Very interesting article making the rounds... I read bits and pieces in the online version of Time. Archeologists have supposedly found a Jewish inscription predating Christ that predicts the messiah would rise after three days in the grave. Fascinating. The only problem I have... do people really doubt the Jewish roots of Christianity? Of course Jesus was Jewish... and both the Old Testament and the New Testament are firmly rooted in the promises God made to Israel... We can't understand the message of the gospel unless we understand the New Testament in the light of the Old Testament themes. Not just that the Old predicts the new - it goes much deeper then that. The New Testament stories are in many ways the retelling of the Old Testament stories... fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is Israel - reduced to one, the messiah, the king, the representative of his people. His death and resurrection is the exile and restoration of Israel...the people of God.
The absolute best discussion of this I have found is N.T. Wright's The New Testament and the People of God. He does an excellent job of unpacking these connections. I strongly recommend it. Or for a less academic treatment, check out his Simply Christian.
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