The Great Metaphor of the Old Testament

I was sitting having lunch with my brother on the couch in the other room showing his wife this video on youtube. The video was a man talking about how the stories of the Old Testament are great stories in and of themselves, but to take them only at face value leaves them empty. He went on to say that every story in the Old Testament is really a metaphor of Jesus conquering sin for us. This completely changed my view of those stories that I grew up hearing about in the Sunday School as a child. I am always amazed at my God who shows me so much more to the things that I already thought I knew all about. The story of David and Goliath is the one that stands out the strongest to me. What better metaphor of Jesus conquering sin then this? The people of God standing on the battle field of sin and death against a foe that seems to be unstoppable, unbeatable. They stand in fear looking on the giant that they believe can not be taken down, who stands their taunting them and taunting our God. Goliath did this for days and not one of the people believed they could stand up to him or defeat him, but then God sent us his champion. The prophets tell of Jesus, a man who, “…had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men… he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:2b-3) David was that representation for he was a boy, a shepherd with no experience in battle. His brother’s laughed at him and rejected him when he stood up and even his own Father didn’t believe in him and kept him home from the battle. But on the field of battle David stood up before the giant Goliath and took him down. After David cut the head of Goliath off, the people rallied behind him and chased the enemy without fear! In the same way Jesus hung on the cross and killed sin and death for us, giving hope to his people. Another story that shows the promise of Jesus was the exodus of God’s people from Egypt. They were under the bonds of slavery and Moses came and freed them from it and lead them into the riches of God’s promise. Jesus broke the bonds of sin and lead us into the kingdom of God and all of its riches. The stories go on and on; the serpent lifted up in the desert, the rock that was struck, and so on. The Old Testament is a giant metaphor for God’s love and deliverance from sin through his Son Jesus. It is stories of real people that show the future promise of our Savior.