Introducing the Jewish Feasts, their meaning, and significance

Introduction:

    In today's post I want to introduce the reader to the main Jewish Festivals we find in the Bible. Recently I began a new teaching series in our church on this topic.  

    A number of chapters and sections in the Bible details each of them or summarize all of them. The third book of the Bible, Leviticus, gives us the seven major Jewish festivals in Leviticus 23. Moses writes in Leviticus 23:1-3 

“The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these: 3 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.” 

    The phrase at the end of Leviticus 23:2, “appointed times” (mo-ed =  מוֹעֲדֽ ) has to do with "meeting times", or "appointed seasons". The Jewish festivals or "appointed times" tell us not only about what God did for Israel in the Old Testament, but also point ahead to Jesus in His coming in the New Testament. 

    Ed Hindson and Gary Yates in their volume "The Essence of the Old Testament - A Survey", summarize the presentation of the seven major Jewish Feasts in Leviticus 23:

"The nation could experience sanctified obedience by appearing before the Lord regularly to worship (the Sabbath) and celebrate various feasts that would remind them of their covenant relationship with Him." 

    How many of us have old photo albums, or have memories stored on social media that remind of us important events? The Jewish Festivals commemorated the LORD's faithfulness. But they also pointed ahead to the Lord Jesus Christ.

    Jesus Himself stated in Luke 24:44 

“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 

    One of the ways we find the Hebrew Bible (another name for what Christians call "the Old Testament") pointing to Jesus the Messiah is by the individual and combined messages of the main Jewish Feasts. 

    In all, there are seven main feasts mentioned in Leviticus 23 and in other places (most notably Numbers 28 and Deuteronomy 16). We also note there are two other main Jewish feasts or festivals: Purim and Hannukah (also known as "the feast of dedication").  

     As I mentioned already, the word translated “appointed times” in the opening verses above means “to meet, to appoint”. It first appears in Genesis 1:14 to describe why God created the Sun, moon, and stars “signs, seasons, days, and years”. God had already included methods for marking off appointed times in history by way of cosmic phenomena like stars, the moon, and the sun. 

    Again, we can also think of these times and places where God made changes in people's lives (that is, if we are followers of Jesus in saving faith, or perhaps we can look back and see how He was at work before we were brought to faith in Jesus). Such celebrations were meant to remind the people to not forget what God had done. 

    Also, as already mentioned, the Jewish Feasts pointed ahead to what God intended to do through the coming of Messiah. What I want to do now is simply depict the Feasts, their general meaning, and say something about what they tell us about Jesus and prophetic events. 

1. Importance of the feasts: To relate, revere, remember. 

A. God wants His people to relate to Him.

    God's covenants were intended for relationship with His people. The festivals were visible dramatizations of that reality. Deuteronomy 16:16 "Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed." See also 2 Peter 3:18.

B. God wants His people to revere Him.

        We too often in modern society (and I'm mainly talking about our American Church culture) don't have a fear or reverence of God. The Christian is to live their life between two guardrails: confident access to God through Jesus Christ and carefulness in how one conducts themselves by the Holy Spirit. Numbers 28:1-2 "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be careful to present My offering, My food for My offerings by fire, of a soothing aroma to Me, at their appointed time." 

C. God wants His people to remember Him. 

        God's people today can get so busy with life, even service to God, that they can plan Him to the edges of life. It was the author Oswald Chambers that once noted how our number one competition for our fellowship with God is our service to God. We ought never forget that were it not for the Lord Jesus, we would be incapable of anything (Read John 15). Thus, Leviticus 23:43-44 "so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” 44 So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord."

2. Summarizing the Feasts.

 

    The Jewish people had two calendars, a civil calendar and a religious one. The civil calendar began in our September, during the Fall. Their religious calendar began in the Spring (March/April). The festal cycle followed the religious calendar, with Passover being the beginning of their spiritual lives for that year (See Exodus 12:1-2). When the final feast ended in September, that was when the Civil calendar began. 

    The Jews were reminded of those twin rhythms of regular life and spiritual life, all of which was presided over by the Lord who redeemed them. It was He who gave them a new beginning. What follows is a summary of the Feasts.

 

A. Spring Feasts: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First-Fruits, Pentecost

B. Fall Feasts: Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Booths 

C. Two other feasts we’ll consider: Purim and Dedication

D. The main seven are unified by the concept of Sabbath rest. 

    The concept of “Sabbath” pervades Leviticus (the listing of the seven main feasts) in nine places. The Sabbath principle articulates God’s Revelation, Priestly activity in Heaven, and Kingship in creation. Being that there are seven sabbatical days among the feasts that occur separately from the regular Sabbaths, this indicates God’s redemptive work, fulfilled most prominently in Jesus Christ (Compare Hebrews 4). Consequently, Jesus as the eternal Son of God in human flesh, occupies His three-fold office of Prophet, Priest, and King. 

3. Meanings of the feasts.

(Note: All seven festivals point to Jesus. First three pertained to Jesus in His first coming. Pentecost involved Jews and Gentiles, memorializing the birth of the Jewish nation and Church, as well as the sending of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus. The latter three pertain to the future of Israel, God’s promises to her, and the events prior to Jesus' second coming.)

 

Four Spring Feasts

Passover = Deliverance. Exodus out of Egypt / Jesus our Passover Lamb

See Exodus 12 and 1 Corinthians 5:7, also Leviticus 23:4-5.

Unleavened Bread = “Put the world behind you”. Remind the people they were no longer in Egypt, and thus needed to “put away Egypt (leaven)” from themselves / Jesus was buried on the first day of this Feast, perfect and without sin in life and death. See Leviticus 23:6-8. This also is a type of the Christian life, to put away from ourselves the leaven of sin (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). 

First Fruits = “New life”. The first sheave of the Barley Harvest brought forth to the temple, signaling the end of Winter, start of the Spring Harvest / Jesus raised from the dead on this celebration, hence called “the First-fruits (1 Cor 15:20-23).  See Leviticus 23:9-14. 

