Religion and Theology

The book Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament is organized into five chapters namely, Jesus and the Old Testament Story, Jesus and the Old Testament Promise, Jesus and his Old Testament Identity, Jesus and his Old Testament Mission, and Jesus and his Old Testament Values in approximately 250 pages. The book has been written by Reverend Dr. Christopher J. H. Wright in the context of the Old Testament as being a guide book to emphasize the truth that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. This book is primarily written as a resource to help those who want to understand Jesus in the context of old testament and also to reestablish the strong connection existing between the Old Testament and the New Testament, a connection which is probably lost in todays time. In this book, author has sincerely tried to establish the connection between the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah of Israel and the lifetime of Jesus during which Jesus emerges as a Savior of the World in a realistic manner based on a thorough biblical research.

Brief Summary
All five chapters of the book presents a number of Old Testament passages which are further elaborated to correlate with the corresponding New Testament passages in order to establish the fact that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about the coming of a Messiah. In his book, the author asks the reader to look at the Old Testament in a new light so that the reader can see himself unfolding the story of Jesus through out the Old Testament such as the promise of a Messiah for the Israel, prophecy about Jesus and his birth, Jesus life and his mission, Jesus death and finally his resurrection. In chapter 1 titled as Jesus and the Old Testament Story (pp. 1-54), the author tries to establish the point that  Jesus is the descendant of Abraham and David as mentioned in the ancient Holy Scriptures and the life of Jesus is the culmination of the Old Testament story. In chapter 2 (pp. 55-102) titled as Jesus and the Old Testament Promise, the author correlates the Old Testament promise of Israels Messiah with the important events of Jesus life such as the promise of Jesus birth, Josephs dream, Jesus escape to Egypt, King Herods killing of infants, Jesus return from Egypt and his settlement in Nazareth. In chapter 3 titled as Jesus and his Old Testament Identity (pp. 103-135), the author draws parallels between Isaac, Abrahams only son and Jesus, the only Son of God. In chapter 4 titled as Jesus and his Old Testament Mission (pp. 136-180), the author narrates the mission of Jesus as a Savior of the World in the context of the Old Testament. In chapter 5 titled as Jesus and his Old Testament Values (pp. 181-252), the author shows the alignment of Jesus life with the law of God.

Interaction of Authors Writings
The author starts his book with the strong convictions that Jesus completes the story which is told in the Old Testament and Jesus is the fulfillment of Gods promise for the Israel. To establish this fact he starts with St. Matthews gospel and works backward to the Old Testament scriptures. Jesus genealogy as illustrated in the gospel of St. Matthew establishes the fact that Jesus is a Jew by birth and a descendant of Abraham and David. In Old Testament, it is prophesized that the Messiah will be from the descendants of King David. The author goes on to establish the connection of the Old Testament and Jesus life by stating that Jesus used the values of the Old Testament in his ministry and when faced with temptation he responded using the passages from the Old Testament. He became the identity of Israel when Israel failed in order to save the chosen ones. The author warns the modern Christians that without understanding the Old Testament, they would lose the meaning of Jesus himself and this understanding can be achieved only by delving in the Old Testament scriptures.

In the following chapter, i.e. chapter 2, the author has tried his best to correlate the Old Testament promise of Messiah with Jesus life by elaborating the passages from the Old Testament about a virgins conception (Isaiah 714), the birth of her son Jesus (Micah 52) Jesus escape to Egypt and his return (Hosea 111) the murder of the young boys in Bethlehem (Jeremiah 3115) and Jesus settlement in Nazareth.

This elaboration about the Old Testament promise is followed by the authors assertion that Jesus understands his own mission as the Son of God from three Old Testament passages as illustrated in Psalm 27 (here Jesus identified himself as the Son of David and as Israels Chosen King) Isaiah 421(here Jesus understands himself as a servant of God. This Davidic, Kingly Son would serve his people even unto death as the Servant Songs of Isaiah teaches us. The servant would suffer so that his people might be healed) and Genesis 222. (Here Jesus sees himself as the beloved son of God like Isaac unto Abraham. Yet in stark contrast, Isaac is spared, Jesus is not). In this chapter, the author reaffirms the truth that Jesus is the fulfillment all Old Testament prophecies about the Son of God and the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. From the identity of Jesus as revealed in the Old Testament, the focus shifts to the mission of promised Messiah in the following chapter. In this chapter, the author covers all possible expectations of the Israel people about the coming of Messiah as they were quite desperate and suppressed under the rule of the Romans and were expecting the coming of Messiah in order to liberate them from the Roman suppression.

Here the author states the important fact that the Israels expectations about a Messiah were purely on a physical plane rather than on a spiritual plane. But Jesus, being the Son of God, had a deeper understanding about the Old Testament and realized that his mission is purely on spiritual plane.  And now says the Lord, who formed me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him.

In the final chapter, the author again focuses on establishing the continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament by elaborating the ways to be followed by modern day Christians in order to follow Jesus. The crux of this chapter is that to enter into kingdom of God one must submit oneself to the law of God.

Conclusion
Since this book is written based on a thorough research of the Old Testament, it provides a great insight in to the life and culture of Jews both during the times of the Old Testament and that of the New Testament. Jews (or rather Israel as they are called) in the time of Old Testament lived in the expectation of the arrival of a Messiah whom God of Israel promised them long ago as their Savior. The author, in his book, establishes the fact that Jesus is this Promised Savior of Israel and the life of Jesus is the culmination of all Old Testament prophecies about the Coming of Messiah. Therefore the author asserts that to know Jesus truly, one must have a strong understanding of the Old Testament and it is only through the Old Testament one must be able to know Jesus true identity. Overall it is a good book worth referring for knowing Jesus and mainly written for the establishment of the connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament.