wrong I want to I want to immerse us into the story well in this growing up in the church for many people it can feel like the Bible is a bunch of unique stories but the point you're making is no it's an archetypal story meaning all those stories tie into one grand amazing story and maybe not hyperbole to say it's the story on which all other stories are then told it's built off this amazing saga that we get to pick up Yeah, understanding and knowing the grand theme of the Bible is thrilling. And this is what would make you as a parent or anybody else single, young man, old man, doesn't matter. Go, man, the Bible is one cohesive book. Yes, there are 66 books.

We'll talk about this more. But it all points to one grand theme. And to understand that grand theme, I want to take you to a conversation that takes place on Easter morning. Even in light of the Christmas season, you will never be able to understand Christmas until you understand this conversation that takes place with Jesus and two men on the morning of Easter. We find it in Luke 24.

Would you read Luke 24, 13 through 17 for me? Absolutely. And it begins, and behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Amas, which was about a seven-mile walk from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing

Jesus himself approached and began traveling with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing. him. And he said to them, what are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking? And they stood still looking sad. So just understanding the story here, Jesus had been crucified on Friday. He had risen from the grave that very morning. And he's walking along these two men that are on a seven mile journey from Emaeus to Jerusalem. And we find out here in verse 17 that they are sad. And he asked him this question. First of all, Jesus asking them the question is interesting in of itself because God is omniscient. It says in John 2 that he doesn't need

anyone to testify concerning man because he already knows our thoughts. But this is what Jesus does. This is what great teachers do. They ask questions, not because they need to know answers, particularly Jesus, but because when you respond to those questions, you are articulating, solidifying, and cementing your own dilemma. They're going to respond exactly with why they're so sad and we find it in verse 18. You want to continue. And so your point here is Jesus is asking the question not because he doesn't know it, but because he's wanting to prompt them to rack their brains and to maybe learn something new. Exactly. Okay. So picking up in verse 18, one of them named Cleopis answered and said to him, are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things

which have happened here in these days? Keep going. Yeah, keep going. And he said to them, what things? And they said to him, the things about Jesus, the Nazarene, who is a prophet, mighty, deed and word and the spirit of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered to him the sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all of this, it is the third day since these things have happened. But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body, they came saying they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women had

said, but him they did not see. Yeah, so bottom line here, they thought Jesus was the Messiah. They had all of their political, economic and military expectations wrapped up in this person of the anointed one that was to come. And then the one they thought was going to be the king was slaughtered, betrayed, beaten, and above the cross was this mocking description, king of the Jews. And so now their messianic expectations, their hopes had collapsed like a house of cards. And when Jesus died, their hopes and dreams died with him. So this is where it gets really interesting. And I'll read Jesus's response.

He responds, Jesus does, and says, oh, foolish men, slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? By the way, they still do not know this is Jesus. They think he's dead. They're saying Jesus is dead. He's not revealed himself to them at this point. Then it says in 14 or 2427, then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself.

Key idea here in all the scripture. What's interesting to you about Jesus' response? What's interesting to me is that Jesus doesn't just immediately go, ta-da. It's me. Nail piercings in my hands, in my feet. stabbing in my side from the spear or here's where the crown of thorns went he doesn't reveal himself to anyone until he had adequately and sufficiently explained the grand theme of the bible this is the

first instrument that jesus employs to minister to their melancholy hearts is to explain the bible and far from unhitching their faith from the old testament jesus says you can't even understand who i am or can't understand what's taken place, unless you understand everything that Moses and the prophets, that's just the Old Testament. Whenever it says the law and the prophets, that's the Old Testament just summed up in that term, until you understand that all of that points to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Well, it's just, it just strikes me, I'm not stating anything new, but that is a wild observation, that these two guys are walking along. The man who just resurrected, that they just talked about, like, man, women came, saw angels, empty tomb. He's the guy. I feel like every part of you assumes like, oh yeah, we're on the direct path here. Yeah, Jesus, like, oh, boys, wait till I

show him this trick. He pauses and points them to scripture. And I feel like the obvious application there then is like, how important is it to us that we be, that should calibrate your understanding of how important the word of God is. Well, yeah, I mean, if Jesus thinks it's important to be able to walk people through the Old Testament and point them towards the person of Jesus Christ himself. Should that not be our conviction as well? As many of you know, my life has been massively impacted by the life and ministry of John MacArthur,

and we're excited to partner with the John MacArthur Publishing Group, which continues to promote and publish great resources from the teaching ministry of John MacArthur. For instance, many of you don't have the time necessarily to dive deep into a commentary or to look extensively at a section of scripture, But one of the things that the MacArthur Publishing Group that is doing that is really cool is they're taking some of these great chapters in the Bible and they're putting them into concise devotional resources. For example, this book, The Triumph of the Rising, it's all about our victory in Christ from 1st Corinthians 15.