Pentecost = “Ingathering”. Celebrated the Barley Harvest and was fifty days after the Feast of First Fruits / Same day as the Spirit’s outpouring on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1-47 cf Joel 2:28. See also Leviticus 23:15-22. 

Three Fall Feasts

Trumpets = New beginning. Announced the beginning of the first day on the Civil Calendar (Jewish New Year) / Corresponds to Jesus regathering the Jews at the end of the future seven-year tribulation period (see Mt 24:31). See Leviticus 23:23-25.

Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) = “Forgiveness”. A time devoted to national repentance and mourning for sins / Zechariah 13 and Romans 11:25 predicts that when Jesus returns to earth, the Jews will call upon Him and forgiveness of sin will be made available to them. Leviticus 23:26-38.

Feast of Booths = “Kingdom”. Reminds the Jews of their journeys through the wilderness under Moses’ leadership on their way to the Promised land / Many note how this feast pictures Christ’s Millennial Kingdom prior to the final appearance of the New Heavens and New Earth. Leviticus 23:39-44

Two other Feasts

Purim = “Preservation.” When God used Queen Esther to save the Jews from the plot of Haman to commit genocide against them. / Jesus may very well had healed the lame man in John 5 during this Festival. See Esther 9:17-24.

Dedication (Hannukah) = “Provision”. This commemorates the providential act of God in using the Maccabees to preserve the Temple during the invasion of Antiochus Epiphanes in 168-165 b.c. This feast is also connected to Jesus’ incarnation and body as being the true Temple (see John 2:19). See also John 10:22. 

4. Why study the Jewish Feasts?

    As we close out this post on the Jewish Feasts today, I hope you can see why they are important. Why study them? Let me end with four reasons.

A. To know Jesus better. 

B. Insight into Prophecy

C. Divine intervention in our lives. 

D. God keeps His promises.

The Doctrine of Scripture Series: Jesus In All 66 Books Of The Bible - How He is Predicted in Isaiah to Malachi

Introduction:

    As we round out our survey of the Old Testament in regards to how Jesus Christ was patterned (the Torah); anticipated (historical books); and personified (the poetic books); we now arrive at the final seventeen books of the Bible - the prophets. It is extraordinary the amount of prophetic predictions we find in the prophets (over 100 prophecies of Christ's first coming and over 200 regarding His second coming - not to mention prophecies related to His Messianic Kingdom and the end of the age). As I briefly summarize the prophetic books, I'll mention at least one prophecy about Jesus (what are termed "Messianic prophecies") from each. 

Isaiah = Jesus our holiness.

    Isaiah 6 gives us a picture of the True King in His temple, whom Jesus claimed as He Himself that Isaiah saw in John 12. Isaiah is the most quoted prophet in the New Testament, with virtually all those quotations referring to the Lord Jesus. Isaiah 53, for instance, is cited roughly a dozen times, with every very quoted or alluded to by the Apostles.

Jeremiah = Jesus our weeping prophet.

    Jeremiah would serve the Lord for over fifty years as a prophet called to Jerusalem to warn of pending judgment. He wept over Jerusalem, knowing of her pending doom. Despite his pleas, the inhabitants ignored him. Jeremiah 23 promised a time when God would send a true shepherd. Jesus is that weeping prophet in Matthew 23, weeping over Jerusalem in much the same manner as Jeremiah had done.

Lamentations = Jesus is in the pit with me.

    This book, composed by Jeremiah upon the death of King Josiah, came to be used by the Jews to recall the razing of the temple in Jersualem by the Babylonians in 586 b.c. Lamentations records the maltreatment of Jeremiah being lowered down into a pit to die. Although he was left for dead, he was not alone. God was with him. The Lord Jesus Christ came to have our sins credited to Himself on the cross, even though He never personally sinned in thought, word, or deed (2 Corinthians 5:21). As our resurrected Lord, Jesus understands what it is like to undergo temptation, since He Himself experienced it (Hebrews 2:11-15). He will never leave us nor forsake us, just as He never foresook Jeremiah.

Ezekiel = Jesus, the glory of God.

    Ezekiel 1 opens up with one of the most dramatic depictions of God's glory. We know from 2 Corinthians 4:1-6 that Jesus Christ is the visible manifestation of God's glory. When Ezekiel saw the glory of God depart from the Temple in chapters 9 and 10 of his prophecy, He witnessed one of the saddest scenes in all the Old Testament. Jesus' actions in the temple was His effort to enter as the glory of God incarnate. Sadly, the nation rejected Him. In Jesus' final address from the Mount of Olives in Matthew 24-25, we see Him as God incarnate warning of Israel's pending attack by the Romans in 70 A.D., as well as the ultimate sequence of events prior to His second coming. That same mount was whence the glory of God departed in Ezekiel's vision.

Daniel = Jesus is the Son of Man

    Whenever you read Daniel 7, you will find the striking description of the pre-incarnate Son of God (called "The Son of Man") approaching His Father on His Throne ("The Ancient of Days"), with both being treated as worthy of worship, and thus one God. Jesus used this title "Son of Man" more than 80 times to refer to Himself in the four Gospels. The Apostle John's vision of Jesus in Revelation 1 reads similarly to what we find in Daniel 7.

Hosea = Jesus the beloved spouse.

    Hosea 2 depicts God promising to restore an underserving people by being the spouse who pursues them to rescue them from their own destruction. Jesus did this for His people by coming to die for their sins (Acts 20:28).

Joel = Jesus the Promiser of the Holy Spirit

    Joel 2:28-32 is the predicted promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had promised His disciples in John 14:26; 15:26; and 16:8-12 that He would send the Holy Spirit to aid them and His church to accomplish her mission, to convert sinners, and to forward the Christian movement. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in Acts 2, fulfilling Joel's prophecy, was a sign that Jesus Christ was enthroned over His church.

Amos = Jesus the Plumbline of truth

    Amos contains the striking imagery of God dropping a plumbline among his people. My late father had worked for a block layer. I recall watching my father and the block layers use a plumbline to check the vertical uprightness of whatever wall they were building. The plumbline was the standard by which they followed. If they had ignored the plumline, the wall or building would had collapsed. The plumbline illustrates the truth of God, and how oftentimes apart from His grace, we fall short. This is why Christ came, since He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).

