Connections
How the Old Testament points to Jesus
Each trail below links an Old Testament passage to the New Testament and says exactly what kind of link it is: a direct quotation, an explicit fulfillment, a strong echo, or a reading Christians have held historically. We do not label an interpretation as a proof.
Follow a thread from promise to witness. The visual line introduces the relationship; the evidence label tells you whether Scripture states it directly or whether FaithGraph is presenting an interpretive reading.
Understand the evidence labels- 01
Vinegar for My thirst
Psalm 69 complains of gall for food and vinegar for thirst. John records that Jesus said He was thirsty so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, and was offered sour wine.
Explicit fulfillmentHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 02
The suffering servant
Isaiah 53 describes a servant who is pierced for our transgressions and bears the sin of many. The apostles read this passage as a portrait of the crucified Jesus.
Explicit fulfillmentHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 03
A throne that lasts forever
God promised David that his house and kingdom would endure forever. The angel's words to Mary and the apostles' preaching present Jesus as the heir to that promise.
Explicit fulfillmentHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 04
Blessing for all nations
God promised Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. Paul says this promise was the Gospel announced ahead of time, fulfilled in Christ.
Explicit fulfillmentHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 05
The first promise
In the garden, after the fall, God tells the serpent that the woman's offspring will crush its head. Christians have long read this as the first glimpse of the Gospel.
Historic Christian readingMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 06
The scepter of Judah
Dying Jacob said the scepter would not leave Judah until its rightful owner came. Judah's line ran to David, and the New Testament calls Jesus the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
Historic Christian readingMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 07
A star from Jacob
Balaam, hired to curse Israel, saw instead a star rising from Jacob and a scepter from Israel. Christians have long read the magi's star and the Root of David in Revelation as the answer to that vision.
Historic Christian readingMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 08
God will provide the lamb
Abraham told Isaac that God Himself would provide the lamb, and a ram died in the boy's place. Christians have long heard in that mountain the shape of the cross, where the Father did not spare His own Son.
Historic Christian readingMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 09
The Elijah who was to come
Malachi's last words promise Elijah's return before the great day of the Lord. Jesus told the crowds and His disciples that John the Baptist was that Elijah.
Explicit fulfillmentHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 10
Micah names Bethlehem
Roughly seven centuries before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Micah wrote that a ruler of Israel would come from Bethlehem Ephrathah. Matthew records the scribes quoting this passage to Herod.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 11
Immanuel, God with us
Isaiah gave King Ahaz a sign: a virgin would conceive and bear a son named Immanuel. Matthew cites this text when he narrates the conception of Jesus, explaining the name as "God with us".
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 12
The Spirit poured out
Joel promised that God would one day pour out His Spirit on all people. At Pentecost, Peter stood up and said that this is what the crowd was seeing.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 13
The new covenant
Jeremiah promised a new covenant written on hearts, with sins forgiven. At the Last Supper Jesus lifted the cup and called it the new covenant in His blood.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 14
Out of Egypt I called my Son
Hosea remembered the exodus as God calling His son out of Egypt. When Joseph brought the child Jesus home from Egypt, Matthew heard the same words spoken again, and said they were fulfilled.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 15
Rachel weeping for her children
Jeremiah pictured Rachel weeping as her children were carried into exile. Matthew heard her voice again in Bethlehem when Herod killed the boys, and Jeremiah's next words promise that the children will return.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 16
He will be called a Nazarene
Matthew says the prophets foretold that Jesus would be called a Nazarene, yet no verse says so. Whether he means Isaiah's Branch, the despised Messiah, or something else is an honest open question, and FaithGraph says so.
