The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament

My first experience reading a book from the Sidney B. Sperry Symposium was reading The Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. This was the topic of the 38th Sperry Symposium. The main idea of this topic is that, although the Old Testament is not the most explicit source to understand the Gospel, we can find all of its elements embedded in its pages (often through stories). I will highlight a few of my favorite points.

Michael A. Goodman points out in his essay that we learn about eternal marriage from the first pages of the Old Testament. When Adam and Eve were married in the Garden of Eden, there was no death at that time. Therefore, when marriage was first introduced into the world, there was no indication that it should have an end. It was intended to exist as long as Adam and Eve in their immortal state.

Paul Y. Hoskisson discusses how we can find the Plan of Salvation taught in the Old Testament. For example, Jacob's family leaves the Promised Land (the Celestial Kingdom) to journey to Egypt (the world). Eventually they leave the world, and through Moses (a savior) they are eventually able to return to the Promised Land (the Celestial Kingdom). The many details in this story teach us about God' plan.

Jared T. Parker has an essay on covenant cutting, citing examples in the Old Testament where something was literally cut and divided, and the person making the covenant would pass between the divided parts. Such was the custom in many kingdoms surrounding Israel, and we have some O.T. accounts of the Lord cutting covenants with His people. A cool connection he made was that at the Second Coming, the Savior will return and divide the Mount of Olives, and He will stand in the midst of it to save the Jews. Could this also be an example of covenant cutting? It is a neat idea.

The last essay I want to touch on was by Kerry Muhlestein (who I had as a professor at BYU). He talks about the story of Ruth, how it connects to redemption and Christ. However, what I thought was the neatest was the ancient principles of welfare that God established among his people. Those with lands were to leave some stalks untouched, and were not to take anything that fell to the ground. The poor who were willing to do some work, were allowed to collect what was not used. I thought this was neat.

I have a few more books from the Sperry Symposiums. I look forward to learning more!