So they've taken that from the teaching ministry of John MacArthur. They put it into a resource that is really brief and digestible for you. Other chapters include Romans 8 or Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17. and all of these chapters in this great chapters of the Bible series that they're doing are so important and pivotal for your life. I would encourage you to sign up for their newsletter by clicking the link on the description below,

and if you do, you'll receive a free e-book of the Triumph of the Rising, which will encourage you in your faith and tell you more about the victory that we have in Jesus Christ. This is good news for you. Maybe you're new in Christ, listening, or watching. The Bible is 66 books. It's written by 40 authors in three languages

and on three continents, it all points to a single theme, and that is the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is a wonderful teacher, and if I had to go to any spot in the scripture, and I could have been there, it would have been this conversation, and one of the things that I want to touch on in this episode is just one of those central threads. So if Jesus says, Moses and the prophets, it all points to me, I just kind of want to pluck out one of those maybe silver threads that goes throughout the entirety of the Old Testament and finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And that main idea is the thought of a coming king going

throughout the, as this central theme throughout the Old Testament. Again, we want to find the drama. It's not just, you know, people ask you, what's your favorite memory verse? And I go, what do you mean by that? I understand. But I sometimes I'll, you know, respond and say, well, the scripture's story itself is thrilling. So let's just dive into the story. Part one of your Bible, page one, teaches that we have a good God who made a good world. Everything in it was Tov and Tovma Ove. It was very good. God told Adam and Eve to eat from any tree of the garden except for one, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And in the day that they eat of that tree, they will surely die. But everything else, he said, is for your enjoyment, be fruitful and

multiply. This is what our earliest ancestors were given the privilege of participating in. They were to enjoy God's good world and to live in fellowship and harmony with God. But the serpent comes, page three of the Bible. He distorts and corrupts and cast doubt and suspicion on what God had said. That's the way that Satan works then. That's the way that Satan works now. Not by saying God doesn't exist necessarily, but by saying, did God really say? And so Adam and Eve, they eat of the fruit. They usher in this reign of sin and death. They immediately feel that shame. Now, the rest of the story of the Bible. So we're on page three at this point. Page three of the Bible. The rest of the story of the Bible is not how man pursues God. It's a story

about how God pursues man. And immediately what comes here, though, is judgment. Sin had now fractured what God had made. God pronounces a curse on the serpent. And then it says in Genesis 314, because you have done this, curse it are you more than all cattle? That's a serpent. And more than every beast of the field on your belly you will go and dust you will eat all the days of your life and i will put enmity between you and the woman this is adam and eve's relationship and between your seed and her seed he shall bruise you on the head this is big if you don't understand uh prophecy if you don't understand the storyline of the bible it would be hard to understand the scripture collectively without knowing genesis 315 i'm going to start over god says i will put enmity between you and the woman

and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. So embedded within these ominous words of doom is mankind's only hope. Now, I want you just to consider this and ask the question initially, don't you love the Bible?

This passage indicates that, from the very beginning, a male member of the human race is going to come and deliver, a final and fatal blow to the serpent. That is the seed. But it says that he will be bruised in the process. So from page three of your Bible, what basic truths can you derive about the arrival or advent of the Messiah? Well, three things. He's going to have a supernatural birth. I think this was Sinclair Ferguson. He will be the seed of the woman. So no man's seed is included. So page three of your Bible rightly predicts a virgin birth. Secondly, he will be a supernatural

being because there has to be something divine at play if he's the seat of the woman. So only and also only a supernatural being can defeat Satan who is himself a supernatural being. And then third, he will be fully human. He will be God. He will be supernatural. And yet he will be human. He will be the seed of the woman. Now before we jump further, maybe just to pause for a second.