Obadiah = Jesus the humbler of my pride.

    In Obadiah we find a prophecy made against Edom, the nation descended from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. The Edomites had become a proud people, warring against the Jewish people, the descendants of Jacob. As Jacob and Esau warred in their mother's womb and would oppose one another throughout their childhood in Genesis, God nonetheless had already planned to choose Jacob over Esau, and thus have Israel to be the chosen people of God (see Romans 9). The Edomites would oppose Israel in her history, incurring the judgment of God against it. Obadiah's prophecy showcases God's opposition of human pride. When Jesus came to this world, He came in humility, the total opposite of pride. He chips away at the pride of the Christian as they grow in their sanctification. Obadiah's prophecy is repeated almost verbatim by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 49, a book which we already showed to portray Jesus as our weeping prophet.

Jonah = Jesus, the Lord of salvation.

    It is in Jonah 2:9 we find a most important truth "salvation is of the Lord". Jesus came to be Lord of our salvation. Some 400 times we find Jesus referred to as Lord in the New Testament. Jonah's horrowing experience inside the belly of the great fish for three days, followed by his sudden expulsion from the fish, gives a death to life pattern Jesus would use as an analogy to His pending death and resurrection from the grave (see Matthew 12:40).

Micah = Jesus our incarnate God.

    Micah 5:2-3 gives us a most striking prophecy of the eternal Son of God being born in Bethlehem. This prophecy describes the Savior as having His origins from "the days of eternity", that is, without beginning. Then, in the same two verses, the Savior is also depicted as having a birth as a human being in Bethlehem. We have prophecies that hint at Messiah's Deity and others that describe Him as a man. However, Micah brings these two realities together in One prophecy about one individual. The Lord Jesus Christ would come, having fulfilled this prophecy as recorded in Matthew 2:6.

Nahum = Jesus the Lord in our storms.

    Nahum 1:3-7 gives us one of the most remarkable descriptions of God as having His way in the whirlwind, and the clouds being the dust of His feet. We also find too how God is shown as the one who comforts His people. Whenever we read Mark 6, we find the Lord Jesus Christ telling a storm chuned Sea of Galilee: "peace be still". Jesus calms our storm, and is Sovereign Lord over them and in them.

Habakkuk = Jesus hears our complaints.

    I call Habakkuk "The Job of the Prophets", since he seems to suffer much and cry out to God in complaint. Habakkuk 2:4 reminds us that: "the just shall live by faith", a truth Habakkuk himself would learn and praise God for by the final chapter of his prophecy. 1 John 5:14-15 promises us that Jesus hears our prayers when we ask anything according to His will.

Zephaniah = Jesus, quieter of my soul.

    In Zephaniah 3:17, we read of how God: "Rejoices over us with singing, and quiets us with His love". Zephaniah wrote His prophecy to a people who were getting ready to face God's judgment from the Babylonians. The phrase "Day of the Lord" appears repeatedly. As often in the prophets, overtures of God's mercy triumphs over the trumpets of judgment. God promises restoration. Jesus truly is the only one who can satisfy and quiet our soul.

Haggai = Jesus, the treasure of my heart.

    In Haggai 2:7 we are given the following prophecy: "I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts." Many see this reference pointing to when Jesus will bring about His Kingdom here on earth. As we await His return, he urges us to "seek first His Kingdom, and His righteousness". Do we treasure Christ above all things? Haggai's message is all about the people needing to get their priorties straight and returning to their calling of treasuring their God.

Zechariah = Jesus, the pierced Savior.

    Zechariah 12:10 predicts how the Mesiaah will come, being looked upon as "One who was pierced". This prophecy would come to have a double fulfillment in the New Testament. The Apostle John would assign its initial fulfillment to Jesus being viewed upon the cross in John 19:37 and then a second, future fulfillment pertaining to Jesus physical return in Revelation 1:7.

Malachi = Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness.

    As Malachi close the Old Testament Canon, we find the promise in Malachi 3-4 of days forthcoming that would feature John the Baptist's ministry and the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament closes with the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah as shining forth light upon a people bound in darkness. Jesus would describe Himself in John 8-9 as the "Light of the world". Because of the Lord Jesus Christ, anyone who comes by grace through faith, will come to walk in the light as He is in the light.

Closing thoughts:

    We have surveyed the 39 books of the Old Testament, observing how Jesus is found in every book. In our next several posts, we shall see how Jesus Christ is spoken of in the books of the New Testament.

The Doctrine of Scripture Series: Jesus In All 66 Books Of The Bible - How He Is Personified In Job Through Song of Solomon

Introduction:

    Over the last several posts, we have explored how we see Jesus Christ illustrated, mentioned, or appearing in the 66 books of the Bible. We noted how He is patterned in the Torah or Books of the Law. We also observed how He was anticipated in the historical books (Joshua through Esther). For those who want to review these previous posts, you may click on the following links:

1. To see Jesus patterned in the Books of the Law, click here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/01/the-doctrine-of-scripture-series-jesus.html.

2. To see Jesus anticipated in the historical books of the Old Testament, click here for how we see Him in Joshua to 2 Chronicles http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/01/the-doctrine-of-scripture-series-jesus_7.html. To note how we see Jesus in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, readers may click on that link here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/01/the-doctrine-of-scripture-series-jesus_13.html.

    In today's post we will explore what are referred to as "the poetic books" or "wisdom books". In the Hebrew Bible, these five books (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon) appear in a slightly different ordering (Psalms, Job, Proverbs), with Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs placed also in a different ordering with other canonical books of the Old Testament that the Jews call "The Writings" (or "Ketiviim").

Different names for the same five books

    It is worth understanding why Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon are referred to, as a collection, by different names. Most today refer to these five as "poetic books", due to their high content of poetry. Hebrew poetry, and poetry in the ancient world, differed from what we English readers may think of as poetry. 

