In John 5:39 Jesus told the religious leaders: You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me[i]. The Scriptures Jesus refers to are what we call the Old Testament.  He says the Old Testament is about Him; but how is the Old Testament about Jesus? Where does it even refer to Him?  Many people see the Old Testament only as a gruesome account of God punishing people. Even Christians who are familiar with it see Jesus in only a few select passages that refer, for example, to His being born of a virgin in Bethlehem (Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:2), or being a man of sorrows (Isaiah 53:3).

 

In this daily devotional each day’s reading will explore a different aspect of the life and ministry of Jesus the Messiah as revealed in the Old Testament.  For the words of Jesus in John 5:39 are true; He is there in the Scriptures.  In prophecy and promise, in people’s lives, in places, in objects, in events – these all anticipate the life and character of Jesus, and reveal the profound nature of His ministry on earth and in heaven.

 

This devotional is intended to give us the privilege of joining the two unnamed disciples on the Road to Emmaus so that we too may hear what the Master said concerning Himself. I sincerely hope that these pages deepen your understanding and strengthen your confidence in God and His Word.  There is nobody in this world of greater value than Jesus the Messiah, for He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last (Revelation 22:13).

 

The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Genesis 2:7.

 

What a thrill to have been a fellow traveller on the road to Emmaus that day.  The Bible says that Jesus started with Moses, but Moses started with Adam, so maybe Jesus did too.  After all, Jesus is referred to as the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). But, you might ask, what do we learn about Jesus from Adam?  More than we think!  Let’s take a moment to consider how.

 

Of all men, only Adam and Jesus were given life by means other than by human procreation.  Their humanities came about through the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit, and both had authority we do not have; for example both had dominion over the animals. 

 

More importantly, both were progenitors of God’s people,  Adam physically and Jesus spiritually. In His loving wisdom, God chose not to create Eve as a separate being, but to create her from Adam’s own body.  To do so, He caused a deep sleep to come upon Adam, and brought Eve into existence from his flesh.  Similarly, when Jesus died on Calvary’s cross, He too went into a deep ‘sleep’, and a spear was thrust into his side, from which flowed blood and water.  Why blood and water?  What is the connection between Eve and the blood and water? 1John 5:6 says that Jesus came by water and blood, referring to His baptism and to His own shed blood.  Thus as Eve (meaning ‘Life’) came from Adam and had the same DNA as him, so when we are born of the Spirit and baptized into Christ, we are recreated in Him, and become one with Him, one body in Christ, and every one members one of another (Rom 12:5).

 

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6

 

The first Adam, straight from the Creator’s hand, had disobeyed God’s command against eating the proffered fruit.  Now the Second Adam, emaciated in the desert, faced the same tempter and heard the same temptation. For man’s sake He must obey, for at the point where man's downfall began, so his redemption must begin. The point at which the relationship with God was broken was the point at which it must be repaired.

 

By succumbing to appetite, the first Adam had, in effect, acknowledged the right of the Enemy to ownership of this planet.  Thus was Satan able to represent planet Earth when the sons of God met before the Lord in the days of Job (Job 1:6, 7). Now to perpetuate his evil princedom he must entice the second Adam also to depart from the will of God by succumbing to appetite. If He could get the Son of God to obey him he would be, in effect, as god.

 

In spite of His physical state, Jesus gave the tempter the response that the first son of God should have given all those years before: It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

 

With these words Satan’s evil princedom received a blow that would ultimately see him exterminated once and for all time.  In the meantime, however, these words of Jesus are invaluable for us today.  Today's popular culture stresses the value of good cuisine, but the Word of God must be a significant part of the menu.

 

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head,  and you will strike his heel. Genesis 3:15

 

This is the first recorded promise of a Redeemer to come.  The promise is made directly to Satan the snake so that he is in no doubt about his final end.  But embedded in this promise is a hint of the price the Redeemer will have to pay.  Snakebite is often fatal without antivenin; but for the promised Redeemer there would be no antivenin.

 

Yes, the words were delivered to Satan, but the promise is to fallen man so that he may know that one day Eden will be restored to him. Adam naively assumed that his firstborn son, Cain, was to be the redeemer.  How wrong he was!

 

What anguish is latent in these words! What pathos is hidden in that brief phrase,…you will strike his heel!  In order for such a promise to be made, the contingency for man’s disobedience, and the plan for his redemption must have been already in place.  When God gave man the command, You shall not eat of it, He gave him the freedom to choose not to obey. Without doubt that must have been the greatest risk ever taken in the history of the universe.

 

What a scene must have taken place in heavenly places as the Godhead drew up the blueprint for man’s salvation.  Was it a light thing for our heavenly Father to allow His Son, the beloved Commander of the Universe, the eternal Son of God, willingly to lay down His own life in order to pay the price that redemption from sin demands? Amazing love!

[i] All Bible references, except where noted, are from the The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. Genesis 3:21

Leather come from animals, and the animal has to die in order for its skin to be used as clothing. Would God kill an animal just to clothe someone? What species would He use? How would He kill the animal? The answers to these questions tell the most amazing story of God’s love for fallen man, and open our eyes to God’s great blueprint for our salvation.  Let’s picture the scene:

 

The disgraced pair pitifully tries to cover their nakedness by attaching leaves to themselves.  But the work of our hands can never cover our shame; that is God’s work. The Lord God bids Adam to construct an altar; then, when it is complete, bids him select from his flock the most perfect lamb and lead it to the altar.  Then Adam is instructed to do something that appals him to the depths of his soul; he is to take the life of the animal by piercing its carotid artery and allowing the blood to flow from its body. 

 

How could God ask Adam to do such a thing?  Because that is how awful sin is.  To sin is to disobey what God tells us to do (1John 3:4), and without the shedding of blood there can be no removal of sin (Hebrews 9:22).  Painful though it was for Adam, the slain lamb became a promise that would later be fulfilled at a place called Calvary. You see, the lamb had no power of its own to forgive sin; it only pointed to a better Sacrifice.  For mankind to be redeemed, the blood that was shed had to belong to One infinitely superior, none other than the Son of God, Jesus Christ the Messiah.

 

As God used Adam’s lamb to provide a garment to cover his nakedness, so the Lamb slain at Calvary would provide the garment that all will wear whose sin has been removed (Revelation 3:18).  All we need to do is to claim the promise.

 

Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. Genesis 4:4, 5.

 

Why was Abel’s offering accepted and Cain’s not? Did they not both believe in God?  Did they not both build altars? Did they not both give the best they had?  Why then was Cain’s offering unacceptable? Because it was the fruit of his own labour, and by our own work we can never be justified. It is only by blood that we can be acceptable to God (Rom. 5:9).

 

Worship is at the heart of the conflict between good and evil; Satan has ever sought to corrupt our worship by counterfeiting the true with the false. Hence, Cain’s offering is replicated in all pagan worship, for it seeks to appease God through good works.  Abel’s offering, on the other hand, was perfected by the presence of the blood, and pointed to the day when the blood of the Son of God would be shed as a full atonement for the sins of the world.

 

In the last days worship will again be the focus of the final conflict, for Satan will seek to have the entire world worship him (see Revelation 13).  Yet God will send messengers around the world in those days to proclaim the call to Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water (Revelation 14:7).

 

Who is He who made the world?  None other than He who became the world’s Redeemer.  That makes us twice His, for He made us, and when we were stolen, He bought us back. Cain was right in making an offering, but he left out of it that which made it valuable, the blood of the atonement. For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness for sin (Hebrews 9:22).

 

 

And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. Genesis 7:17

 

When the final events come upon the earth, the conditions will be very similar to Noah’s day, and as Noah found refuge in the ark, so God’s last-day people will find refuge in the only name under heaven that can save us, Jesus the Messiah.

 

Noah’s ark is more than just a story about a boat; it paints a portrait of Jesus and His love. How? Well, here are some ways: Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). Is the plan of salvation only for sinless people?  God forbid, or there would be none saved.Not just the clean animals, but the unclean; the pigs, the toads and the snakes, were all called to the ark.  And no matter how many came, the ark had enough food for them all with plenty to spare.  For Jesus said, he that comes to Me will never go hungry (John 6:35).

 

Notice also that the door to the ark was closed by the hand of God, not by the hand of man. Which man has the authority to declare us saved or unsaved? In the last conflict, God’s people will be sealed by His own hand, safe from all enemies.

 

On a quiet hillside one night Jesus spoke these words: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14, 15.  Similarly, the ark was lifted up on the water between heaven and earth so that all those who were in it would be granted life. Just as those in the ark did not perish, we can have perfect assurance that all those who are in Christ shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

 

 

 

 

And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you…neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. Genesis 9:8-11 (KJV)

 

The term ‘covenant’ means ‘cutting’, and refers to a cutting made in the flesh so that blood is shed.  Thus there is a play on words in this passage where God effectively says, “I shall establish the cutting of flesh with you so that all flesh will not again be cut off by a flood”.

 

We can now see this covenant process in God’s dealing with Adam, for when he and Eve were given skins to wear, animals were cut and their blood shed in order to provide garments for the guilty pair.  Thus, as we have seen, the coverings not only provided warmth and modesty, but they symbolized the forgiven couple’s new relationship with God.

 

Now, as the flood waters have abated from the earth, Noah’s first act is to build an altar and sacrifice one of each of the clean animals as an offering to God.  Man’s first act after leaving the ark was that of shedding blood, and the record says that it was a sweet smell to the Lord. Why? Because by doing so he was fulfilling the covenant in demonstrating his faith in the Redeemer to come.

 

We will see this covenant revealed time and again in God’s dealing with His people, sometimes in ways easy to see, sometimes only by doing some digging.  In each case it foreshadows the day when God will fulfil His part of the covenant, and the Redeemer’s flesh will be cut and His blood shed.

