Denouncing the unbelief and hardness of heart of the Jewish scribes and Pharisees, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself repeatedly referred to the testimony of the "law and the prophets," i.e. the Old Testament scriptures in general. Search the Scriptures, for you think through them to have eternal life, but they bear witness to Me (John 5:39); for if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me (John 5:46), for example, the Lord said to the blinded Jewish lawyers after the well-known miracle of the healing of the paralytic at the sheep's font. The Lord revealed this truth to His disciples even more clearly and in detail, appearing to them after the resurrection, as the Evangelist Luke testifies: and beginning with Moses, of all the prophets He explained to them what was said about Him in all the Scriptures... And he said to them, "This is what I spoke about while I was with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and psalms" (Luke 24:27 and 44). In addition to such a general statement, the Lord often points out particular cases of Old Testament images and prophecies that had to do with His life, teaching, sufferings and death on the Cross. Thus, for example, He notes the transfigurative significance of the brass serpent hanged by Moses in the wilderness (John 3:14), points to the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy about "the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:17-21; cf. Isaiah 61:1-2), speaks of the fulfillment of all ancient prophecies concerning His atoning sacrifice (Matt. 26:54 and Lk. 22:37), and even on the cross itself, at the moment of suffering, pronounces His deeply touching and calmly majestic words: was accomplished (John 19:30), thus letting it be known that all that was ordained from eternity, was spoken through the prophets for many hours and in many ways (Hebrews 1:1).

Like their Divine Teacher, the Evangelists and Apostles incessantly refer to the Bible, drawing with their full hand from the richness of its messianic treasures and thus establishing the complete harmony of the two Testaments, united around the Person of the Messiah – Christ. Thus, all the Evangelists – these four independent writers of the life of Jesus Christ – so often refer to the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies that they even developed special formulas for this: "And all this happened, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, or simply: then was fulfilled that which was spoken through the prophet, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled," or else: and the word of the Scripture was fulfilled, and a whole series of others, similar expressions.

No less often they refer to the Old Testament Scriptures and thus establish its closest inner connection with the New Testament and all the other New Testament writers, beginning with Book II. Acts and ending with the Apocalypse. Not being able to exhaust here the entire abundance of such definite and clear references, we will point out as an example only a few of them, the most characteristic: such, for example, are the two speeches of the Apostle Peter: one after the descent of the Holy Spirit, the other after the healing of the lame man, which are narrated in the second and third chapters of the Book of Kings. Acts and which are full of Old Testament quotations (Joel – Acts 2:16-21; David – 2:25-28; 34-35; Moses – 3:22-23); especially remarkable is the conclusion of the last speech: and all the prophets, from Samuel and after him, however many they spoke, also foretold these days (Acts 3:24). No less important in this respect is the speech of Archdeacon Stephen, which gives in a concise sketch the entire Old Testament history of the preparation of the Jews for the acceptance of the Messiah Christ (Acts 7:2-56). In the same book of Acts there is a great multitude of other similar testimonies: "And we preach unto you that the promise which was made to the fathers, God hath fulfilled unto us, their children, by raising up Jesus" (Acts 13:32). In short, the entire teaching of the apostles about the New Testament Kingdom of God boiled down mainly to what they assured Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets (Acts 28:23).

Of the many New Testament references that establish a connection with the Old Testament events and prophecies contained in the Epistles of the Holy Apostles, we will cite a few examples only from the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, the same Paul who, as Saul, was himself formerly a Pharisee, a zealot of patristic traditions, and a profound scholar of the Old Testament Testament. And so, this holy Apostle says that the end of the law is Christ (Romans 10:4), that the law was for us a tutor (παιδάγογος) to Christ (Gal. 3:24), that believers are established on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, having Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), that all the Old Testament types are described for our instruction (1 Cor. 10:11), that the entire Old Testament with all its religious ceremonies and worship was only a shadow of the future, and the body is in Christ (Col. 2:17), a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of things (Heb. 10:1), and that, finally, at the foundation of the entire history of the economy of our salvation lies Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8).

If we pass from the sacred books of the New Testament to the ancient Jewish interpretations of the Scriptures, to the Targums, the Talmud, the Midrash, and the writings of the first rabbis up to and including the twelfth century, we will see that the constant and unchanging Jewish tradition of interpreting the Bible was the desire to seek and find references to the Messiah and His time everywhere. Such enthusiasm sometimes even reached extremes, as can be seen from the following rabbinical saying: "The prophets preached exclusively about the joy of the days of the Messiah" (the idea of the suffering Messiah-Redeemer was forgotten); but it profoundly understood the truth that, indeed, the idea of the Messiah Christ lies at the basis of all Scripture. "One cannot wish to apply everything directly to the Messiah," says Blessed Augustine, "but passages that do not relate directly to Him serve as the foundation for those who proclaim Him. As in the lyre all the strings sound according to their nature, and the tree on which they are stretched gives them its own special color of sound, so the Old Testament: it sounds like a harmonious lyre about the name and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ." [4]

The above subtle comparison of Blessed Augustine perfectly characterizes the patristic view of the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. Testimonies about their close, indissoluble connection, based on the Person of the Messiah Christ, go uninterruptedly side by side from the very first centuries of Christianity: the Apostle Barnabas wrote about this in his "Epistle," St. Justin the Philosopher in "Conversation with Tryphon the Judean," Tertullian in his work "Against the Jews," St. Irenaeus of Lyons in his work "Against Heresies," the apologists Aristides, Athenagoras, and others. and Origen stood out from among them, who, for example, said that "the utterances of the Scriptures are the garments of the Word... that in the Scriptures the Word (Λόγος – Son of God) was always flesh to live among us."