    Hebrew poetry wasn't so much about rhyming words as it was in placing certain ideas in parallel lines to one another. Such "parallelism" served to either reinforce an idea, called synonymous parallelism (Psalm 23:1-2) or to contrast to ideas, referred to as antithetical parallelism (compare Ecclesiastes 3, with its contrasting ideas). Poetry in the Old Testament could also include painting word pictures (Isaiah 5), use of metaphor (implied comparison, Psalm 23), or speeches of judgment or blessing utilizing various figures of speech (the nine speeches given by "Job's friends" are put into this poetic form, mostly accusastory speeches). The purpose of Hebrew Poetry in the Old Testament was to evoke the imagination of the listener to connect with the truth of the text.
    
As for referring to Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon as "wisdom books", this designation refers to how wisdom was understood by the ancient Jews. "Wisdom" or "Chachma" (the "ch's" pronounced like "k's:) had to do with the skill of godly living or carrying out life as one applied God's truth to everyday situations. 

    In the wisdom literature, the emphasis tends to be more on the practical rather than the philosophical. With that said, there is no denying that books such as Ecclesiastes do indeed handle certain themes one would encounter in asking the "big questions of life", particular the area of life's meaning. Job tackles the problem of evil and God's Sovereignty. At times, the various Psalms will explore how sometimes the godly life is fraught with hardship (see Psalm 73). Still, even in probing such big topics often encountered in philosophical circles, the wisdom literature always drives at taking what is learned and applying it in life, to faith, and to relationships.

    Then as a final introductory note on these books, we come of course to that title of "writings" or "ketiviim" given by Jews as they recognized the inspired, canonical Old Testament in its Hebrew and Aramaic form. Jesus taught that He was mentioned in Old Testament through what He termed "The Law, the Prophets, and the Writings" (Luke 24:44). The Jews had Hebrew names for each division. The Law was the "Torah", meaning "that which guides, teaches". Then, they spoke of the prophets or "Neviim", using the Hebrew term for "prophet", ordering this section of the Hebrew Bible as "former prophets" (Joshua-Nehemiah) and "latter prophets" (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and then the minor prophets, or what they called "the twelve". 

    The third section, "the writings" or "ketiviim", began with Psalms, Job, and Proverbs. Then would follow Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, corresponding to those books of the writings that referenced King David or his son Solomon. The next part of the writings, following Ecclesiastes, are read in Jewish festivals, are called "The Megilloth", meaning "scrolls" - namely Lamentations, Esther (the other aforemention books, Ruth, Lamentations, and Esther, are often put in along with Lamentations and Esther as part of the festival readings). Then rounding out the list of "the writings" are Daniel, 1 and 2 Chronicles.

    Whenever you consider how Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs are ordered in our English Bibles, they personify the Lord Jesus in the three titles we explored. He is personified as our Wisdom from above (compare 1 Corinthians 1:30-31), who came as the way, the truth, and the life for obtaining eternal life by faith and living the Christian life by His strength. He is also personified in the poetic content of these five books to bring to our attention the reality of His personality as foreshadowed, speaking, and acting in the history of his people and the future to come. Lastly, He is the fulfillment of these five as "writings", as "the Word", since He Himself is unfolded in every book of the Bible. What follows below is a quick summary of how we find Jesus in these poetic books.

Job = Jesus our man of sorrow.

    As we arrive at this third section of the Old Testament, we find further pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Job, we find Job as a man acquainted with sorrows and heavy with grief. At one point, Job pleads in Job 9 for an intercessor between himself and God. For Job, I find Jesus our sufferer, since He too is described in Isaiah 53 as acquainted with sorrows.

Psalms = Jesus our praise.

    Psalms is composed in five installments or "books", cycling through the process of God's promise to sustain his people, restore Israel, and preserve His promises to David. Book one of Psalm is composed of Psalms 1-41, all written by David as he was getting established as King over Jerusalem. Book 2 of Psalms covers Psalm 42-72, detailing the times in David's reign when he would triumph, experience betrayal, and at times fail. Now of course, Jesus never failed at anything, however, like David, He did experience betrayal by his friends, attacks from his enemies, and ultimate triumph by achieving salvation for our sakes. In Book 3 of Psalms, Psalm 73-89, we find the David throne seen towards the end and after David's reign. Would the throne of David persist? Would God keep His promises to David and his descendants which He made in 2 Samuel 7:13-16? Jesus of course came as the final end and fulfillment of the Davidic line, coming as The Son of David to inaugurate his reign in heaven upon His ascension and completing the promises to David upon His soon return to earth.

    Books 4 and 5 of Psalms (Psalm 90-106 and 107-150) were mainly written in the time of Israel's remaining history in the Old Testament (Psalm 90 being composed by Moses as the exception). Here we see how God's people are portrayed in poetic form, with God promising to walk with them and restore them. Jesus came as the Savior and sustainer of His people. This is why Jesus is the praise of the entire Psalter. Finally, many, many Psalms are quoted in the New Testament as pointing to Jesus (Psalm 2; Psalm 16; Psalm 110, just to name a few.

Proverbs = Jesus our wisdom.

    When we arrive at Proverbs, here we find wisdom for living the godly life before the presence of the Lord. Wisdom is that skill to live for God in daily life. I find here that Jesus Christ is our wisdom, as stated plainly in 1 Corinthians 1:30.

Ecclesiastes = Jesus, the meaning of life.

    The general author of most of the Proverbs (Solomon), is the same author of Ecclesiastes. Proverbs is written by Solomon, advising his son, or what we could say from the stand point of middle age. Ecclesiastes represents a Solomon who is near the end of his life - full of regret. Whenever you read Solomon's life in 2 Kings, you find the tragedy of a man who started well for God, compromised, and nearly lost his soul. Only the preserving grace of God saved Solomon. It is here I find Jesus as the one who provides meaning, since He Himself is the meaning of life. Solomon repeatedly sought for meaning, crying out the refrain: "meaningless, meaningless". It is only that the end of the book that we find the source of meaning - God Himself.