 

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you… Genesis 9:13-15

 

In order for there to be a rainbow two things must be present; rain and sunshine.  During the Flood the rain had fallen for six weeks upon the earth leaving it entirely cleansed of its corruption.  Now the sun showed its cheery face to the small band of survivors, and as Noah and his family basked in its warmth, a glorious bow of colour ornamented the sky as a token of God’s mercy.

 

From that time onward whenever a rainbow appeared, the story of God’s justice and mercy would be repeated; justice in the rain that cleansed a corrupt world, and mercy in the sunshine that promised that all life would not be destroyed again by a flood.  For God, justice is never executed without mercy.

 

Some of you may have seen the thought-provoking painting by Harry Anderson that shows a little girl sitting on Jesus’ lap.  She is looking enquiringly into his face while holding one of his hands in hers, and with her other hand she is pointing to the scar.  The painting is entitled, “What Happened to Your Hand?”

 

Like the rainbow, that scar tells of justice mingled with mercy, for justice demands the death of the sinner; mercy provides his ransom.  And throughout eternity the story will be told of how God’s own Son came by that scar that we might obtain mercy.  As the hymn says:

 

And when in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song;

‘Twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.

 

Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High,and he blessed Abram, saying, ‘‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Genesis 14:18-20

 

Melchizedek is arguably the most enigmatic character in the Scriptures. Who was he? Where did he come from?  He was, according to the writer of Hebrews (7:1-10), without parents and without descent, having ‘neither beginning of days, nor end of life’. This may make him superhuman, or it may simply mean that his ancestry was unknown.

 

More important is Melchizedek’s status as both ‘king of righteousness and priest of the Most High God’. Abram’s deep respect for him is evident in that he regarded him as worthy of receiving his tithes.  Tithe is holy, and can be returned only to those appointed by God to receive it. Like the child Jesus, Melchizedek had evidently found special favour with both God and man (Luke 2:52).

 

Only One other has ever been both king and priest; Jesus the Messiah. He is King of heaven and High Priest of the sanctuary ‘set up by the Lord, not by man’ (Hebrews 8:1, 2). He lives and reigns forever, our loving Monarch and our merciful Intercessor.  

 

Today’s passage says that Melchizedek served bread and wine to Abram.  Perhaps this hospitality prefigured the covenant that God was about to make with Abram. Nearly two thousand years later Jesus the Messiah would also serve bread and wine to His disciples in a gesture that would symbolize a new covenant between God and man, one that would be sealed by Jesus with His own blood.  As Melchizedek blessed Abram, so are we greatly blessed.

 

So the LORD said to [Abram], ‘‘Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other…When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. Genesis 15:9-17

 

In early Mesopotamia a covenant between two individuals was sealed by cutting an animal in two, and both covenanters walking between the halves, their feet becoming stained in the animals blood. The covenant effectively said, “If I break this covenant let me be cut open as this animal”. The ceremony became a part of Israelite ritual and was still practiced in Jeremiah’s time (Jeremiah 34:18, 19).

 

In our reading for today God uses this ritual to make a covenant with Abram that He will make him the father of a great nation. Yet there is something different this time; there is no Bible record of Abram walking in the blood.  God walked alone in it, for this was not a covenant that sinful man could keep (in fact Abram was to fail in the very next chapter).

 

When this day God walked alone in the blood, He became Abram’s substitute Covenanter. This covenant God made with Himself as though saying to Abram, “If either you or I break this covenant, My blood will be shed, and I will be cut open as this animal.”  As for Abram, he was only to believe and it was counted to him as righteousness (verse 6).

 

Imagine that!  God loves us so much that He is willing to pay the price even when we break the covenant.  And He did too. One fateful Passover Jesus the Messiah bore His cross agonizingly up Mt. Calvary, the blood from His wounds flowing into the ground beneath His blood-stained feet.  He was cut open because we have broken the covenant.

 

The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, ‘‘Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” ‘‘I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered. Genesis 16:7, 8

 

This is the first mention of an angel in the Bible.  Although we associate angels with heaven, the word simply means ‘messenger’. Therefore anyone the Lord sends with a message might technically be referred to as an angel.

 

There are some instances in Scripture however, when the expression ‘Angel of the Lord’ clearly refers to a personage of far greater importance than simply a messenger.  This is one of those cases, for this Angel speaks to Hagar as God speaks; “I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count”, He says to her (verse 9).  This holy being also speaks to Abraham on Moriah, Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3:2,4) and declares Zechariah the high priest righteous (Zechariah 3:1-3).

 

These passages reveal the identity of the Angel of the Lord as none other than Christ.  This is He who would later become a humble carpenter and walk the dusty roads with us. This is how Jesus appeared before He took on humanity, for in Him all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Colossians 2:9).

 

Imagine this: the first person (except Adam and Eve) Christ ever revealed Himself to in His heavenly form was to a refugee servant girl.  Not to the kings of the earth, but to a young Egyptian woman lost in the desert who was to become the mother of all the Arab peoples of the earth.   What an amazing and unpredictable God is ours!

 

 

This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised… and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. Genesis 17:10, 11

 

We saw earlier that Abram did not walk the blood path because this covenant was one God made for us, not with us.  Yet Abram was to make a blood covenant with God; his flesh was to be cut and his blood to run; he was to be circumcised.

 

There is meaning in the act of circumcision; every time an infant was circumcised, his pain and blood was a reminder to the parents of the covenant that God had made with Abram.  Now this little one was set apart as a child of the covenant, and throughout his life his cut flesh would remind him of the pain that the Messiah would experience, and the blood He would shed.  One day his newly-wed virgin bride would also seal their union with her blood, her covenant of loyalty to her new husband (see Ephesians 5:32).

 

After his circumcision Abram’s name was changed to Abraham, signifying his rebirth as the father of a new nation. Only now would God fulfil His promise of a child, for only in circumcision could Isaac be conceived.

 

You and I are invited to become citizens of this new nation, yet our circumcision is of the heart, not of blood, because Christ has trodden the blood path once and all time. Our circumcision is signified in baptism, for in so doing we are not only crucified and buried with Christ, but raised with Him so that He lives in us, and the life we live, we live by faith in His blood which was shed for us (Colossians 2;11, 12;  Galatians 2:20).  All He asks of us is to claim His shed blood for ourselves.

 

 

Then the LORD said, ‘‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. Genesis 18:17, 18

 

God intended, through Abraham, to bring redemption to every human being regardless of race or national boundary. He will repeat this promise again to Abraham (Genesis 22:18) and to Isaac (Genesis 26:4) reminding us again and again that the plan of salvation is worldwide in scope.

 

How would God achieve this?  How would Abraham be a blessing to both China and Chile; to both Innuits of the Arctic and Indigenous Australians?  The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 3:29, 30 that Abraham was uncircumcised when he believed God’s promise to make him a great nation. He was uncircumcised (if you like, a Gentile) when he was counted as righteous (Genesis 15:6).  Therefore, Paul says, God is God not only of the Jews but also of the Gentiles, and Abraham is the spiritual ancestor of all who believe, be it Jew or Gentile.

 

Therefore when Christ died on Calvary’s cross, His shed blood atoned for the sins of not just Jews, but for all mankind. The Apostle Paul puts it like this: You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:26-29).

 

If Jesus is the Son of God by inheritance, Gentiles can become children of God by adoption, and are therefore brothers and sisters of Jesus.  If He is King of kings, what status does that give you and me as brothers and sisters of the King?

 

 

‘‘If I find forty-five there,” he said, ‘‘I will not destroy it.” Genesis 18:27, 28

 

Abraham’s persistence in pleading on behalf of these cities reveals much about his nature.  He knew exactly what went on in those cities, but was anxious to save their disgraceful inhabitants for the sake of his nephew Lot and his family.  He even borders on the impertinent in his intercession; “After all”, he argues with God, “You wouldn’t kill the righteous with the wicked, would you. How could the Judge of all the earth do such a thing?”

 

Abraham’s persistence in pleading on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah is a lesson for us.  James wrote, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much (James 5:16 KJV).  We should always plead with God on behalf of others, but should not try to inform God of who is righteous and who is not.  Lot and family were not saved because Abraham mentioned them – he didn’t; they were saved because Lot welcomed the holy Visitors into his home.  Had he not done so they would have all perished.

 

Abraham’s rather brazen intercession anticipates the work of the Godhead in the salvation process.  He is a type of Jesus Christ our High Priest who continually intercedes with the Father on behalf of sinners who seek salvation (Hebrews 7:25).  Similarly He reveals the work of the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express (Romans 8:26).  Just as Abraham pled the defence of foolish Lot, so we have a divine Advocate who pleads our cause before the Father, and guess what? He has never lost a case (1John 2:1).

 

 

Sarah said, ‘‘God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, ‘‘Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age. Genesis 21:6, 7

 

What do a ninety-year old woman and a virgin have in common?  Answer: neither can give birth to a child. 

 

There are few Old Testament characters who are types of Christ in as many ways as Isaac. The first way is in the manner of his birth. Isaac was not just another child, he was born of a miracle, and when God allowed Sarah to wait until she was ninety before becoming a mother He was letting it be fully understood that this child was of divine purpose. Furthermore, the hundred-year old childless Abraham was first promised a son way back when he was seventy-five years of age.  In this way Isaac’s birth became, for 25 years, a cherished hope in Abraham’s breast; Isaac was the child of promise, the one though whom a great people would come.  The Bible says that Abraham believed the promise, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6).

 

Centuries earlier Adam and Eve were given the promise that one day a Redeemer would come.  They believed the promise and became the spiritual forbears of all those who would long for the divine promise to be fulfilled and who would be accounted righteous for it.  Countless hopeful generations passed by until it seemed impossible that the Child of promise would ever come.  Then one unexpected Bethlehem night a huddle of shepherds heard the angelic announcement and joyfully rushed to be the first to worship the newborn Messiah.