Disputed interpretationDisputedFollow the evidence - 17
A voice in the wilderness
Isaiah heard a voice calling for a highway to be prepared for God in the desert. All three Synoptic Gospels say that voice was John the Baptist, preaching by the Jordan.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 18
Answering the tempter with Deuteronomy
Each of the three temptations is answered with a sentence from Deuteronomy, the book that recounts Israel's forty years of testing in the wilderness. Jesus stands where Israel stood and does not fall.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 19
He took up our infirmities
Isaiah's servant carried the sicknesses of others. Matthew saw that line kept when Jesus healed everyone brought to Him one evening in Capernaum.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 20
The humble king on a donkey
Zechariah told Jerusalem to rejoice because her king would come humble and riding on a donkey. Matthew and John say this is what the crowds saw on the day Jesus rode into the city.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 21
Hosanna: the pilgrims' psalm
Psalm 118 asks the Lord to save and blesses the one who comes in His name. The crowds sang it over Jesus as He entered Jerusalem, and days later He applied its rejected stone to Himself.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 22
Praise from the mouths of children
Psalm 8 says God has ordained praise from children and infants. Jesus quoted it when children in the temple courts shouted Hosanna to the Son of David and the priests were indignant.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 23
The stone the builders rejected
Psalm 118 speaks of a stone the builders rejected that became the cornerstone. Jesus quoted it against the leaders who were about to reject Him, and the apostles preached it after the resurrection.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 24
David's son and David's Lord
In Psalm 110 David calls the coming king my Lord. Jesus asked the Pharisees how that could be if the Christ is only David's son, and the New Testament quotes the psalm more than any other.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 25
Strike the shepherd
Zechariah spoke of a sword raised against God's shepherd and the sheep scattered. Jesus quoted it hours before the arrest, and all the disciples fled.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 26
The servant who did not hide His face
Isaiah's servant gives his back to blows and his cheeks to those who tear the beard, and does not hide from spitting. The Gospels describe Jesus spat on and beaten at His trials in the same terms.
Strong allusion or echoMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 27
Why have You forsaken Me
Psalm 22 opens with a cry of abandonment and ends in praise. Jesus prayed its first line from the cross, and the Gospels record several of its details in the crucifixion.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 28
The messenger sent ahead
Malachi promised that God would send a messenger to prepare the way before Him. Mark's first sentence about John the Baptist quotes that promise, and Jesus applies it to John as well.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 29
One like a son of man
Daniel saw one like a son of man come to the Ancient of Days and receive an everlasting kingdom. Jesus chose Son of Man as His own name for Himself.
Strong allusion or echoMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 30
A house of prayer for all nations
Isaiah promised that foreigners would be welcomed to worship in God's house. Jesus quoted that promise as He cleared the temple courts, the very area where the nations could pray.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 31
A den of robbers
Jeremiah stood at the temple gate and asked whether the house that bore God's name had become a den of robbers. Jesus used his words in the same courts six centuries later.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 32
The Son of Man on the clouds
Daniel saw one like a son of man coming with the clouds to receive an everlasting kingdom. Under oath before the high priest, Jesus described Himself in those words.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 33
In the spirit and power of Elijah
Malachi ended the prophets with a promise that Elijah would come before the great day of the Lord. Gabriel told Zechariah that his son would come in Elijah's spirit and power to prepare the way.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 34
Every firstborn belongs to the Lord
The law of the exodus claimed every firstborn son for God, a memory of the night the firstborn of Egypt died. Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple under that law.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 35
A light for the nations
Isaiah's servant would be a light to the nations as well as the restorer of Israel. Holding a forty-day- old child, Simeon said he had seen that light.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 36
Into Your hands
Psalm 31 entrusts the psalmist's spirit to the God who redeems. Luke records Jesus praying its words as He died.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 37
The prophet like Moses
Moses promised that God would raise up a prophet like him whom Israel must hear. The crowds who ate the loaves said Jesus was that Prophet, and the voice on the mountain said, listen to Him.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 38
Bread from heaven
The crowd fed by Jesus recalled the manna their fathers ate in the wilderness. Jesus answered that the true bread from heaven is the one the Father gives, and that He is the bread of life.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 39
Before Abraham was, I am
At the burning bush God named Himself I AM. In Jerusalem Jesus said that before Abraham was born, I am, and the crowd reached for stones.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 40
The friend who shared bread