Song of Solomon = Jesus, love of my soul

    Song of Solomon is literally love poetry between a husband and his wife. It begins with a young Solomon in love with perhaps his original wife. Psalm 45 aids greatly in interpreting this book, since there we see a young Solomon, presumably at the beginning of his reign as king in Israel and on his wedding day. Remarkably, Psalm 45 is quoted in Hebrews 1 as referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. As you read Song of Solomon, you find Solomon and his soon-to-be-wife pining for one another. We read in Ephesians 5:22-33 "husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church". Christ is the lover of His people, and calls us to love Him.

Closing thoughts:

    In the next post, we will see how we find Jesus in the prophetic books of Isaiah to Malachi.

The Doctrine Of Scripture Series: Jesus In All 66 Books Of The Bible - Faithful, The Rebuilder, The Preserver (Ezra-Esther)

Introduction:

    As we continue in our journey through seeing Jesus in the 66 books of the Bible, let us first review where we have journeyed. In the Books of the Law, we see Jesus Christ patterned. As we saw in Genesis through Deuteronomy, Jesus is found in the following patterns.

1. In Genesis, He is my Creator and Sustainer.

2. In Exodus, Jesus is my Redeemer, as seen 

    in the patterns of the Exodus and 

    Tabernacle.

3. In Leviticus, Jesus is my High Priest, as 

   patterned in the Levitical preisthood.

4. In Numbers, Jesus is that Great Shepherd 

   that leads His people through the dry 

   times.

5. In Deuteronomy, Jesus is the source of
    life, physically and spiritually.

You can read the post associated with Jesus in the Books of the Law here: http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/01/the-doctrine-of-scripture-series-jesus.html.

    We then witnessed how Jesus Christ was anticipated in the historical books, looking last post at Joshua through 2 Chronicles.

1. In Joshua, Jesus is the Captain of my 

   salvation.

2. In Judges, He is the deliverer of my soul.

3. In Ruth, Jesus is anticipated as that 

   kinsmen-redeemer who took on my debts 

   and liabilities so I could be espoused to     

   Him, being credited with His riches and 

   benefits.

4. In 1 and 2 Samuel, we saw Jesus
anticipated as the King of Kings. We also
observed by the contrasts of King Saul in
1 Samuel and King David in 2 Samuel the
foreshadowing of the original Adam and
second Adam. Saul failed like first Adam.
David would be a man after God's own
heart, forecasting Jesus (the "seed of
David", Romans 1:1-3) who would come to
be the "Second Adam" (Romans 5:12-21).

5. In 1 and 2 Kings, we saw Jesus as our 

   Sovereign, exercising Providence in the    

    course of the kinglines of the Northern 

    and Southern Kingdoms of Israel and 

    Judah respectively.

6. In 1 &2 Chronicles, we identified the same 

    theme of "Sovereign Lord" we saw in the 

    books of Kings. The books of Chronicles 

    cover from the beginning of creation to 

    the particular history of the Southern 

    Kingdom of Judah. This anticipated the 

    bloodline that would bring about the Lord 

   Jesus' humanity, stretching from Adam to 

    Noah to Abraham to David to Jesus (see 

    Matthew 1:1-17 and Luke 3).

Readers may review the post associated with our observations about Jesus in Joshua through 2 Chronicles here: http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/01/the-doctrine-of-scripture-series-jesus_7.html

    In today's post, we will observe Jesus in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

Ezra = Jesus is faithful

    Ezra depicts for us the first two returns of the Jewish people of Judah from their seventy year sojourn in Babylon. In reality, it is likely Ezra himself compiled 1 & 2 Chronicles, with Ezra and Nehemiah being the sequels. Ezra and Nehemiah operate in relationship to 1 & 2 Chronicles like Luke's Gospel in the New Testament, providing "volume one" and the follow up sequel of the book of Acts supplying "volume 2". The book of Ezra is divisible into two halves, with each providing an anticipation of Jesus Christ as our Faithful One.

    Ezra 1-6 captures how the first group of Jews returned from their seventy year exile in Babylon under the leadership of Zerubabbel. Zerubbabel was a direct descendant of the Davidic bloodline, being a legal heir to the throne of Jerusalem. The prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah would feature God restablishing the continuance of David's throne through Zerubbabel (see especially Haggai 2:23). 

    Zerubbabel was faithful in the discharge of his duties. Those duties included governing the people as they heeded the prophetic calls from Haggai and Zechariah to begin rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. It proved difficult. Zerubbabel needed encouragement, but he saw them through the first twenty years after their return to a ruined city. Jesus Christ presides over His church. He is called "Faithful and True"in Revelation 19:11.

    Ezra 7-10 records the second group of Jewish returnees from Babylon, some 57 years later, under the leadership of the faithful scribe and priest called "Ezra". Ezra 7:10 records the following description about Ezra:

"For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel."

    Ezra would come to be the first great expositor of God's Word. His diligence to study the Scriptures and to expound them give us a pattern for Biblical preaching. Jewish history would record how Ezra established the so-called "great Synagogue", the precursor to the Jewish Synagogues that would dot the Mediterranean world in the centuries between the Old and New Testaments. 

    We know the Lord Jesus Christ came to preach the Scriptures and to fulfill them. The faithfulness of Jesus going to the cross and rising from the dead would result in the sending of the Holy Spirit and the formation of the church. No doubt, Ezra's activities were used by God to point the way to Jesus Christ in later centuries.

Nehemiah = Jesus is the rebuilder of lives.

    Nehemiah gives us the details of the third and final return of the Jews back to Jerusalem. Between the end of the Book of Ezra to Nehemiah's actions would span a twelve-year gap. It was likely that Nehemiah and Ezra's efforts overlapped. 

    Under the first return led by Zerubbabel in 536 b.c., the people came to rebuild the temple. During the second return under Ezra in 458 b.c., the people needed to rebuild their spiritual lives and finish the temple. In the book of Nehemiah (444-432 b.c.), we find the people rebuilding the wall and needing to reinforce the spiritual ground lost in the course of time.