 

Jesus Christ is the Child of promise to all who believe. Long awaited, born to a virgin, He is the hope in the breast of men and women the world over who look for a new nation whose Builder and Maker is God (Hebrews 11:10).

 

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘‘Abraham!”  ‘‘Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, ‘‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Genesis 22: 1, 2

 

The story of Abraham’s willingness to give up his only begotten son to die is undoubtedly the Holy Scripture’s most poignant Illustration of God’s plan to redeem us. It seems that every detail of the Moriah experience was to be re-enacted on that tragic Calvary day nearly two thousand years later.

 

The hill Moriah, the grieving father, the load of wood, the name given the place by Abraham, the substitute ram, the compliant Isaac, all tell the story of Jesus the Messiah led as a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). 

 

What an appalling thing for God to do, to tell Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice. In fact God had no intention of seeing Isaac put to death; He wished only to teach Abraham a lesson about God’s love for man, man’s love for God, and His plan to save us from sin. However, He did intend Abraham to demonstrate sufficient faith so as to reveal himself willing to carry out this extraordinary act.  That part was important because it was to help Abraham (and us) understand the depth of God’s love in that He would one day offer His own Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

 

Abraham passed the test, but what if he had not been able to go through with it? More to the point, what if our heavenly Father had been unable to go through with it? The consequences of that are too terrible to contemplate. Praise God we do not have to consider that frightful option.  How much we owe God we will probably never fully realize because he will never ask us to pay Him back.  He will ask us only to accept the gift.

 

 

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. And the two of them went on together. Genesis 22:6

 

To carry sufficient wood to consume a human body is no mean feat.  The old man could not carry it; it was up to the lad to do that, and he would have needed some strength to do it. Undoubtedly young Isaac, besides being of beautiful disposition, was also a fine physical specimen; after all the offering was to be without blemish was it not?

 

As young Isaac, Abraham’s only-begotten son, laboured slowly, yet purposefully, under his load towards his appointment with death, it occurred to him that there was an important ingredient missing in this act of worship.  “My father?” he asked ‘‘The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”  Even then Abraham could not bring himself to break the news to his beloved son that the lad was carrying his own funeral pyre.

 

One fateful day, nearly two thousand years later, God’s only begotten Son was also to labour up a hill, a load of wood on His back, also the means of His death. Yet He did not need to ask His heavenly Father where the lamb was, for He knew Who the Lamb was. Instead He pleaded, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. 

 

In fact only a very few people present knew what was happening that day, even Jesus’ closest friends failed to understand. Nicodemus and Joseph of Aramathea may have done so, but the one person who would have understood it, had he been there, was Abraham. For of all men Abraham had had the privilege of drinking the cup that God Himself was to drink that day.  In his mind would have been those agonizing words, “My Father, where is the Lamb for the burnt offering?”

 

So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” Gen 22:8, 14

 

When Abraham told Isaac that God would provide a lamb for the offering, he was saying far more than he, in his grief, could have understood. To Isaac’s young ears the meaning was purely temporal; but with wisdom born of hindsight we know the actors in this drama played out another scene in which God the Father would one day offer His only begotten Son as a Lamb for the burnt offering.

 

Abraham named the spot where he offered Isaac Jehovah Jireh, meaning ‘The Lord Will Provide”. We are not told exactly where on Mount Moriah this was, only that Solomon built the temple on Mount Moriah on the site of Araunah’s threshing floor (2Chronicles 3:1). We do not know if Isaac was offered at the place later called Calvary, or if Abraham built the altar on what was to become Araunah’s threshing floor. Perhaps it is God’s purpose that we do not.

 

What is for sure is that Araunah had no idea what a momentous role his little threshing floor would play in world history, for it has now become about the most significant piece of real estate in the world.  Today it is the site of the Haram esh-Sherîf, the traditional site of Mohammed’s ascension to heaven, and includes the world renowned Dome of the Rock

 

In Abraham’s day however, it was a bare hill far from any city.  There Abraham built an altar upon which to offer his only-begotten son Isaac, not because God wanted Isaac dead, but because God wanted Abraham to understand that one day He would offer His Only-begotten Son as a sacrifice to take away the sin of the world. It was here that centuries later our Lord was rejected by the sons of Isaac, condemned to death and led out to Calvary to be crucified.

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. Gen. 22:13

 

How long had this poor creature been caught up in the thicket?  From where did it come?  Who owned it?  Had it strayed from the flock of Melchizedek who possibly lived at an encampment known as Salem a short distance to the south? We don’t know the answers to these questions, but we do know that God made sure the ram was there just when Isaac needed it. In fact, God provided it even before Isaac knew he needed it.

 

That it was caught by its horns is not without significance, for the as the thorny briers snagged the horns of the animal, and as the creature vainly struggled to remove itself from its snare, the thorns dug into its flesh causing rivulets of blood to flow down its face.  What a fitting anticipation of the day when our Saviour, His holy head pierced by thorny tiara and face streaked with blood, became our Substitute, there just when we needed Him.

 

The presence of the ram is a reminder that God is fully in control of every situation in our lives.  Even when we see no way out; when the future looks so bleak that in our despair we know not which way to turn, God has already seen our need and provided for it.  When the Passover was instituted some four hundred years later, God instructed Moses to select a lamb for the Passover sacrifice four days before it was to be offered (Exodus 12:5). In that way it was there, already provided, when the people needed to have an offering for the Lord. Similarly John 11:49-53 tells how Caiaphas the High Priest, a few days before the Antitypical Passover, unwittingly set aside the Lamb of God to be made an offering for the sins of the world.  Truly God provides for us even before we are aware of our need. 

 

 

And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, ‘‘Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.” Gen 24:60

An Irish blessing goes like this: ‘May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.  And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.’

 

Language has no better purpose than when used to bestow a sincere blessing; it ever remains with the receiver as a promise of the giver’s goodwill.  In ancient Israel, God instructed the High Priest how to bless the people; he was to say, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace (Numbers 6:22-27). In these words God explained that He was putting His own Name upon the people. In Bible culture a name signifies the character of the bearer. So by putting His Name upon the people, God was placing His own goodness upon them; for these people were to represent God to the world so that all who met them would see God in them.

 

Rebekah’s mother and brother little knew the fulfilment of their blessing.  Little did Laban, Rebekah’s brother, know the way he would deal with her son, Jacob, a few decades later.  Yet, no human blessing was ever more perfectly fulfilled than this one; not only did a great nation come from the union between Isaac and Rebekah, but through them has come a great spiritual nation that will forever possess the gates of its enemies. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say ‘‘and to seeds,” meaning many people, but ‘‘and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. (Gal 3:16).

 

I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws. Genesis 26:4, 5.

 

When we looked at Genesis 18:17, 18 we saw Abraham promised that all nations, Gentile nations, would be blessed through him.  The reason God chose Abraham, we were told, is because He knew he would raise his children in the way of the Lord.  Now the same promise is made to Isaac because Abraham had obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.

 

We might ask what commands, decrees and laws did Abraham obey since none were given until the time of Moses.  In fact, with a little digging, each of the Ten Commandment concepts can be found in the Book of Genesis. Abraham was well aware of the culture of holiness and obedience that constituted the life of service to the Creator God.

 

For modern-day grace-filled Christianity, the emphasis on obedience can be disturbing, suggesting a legalistic religion.  However, Abraham’s faithful obedience, even to the point of death (Hebrews 11:8-19), prefigured the obedience of Jesus Christ who humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Philippians 2:8-11.  Every moment of Christ’s earthly life was one of submissive compliance to the will of God, a life that climaxed in that most plaintive expression of obedience ever recorded, My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done (Matthew 26:42).  Has Christ’s obedience relieved us of the duty to be obedient ourselves?  God forbid! For we are told, just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do (1Peter 1:15). Obedience may not be the means to our salvation, but it is surely the fruit of it.

 

 

Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. But the herdsmen of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac’s herdsmen and said, ‘‘The water is ours!”…Then they dug another well, but they quarrelled over that one also…He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarrelled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, ‘‘Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.” Genesis 26:19, 22.

 

This incident gives us an amazing insight into the character of Isaac.  This man, who once had been willing to be put to death because God commanded it, shows himself later in life to be a model of humility. These miserable herdsmen showed no interest in the wells while they were useless, but as soon as Isaac and his men went to the effort of clearing them, these wretches claimed them as their own.  Yet Isaac chose not to be embittered by these selfish men; he could have claimed the wells as his own because his father had first dug them. He knew, however, that that was not God’s way, and humbly chose the path of peace and diplomacy.  In doing so, Isaac avoided what would have surely ended up as a bitter feud between neighbours. Blessed are the peacemakers, said Jesus, for they will be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9)

 

Similarly, we followers of Christ should become distracted by what we see as our rights, or to display self-serving ‘righteous indignation’ when personally mistreated. Isaac’s meekness prefigured the nature of Jesus who was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7).

 

Isaac’s example teaches us a powerful lesson. Instead of displaying indignation, he saw the situation as a sign from God as to where he should go. Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land, he said.

 

Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces.Isaac asked them, ‘‘Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”…Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Gen 26:26-31.

 

This is a story of forgiveness that teaches a lesson about God’s willingness to pardon us even when we have completely rejected Him. 

 

Isaac had moved his household to the land of the Philistines due to a famine in Canaan.  While there God had blessed him so greatly that he had become wealthy beyond measure.  Consequently, Abimelech, the Philistine king, began to fear and envy him, and asked him to leave the land.

 

Later Abimelech travelled to Isaac’s new location at Beersheba, and requested that they make a covenant together, possibly a blood path covenant like the one God made to Abraham (see January 9).