This is, I just want to like slow down for one moment because we're going to keep moving through and we're going to get through a chunk of the Old Testament here. But it's worth just calling out all of that came from a relatively short chunk. And this is one of the beauties of scriptures, like those are clear words. And sometimes we can blow through that. You kind of get familiar with poetic language. And it's kind of like, yeah, I'm familiar with that general statement. But no, those three unbelievably important distinctions that are going to be fleshed out in full as we go through the Old Testament are all right there on page three of your Bibles.

And it's, all of that can be observed in those short verses. And the way God has orchestrated this whole thing were drawn to these stories. And yet he's packing so much in in every single one of these stories for us to mine and enjoy forever. Yeah, and see the intricacy and depth of God's world. So at page three of your Bible, on page three, that is really what we know about the Messiah. God says, hey, one day I'm going to come in, I'm going to remedy what's been broken. And so the entirety of the Old Testament functions as this, you could say, massive funnel where there is the seat of the woman is coming, and that funnel becomes progressively narrow until we reach the person and work of Jesus Christ. So nine chapters later in Genesis 12, God encounters Abraham, and he tells Abraham that through Abraham's seed, the entire earth will be blessed.

Abraham's descendants are going to be the recipients of the blessing that Adam had forfeited because of sin. And then, big idea here, God tells Abraham in Genesis 15 that kings will come from you, a coming king. This seat of the woman that's going to remedy what's been broken and distorted and fractured and corrupted is a king. And so God tells Abraham, kings are going to come from you. Abraham has a son, Isaac, God reminds and reaffirms Isaac, or with Isaac, the promise that he had made to Abraham's father and says in Genesis 2613, kings are going to come from you. Now, Isaac has two sons, you know their names. He saw on Jacob. He saw in Jacob.

You would assume that God would make this promise to the older, but God comes to Jacob in Genesis 35 and he provides him with this solidified promise once again. kings, Genesis 3511, are going to come from you. So if you're tracking Genesis, one of the key words, by the way, throughout Genesis, is seed. This coming seed, Genesis 3, the seed of the woman is going to come and going to fix everything that's been broken. That's why you see that Hebrew word coming up over and over again. There's a seed, a coming seed coming, and he's going to be a coming king. You have this in Genesis 12, Genesis 26, Genesis 35. Now, Jacob has a lot of boys, right?

If you are going to ask the question, which of Jacob's sons would this kingly figure come through, you would make the assumption that it was Joseph. Joseph, why? Because his portion of Genesis, that narrative takes up the greatest portion of Genesis. It's the longest story there. But God doesn't come and bless Joseph. It's actually in Genesis 49 that Jacob promises not Joseph the most popular, nor Rubin the oldest, but that Judah, the symbol of royal power, the scepter,

he says, will not depart from Judah's house until Shiloh. That's a euphemism for the Messiah, this kingly figure comes. So at the end of Genesis, if you're trying to understand the Bible, God makes a good world. Sin destroys that, fractures that, Genesis 3. Genesis 3 through 49, where is this coming king? Where is this coming seed? Genesis 49 Genesis is about to end

Jacob tells Judah the scepter shall not depart from you the king is going to come through your line so at the end of Genesis here's what's happened this funnel that started really wide is being progressively narrowed Adam through Shem through Abraham through Isaac through Jacob

a lot of options there which son through Judah and it's as we keep moving here I know we're moving fast and we want to keep these episodes somewhat tight but there's There's so many smaller stories within that story. It's the three-hour episode. But, I mean, I'm thinking Kane and Abel, and then, no, that doesn't work out.

And Eve's looking and naming Seth. And she's thinking, like, maybe this is the one it's going to come through. And it's like, no, again, no, again, no. And even God's revealing his character in these stories, how we're seeing, oh, wait, God's reminding Isaac after reminding Abraham because we need reminders. That's what God does. And he's a good, gracious, patient, kind king. And then as he keeps reminding folks, oh, it's revealed.

God doesn't work in the ways that humans usually work. It's not the firstborn. It's the second born. It's not the first born again. It's not the last born. It's in the middle. And so these amazing, intricate realities of God's character are being revealed. We're brushing by them.

