Images of the Cross in the Old Testament

Images of the cross from the Old Testament

The Bible is an amazing collection of 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. These books were written over a period of about 1200 years, in 3 different languages, in several different countries and in many different literary styles—for example, history, parable, poetry, drama, prophecy, vision, oration, epigram. However, one of a number of reasons why Christians believe that God himself was involved in the process—involving people chosen and equipped by himself for the task—is the way the whole corpus holds together. It is remarkably consistent in the way it presents the character of God and his dealing with mankind throughout history. It is consistent also in its picture of the nature of human beings, their accountability to God, their potential and their perversity.

Another way in which the Bible is consistent is in the meaning it gives to various symbols and images. The Bible often uses images, metaphors, symbols, and stories or parables to illustrate spiritual truths. It is interesting to note the number of times in the Gospels that the disciples, or others, misunderstood Jesus because they took him too literally when he was using a story or metaphor to get across a truth. Sometimes these images from the Old Testament are spoken of as “types”. Douglas Moo, in The Epistle to the Romans, defines types as “those Old Testament persons, institutions, or events that have a divinely intended function of prefiguring.”

The Old Testament is mostly the story of God’s dealings with the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, over a period of some 1500 years, as he prepared them for his personal coming into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, the second member of the divine Trinity.[3] However, there is a very real sense in which the Old Testament could be said to be God’s Picture Book, a book that illustrates, often in quite vivid ways, the truths that are made more explicit in the New Testament through the coming of Christ.

Some of the most significant images given to us in the Old Testament look forward to the cross and in some way illuminate its meaning. Often these images are referred to by writers of the New Testament. It is always easy to get carried away with interpreting images. Some of the Church Fathers in the early centuries after Christ tended to do this. However, a good guide is to see how the New Testament writers interpreted them. If we believe that God had a hand in giving us the Bible, then we can expect some consistency here. So let’s go exploring in the Old Testament to see what we can find.

[3] I have explored the question of why Christians believe that God is a Trinity of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and how this makes sense, in the booklet Understanding the Trinity.

The tree of life

The “tree of life” is mentioned a number of times in the Bible. It occurs first in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9; 3:22, 24). It is found in four of the pithy sayings of Proverbs (3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4). It occurs again in Revelation as one of the symbols found in the Eternal City (2:7; 22:2, 14). It seems obvious, in Genesis and Revelation at least, that this stands for that quality of life which we enjoy when we have a relationship with God. This was the life that humans lost when they turned from God and forfeited their fellowship with him, symbolised by being driven from the Garden and no longer having access to the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24). In the New Testament, this life is called “eternal life” and is given as a gift when we put our faith in Jesus (e.g. Romans 6:23).

It is significant, however, that in the New Testament the cross is four times spoken of as a ‘tree’ (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; 1 Peter 2:24). This, no doubt, is related to the statement in the Old Testament that “anyone who is hung on a pole [or 'tree'] is under God’s curse” (Deuteronomy 21:23). Paul, when quoting this verse, explains that Christ bore that curse on our behalf, “becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). The Greek word used for “tree” in these instances is xulon, which is the usual word for dead wood or timber. The normal word for living wood in the New Testament is dendron (from which comes our word “rhododendron”—“rose tree”).