 

Isaac could have been offended with Abimelech for making him leave the place where he had so prospered, but that was not Isaac’s way.  Not only did he make the covenant with Abimelech, but, the record says, he made him a banquet, and they ate and drank together.  How blessed Abimelech was to have a neighbour like Isaac.

 

How blessed we are to have a Friend like Jesus.  For even when we reject Him, the moment we come back, he forgives us and, as Isaac did for Abimelech, prepares a great banquet for us so that we may eat and drink with Him.  No recrimination, no lecture, no castigation, just joy that we are reunited. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9).

 

Isaac answered Esau, ‘‘I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?” Genesis 27:37.

 

Isaac’s life has been one of humble submission to the will of God. But now something else is revealed, a firmness of principle that love for his carefree son cannot compromise. His disappointment in Jacob’s deceit might have tempted him to ‘unbless’ the devious young man, but he would not do it because the birthright is sacred; through this line the Messiah would come. What sorrow is in his voice when he says to Esau, what can I possibly do for you, my son?

 

When we look at the life of Christ, of whom Isaac has proved to be such a perfect type, we see His great love for us also clothed in firmness of principle. For example, when a rich young ruler comes to Jesus to ask what he must do to inherit eternal life, Mark records that Jesus ‘looked at him and loved him’ (Mark 10:17-22). How great the sorrow of the Son of God when this young man turned away because temporal things were worth more to him than the Kingdom.  What a great blessing this talented and influential young man might have been to the fledgling Church, yet he, like Esau, sold his inheritance for ‘a plate of lentil stew’.

 

There is a lesson for us here; it concerns our power of choice and our priorities.  Esau wanted the temporal benefits of the birthright, but not the spiritual responsibility that went with it. Each of us must choose during this life what it is that is important to us. If the good things of this world are more important to us than our spiritual inheritance, we are free to choose them, but like Esau, there will come a day when, with breaking heart, Jesus will say to us, what can I possibly do for you, my son? With Jesus the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be compromised.

 

Jacob…had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the LORD, and he said: ‘‘I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Genesis 28:10 -13.

 

Imagine Jacob’s misery the day he left the comfort and security of his lifelong home; his grieving mother, his disappointed father, and his furious brother who has vowed to kill him. Jacob wanted more than anything else at that time to know that he was not forever cut off from God and family.  He needed to know that the relationships he had so badly damaged would be restored.  In response to this heartfelt desire, God gave Jacob a dream in which he saw a ladder set up between heaven and earth, the top rung being in heaven, and the bottom rung on the earth.  On the ladder he saw angels moving between heaven and earth continually, and he knew that God had provided a way for him to be saved.

 

Centuries later, Jesus was to refer to Jacob’s dream when he said to Nathaniel, I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John 1:51).  By these words Jesus was letting Nathaniel know that He was the ladder which Jacob saw.  Christ is the only means by which we can attain heaven because He only has full authority in heaven and yet is fully man.  Were He less than fully God, the ladder could not reach heaven; were He less than fully man, it could not reach the earth.  If He fell short in any way there would be no bridging the gulf between heaven and earth.

 

Jacob needed a Saviour that lonely night, and God showed him that he had One. As for us, we must keep our sights on the glory at the top of the ladder.

 

…Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. Genesis 31:38-40.

 

Jacob exercised the utmost care over unappreciative Laban’s flocks; he kept watch over them by day and night to ensure their protection, he attended the birth of their young, he treated their parasites and blights, he led them to green pastures, his rod and staff were always there to comfort them. More than that, Jacob made himself personally responsible for all sheep lost to thieves or predators; when Laban demanded compensation for lost sheep, Jacob paid the full price from his own pocket even though these may have been under the care of hired hands at the time of their loss.

 

Jacob’s costly devotion to Laban’s flocks prefigured the character and work of One who would leave the glory of heaven to search for the lost and bring back the strays, [to] bind up the injured and strengthen the weak…I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, He says (Ezekiel 34:11-16).

 

In his book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23,[1] Philip Keller explains that for a sheep to lie down, four requirements must be met: it must be free from fear, free from friction with other sheep, free from the irritation of insects, and free from hunger. Only in the presence of a good shepherd will the timid sheep experience such contentment.  Similarly the presence of Jesus in our lives calms our fears, gives us grace and patience in human relationships, soothes our nerves frayed by the daily irritations that pester us, and provides for all our material needs; He is the Good Shepherd.

 

So Jacob was left alone,When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, ‘‘Let me go, for it is daybreak.”  But Jacob replied, ‘‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Genesis 32:24-26.

 

Twenty years after his shameful flight Jacob was now going home.  He clearly understood the nature of his sin against his father and against Esau, and knew that by now Esau would assume himself to be heir of their father’s estate. Now Esau had double reason to kill Jacob; for revenge, and to protect his presumed inheritance.  As Jacob saw the familiar hills of home taking shape before him, word came to him that Esau was approaching with four hundred men, and he knew that because of his sin he and his family were in the greatest peril.  In despair Jacob fell before his God, and pled for deliverance, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak (v. 24). 

 

Who was the Man with whom Jacob wrestled?  It was the same Man to whom centuries later a wealthy nobleman would cry out in anguish, "Sir, come down before my child dies" (John 4:46-53).  This nobleman too had to wrestle with the Man; he had been prepared to believe in Jesus only if his son was healed, but Jesus’ challenge, Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders you will never believe” forced the proud man to see his true state before God. Like Jacob, the nobleman clung to the Man who could save his son, and his faith was rewarded.

 

There are times in our lives when all we can do in our despair is to throw ourselves at the mercy of the God we have so often offended.  At those times we too must wrestle with the Man in agony of soul until we understand that before a holy God all our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 46:6), and cry out, I will not let you go unless you bless me.    When that happens a great victory has been won; we have overcome.

 

 

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. Genesis 37:3.

 

In the Bible there is no woman more deeply loved by a man than Rachel by Israel (Jacob), and no child more treasured than Joseph the son she bore him in his old age. A portrait of God’s love for us is painted in Israel’s devotion to Rachel, and God’s love for His only begotten Son is portrayed in Israel’s affection for Joseph.

 

Israel’s love for young Joseph prompted him to make for him a special coat.  The Hebrew word used here for ‘coat’ suggests a sleeved garment of great beauty and expense, one that would  be worn only by someone of importance, and never a labourer. The message to all was that Joseph was the favoured one, perhaps the one to inherit the birthright.

 

No wonder Joseph’s brothers so hated the youth.  Yet when they sold him as a slave, dipped the coat in sheep’s blood, and took it home to their grief-stricken father, they were not rid of him as they thought, but were unwittingly opening the way for Joseph to one day become their saviour and provider.

 

As Israel weaved Joseph’s coat with his own hands, so it was God who provided the garment that covered Adam’s nakedness (Genesis 3:21); so it was the king who provided the wedding garment (Matthew 22:12), and so it is Christ alone who can provide the robe that the redeemed will wear, for Jesus says, I counsel you to buy from me…white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness (Revelation 3:18).  Joseph’s coat reminds us that Jesus provides for us a heavenly garment that not only covers our sinfulness, but signifies our special relationship with our heavenly Father.

 

 

No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? Genesis 39:9.

 

As all men well know, this one would have been almost too much for any hormonal young male to overcome. Yet Joseph would not even countenance the advances of this alluring femme fatale.  “How can I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” is his defense against this overpowering temptation.  The ingrained sense of God’s presence in his heart acts as a protective wall around his soul making sin something hateful to him.

 

Joseph’s integrity under extreme temptation foreshadows Jesus who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).  Jesus taught us to say, Lead us not into temptation (Luke 11:4).  He was not suggesting that God deliberately places us in Satan’s way, but was telling us to follow Joseph’s example, who refused even to be in the presence of Potiphar’s wife.  When we know that a situation could compromise us, the best thing we can do is avoid the situation.

 

Like Joseph, Christ’s struggle with Satan in the wilderness was not just a formality, but was very real;  the story in the Gospel is brief, but this was a 40-day battle against Satan’s plan to get Him to give up on humanity and let it pay for its own sin.  Our lives hung in the balance during that decisive conflict between good and evil (see January 2).

 

Joseph paid a high price for his integrity to God. Yet, there came a day when his faithfulness was rewarded.  He had learned adversity through suffering (Hebrews 5:8), and now he was qualified to be elevated to a position at the right hand of Pharaoh himself.

 

But when all goes well with you, remember me and show me kindness; mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison. For I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put in a dungeon. Genesis 40:14, 15.

 

When Joseph’s brothers sold him to the traders for twenty pieces of silver they unwittingly anticipated the day when one of Christ’s disciples would betray Him for thirty pieces of silver (the traders would have received thirty pieces for Joseph at the slave market).

 

The injustice meted out toward Joseph, and his patient spirit during these trials, foreshadows that heaped upon the Messiah who was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7). Rather than take revenge upon his brothers when he later had the opportunity, he forgave them saying it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

 

What a great role-model Joseph makes; he is kidnapped, sold as a slave, falsely accused, imprisoned without trial; and he says “God did it to save lives”.  There are two important lessons here; the first is that when something bad happens to us, rather than feeling sorry for ourselves, we must learn to regard it as permitted by God for an ultimately good purpose, even when we can’t see what the good might be. 

 

Secondly, we need to learn that God is God, and can use us in His service in any way He wishes. It may be in a palace, or it may be in prison; it may be as a celebrity, or it may be as a slave.  We are His servants; we do what He commands and go where he bids; all we have to do is rejoice to be in His service.  Then one day when our work is all done, He will say Well done, good and faithful servant…Come and share your master’s happiness (Matthew 25:21).