    Walls provided protection and stability for ancient cities. As you read the book of Nehemiah, you find Nehemiah's faith, prayer-life, and leadership used by God to finish the rebuilding of the city walls in less than two months. The Book of Nehemiah provides a wonderful picture of how Jesus Christ rebuilds what the enemy had torn asunder. Jesus Christ is the Author and Finished of faith. It is He who teaches us that His project of sanctification is meant to rebuild what the enemy tore apart, thus making us into a people of God. As Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us: "the joy of the Lord is my strength".

Esther = Jesus our Preserver

    Esther was used by God to save her people from destruction. Although Esther does not directly contain the name of God or Yahweh, it nonetheless portrays His providential actions in undoing the wicked schemes of the wicked Haman. Hebrew scholarship has identified a potential acrostic in the Hebrew text of Esther that hints at the name of the Lord. Although He is hidden in Esther, God is nonetheless guiding the scenes by His Providence. 

    The setting of Esther occurs in the days following the Babylonian empire. The Persians are in power as the world's leading empire. God had his hand on His people. We read in Esther 7:3 the following actions of Esther on behalf of her people:

"Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request."

    Queen Esther risked her life. Her entry into the King's court without announcement was grounds for execution, since Persian law forbade anyone from entering before the king without invitation. Nevertheless, Esther came before King Ahasuerus. He extended his scepter toward her for her to touch, indicating He found her favorable in His sight. She pleaded for her people. Haman was condemned. The Jewish people were saved.

    Truly the Lord Jesus Christ undergirds the believer in seasons where it seems He is absent. He preserves the believer in their faith, interceding in the heavenly realms (Hebrews 7:24-25). Jesus is the Mediator and Intercessor for His people. He is ever acceptable before the Father. As man, the Lord Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and earned by His life, death, and resurrection the salvation which the sinner must receive by grace through faith. As eternal God, Jesus the Son has ever been the Beloved One, ever pleasing in the Father's sight, with Whom He, the Son, and the Holy Spirit share in that blessed union as the One Triune God. As eternal God and man, Jesus is the Word made flesh, peerless and alone qualified to be our Advocate (John 1:14; 1 John 2:1-2). 

    

    Just as Esther pled for her people before the King, Christ ever intercedes for His people before the Father. He is the One who preserves His people.

Closing thought:

    In our next post, we will explore how Jesus Christ is personified in the poetical books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

The Doctrine of Scripture Series: Jesus In The 66 Books of the Bible - Joshua through 2 Chronicles

Introduction:

    In our last post here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/01/the-doctrine-of-scripture-series-jesus.html, we began to consider how we find Jesus in the sixty-six books of the Bible. We looked at the first five books, assigning them the overall purpose of showing us the pattern of Christ. In our explorations of Genesis through Deuteronomy, we noted the following:

1. In Genesis, we see Jesus as the Creator       

   and Sustainer.

2. In Exodus, He is the Redeemer.

3. In Leviticus, He is foreshadowed as our 

    High Priest.

4. In Numbers, we Find Him as our Guiding 

    Shepherd.

5. In Deuteronomy, we discover Jesus as the 

    life giver.

    It is truly exciting when exploring Christology (the study of Jesus Christ in the Bible, including His Person, natures, work and offices). It is the preincarnate Christ whom Adam and Eve would come to know as that voice and Christophany in the Garden. It was He who would appear to Abram in Ur of the Chaldees (see Acts 7:3). He was that mysterious man that wrestled Jacob in Genesis 32 ( compare Hosea 12:4). 

    The patterns revealed by the Books of the Law would persist. Genesis 22 would give us a picture of the Son and the Father enacting the Son going to the cross, as seen with Abraham's offering of Isaac. Joseph in Genesis 37-50 gives us the fullest pattern of Christ in the life of Joseph. We see in Exodus the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night. The God who appeared on the mountain to Moses (perhaps a Theophany of the Father) is by nature the Redeeming God that guided the people of God day and night in a Christophany pattern. God's revelation of the Tabernacle in Exodus, which we didn't even mention, has dozens of foreshadowings of Christ's person and work. 

    Then in Leviticus we see not only the priestly ministries of Aaron and his sons, but the sacrifices presenting a pattern of Jesus as our substitutionary atonement. Numbers, which we noted was titled in the Hebrew "in the desert", gives us a pattern of Christ as that Shepherd. One pattern we note in Numbers is the number forty. It was forty years of time in which the Jews wandered in that dry land. The number "forty" would signify a time of testing or a period for growth and development. Moses himself had three such forty year periods in his life. Jesus of course would be tempted of the Devil in the wilderness for forty days. Then we saw Deuteronomy, and how in that book, Jesus is that life giver, both physically and spiritually.

    In today's post we want to now look at what are called the "historical books". These books stretch from the conquest of Canaan in 1400 b.c. to the time of Queen Esther in 380 b.c. History truly is "His-story", meaning that God's providence guides the wills of men, the course of nations, the physical creation, and flow of time in bringing forth His glorious purposes. It is for this reason I assigned the general theme of the historical books as anticipating the Lord Jesus Christ. Due to the size of this section of the Old Testament, today's post will look at how we see Jesus from Joshua to 2 Chronicles.

The Historical Books (Joshua-Esther) = Christ is Anticipated.

Joshua = Jesus, the Captain of Salvation.

    We find that the author of this sixth book of the Bible, Joshua, has the same meaning in his name as Jesus. Joshua and Jesus both mean "Jehovah" or "Yahweh is salvation". Joshua would lead God's people through a 13 year conquest of the Canaanite nations to lay claim on the promised land pledged by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Book of Joshua historically speaks of the settling of God's people into their land. Exodus portrays the Christian's salvation, with Leviticus and Numbers giving ussome illustrations of what can be the fits and starts that come with the early days of Christian growth.

    When we come to Hebrews 3-4, we dicsover that Joshua's spiritual emphasis portrays the Christian taking responsibility and living out the Christian life and fighting the good fight of faith. The Christian life is not only about my position before God in saving faith, but also about me taking possession of the "land" of my Christian walk in continuing faith. 

    Certainly, Joshua shows how God would initially fulfill the land grant He pledged to Abraham, with its full realization yet to be accomplished in Christ's future earthly reign. Jesus Christ is that Captain of the Lord of hosts met by Joshua in Joshua 5. He leads God's people in their pilgrimage through this world to their heavenly home (see 1 Peter 2:9-12).