Even if you pick up like, so the greatest descendant of Judah is David. Even how you get to David, you have to go through Ruth a Moabite to get there. but the greatest descendant of Judah is David. It's the line of Judah. In part, this is fulfilled by David. But David would not only sin greatly, but like everyone else, he would die. Now, after David,

if you ever get stuck in your Bible reading plan, and we're going to do an episode on Bible reading plans that I would recommend in the future, if you ever get stuck in First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles, it is basically, okay, why is that there? it's there because the entire story of the Old Testament is asking the question where is the coming king and all of those kings other than David for the most part are total failures it's a grocery list

of people and of kings and the most common description of those kings is they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord so god comes to David in second Samuel 7 and he promises David Okay, David, you've failed, but from your line, there is going to come a king who will not reign for 40 years, but will reign for how long? Forever. So the Old Testament then is, and this is why when people say, you know, we don't get caught in the Old Testament. I go, what do you mean? So you're not interested in the greatest story ever. The Old Testament is not just a provision, a bunch of provision of commandments, but it is a story that traces and anticipates the arrival of the seat of the woman who will, will,

be a king who will come and conquer and reign forever. The prophets then, because your Bible's the law and the prophets, they pick up on this same theme. And you become familiar with this idea at Christmas where Zechariah says, rejoice, your king is coming. He is righteous and endowed with salvation. He is humble and mounted on a donkey, the full of a donkey. So 500 years before Palm Sunday, we read these words in the prophets, the king is coming, the king is coming, the king is coming. And he's not on a chariot and a chariot. He's not on a battle horse.

He's riding a baby donkey. It's the full of a donkey. He is righteous and brings salvation. So as we come to the end of this episode, I want to take you just to one thing in Matthew 1, turn there with me. Matthew 1 is typically what you read the first day of your Bible reading plan. I usually start in Genesis 1, but I guess. But if you're doing Old Testament and New Testament, it's the section that you go, not important, right?

Like it's a genealogy. This is interesting. I know, I've said this before, but the Bible is the greatest selling book in human history by a landslide. And it begins, not with compelling words like Dickens. it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It begins with a genealogy, 42 generations. And you go, what's going on here? Why does the New Testament begin with a genealogy?

Well, it's because it traces 42 generations. It says the record of the genealogy of Jesus, the first words of the New Testament, the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And then it says that there are, if you go to verse 17, so all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations. He just summed up, this king coming, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah to David,

you sum up that period of time with 14 generations. Then it says 14 generations from David to the Babylonian captivity, and then 14 generations from the Babylonian captivity to Jesus. Now, at Christmas, this is a song we sing. We sing, this, this is Christ the what? Turn. King, why? Because the entire storyline of the Old Testament is where is the Messiah,

where is this coming seed, where is this coming king? You know, I think sometimes we become so familiar with those Christmas lyrics that we miss the meaning, but the entire storyline of scripture is there is a king coming. And this king, as we'll look at in the future, is also a priest, a prophet, and he is the one who makes the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf. And just going back to Luke 24 for a moment, Jesus is passionate back then and today that we are able to

to a degree we're all growing in our faith and understanding of scripture connect the dots in the Bible so that we would see yes the Bible is 66 books written by 40 authors in three languages and on three continents but it all points to a single theme

and the theme of the Bible is Jesus Christ and the question of the Bible is do you know them and just the observation we're on different paths we're on different parts of our journey but you know jesus is preeminently occupied with helping you connect those dots because the example he gives us is literally him connecting the dots for these two on the road to ameus and just to jump back for a second for those who say like i'm unhitching my theology from the old testament or like i don't serve that type of god it's an uninteresting faith yeah the record Well, the record of Matthew would be like you can't understand the Gospels in their totality without first looking back to say where are we picking up this story and actually who is this character we're being introduced to.

It's thrilling. And so my heart is to be able to preach Christ in the New Testament. You have to understand the anticipation for them in the old. And I talked about this on Sunday and this is maybe just a closing thought is one of the chief functions of the Holy Spirit in John 16. is to help the believers see Christ in all the scripture. Not that every verse is explicitly about Jesus, but that it points to his work, points to his fulfillment. That's why even the feast in the Old Testament,

if you're talking about the feast of tabernacles and that celebrated God dwelling with his people and lights and all those things. It points to the person of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul says he's the fulfillment of the sacrificial system, the fulfillment of the festival system, because the Bible all points to him.

And we'll talk more about that in the episodes to come. Well, thanks for this time, Johnny. I really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks, bro.