People typically associate Jesus with and look for Him in the New Testament. However, traces of the Savior appear throughout the Old Testament. In The Messianic Message, R. Reed Lessing and Andrew E. Steinmann go through each book of the Old Testament and explain each prediction, pattern, and presence of Jesus.

“Thus, the Messiah did not appear unannounced,” write Lessing and Steinmann. “His cross and empty tomb are declared in advance throughout the pages of Israel’s sacred texts. After rebuking Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus for their slowness to learn, Jesus opened the Scriptures—the Old Testament—for them (Lk 24:27). He will do the same for you. We invite you to see Jesus.”

This book helps readers understand Jesus’ role and how these instances of Christ in the Old Testament were beginning to lay the groundwork for His birth and ministry in the New Testament. Readers will examine the Old Testament and continue building their faith foundation and strengthening their relationship with the Messiah.

“This long-needed volume details how Jesus, the Messiah, is foretold and foreshadowed from Genesis to Malachi,” says Dr. David Peter, professor of practical theology and dean of faculty at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. “Every Christian will profit from reading how the first three-quarters of the Bible presents the messianic promise. This book is the most accessible resource I know of that displays Christ as the central message of the Old Testament.” 

Visit cph.org for more information. Contact Erica Sontag to schedule an interview with the authors.

Praise for The Messianic Message

Too often, the messianic message of the New Testament is sundered from the Old Testament witness, as if the latter has very little to do with the former. Steinmann and Lessing show in this accessible work that the expectation of the Messiah permeates the Old Testament. The good news of Jesus Christ is not limited to the New Testament but is the message of the entire Bible.

—Tom Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison professor of New Testament interpretation and professor of biblical theology (1997), associate dean of the school of theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Lessing and Steinmann call us to read the Old Testament in the same way as the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, who saw in Jesus the fulfillment of all that the Lord had promised the Messiah would do and be. Even better, The Messianic Message captures Jesus’ own teaching that when we examine Genesis through Malachi, we will find life because they testify of Jesus, the Messiah. This gem of a book will be a blessing to the Church for years to come.

—Kevin S. Golden, PhD; associate professor of exegetical theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

As an Old Testament professor, the most frequent question asked of me is “How should I read the Old Testament so I can see Jesus?” Steinmann and Lessing have provided a good and accessible volume that provides an introduction into reading all Scripture with an eye on Jesus. Both pastors and laity will benefit as the Testaments, Old and New, are connected together in one story while revealing their one purpose.

—Dr. Jeffrey H. Pulse, Dr. Dean O. Wenthe professor of Old Testament theology, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne

When the resurrected Jesus appeared to His disciples, He did two things. First, He reminded them that He was the fulfillment of everything written about Him in the OT. Second, He opened their minds to read the Scriptures with this central truth in mind. Since that day, God’s people have delighted in reading the OT in the light of Jesus. We love to see the shadows, patterns, and prophecies that enrich our understanding of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. In The Messianic Message, Steinmann and Lessing have added a valuable book to this rich reading legacy. The authors have done a great service to Christian readers who may not know how wonderfully the OT witnesses to our Lord or may have forgotten what that looks like. This book promises to be a blessing to all who read it.

—Timothy E. Saleska, Gustav and Sophie Butterbach professor of exegetical theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Jesus claimed that the Old Testament Scriptures testify of Him (John 5:39). We are shown how they, in fact, do so in this thorough yet highly readable book by two eminent Old Testament scholars. This long-needed volume details how Jesus, the Messiah, is foretold and foreshadowed from Genesis to Malachi. Every Christian will profit from reading how the first three-quarters of the Bible presents the messianic promise. This book is the most accessible resource I know of that displays Christ as the central message of the Old Testament.

—David Peter, professor of practical theology and dean of faculty, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Steinmann and Lessing have produced an excellent resource for pastors, students, and laypeople. Their book is comprehensive in its scope and clear in its explanations. A student recently asked me about where he could go to find out about the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Messianic Message will now be on my recommended list.

—Walter Maier III, professor of exegetical theology, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne

Steinmann and Lessing offer a comprehensive nontechnical presentation of the Bible’s messianic message, summarizing its New Testament presentation before tracing its development through the Old Testament. In their book-by-book analysis of the OT, they helpfully distinguish between three types of messianic revelation: predictions, patterns (correspondences between events, people, institutions), and presence (the Lord’s Messenger, divine glory), thereby taking a maximalist approach to the subject without lapsing into a Jesus-on-every-page interpretive mode. The result is a reader-friendly guide to the central theme of Scripture in its forward (OT) and backward (NT) look, undergirded by the authors’ assertion of its divinely inspired unity.

—Richard Schultz, Blanchard professor of Old Testament, Wheaton College