David wrote of a close friend who ate his bread and turned against him. Jesus quoted the line at the supper and said it would be fulfilled in Judas.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 41
They divided My garments
Psalm 22 describes garments divided and lots cast for clothing. John records the soldiers doing exactly that at the cross and says the Scripture was fulfilled.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 42
Not one of His bones will be broken
The soldiers broke the legs of the two crucified with Jesus but not His. John says this fulfilled Scripture, words found both in Psalm 34 and in the law of the Passover lamb.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 43
The One they have pierced
Zechariah foresaw Jerusalem looking on one whom they had pierced and mourning. John applied the words to the spear thrust at the cross, and Revelation echoes them for Christ's return.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 44
Let another take his office
Two psalms of David speak of a deserted dwelling and of another taking a man's position. Peter read them as Scripture that had to be fulfilled about Judas, and the apostles chose Matthias to fill the place.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 45
The stone the builders rejected
The psalm sings of a stone the builders threw away that became the cornerstone. Peter told the council that Jesus, whom they crucified and God raised, is that stone, and Peter's letter repeats it.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 46
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
At the burning bush God named Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Stephen repeated the scene before the council to show that the God who called Moses is the God who sent Jesus.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 47
You are My Son
Psalm 2 records God's decree to His anointed king: you are My Son. Paul preached that this promise to the fathers was fulfilled when God raised up Jesus.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 48
The sure blessings of David
Isaiah promised an everlasting covenant, the loving devotion promised to David. Paul connected that promise to the resurrection of Jesus, who was raised never to see decay.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 49
A light for the nations
Isaiah's servant would be a light to the nations so that salvation reaches the ends of the earth. Paul and Barnabas turned to the Gentiles at Pisidian Antioch citing that command.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 50
The righteous will live by faith
Habakkuk, waiting on God in a violent age, was told that the righteous will live by faith. Paul made that line the thesis of Romans and the heart of Galatians.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 51
Credited as righteousness
Before the law and before circumcision, Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Paul, in Romans and Galatians, shows that everyone who trusts Christ is counted righteous the same way.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 52
Christ our Passover lamb
On the first Passover a lamb's blood on the doorframe shielded each household from judgment. Paul says plainly that Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 53
Death swallowed up in victory
Isaiah promised that God would swallow up death forever and wipe away every tear. Paul wrote that this saying will come true when the dead are raised imperishable.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 54
Where, O Death, is your sting
Hosea heard God promise to ransom His people from the grave and taunt death itself. Paul turns the taunt into the church's song of victory through Jesus Christ.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 55
A priest forever in the order of Melchizedek
Psalm 110 records an oath naming a priest forever after Melchizedek. Hebrews reads the oath as God's appointment of Jesus as high priest.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 56
Seventy years, then home
Jeremiah promised that after seventy years in Babylon God would bring His people back. Daniel read the promise, and Ezra says the decree of Cyrus was its fulfillment. The pattern of promise kept is the pattern the Gospels apply to Jesus.
Explicit fulfillmentHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 57
A grave with the rich
Isaiah said the servant would be given a grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death. Jesus died between two criminals and was buried in a rich man's new tomb.
Historic Christian readingMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 58
He stilled the storm
The psalmist sang of sailors saved when the Lord hushed the waves. In a boat on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus spoke and the sea was calm.
Strong allusion or echoMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 59
Elisha's loaves
A prophet once fed a hundred men with twenty loaves and had bread left over. Jesus fed thousands with five, and twelve baskets remained.
Strong allusion or echoMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 60
The exodus as the pattern of salvation
Slavery, a lamb, blood that protects, judgment passed over, and a people led out to freedom: the New Testament tells the story of Jesus in the shape of the exodus.
Historic Christian readingHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 61
Mary's song and Hannah's song
Hannah, given a son after years of barrenness, sang that God lifts the poor from the dust. Mary, given a Son by the Spirit, sang the same song in her own words.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 62
In the beginning
Genesis begins with God creating. John begins with the same words and tells us that the Word who was with God, and was God, made everything, and became flesh.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 63
Adam and Christ
Through one man's disobedience death came to everyone, Paul writes, and through one man's obedience many are made righteous. The fall in Eden and the cross are the two hinges of the human story.