Judges = Jesus is our Deliverer.

    If the book of Joshua pictures the Christian life lived out before God in obedience and dependance, then Judges gives the mirror opposite of what occurs when the Christian backslides. We encounter a specially called people designated "judges", tasked by God to deliver the Jewish people from nations that subjugated them. Throughout Judges, we find the refrain: "the people did what was pleasing in their eyes". Despite the unfaithfulness of the nation of Israel, God kept His Word. The deliverance wrought by God through the imperfect judges points ahead to the Perfect Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ruth = Jesus is our Kinsmen Redeemer

    Ruth would become the maternal ancestor of King David, who in turn would figure prominently in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ (see Matthew 1:1-17). Ruth's story centers around God's providential leading of her (a Moabitess) to become the wife of Boaz (a prominent Jewish man and ancestor of King David). The pivot point of the plot of Ruth would involve a certain law that required a near relative or "kinsman" to marry a woman whose husband had died to carry on the family bloodline. 

    The nearest relative of Ruth's first husband refused to perform his role, thus leaving Boaz as the next kinsmen. So much could be said, but suffice it to say, Ruth pictures the bride that none wanted, an outsider. Boaz portrays to us a kinsmen willing to redeem this unwanted bride. Boaz would take on Ruth's debts, the scorn she would undoubtedly had retained as a Moabitess, and the reputation of having been an outsider. Boaz redeemed Ruth for His own, much as Christ would redeem His church for His own - the Kinsmen Redeemer.

1 & 2 Samuel = Jesus our King

    As we move onward through the historical books, we come to meet two important kings: Saul in 1 Samuel and David in 2 Samuel. David is God's choice man, a man afater God's own heart. Saul and David are contrasts of one another, setting up a wonderful example of how the historical books anticipated Christ. Saul in many respects was like the first Adam, failing in his duties before God who had called him. 

    What was needed as a better King, a "second Adam-like figure". God told Samuel the prophet that in rejecting Saul, he had chosen David (see 1 Samuel 15-16). The covenant God would make later with David in 2 Samuel 7:13-16 would provide a key covenant promising the eternal kingship and throne for the Lord Jesus Christ (see also Psalm 110).

1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles = Jesus our Sovereign Lord.

    Although these four books may seem upon first glance to cover the same ground, they present the history of God's people in different respects. 1 & 2 Kings gives the sequel of what occured following the death of David. Solomon his son would become the final king of the United Kingdom. Eventually, Israel would divide into two kingdoms (Israel to the North, Judah to the South). By the time it was all said and done, each kingdom would experience 20 kings, mostly evil, and with only the Southern Kingdom of Judah having a handful of Godly Kings. By 722 b.c. the Northern Kingdom would be sacked by the Assyrians. Later, in 586 b.c., the forces of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon would destroy Jersualem in Judah and carry of the people to exile.

    It is in 1 & 2 Chronicles that we find the entire history of mankind rehearsed, with the narrative quickly getting us to King David and what would follow in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. I define these four books as having to do with the Sovereignty of Christ, since the winding paths of God's Providence guided the bloodline of the kings of Judah, as well as the destinies of the Jews who went into exile, to become the cradle that would bring about the humanity of our Lord through the virgin Mary. In the Hebrew Bible, 1 and 2 Chronicles are the final books. They help us to see how all of history flows in one ultimate direction towards what would be the incarnation and arrival of the Son of God into our world.

More next time....

The Doctrine of Scripture Series: Jesus In The 66 Books of the Bible - The First Five Books Of The Law

Introduction:

    Today we will begin to close out our series on the doctrine of Scripture. It is appropriate to conclude this series on the written Word of God by drawing attention to the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why so? Jesus Himself as the post-resurrected Christ, explains His relationship to the Scriptures in Luke 24:37-45 - 

"But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; 43 and He took it and ate it before them.44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures."

    Over the last several months, we have explored the major truths associated with the doctrine of Scripture. We have touched upon the Bible's sufficiency, clarity, authority, necessity, inerrancy, and infallibility. We considered the tests or marks of canonicity, as well as grasping what is meant by "canon", its boundaries, and why only the inspired books, upon recognition and use, came to be known as the "Old Testament canon" and "New Testament canon". In today's post, we will begin to observe how we see Jesus in every book of the Bible. To aid our journey, I'll provide headings for each major section of Bible. We shall begin by noting how Jesus is found in the Books of the Law, also known as "The Pentateuch". 

Old Testament

    Perhaps a more appopriate title for that collection of 39 books we call "Old Testament" would be that of "Old Covenant". A testament refers to a document that becomes active upon the death of the one who drafted it. In the Old Covenant (also known as the Hebrew Bible, due to it having been composed originally in Hebrew, with portions of Daniel and Ezra written in Aramaic), we find the living God, the Creator, calling forth a people to be His own. 

    A covenant is made by one who is alive, and typically involves at least one other party, with both parties pledging oaths to one another. As our Bibles were translated, the Latin translation of the Vulgate would use the word "testamentum" to translate the Hebrew and Greek terms used for "covenant". I only bring out this point to remind all of us that the God of the Bible is living and the source of life itself - whether physical or spiritual. 

    In God's case, He made what are called "unconditional covenants" with men like Noah, Abraham, and David, pledging that He would be responsible for bringing about the fulfillment of those covenants. He pledged Himself to not give up on Israel, even though He knew she would fail Him many times. 

    It was the famous fifth century Christian Bishop of North Africa, Augustine, who famously said: "The New Testament in the Old is concealed, and the Old Testament in the New is revealed". Central to the revelation of Old or New Covenant Scriptures is the Person of Jesus Christ. What follows below is a sketch of how one finds Jesus in the books of the Bible.  