 

When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘‘Go to Joseph and do what he tells you.”… Joseph opened the storehouses…and all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the world. Genesis 41:55-57.

 

We have seen Joseph as the beloved son of his father, despised and rejected by his brothers, sold as a slave, tempted yet innocent, judged and imprisoned, and finally exalted to the right hand of the mighty Pharaoh so that people from all nations came to bow down before him.

 

Yet Joseph has one more lesson to teach us about the Messiah; the text says, Joseph opened the storehouses; it was to Joseph the people must come in order to be fed.  In John 6:35 Jesus said, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me will never go hungry.  Now Jesus never made claims about Himself without backing them up with demonstrations of their truth.  Was He really the bread of life? In John’s account Jesus had just fed more than five thousand people when He made that claim. Yet when the meal was over, and they could eat no more, they gathered up 12 baskets of leftovers.

 

How consistent with the way God works; undoubtedly when Noah left the ark there was still enough food in it for man and beast until new crops grew.  Surely, when Joseph finally closed up the storehouses of Egypt for the last time, there was still ample corn to spare. There was only one source of grain during that great famine, Joseph.  He was the great provider without whom there was nothing to eat, yet there was sufficient for all who came to buy.  Nobody went hungry.

 

Today Jesus provides for our every need and there is sufficient for all.  All we need to do is come to Him and say, Give us this day our daily bread (Matthew 6:11).

 

 

And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, ‘‘Jacob! Jacob!” ‘‘Here I am,” he replied. ‘‘I am God, the God of your father,” he said. ‘‘Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” Genesis 46:2-4.

 

Jacob’s migration to Egypt introduces a new line of prophetic understanding in the Scriptures.  Now Jacob is now called Israel, and Israel is My firstborn son (Exodus 4:22). When Jesus arose from the waters of baptism God said, This is my beloved Son (Matthew 3:17).  Thus both the nation of Israel and Jesus are described by God as His Son. So as we follow the course of God’s people through the centuries we will find that their history also prefigures the events in the life of Christ.  It will become a fascinating study to follow the parallels between the history of Israel and the life of the Messiah. 

 

Just as Israel fled to Egypt for protection during the great famine, so God said to Jesus’ stepfather, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him (Matthew 2:13).

 

While it was a famine that led Israel into Egypt, so there was a spiritual famine in the land at the time of Christ’s birth.  What an amazing thing! For centuries the prophets have told of the Redeemer to come, giving even the time and place of his arrival (Daniel 9 and Micah 5); but when He did come even the religious leaders were unaware of it. So God chose some humble shepherds, some foreign astronomers and some livestock to witness the event. 

 

The Scriptures say that Christ will come again the second time as King of kings and Lord of lords; could it be that on that day the world will also be asleep?

 

God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, the Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads. Genesis 48:15,16 (KJV).

 

Why did Jacob put this blessing upon these two sons of Joseph? In doing so Joseph received a double blessing in that he became the progenitor of two tribes.

 

Let’s understand the unique dynamic going on here: These two boys were also the grandsons of the high priest of Egypt’s highest priestly order.  Surely he too would have had great designs for his two prominent grandsons. What influences would come to bear on these two boys as they grew up in the luxury of Egyptian high society? 

 

Yet it was Jacob’s, and Joseph’s, wish that these lads grow up to regard themselves as Hebrew, not Egyptian.  They wanted them to choose to identify with a despised shepherd people (who would soon become slaves) when they could be among the elite of Egyptian society.  The fact that Ephraim and Manasseh are listed among the tribes of Israel tells us the choice they made.

 

Jacob asks ‘the Angel who redeemed me from all evil’ to bless the lads.  He surely alludes to the One he wrestled with that lonely night, and refers to him as his Redeemer, the evil being Esau’s intended destruction of him and all his family. He had not been willing to let his Redeemer go unless He blessed him.  Now he asks the same Angel to bless his grandsons for they are in great peril from Egypt’s influence.

 

Jacob’s Redeemer is also our Redeemer. Whatever is our greatest peril He will deliver us  from it.  Even though we will need to struggle with Him, we can always say with Job, I know that my Redeemer lives (Job 19:25).

 

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. Genesis 49:10.

 

This passage tells us far more than simply that the Messiah will be of the tribe of Judah.  It also tells us that the governorship of Israel will remain with Judah until the Messiah comes to inherit the throne as its rightful King.

 

What an audacious prophecy to make; that throughout sixteen centuries until the Messiah, only Judah would provide the rulership. But that is exactly what happened; after the dispersal of the ten tribes the entire nation was assimilated into Judah.  Even during the Babylonian captivity and the dark days of Antiochus IV there was still limited self-government. Not until the Christ Child was about ten years of age did the Roman Emperor appoint a non-Jew, Coponius, to govern the land (The Edomite Herods were also Jews - see Deut. 23:7, 8). Even then the Sanhedrin still exercised limited control until AD70 when Jerusalem was finally destroyed.

 

Now this is interesting; it means that when David was crowned king of Israel around 1000BC, his reign began an everlasting dynasty, the first thousand years being physical, and thereafter a spiritual kingdom under his blood descendent, Jesus Christ.  When Jesus is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords, the words of Revelation 11:15 will be fulfilled, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.

Today Christ has “established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103:19). The good news is that by acknowledging Him as our King, we become citizens of His kingdom; no passport required, just confidence in the promise that, “whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37).

Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘‘Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” Exodus 1:22.

 

We have seen that Israel’s removal to Egypt foreshadows the earthly life of the Messiah who also was taken to Egypt in order to preserve His young life.  Pharaoh’s intent was to ethnically cleanse Egypt of all its Hebrews by destroying every male child, and by condemning every female child to either childlessness, or to produce Egyptian children.

 

Similarly, some fifteen hundred years later, Herod sought, by putting to death all boys two years of age or under, to destroy the young Messiah, and hence the spiritual nation that He would engender, (Matthew 2:13-18).

 

Yet such paranoid atrocities were a part of a much larger conflict. Satan ever seeks to destroy what is God’s; it is his avowed intent to bring to nothing God’s grand plan to restore mankind to His image. 

 

In these last days before Christ’s return we will see more and more such outrages, and many of us will blame God demanding to know why he allows them.  Many will reject the Gospel because they see God as the cause of suffering, when all along it is the enemy of man who is to blame.

 

When bad things happen to us we need to resist the temptation to blame God, and understand that, as with Job of ages past, we are involved in a far wider conflict (see Job 1, 2).  God does not shield us from bad things, but allows us to experience them that we may become wiser and better people; the prized diamond is not that way by default, but only at the hands of the master craftsman. So then, just as Satan failed to destroy the infants Moses and Jesus, so by God’s grace he will fail to destroy us.

 

 

Moses said to God, ‘‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, ‘‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:13,14.

 

This passage is not really Messianic, but it is difficult to pass it by without a mention because Jesus alluded to it so strongly in His claims about Himself.  For there would be no purpose in showing Jesus as the Messiah if He did not claim to be so.

 

How did Jesus demonstrate this claim? According to C.S Lewis, Jesus based it on three things:  1, His authority to forgive sins; 2, to have always existed;and 3, His intent to come back to judge the world at the end of time.[2]

 

The second claim, to have always existed, comes out of our reading for today, for Jesus frequently used the expression “I AM” to describe Himself; "I AM the Good Shepherd." "I AM the living Bread." "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life."  

 

Three times in John 8 Jesus refers to himself as ‘I AM’.  In verses 24 and 28, the expression is obscured by the addition of supplied words that are not in the original. For example the original Greek of verse 28 says, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am. However, verse 58 translates Jesus’ words exactly as the Greek, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (KJV).

 

What was Jesus claiming by these words? Who is the Messiah?  We need to answer this question by examining the evidence and deciding for ourselves.  We owe Jesus that much, for He asks His disciples, ‘‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13). In tomorrow’s reading we shall examine this subject again, and look at the implications of Jesus’ claim to be the Great I AM.

God also said to Moses, ‘‘Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. Exodus 3:15.

 

‘I AM WHO I AM’ is the English translation of the Hebrew Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.  The word Ehyeh – I am – is believed by many scholars to be the root word YHWH, from which we get the name Yahweh, or Jehovah.  In many English versions of the Bible, the letters YHWH are translated ‘LORD’ in capitals, and refer to Jehovah.  Therefore Jesus’ claim to be Ehyeh is astounding, for He is stating that He is Jehovah, the very One who spoke to Moses from the burning bush.

 

What an amazing claim! Fully divine yes, but Jehovah Himself? We need to get our head around that. Isn’t Jehovah God the Father? Yet, as we progress through the Scriptures, especially the Book of Isaiah, we shall find that indeed, ...The Word was God, and the Word became flesh (John 1:1, 14).

 

So we ask ourselves the question, Was Jesus a blasphemer as believed by the Pharisees who took up stones to throw at Him?  Or was He, as Simon Peter asserted, “...the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16)? As John Duncan put it, "Christ either deceived mankind by conscious fraud, or He was Himself deluded and self-deceived, or He was Divine. There is no getting out of this trilemma. It is inexorable." [3]

 

What then shall we do with this Jesus?  Shall we crucify Him?  Shall we lock Him away? The truth is that no man who ever lived has had a greater influence upon the world than this peaceful Galilean who sought no leadership, but who bid humble folk, “Follow Me”. His invitation still stands today, and will continue to do so until the day He returns as King of kings and Lord of lords.  We must examine the evidence.

 

Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son,and I told you, ‘‘Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’” Exodus 4:22, 23.

 

It was God’s instruction to the nation that every firstborn son be dedicated to the Lord as holy. Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me… (Exodus 13:2). Now Moses was to take this firstborn son of God and dedicate it to God.  For God was redeeming His people from bondage and bringing them into the land of promise.

