All Scripture, although inspired, has application to all generations. Thus, when a prophet spoke to the Israelites about their destruction, it was a warning to Christians not to test God. When the Word says, Tree of Life, it is not only a physical tree but a Spiritual one as well. Not only that but the Tree of Life is the most important Person who ever lived, and is the same "Tree" still alive in Heaven. Likewise, the Cross on which God died was a physical representation of that Tree as well as the Man who was crucified. Scripture does not outwardly and transparently identify all those ideas but context reveals that. Discernment is understanding the message which God is transmitting. Discernment is a gift; it is God revealing to the reader the depth of the meaning of His Words.
It came to me one day, all the Bible is about Jesus. I "saw" Jesus in numerous biblical accounts. I first identified Jesus as the Word who revealed to Abraham the crucifixion. The Word asked Abraham to do to his son what the Father would someday do to His Son. (Gen 22). Isaac was a type of Christ. He was born to reveal the purpose of Jesus Christ. His birth was miraculous since Sara was ninety-years old. She laughed when God suggested that she would bear a son. Isaac means "he will laugh". Some suggest that was because Sara laughed at the idea of herself becoming a mother at that great age. Perhaps it was because God laughed with joy in presenting His only son to the world.
I thought, since Isaac represented Jesus, perhaps Jesus is typified in other Scripture. I found Jesus hidden everywhere in Holy Scripture. I laughed because I had never seen him there before! I was also angry because preachers had never identified the hidden Jesus in Scripture outside of prophecy. The Old Testament is all about Jesus, and if one looks for him there, he will be found everywhere! With that revealed, Christianity is the original religion, Christ was found typified by the Tree of Life, the Angel of God, the Cloud by day, the Fire by night, and the fourth "man" in the fiery furnace with Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego. Abraham had tithed to Jesus as typified by Melchizedek who like Jesus was without beginning! (Gen 14:18; Psalm 110:4). The New Testament identifies Melchizedek as "King of righteousness" - Jesus Christ (Heb 7:2) - who was also called "King of Peace".
Did you before this "see" Jesus blessing Abraham as God Himself who was called Jesus? This Man called "Jesus" was also called "Christ" and "Emmanuel" - "God With Us". Not only does the Word typify Jesus Christ but the patriarchs of God at their very birth were named for their purpose! "Abram" means "exalted father" and typifies the Creator Father God and also because he was the father of Judaism and Christianity. (I discount Islam because the "personality" of Allah is not that of Yahweh, and certainly not Yeshua - Jesus.)
Because the Word was pre-incarnate Jesus, I dismiss Christianity as a sect of Judaism but Judaism as a schism of Christianity. God didn't have two Plans; He had one, and that plan always included Jesus the Christ who was referred to as the "Messiah" in the old Testament.
Then comes Jacob, son of Isaac. His name mans "heel grabber". Of course, he came after his twin brother Esau but grabbed his brother's birthright. Jacob wrestled with the Angel of God who seems to be Jesus who had a glorified presence for the event. If one remembers the passage, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel," (Gen 3:15), it becomes obvious that Jacob, as well as his father ,was a type of Christ. Esau represented the serpent and Jacob the Christ. The Angel of God renamed Jacob "Israel", meaning "wrestled with the angel".
Israel represents Christ and the Church. It was Jesus with whom Jacob wrestled, and thereafter Israel always wrestled with God. The very notion of "Jesus" bothered the Jews even though they expected the Messiah to come. Jacob won the wrestling match but was marked when God touched the sinew of his thigh (Gen 32:2), and to this day Jews do not eat meat from that location.
The Jews misunderstood who God was that wrestled that day. Jacob new and called Him God. Jacob wrestled with Jesus and knew he did. The Hebrew people, for the most part, have always rejected the idea that Jesus is God. The sinew of the thigh typifies the Hebrew people who wrestled with Jesus but never understood that the Messiah Is Jesus Christ then and now!
When I realized that words mean things which the Word says, it revealed the omnipresence of Jesus Christ. One should always read the Epistle of John before reading the Old Testament. John "saw" Jesus in the Scripture of the Hebrews. Likewise, so did the other John - the Baptist. He said, "After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me." (John 1:30).
Whenever I read a name, I question its meaning. When I read of a place, I question the significance of its name and location. I found Solomon's Temple on Mount Moriah. I believe I have "found" the Garden of Eden in Jerusalem! Best yet, is I "found" Jesus at the Creation from John Chapter One.
(Note: etymology of the names were from Wikipedia for each name).
No comments:
Post a Comment