Month: June 2024

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 15

“Then Aaron shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.  He shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions in regard to all their sins” (Leviticus 16:15-16).

“For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.  Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate” (Hebrews 13:11-12).

On the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the tabernacle with two goats as part of the atonement ritual.  The first goat was sacrificed as an offering for sin.  The remaining live goat had the sins of Israel ceremoniously laid upon it and was sent into the wilderness symbolizing their sins being taken way.  This goat was known as the scapegoat and we will talk about it next time.

For now, let’s return to the first goat, the sin offering.  This goat is a clear symbol of Jesus being our sin offering, the One who “sanctified us through His own blood.”  Jesus is our sin offering, a truth laid out for us primarily in the books of Romans and Hebrews.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.  For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:2-3).  Jesus’ sin offering for us set us free from the condemnation of the Law, sin, and death.  If you have believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ, Jesus is your sin offering!

Jesus is the sin offering, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 14

“Let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.  According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall construct it” (Exodus 25:8-9).

“And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

As the children of Israel were beginning their journey to the promised land, God instructed them to build a tabernacle, a mobile tent of worship where the presence of God would be made known.

The tabernacle from its layout to its furniture is a foreshadowing of the coming Messiah.  The ark of the covenant was the most holy article in the tabernacle and sat in the inner room called the Holy of Holies.  The ark was made of wood representing Christ’s humanity, and covered in gold representing His divinity.  Its lid, the mercy seat, was sprinkled with sacrificial blood representing the blood of the lamb, Jesus, that was spilled for us.

The other articles – the golden lampstand, the bread of the presence, the basin of cleansing water, the brazen alter, the golden alter of incense – are highly symbolic of Christ.  But the greatest connection is the purpose of the tabernacle; a place for God to dwell with His people.

God is not a distant God.  His desire is to come to us and He has come to us in Jesus.  When Jesus came to earth, God’s deity came to live and walk and heal and love among us.  The resurrected and fully living-in-us Jesus is God’s tabernacle to us today.  Jesus is God’s presence with us and in us!

Jesus was present in the tabernacle, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 13

God said to Moses, ” ‘Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.’  And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:6).

“Our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (I Corinthians 10:1-4).

The apostle Paul makes the connection for us in this Old Testament revelation of Jesus Christ.  The backstory in Exodus chapter 17 has the children of Israel complaining about the lack of water on their journey.  Moses appealed to God, worried that he was about to be stoned by the people due to the lack of water.  God instructed Moses to strike the rock at Horeb and water flowed.

The flowing rock is a picture of Christ.  Similar to the manna/bread, the water from the rock would not sustain them forever.  But Christ is the eternal spring of water, the water of life.  Jesus said to the Samaritan women at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

And again, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ”From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” ‘ “ (John 7:37-38)

And finally, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst’ “ (John 6:35).

Never thirsty.  Jesus is the Water of Life and His flowing in you will never end!

Jesus is the rock at Horeb, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 12

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction’ “ (Exodus 16:4)

“Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:49-51).

In John chapter 6, Jesus makes a direct comparison between the manna in the wilderness and Himself as the bread of life.  And the contrast between the two is the difference between life and death.

The manna in the wilderness had no life-giving power.  It was only for daily sustenance.  The Jews ate the manna, but eventually they died.  The manna was a lifeless foreshadowing of a different kind of bread.

Christ, on the other hand, calls Himself “The Bread of Life” several times in John chapter 6.  Jesus’ connection with life forever not only contrasts to the manna in the wilderness, but also identified Jesus as born of God, “come down from heaven.”

“Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, ‘I am the bread that came down out of heaven.’  They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?’ “ (John 6:41-42).

But Jesus answered them, “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:58).  The sustenance that comes from the “Bread of Life” is life everlasting.  Jesus is our Bread of Life!

Jesus is the manna and so much more, because Jesus was there from the beginning!

The Old Testament and the New Covenant   Part 11

“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household’ “ … “The blood on the doorposts shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt“ (Exodus 12:3,13).

“The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ “ (John 1:29).

The death of the Egyptian firstborn was the last of ten plagues God used to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt.  God instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb and spread its blood on their doorposts.  When the Lord visited the land at midnight, He “passed over” the homes with the blood applied.  The Egyptians without the blood in place suffered the death of their firstborn.

In the sight of God, the only difference between the sons of Egypt and the sons of Israel on that night was the blood of the lamb.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb.  In God’s eyes at the final judgment, the only difference between the children of God and the lost will be the applied blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ.

If you have believed the gospel message of Jesus Christ that His blood was spilled for you and was the sufficient sacrifice for your sins, you are set free from the penalty of your sin and the judgment of God will “pass over” you.  Jesus is our Passover Lamb!

Jesus was present as the Passover Lamb, because Jesus was there from the beginning!