 

This ceremony not only celebrated the people’s release from Egypt, but it foreshadowed a greater deliverance when God’s Firstborn Son, Jesus the Messiah, would set free His people from the bondage of sin, and lead them home.

 

Thus, centuries later when Joseph and Mary presented the holy infant at the temple in Jerusalem they were not only doing so in accordance with God’s law, but were performing an act of extreme significance before heaven.  Jesus’ name was being placed on the roll of the firstborn as the promised Redeemer of the world.

 

The bored priest that day had no idea that the 40-day old babe in his arms, so poor His parents could afford only the cheapest offering, was the One to whom all such presentations had pointed.  Yet God did not let such a divine moment pass by unnoticed, for faithful Simeon was there, and by divine inspiration, thrilled to his very soul, he took the child in his arms and cried out, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel (Luke 2:29-32 KJV).

 

 

…Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs. Exodus 7:10-12.

 

There was something very special about Aaron’s rod. Not only did God turn it into a snake, but later it was to bud almond blossoms.  In Aaron’s rod was life, and as such it was placed into the Ark of the Covenant as a reminder that God had chosen him as the head of a priestly order.  We shall look more closely at Aaron’s rod another day.

 

Miracles have the power to turn the heart toward God.  Yet not all miracles are from God.  The enemy of man is well aware that he can use miracles to keep people in darkness and enslaved to sin.  We must learn to discern the true from the false when it comes to miracles.

 

When Aaron’s rod became a snake, the magicians sought to imitate the ‘trick’.  Yet Satan has no power to create life, he is only an illusionist and the source of all trickery; his imitation snakes were quickly devoured by the living snake.

 

The miracles performed by Moses prefigured Jesus who, during His ministry on earth, also performed many miracles. Jesus’ miracles were not simply tricks designed to get Him followers; He came to relieve suffering, and to make the world a better place.  He fed, healed, and restored to life because in His Kingdom there will be no hunger, sickness or death.  As with Jesus, Moses’ miracles became a foundation stone in the establishment of a holy nation. Satan’s tricks, on the other hand, fail to uphold the Word of God. To the law and to the testimony, says Isaiah, If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn (Isaiah 8:20).

 

 

…on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family…The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Exodus 12:3-6.

 

The Passover was to become the first in a series of annual feasts celebrated by the nation of Israel. They would all signify a phase in the God’s plan to redeem the world’s occupants from the blight of sin, and they all pointed to the work of the Messiah who was the very core of this plan.

 

The Passover laid the foundation for the other feasts, and was highly significant because not only did it look forward to the day when our Savior would become our Passover sacrifice (1 Corinthians 5:7), but it looked back to the day of Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt.  Likewise, when we accept Christ as our Passover, we remember that not only has He delivered us from the bondage of sin, but He shed His blood that we might be ‘passed over’ when judgment comes upon the world.

 

The Passover lamb was to be without defect, and was selected by the head of the household four days prior to its sacrifice in order that it might be set aside and protected from harm.  Only the blood of a perfect sacrifice could save.

 

John 11:47-55 records that some days before the Passover, the authorities held a council in which it was determined that Jesus should ‘die for the nation’. The record says that Jesus therefore ‘no longer walked openly among the Jews’ for He knew that He had now been, as it were, set aside as the Passover Lamb. They just wanted Him dead, but He knew the time and the manner of His death must fulfill all righteousness - the Perfect Sacrifice.

 

Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs…The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you... Exodus 12:7-13.

 

It might have seemed a small thing to obey this instruction, but it wasn’t.  Many Israelites would heretofore have sought to identify with the Egyptians in order to ease their social stigma, but that would not save them this night. Now they must totally separate themselves from Egyptian society and identify fully with Israel and bondage. 

 

Yet to be saved from this destruction required more than just being an Israelite, it required application of the blood.  Similarly it is not enough simply to claim to be a Christian; the blood of Christ must be applied to our lives, or God will not see it and will not pass over us.

 

The blood on the doorposts and lintel prefigured the blood of Christ which He applied, on our behalf, to the upright and the crossbar of the cross. Here is a difference; the Jews needed to have the faith to apply the lamb’s blood, yet now Christ has applied His own blood for us.  That was His great act of faith. Does that mean then we do not need faith?   God forbid; Hebrews 11:6 says, ... without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists…The faith we need is simply to reach out in all earnestness and claim the merits of Christ’s blood. 

 

And how is the blood applied?  Well, where is the blood?  It is on the cross. Therefore we must also place ourselves on the cross so that we are, as the Apostle Paul says, ...crucified with Christ: and, he continues, …The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20). Now that takes faith!

 

 

By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Exodus 13:21, 22.

 

Have you ever been lost in a desert?  Probably not, or you would not be reading this. We see a lot of survival shows on TV nowadays that teach us how to eat the inedible and drink the undrinkable. We learn how to avoid freezing and burning, and how to find our way to safety. 

 

Food, water, shade, warmth, and direction are all truly vital to desert survival, all these things God provided the Israelites for the forty years they spent in the wilderness.  The food and water we shall deal with at other times, but the other three were all provided by Christ our Pillar.  Why do I say Christ our Pillar?  Because it is He who provides all that is essential to our physical and spiritual wellbeing.

 

The cloud during the day was not just a banner at the head of the column, it spread out as a canopy over the people providing shade and cool air to the weary travelers.  At night it provided light and warmth so that they could travel or sleep in safety and comfort.  Not only these, but it was their Compass, continually leading them in the right direction.

 

If we make the will of God supreme in our lives we will be similarly led.  The way might be difficult at times, surrounded by enemies and not sure where we are in life. We have never been promised our walk will be easy, yet we may rest in the knowledge that on the rough path Jesus is there leading us toward the Promised Land by whatever route He chooses as the best for us.  By the pillar in the wilderness He is promising always to give us the shade of His covering hand, the light of His Word, and guidance to finally lead us home.

 

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. Exodus 14:21, 22.

 

This is not the first time we have seen the waters divided.  It happened at Creation when a new earth emerged, perfect and holy in God’s sight, from between the waters. Now we see a new nation emerge from the waters, God’s special people whom He also intends to lead into a life of holiness. 

 

Just as the Israelites came up from the waters to enter into their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness, so Jesus the Messiah came up out of the waters of the Jordan River to enter the wilderness for forty days.  In both cases there was to be severe temptation and testing. Again the history of Israel anticipated the life and work of the Anointed One. 

 

The Israelites failed  in their wilderness temptation (see Psalm 95:7-11), but Jesus overcame in their place, and by so doing not only defeated the Tempter, but demonstrated to the watching universe that, even at his weakest moment, man can, in the strength of Christ, overcome Satan’s temptations.

 

By faith in Christ we need not meet the fate of the Egyptians, but Christ’s victory contains within it a caveat; it seems that God is ever seeking a people who will live holy and blameless lives before Him, and in spite of His love for mankind, there will come a time when flagrant unholiness and unrepentance will be brought to an end.  The Apostle Paul wrote, May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones (1 Thessalonians 3:13).

 

…in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, ‘‘What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘‘It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. Exodus 16:13-15.

 

For the entire forty years’ sojourn in the wilderness, the people had sufficient to eat.  On Fridays twice as much ‘what is it?’ fell so that there would be no need to gather it on the Sabbath.  There was no natural explanation for the presence of the manna, and the Israelites were left in no doubt that it was provided by the direct intervention of God. This was to be a lesson to the people that God alone was their Provider and Sustainer.  More than that, if they collected more than they needed, the extra went bad.  Thus the people learnt day by day that God would always meet their needs, but not more than their needs. The lesson for us in this is quite evident; Andrew Carnegie, the great industrialist, once wrote, “the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced”[4].

 

Jesus taught the same lesson in the feeding of the five thousand.  This was far more than a miracle, it was a demonstration that just as the manna came down from heaven to bring life to the Israelites, so He had come down from heaven to bring eternal life to all who would accept Him. I am the living bread that came down from heaven, He said. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever (John 6:51). 

 

In fact, He is saying that as without the manna in the wilderness the people would not have survived, so without Him there can be no eternal life, I tell you the truth, He said, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:53, 54).

 

“… I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. Exodus 17:6.

 

The distrust of the Israelites was a great sin in the eyes of God.  In fact, certain influential men were feeding the people a conspiracy theory that Moses planned to lead the people into the desert, then let them die of thirst so that he could make off with all their possessions (see v.1-3).  This incident is referred to in Psalm 95:7-11 as the day the people tempted God, or as we might say today, they sorely put God to the test.

 

Yet God, in His boundless mercy, did not destroy the people; rather He led them to a great rock, and commanded Moses to take Aaron’s shepherd’s staff and use it to strike the rock.  As soon as he did so water, clean, cool and refreshing, came bubbling from the rock in such abundance that there was sufficient for all the people and livestock for the entire time they remained encamped at that spot.

 

From that time on, the Rock became the symbol of God Himself as is seen in Psalm 95:1, Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Later, Jesus would also refer to Himself as the Rock when He said to the disciple Peter, …I tell you that you are Peter (Petros – a stone), and on this rock (Petra – a large immovable rock) I will build my church.  Similarly, the Apostle Paul said regarding the Israelites, …they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).  Today we may still come to the Rock and drink of its waters, for, as Jesus once said to a thirsty woman, whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14).

 

 

The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up…And God spoke all these words:  ‘‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Exodus 19:20, 20:1, 2.

 

When God came down onto Mt. Sinai to give the Ten Commandments, the people were forbidden to come up or even to touch the mountain lest the glory of God destroy them.  Moses alone was to go up, and even he, when he came down forty days later, shone so brightly that he had to be veiled in order for the people to be able to look at him.

 

Yet God, in His love, wanted the people to be able to experience Him at a personal and human level, and the only way for Him to be able to do that was for God Himself to take on humanity and walk among us as one of us.