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 64
Saved through water
Eight people passed safely through the waters that judged the world. Peter says that water corresponds to baptism, which saves through the risen Jesus.
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 65
A priest in the order of Melchizedek
A king of Salem who was also a priest blessed Abraham with bread and wine. Hebrews says Jesus is a priest forever in that order, greater than the priesthood of the law.
Explicit in ScriptureHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 66
A great light in Galilee
Isaiah promised that the humbled northern tribes would see a great light. Matthew says the promise was kept when Jesus made Capernaum His base and began to preach.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 67
Anointed to preach good news
Isaiah described one anointed by the Spirit to bring good news to the poor. Jesus read the passage in His hometown synagogue and said it was fulfilled that day.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 68
The serpent lifted up
In the wilderness, Israelites bitten by snakes lived by looking at a bronze serpent Moses raised on a pole. Jesus told Nicodemus that He too must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes may live.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 69
The sign of Jonah
When the scribes demanded a sign, Jesus offered only Jonah: three days in the fish, and a pagan city that repented. He said the Son of Man would be three days in the earth, and that something greater than Jonah was here.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 70
Ever hearing, never understanding
Isaiah was sent to a people who would hear and not understand. Jesus said His parables fulfilled that word, revealing the kingdom to some and hiding it from others.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 71
The chosen servant
Isaiah described a servant on whom God's Spirit rests, who will not break a bruised reed. Matthew says Jesus's gentle, unpublicized healing ministry fulfilled that portrait.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 72
Thirty pieces of silver
Zechariah was paid thirty pieces of silver and told to throw them to the potter in the Lord's house. Matthew saw the price of Judas's betrayal, thrown into the temple and used to buy a potter's field, in those words.
Direct quotationMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 73
Let God deliver Him
Psalm 22 pictures onlookers shaking their heads and sneering that the Lord should rescue the sufferer. Matthew records the same gestures and the same taunt at the cross without adding a citation formula.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 74
The Holy One will not see decay
David sang that God would not abandon His holy one to the grave. Peter told the Pentecost crowd that David was speaking ahead of time about the resurrection of the Christ, since David himself died and was buried.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 75
Sit at My right hand
The psalm records the LORD inviting David's Lord to sit at His right hand. Peter argued at Pentecost that David never ascended to heaven, so the words point to the exalted Jesus.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 76
A prophet like Moses
Moses told Israel that God would raise up a prophet like him whom they must hear. Peter, preaching at the temple, named Jesus as that prophet.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 77
Why do the nations rage
Psalm 2 asks why kings and rulers gather against the LORD and His Anointed. The Jerusalem church prayed those words and named Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and Israel gathered against Jesus.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 78
Led like a lamb to the slaughter
An Ethiopian official was reading Isaiah's words about a silent lamb led to slaughter and asked whom the prophet meant. Philip began from that passage and told him about Jesus.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 79
The fallen tent of David rebuilt
Amos promised that God would restore David's fallen tent so that the nations bearing His name would be gathered. James read that promise as fulfilled in the Gentiles turning to God.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 80
A new heaven and a new earth
Isaiah promised new heavens and a new earth where the former things are forgotten. John's final vision takes up the same words and adds that God Himself will wipe away every tear.
Strong allusion or echoHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 81
Coming with the clouds of heaven
Daniel saw one like a son of man coming with the clouds and receiving a kingdom that will never end. Jesus ascended in a cloud, and the messengers promised He will come back the same way.
Strong allusion or echoMedium confidenceFollow the evidence - 82
Heaven is My throne
Isaiah declared that the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, because heaven is His throne and earth His footstool. Stephen quoted those words before the council in the last speech of his life.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence - 83
Idols in the wilderness
Amos accused Israel of carrying idols even in the wilderness years. Stephen used the prophet's words to show the council that resisting God's messengers was an old pattern.
Direct quotationHigh confidenceFollow the evidence