Of the subsequent Holy Fathers, these thoughts were developed in detail in their remarkable commentaries by St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. Ephraim the Syrian, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, and St. Ambrose of Milan. The latter, for example, wrote: "The cup of wisdom is in your hands. This cup is double – the Old and New Testaments. Drink them, because in both you drink Christ. Drink of Christ, for He is the fountain of life." [5]

Turning now to the internal proofs, i.e. to the very content of the sacred books, we are finally convinced that our Lord Jesus Christ constitutes the main point and the central idea of the entire Bible. This great book, composed by so many and varied authors, separated by very considerable periods of time, and influenced by the most diverse civilizations, is at the same time a remarkable unity and a wonderful wholeness. This is mainly due to the gradual development of the same messianic idea in it. "The New Testament is hidden in the Old, the Old in the New is revealed," said medieval theologians, based on the words of Blessed Augustine. [6]

That Jesus Christ and His work constitute the sole theme of all the New Testament Scriptures is self-evident and requires no proof. But that the whole of New Testament history is based on the Old Testament is perhaps not so obvious. And yet this is just as indubitable, for proof of which it is sufficient to refer only to two Gospel genealogies of Christ, in which an abbreviation of the entire Old Testament history is given in its relation to the person of the promised Messiah Christ (Matt. 1:1-16 and Lk. 3:23-38).

Но мы можем последовательно проследить развитие мессианской идеи и в книгах Ветхого Завета. Обетование Избавителя, данное падшим прародителям еще в раю, – вот первое звено той непрерывной цепи ветхозаветных мессианских пророчеств, которые начались Адамом и кончились Захарией, отцом Иоанна Крестителя. Поэтому-то оно и называется первоевангелием (Быт. 3:15). С эпохи Ноя это обетование определяется несколько ближе и точнее: семенем жены называются лишь дети Сима, к которым и приурочивается история искупления (Быт. 9:26). Этот круг еще больше сужается с эпохи Авраама, отца богоизбранного еврейского народа, в семени которого (т.е. в Иисусе Христе, по толкованию Апостола Павла – Гал. 3:16) возвещается спасение и всех остальных наций (Быт. 12:3; 18:18). Впоследствии и из потомства Авраамова выделена была раса Иакова (Быт. 27:27), позднее сам Иаков, в духе пророческого прозрения, дает особое благословение своему сыну Иуде (Быт 49:8 и след).

И чем дальше шло время, тем ближе и честнее определялись различные черты мессианского служения: так, пророк Валаам говорит о Его царственной власти (Чис. 24:17), Моисей – о трояком Его служении: царском, первосвященническом и пророческом (Втор. 18:18-19), о происхождении Мессии из царского рода Давидова (2 Цар. 7:12-14), о рождении Его в Вифлееме (Мих. 5:2) и от Девы матери (Ис. 7:14), о торжественном входе Его в храм Иерусалимский (Мал. 3:1), о разных, даже мелких обстоятельствах Его крестных страданий и смерти (Ис. 53 гл.; Пс. 21:17-19; 40:9-10; 68:22; Зах. 11:12 и др.), о Его славном воскресении (Ис. 53:9-21; Пс. 15:10; 19:6-7; 11: 11; 47:2 и др.), о наступлении Его благодатного царства (Пс. 21:28-32; 44:7, 14-17; 71:7-19; Иоил. 2:28; Ис. 2 гл.; Ис. 35:1-2,10; 61:1-2) и Его грозного второго пришествия (Дан. 7:25 и 7:7; Зах. 14:2-3, 9 и др.). Можно положительно сказать, что нет ни одной важной черты из эпохи и жизни Мессии, которая не была бы тем или иным путем предуказана в Ветхом Завете, или в форме ясного пророчества, или под покровом символов и прообразов; а пророк Исаия получил даже наименование “ветхозаветного евангелиста” за поразительную точность и полноту своих пророчественных прообразов жизни Господа Иисуса Христа.

Не менее ясно это единство мессианской идеи сквозит и в общем плане Библии. По своему характеру и содержанию все ветхозаветные книги могут быть разделены на три основные группы: книги законоположительно-исторические, книги пророческие и книги поэтическо-назидательные. Первый класс излагает историю теократии, т.е. прав правления Всевышнего над Израилем. Но с какой целью Господь употребляет столь различные методы воспитания Своего народа? Завет на Синае, Моисеево законодательство, бедствия пустыни, завоевание земли обетованной, победы и поражения, отчуждение от других народов, наконец, тягость вавилонского плена и радость возвращения из него – все это имело очевидной своей целью сформировать еврейскую нацию в известном духе, в духе сохранения и распространения мессианской идеи. Еще очевиднее этот мотив в пророческих книгах, где, то через угрозы, то через обещания наград, народ еврейский постоянно поддерживался на известной нравственной высоте и приготовлялся в духе чистой веры и правой жизни, ввиду грядущего Мессии. Что касается, наконец, до книг последней группы – поэтически-назидательных, то одни из них, как, например, Псалмы, были прямо мессианскими молитвами еврейской нации; другие, как Песнь Песней, под формой аллегории изображали союз Израиля со Христом; третьи, как книги Премудрости, Екклезиаст и др. раскрывали различные черты Божественной Премудрости, лучи того Божественного Слова (Λόγος), которые сияли среди мрака язычества и в дохристианском мире.

Таким образом, с полным убеждением можно сказать, что главным и основным предметом Библии, начиная с первых глав книги Бытия (3:15) и кончая последними главами Апокалипсиса (21:6-21 и 22:20), служит Богочеловек, Господь наш Иисус Христос.

Ветхий Завет.