 

Thus, when Jesus ended His victorious forty-day wilderness conflict, he returned to the land of men and, as Matthew’s record says, when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them…(Matthew 5:1, 2). 

 

The people could not sit at the feet of God on the mountain as He gave His great Law, but when Jesus went up into a mountain to give His great sermon there was no such restriction. Just as the Law of God is a transcript of the character of God, so the Sermon on the Mount is a transcript of the character of Christ.  In fact, the sermon on the Mount, while teaching Grace, is also an exposition on the Law.  “You, have heard it said of old”, Jesus said, quoting one of the Ten Commandments; “But I say to you…”, He continued, and explained the true meaning of the Law.  Thus a great truth emerges from the Mount: Grace does not replace the Law, it amplifies it.

 

‘‘See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. Exodus 23:20, 21.

 

Who is this Angel who would bring us to the place God has prepared?  The words bring to mind John 14:3, … if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  Exodus 23:20 refers to the physical Canaan, and the Angel is Christ in the pillar of cloud and fire.  In John’s passage Jesus refers to the heavenly Canaan where Christ, the devoted Bridegroom, is joyfully preparing a home for His bride.

 

If the Angel is Christ, it seems strange to read that He will not forgive our rebellion.  Yet in the light of the above, it really makes a lot of sense. After all, who wants a rebellious bride?  Would she be happy in the home prepared for her?  Sin can be forgiven because it can be repented of, and repentance is true sorrow for sin, not just for the consequences of the sin, but for the fact of the sin.  But rebellion against God is bigger than that, it is the final decision to turn away from God and follow our own way. 

 

However, these are not the reason given for not rebelling against God. It is, we are told, because “My Name is in Him”. What does that mean?  In the Bible name is character; and when God’s name is in the Angel, it is His character that is there. When God instructed the priests how to bless the people, He taught them  “The Aaronic Blessing” (Numbers 6:24-26), and then said,  “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them” (v.27).  Today God wishes His perfect character to be upon all people that they too might be one in mind and Spirit with Him.  This is how it will be for those who enter the place He has prepared.

 

 

Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. Exodus 25:8,9.

 

Which pagan deity ever condescended to make his dwelling on earth among men? Yet it is with us that God wants to reside, not out of condescension, but out of choice.  Even more than that, He does not miraculously produce a magnificent palace, but asks us to make His house with our own hands out of locally available materials.  The only stipulation is that it must be made exactly according to the specifications He gives us.

 

It would seem then that it was more important to God that the design blueprint be meticulously followed than it was to have it made from the most luxurious materials.  Why?  Because the tabernacle was more than a residence, it was to play a vital role in man’s redemption.  In fact the tabernacle, its furniture, and its services, all foreshadowed the Messiah and His ministry on our behalf.  As we consider the Sanctuary, we will keep finding Jesus there.

 

The Sanctuary is Jesus, for Jesus is our Sanctuary; He is perfect and He is flawless.  Therefore it was vital that the copy of the heavenly Sanctuary also be flawless.  Jesus lived His entire earthly life without sin, without any imperfection that would mar His sacrifice for our sins.  Thus shoddy workmanship, or mistakes in its construction would make the tabernacle unfit to represent Christ.

 

This gives us insight into the reason for Jesus’ indignation when He drove the money changers out of the Temple (Matthew 21:13).  By misusing the Temple, they had misrepresented the work and character of the Messiah.  It is a wondrous privilege that God chose to dwell with mankind.  How careful we must be not to misrepresent Him.

 

Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. Exodus 27:20

The Lampstand in the tabernacle, known as the Menorah, consisted of seven branches.  When the priest trimmed the wicks he would make sure that they were never all extinguished at the same time.  The Menorah could never go out for it represented Christ the true light that gives light to every man (John 1:9).

 

The Menorah also symbolized the Holy Scriptures which were described by David as a lamp to my feet and a light for my path (Psalm 119:105).  Both Christ and His Word are eternal.  They stand forever; they never can, and never will, change or be extinguished, for God says, I am the LORD, I change not (Malachi 3:6 KJV).

 

When God established the nation of Israel, it was His purpose that it should be a beacon of light to the surrounding peoples who would then see the way the people lived and worshipped, and say ‘‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people” (Deuteronomy 4:6). Thus the knowledge of God would gradually disseminate throughout the world so that, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14).

 

It is exactly the same today; God desires His people to live such lives that all who see them should wish to know more of God and His love.  That is why Jesus reminded us that we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).  That does not mean we ourselves are a source of light, but just as the moon has no light of its own, yet reflects the brightness of the sun, so our lives should be such that we reflect the light of Christ to others enabling them to see God and His goodness.  That way, we lead others to give glory to God.

 

And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office. Ex. 28:2, 3 KJV.

 

Exodus 28 describes the garments to be worn by Aaron and his sons as priests of the Sanctuary.  Notice the care and attention to be given to the making of this garment, the intricate detail in its design.  Why did the priest wear such magnificent apparel? Was it just to give him ‘glory and beauty’, or ‘dignity and honor’ as the NIV says? Maybe so, for that is one of the reasons people wear uniforms.

 

I chose the KJV rendition of this verse because it better captures the truth that these garments also represent the glory and beauty of Jesus; they represent His glorious perfection and the beauty of His character; they represent His righteousness. 

 

God promises His people that they will be a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.  As such, they also will receive special garments woven with the thread of Christ’s glory and beauty.  When John saw the redeemed in heaven wearing white robes, his angel explained  to him, These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:13, 14).

 

We may ask how washing a robe in blood makes it white; the answer is that the shedding of Jesus’ blood at Calvary atones for our sin and removes its guilty stains.  Only blood can remove the stain of sin.  When we repent and confess our sins to God, regardless of how bad they are, He has promised to forgive us and clothe us in a new garment, one that symbolizes the glory and beauty of our heavenly High Priest.

 

 

Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘‘See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts…Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you…Exodus 31:1-6.

 

If we read through the instructions given for the tabernacle and its services (Exodus 25-31) we find that God demands from men and women a standard of craftsmanship such as is found only among the very top artisans in the world today - perfection, no less.  Why did God expect such high standards from a people who until recently were slaves?

 

God knew that there was no way this poor downtrodden people would have the skills necessary to produce such quality work.  Therefore He selected certain people and filled them with His Spirit that they might have the skills needed.

 

There is a vital lesson for us here: In 1 Corinthians 3:16 the Apostle Paul points out that the Holy Spirit also dwells in us. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?... for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. Here is a challenging thought; should my own body temple then be anything less than perfect?  Yet I am flawed and sinful; I have scars, deformities and bad thoughts.  How can God’s Spirit possibly  dwell in me?

 

Praise God there is a solution; just as Bezalel and his workers were able to make the tabernacle fit for God to dwell in, so God has provided a Master Craftsman who will fashion our body temple into a house fit for a holy God to dwell in.  When we invite Jesus into our hearts, He will go to work on us to fashion us into the temple He wishes us to be.  To be sure the process will be painful at times, but He is looking at the final product, a jewel for His kingdom.

 

Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘‘Say to the Israelites,… ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you…For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD…It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever…”’ Exodus 31:12-17.

 

Today’s reading reminds us that the Sabbath Day is holy.  I say ‘reminds us’ because this is not the first time we have heard it.  God first informed us of the sacredness of the Sabbath hours at the Creation (Genesis 3:1-3) making it a memorial of that awesome event.  Again God enclosed the Sabbath in the heart of the Ten Commandments making it a perpetual reminder of His Creatorship.  Now, while God gives His people instruction as to the design and construction of His Sanctuary – His Holy Place, He also includes the Sabbath in that design – His Holy Time. 

 

We are beginning to see how the function and detail of the Sanctuary, God’s Holy Place, anticipates Jesus the Messiah, so it comes as no real surprise to hear the angel Gabriel say to young Mary, … the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).  Yes, Jesus is holy too. Now we have a Holy Person, a Holy Place, and Holy Time. Just as the function and detail of the earthly Sanctuary anticipates the life and ministry of Christ, so the weekly Sabbath rest anticipates Christ our divine Sabbath Rest. Just as the weekly Sabbath offers spiritual rest, so Jesus said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you…and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28, 29).

 

It is highly significant, although often overlooked by Christians, that just as God rested on the Sabbath of Creation, so, following the crucifixion, Christ rested the Sabbath in the tomb, the Rest of Redemption.  He is indeed our Sabbath Rest.

 

 

‘‘O LORD,” [Moses] said, ‘‘why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to…wipe them off the face of the earth’? Exodus 32:11,12.

 

When Moses returned from the mountain with the Ten Commandments in hand, he was shocked to find the people reveling naked before a golden calf.  God’s response was swift and decisive, “Stand aside while I destroy them all,” He told Moses, “Then I will make you into a great nation” (v.10).

 

Moses might have been well honored by such an arrangement, but what about all God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?  More importantly, how would the nations regard the God of Israel?  Is He a tyrant who wipes people out at the least provocation?  Israel would then be a nation no different from any other, one that sought to appease an angry and unmerciful God. It was these thoughts going through Moses’ head, not thoughts of self-aggrandizement, that prompted him to stand between God and the people.

 

In becoming intercessor for the people, Moses foreshadowed the One who was to become Intercessor for the whole world.  The Apostle John describes Him in words easy for the modern mind to grasp, My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1John 2:1 KJV).

 

As Moses pled on behalf of a corrupt people, so Jesus presents the cases of all who come to Him in penitence.  As Moses’ intercession saved the lives of all the people, So we may have full assurance that we will be acquitted.  After all, not only is Christ our Defense Attorney, He is also our Judge (John 5:22).

 

 

…Moses said to the people, ‘‘You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses went back to the LORD and said, ‘‘Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” Exodus 32:30-32.

