Subliminal Messaging

By Grant Gaines

In a day and age where so many people long for authenticity, it’s startling how many advertisements and movies are jam packed with subliminal messages. A subliminal message is a signal or message that is designed to fly under the radar of your conscious perception. For example, in the late 1950’s researcher James Vicary claimed to have found dramatic increases in the sales of Coca-Cola and popcorn when he flashed the phrases “Drink Coca-Cola” and “Eat popcorn” for 1/2000 of a second during a movie. The statistics showed an increase in popcorn sales by 58% and an 18% increase in Coca-Cola sales.

In a similar fashion, the Bible has a longgg history of subliminal messages in the Old Testament that all point to one Person – Jesus. Jesus didn’t simply pop onto the scene as the main character in the New Testament, He’s been around since the beginning of time. John 1:1-2 (NIV) puts it this way –“In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

With that truth in mind, let’s take a second look back at the Old Testament to see the subliminal Jesus in some of the main stories.

Starting all the way back at the beginning, we get the first foreshadowing of Christ right after Adam and Eve fell into sin in the Garden of Eden. The couple, as you’ll recall, ate the forbidden fruit which allowed sin to enter the world and caused them to be forced out of the Garden. But right before the Lord cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden, He gave humanity a glimmer of hope in a future triumph over the Enemy in Genesis 3:15 (NIV) when God told Satan, “And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike his Heel.” Jesus was “struck on His heal” through His death but rose again to “crush the Enemy’s head!”

The world continued to spiral out of control as sin’s grasp around humanity’s neck tightened when we arrive at Genesis 6:5 (NIV) – “The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” The Lord sent a mighty flood to wipe away all mankind but before He did so, He commanded Noah to build an ark as the only source of salvation for anyone who entered onto that ark. It didn’t matter how powerful of a swimmer or how big of a boat anyone else had at the time, the only way that you would be saved from the flood was to be on the ark that God designated.

In the same way, Jesus is the ONLY way that we can be saved from the flood of sin and eternal death. It doesn’t matter how “good” we are, how much money we have, or how good of intentions we have, in John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus very clearly says that He is the only way to salvation when He declares – “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

As the Bible narrative continues, we are introduced to a faithful man named Abraham who was miraculously gifted with a son, Isaac, at the ripe old age of 100. After getting the joyous pleasure of raising Isaac into his teenage years, the Lord appeared to Abraham to test him to see if Abraham still loved the Creator more than His creation – “Take your son, your only son, whom you love – Isaac – and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you” (Genesis 22:2, NIV).

Abraham immediately obeyed and walked up Mount Moriah while Isaac, his one and only son, followed him while carrying, “…the wood for the burnt offering” (Genesis 22:6, NIV).

Jesus later walked up that same mountain – Mount Moriah – where the Temple in Jerusalem was built, carrying His own wood for the ultimate sacrifice of Himself to end sin’s reign over mankind.

But as Genesis 22 continues, right before Abraham was about to sacrifice his one and only son, the Lord stopped him and told him that this was only a test to see who Abraham was more loyal to – the Lord or his son. Because Abraham was willing to sacrifice what was most important to him, the Lord spared Isaac and instead provided a ram caught in a thicket for Abraham to sacrifice as a substitute for Isaac (Genesis 22:13).

Once again, we see Jesus – the perfect, blameless “Lamb of God” (John 1:26, NIV) –stepping into our place to take the punishment and death that we deserve so that we, just like Isaac, can walk away with a new life.

As Isaac grew older, he had a son named Jacob and a grandson named Joseph. Joseph was beloved by his father but hated by his brothers. This envy eventually drove the brothers to hand Joseph over to become a slave in a foreign land where they thought would surly lead to death. Many years later, the Lord allowed Joseph to prosper so much so that he was second in command over all of Egypt.

Because of a famine that ravished the Middle East, Joseph’s brothers were sent by their father Jacob to beg for grain from whoever was in charge of Egypt’s storehouse which just so happened to be, surprise, surprise, Joseph. The brother they thought they had killed was actually the only one who was able to save them.

In the same way, Jesus was loved by the Father but hated by His brothers (the Jews). Their envy drove them to crucify Christ which they certainly thought would bring a screeching halt to the Jesus narrative. However, three days later the world quickly discovered that just like Joseph, the Brother they thought they killed was now the only One that was truly able to save them.

The foreshadowing throughout the Old Testament goes on and on and on. From a household being saved by the blood of an innocent lamb during the Passover plague to Nehemiah leaving the comfort of his position next to the king to help those in need, Jesus is at the center of every major story in the Bible.

What an encouragement that is! Jesus was never a backup plan or an afterthought. He always was – and still is – the center of it all. The only question that needs to be answered is this: is Jesus the center of your life?