 

It costs something to make atonement for someone.  Moses was willing to pay whatever price in order to restore the relationship between God and the Israelites.  What a price it was too!  He was willing to have his name removed from the book containing the names of God’s elect.  It is a major issue to have one’s name removed from this book, for it is only those whose names are in it who will enter God’s Kingdom (Daniel 12:1, Revelation 20:15, 21:27).

Moses was willing to give up his place in heaven that the people he loved might be there.  What love was this that would give up so much for such a corrupt and unlovable people?  Yet in this selfless act Moses was again a Christ-type, for Jesus, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8). 

Jesus’ death reveals to us that His own Name had been blotted out of the Book of Life that ‘our great sin’ might be atoned for.  Did Jesus do this for us because we are  worthy of it?  Certainly not.  For we are no different from those Israelites. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:7, 8).

 

 

Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast… Exodus 34:25a.

 

During the week before the Passover the people were to remove every trace of yeast from their homes.  Today, faithful Jews will ceremonially burn any yeast found in their home the day before Passover. So, what’s wrong with yeast?  Nothing inherently; it is a good food source. The reason for its ritual contamination is that its permeating action is just the way sin works. 

 

As anyone who has made bread knows, when a small amount of yeast is added to the dough and left for a while, the bread will ‘rise’.  Similarly even what appears to be the smallest of sins, if harbored, can permeate the soul resulting in eternal damage. 

 

The Apostle Paul, when he learnt that a sinful practice was being tolerated in the fledgling Corinthian church wrote, Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed (1 Corinthians 5:6,7).

 

Yeast was not to be used in a sacrifice because the sacrifice was to be faultless. In that way it foreshadowed the sacrifice of the One whose sinless perfection alone could atone for the sins of the world.  That Sinless One was Jesus of Nazareth.  Significantly, there were three witnesses to Christ’s innocence on the day of His crucifixion, Judas (Matthew 27:4), Pilate (John 18:38 ), and the thief on the cross (Luke 23:41).

 

Just as the faithful Israelite family members would carefully sweep out their home before the Passover in order to remove every trace of sin, so we should carefully sweep the corners of our heart that no yeast of sin might be found there.

 

 

…do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning. Exodus 34:25b.

 

Several times we find the injunction not to let the sacrifice remain until the next day, but instead to burn what is not eaten.  Is there a reason for that?  Several probably; that first Passover, the people had no time to sit down for another meal for they had to travel in haste. Exodus 29:34 also says it should not be eaten the next day because it is holy.

 

In the warm Mediterranean climate meat cannot be left overnight without its becoming infected with disease.  How many people today have received a dose of Salmonella typhi from eating meat left too long out of the fridge?

 

Once a human heart stops beating, the body cells begin to die because they no longer receive oxygen and can no longer excrete carbon dioxide.  There is still a short time however, depending on temperature and hydration level, that they might still be considered ‘alive’.  Jesus’ body was entombed only a short while after His death.  He then rested in the tomb for the Sabbath, and was raised early Sunday morning.  In this way, He fulfilled David’s prophecy of Psalm 16:10, ...nor will you let your Holy One see decay. This helps us understand why the sacrifice should not be eaten the next day; if Jesus’ body was not to see decay, then neither should the sacrifice that pointed to it see decay. 

 

There is another insight here: normally a victim of crucifixion might live for some days on the cross.  However, when the soldiers went to break Jesus’ legs to bring about His death, they found He was already dead. Therefore He was removed from the cross and placed in the tomb that same day.  Thus the burning of the remaining sacrifice because it is holy (Exodus 29:34) equates to the placing of Christ in the tomb that same day.  Even in death Jesus is holy.

 

And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them. Exodus 39:43.

 

This passage brings us almost to the end of the book of Exodus.  The final chapter, Chapter 40, lists the order in which the parts of the completed tabernacle should be assembled.  Therefore after several chapters of detailed instruction in Exodus 35 to 39, we end with the words of our text for today.

 

This passage may seem vaguely familiar. Could it be that it reminds us of Genesis 1:31, God saw all that he had made, and it was very good?  When God finished His Creation at the end of the sixth day, He looked upon His work and was satisfied.  The earth was created by God as the dwelling place of man.  Now, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, man has completed the earthly dwelling place of God.

 

Furthermore, God crowned His Creation by pronouncing a blessing upon the Sabbath that memorialized it.  Now Moses has placed a blessing upon the people, not only on those who were involved in its construction, which was everybody, but all who would gain the benefit of the rest to be found in the sanctuary of God (Hebrews 4:3-10).

 

Jesus has also gone to prepare a place for His people, and when it is ready, He says, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (John 14:1-3). Soon the great day will come when those faithful ones will enter their new home, and upon them Jesus will also pronounce a blessing saying: Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:12-14). And Jesus blessed the people!

 

 

…Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean…And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: As for the living bird, he shall…dip [it]…in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times…and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.  Leviticus 14:1-7 KJV.

 

Have you ever noticed how readily Jesus would heal the leprosy sufferer who came to him for cleansing?.  For other requests He might challenge their faith, but not so leprosy;  “Be clean” was always His immediate response.

 

Leprosy commences its subtle work by attacking peripheral nerves leading the victim to injure themselves often without knowing it. Similarly, sin works insidiously within us, leaving us its victim before we are even aware.  When we come to Christ to confess our sin, His response is immediate, “Be clean”.  

 

Our reading for today describes a part of the process the priest would follow in order to declare a leprosy victim clean. One clean bird is sacrificed under running water so that its blood mingles with the water.  Then another living bird is dipped in the blood, and ‘sprinkled’ over the person seven times before being set free.

 

This ceremony beautifully symbolizes the death, burial and rebirth of one who has come under the influence of sin, but  seeks to return to God. It foreshadows the work of Jesus Christ, who  came by the waters of baptism and the blood of Calvary (1John 5:6) to cleanse us of the leprosy of sin, so that like the banished leprosy victim, we may again come into the presence of God.

 

And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the LORD and use it as a sin offering.  Leviticus 16:8, 9 English Standard Version.

 

The Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, is the most solemn day in the Jewish religious calendar, for on this day the earthly sanctuary is to be cleansed;  it is to be purified of all the sins atoned for during the year so that they are no more.  Two nearly identical goats are presented before the Lord for Him to choose their fate.  One is chosen to be sacrificed as an atonement for sin and its blood presented before the Mercy Seat. This goat represents Christ whose blood has atoned for our sins.  Strange, isn’t it, that Jesus is symbolized as a goat – “Behold the Goat of God who takes away the sins of the world”.  Sounds almost blasphemous, doesn’t it?

 

Yom Kippur is a festival designed to deal with the sin problem.   Yes, Christ’s sacrifice provides atonement for our sins; but just as a certain drug may cure malaria, the nasty little parasite that causes it is still at large; so our sins are forgiven, but that nasty little parasite, Satan, is still at large.  Jesus came, not only to forgive our sins, but also to rid the universe of Sin.  How does He do it?  By becoming Sin! In 2Corinthians 5:21, Paul wrote, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  This is deep!  When Jesus bore our sins He became Sin - and the Father turned away!  That is why He is symbolized here as a goat, because sin is represented by the goat.

As the annual Passover prefigured the atoning sacrifice of Christ, so Yom Kippur prefigures the day when Christ our High Priest will cleanse the Heavenly Sanctuary of all Sin and place it on the head of Azazel to be permanently removed from the sight of God and His redeemed.  Then all the universe will be clean forever.

 

But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel. Leviticus 16:10 ESV.

 

I have intentionally chosen a version that leaves the word Azazel untranslated from the Hebrew.  There is much debate, often acrimonious, over the meaning and identity of Azazel best avoided in a devotional.[5] Therefore, let me humbly suggest that it is Sin that is sent away into the wilderness, and leave the details to the theologians.

 

Many Christians see in the Day of Atonement festival a type of the scene in Pilate’s judgment hall when Barabbas and Jesus were presented to the people for them to choose who would die and who would be released.  It is an alluring thought; after all, they are both condemned and both have very similar names, Jesus the Son of God, and Jesus (according to some manuscripts) the Son of the Father.   Yet there are sufficient difficulties beyond the scope of a devotional that may deter us from going too far with this line of thought.[6] 

 

What is significant for us is that the One declared innocent three times that day was the One chosen as the sacrifice.  Jesus was condemned to death so that Barabbas could be set free.  Yet I realize it is me who should have been standing there that day; it is my cross that lies in wait to do its work. Barabbas is me; I am guilty, I am condemned, and I deserve my punishment.  Yet I will not be placed on that cross because an innocent Man has taken it upon Himself to stand in my place.  What kind of Love is this that One should do such a thing? Barabbas stands for you and I.  Because of Christ’s sacrifice our sins will one day be taken out into the wilderness of the universe and obliterated.  Then shall the Israel of God be clean.

 

 

 

[1] Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1970, p35. [2] C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Harper Collins e-books, Location 809 [3] See Wikipedia article, [4] Written in 1868 in a memo to himself.  See Wikipedia article, [5]Azazel is usually translated as ‘scapegoat’, a term coined by William Tyndale in his 1530 Bible.  It meant literally ‘the goat that escapes’. Today the word refers to someone who is made to take the blame.  This raises an interesting question as to who is truly the scapegoat; is it the innocent one who is put to death?  Or the guilty one that escapes death? [6] The main difficulties are 1.) Barabbas plays a part in the Passover, not the Day of Atonement, 2.) There is no ritual placement of sin upon Barabbas, 3).  For those Christians who believe Azazel represents Christ, Barabbas could never be a Christ-type, 4). For those Christians who believe Azazel represents Satan, Barabbas could never be held responsible for all the evil Satan has caused.