1. The Books of the Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy) = Christ is the Pattern.

Genesis = Jesus is Creator and Sustainer
    

    Genesis begins our exploration of seeing Jesus in the books of the Bible. We find Him as the Creator and sustainer in Genesis 1-11, providing structure for the created order and the covenant of grace in salvation to our fallen parents and race. One dominate theme we find in Scripture is that of "covenant". We find the pre-incarnate Christ calling out to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. No doubt it was He whom Noah preached about (albeit as God's promise of deliverance, not yet knowing the fulness of the revelation of Christ we find in the New Testament, see 1 Peter 3:18-20). God through Christ would verbalize his Covenant to Noah to never again destroy the world with a flood. No doubt Jesus would compare the last days prior to His return in Matthew 24 to the days of Noah.

    Genesis 12-50 continues this theme of Christ as creator and preserver by how He called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to go to the promised land, beginning in Genesis 12. Stephen preached in Acts 7:2 that "the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham". One thing we learn about throughout the Old Testament is that God would often appear in what are called "theophanies", that is, manifestations of the invisible God to His people. Old Testament theology tells us that in most instances, such "theophanies" were "Christophanies", meaning that the Pre-incarnate Christ made Himself visible in and through the media of created things, whether fire (Exodus 3), a rock (1 Corinthians 10:1-6), a pillar of cloud that led the people (Numbers 9), or the Shekinah glory that suffused the Temple (1 Kings 8). God, presumably in the Person of the pre-incarnate Christ, would speak to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through the remainder of Genesis.

Exodus = Jesus is the Redeemer.

    

    As we arrive at Exodus, we are 400 years removed from the days of Joseph, the last patriarch in Genesis. Exodus carries the theme of "redemption", since it records the greatest act of deliverance in the Old Testament - the crossing of the Red Sea by the Jewish people. Exodus 1-15 would detail the call of God to Moses and the Exodus of the people from Egypt. 

    It is in Exodus 12 that the rite of Passover is introduced, with the Passover Lamb playing the main part. The Jews had to take a first born lamb, kill it, and spread its blood upon the doorposts and gates of their homes. The sight of blood by the Death Angel, who would passover Egypt in the final plague, would exempt Jewish households from the death of the firstborn. Preachers of old would often use this to urge their listeners to believe on Christ and repent of their sins, stating how important it was to "have the blood of Christ applied over the doorposts of the heart". 

    The imagery of "the Lamb of God" is picked up in Isaiah 53 and is described of Jesus in John 3:29. Paul writes of Jesus as "The Passover" in 1 Corinthians 5:7, further reinforcing Him as the Redeemer. 

    Exodus 16-40 then describes the first year of the Jews journeys into the Desert following their Exodus. When we speak of "redemption"or "salvation"in the Bible, we talk of not only what Jesus came to "save us from" (God's wrath, our sin), but also what He came to "save us to" (life more abundantly, life as an adopted son or daughter of God, our heavenly destiny). Jesus is the Redeemer of Exodus. 

Leviticus = Jesus is our High Priest.

    

    The Book of Leviticus records the first 30 days of the lives of God's people following their Exodus. The institution of the Levitical priesthood was meant to provide representation of the people before the Holy God of Israel. The construction and consecration of the mobile worship center called the tabernacle offers many pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ (compare Hebrews 8-10). 

    The writer of Hebrews compares and then demonstrates how Jesus Christ's role as the believer's high preist excedes that of the Levitical priestly roles. We could comment more on the meanings of the sacrifices, the details of the tabernacle, and further comments on the priesthood, but we must move onward.

Numbers = Jesus is our Guiding Shepherd.

    

    In the Hebrew Bible, many of the books of the Old Testament are named by whatever the first word is in the text. Our Book called "Numbers" got its name from the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the "Septuagint". When Jerome did his translation of the Latin Vulgate, he simply took the Septuagint's title and transposed it into the Latin Bible. 

    Although the book does speak of the numbering of the tribes of Israel, that is not its main point. The book we know as "Numbers" has as its Hebrew name what is translated "in the desert". I prefer this original name for the book because it describes life lived before the Lord in this dry and thirsty world. We find God people wandering in the wilderness for forty years. Despite their unfaithfulness, God as the Visible Yahweh, the pre-incarnate Christ, leads them as a pillar of cloud, as a rock, and as a pillar of fire. 

    In Numbers 21:6-9, we find the people in such a state of unbelief that God disciplines them with biting serpents. He then tells Moses to fabricate a bronze serpent that is to be raised upon a pole. Those that look upon the "brazen serpent" will be healed and saved from certain death. The Apostle John in John 3:14-15 used that episode to highlight how Jesus Christ came to be the Savior. Christ would be placed upon the cross. Those who look to Him by faith will be saved. No doubt we see Jesus Christ in Numbers (or as we learned today, "in the desert") as the Guiding Shepherd who gives life to His sheep (see John 10). He guides His church in this dry old world toward their Heavenly promised land. 

Deuteronomy = Jesus the Life Giver.

    

    Whenever we survey the three final sermons preached by Moses at the end of his forty year trek with the Jews, we find him making the appeal to "choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:15-19). Deuteronomy is called such because of the repetition of the Mosaic Law (The term "deuteronomy" means "second law"). 

    Moses rehearses the Ten Commandments and the law given to him in Exodus. However, we discover that the Law of God was never intended to impart salvation, since the generation prior to the generation in Deuteronomy had shown themselves lawbreakers (as we all are born into this world). What was needed then, and now, is a new heart, a "circumcised heart", a new birth (see Deuteronomy 10; John 3:1-6). The Law of God points beyond itself to the Christ of God. 

Closing thoughts:

    Next time we will look at how Jesus is revealed in the historical books of the Old Testament - Joshua through Esther. 

How To Find Jesus In The Book Of Psalms

 

Luke 24:44 "Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Introduction:

    In today's post I want to introduce readers to the Book of Psalms - with particular focus upon how Jesus Himself is referenced among them. The Book of Psalms is essentially the ancient hymnbook of Israel. In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Psalms is the first book in the third division of the Hebrew Bible called "Ketiviim", or what is known as "The Writings". Whenever Jesus appeared to His disciples in His post-mortem encounter with them on the road to Emmaus, He unpacked how the Hebrew Scriptures spoke concerning Himself. As the reader can note in the opening quotation from Luke 24:44, the three-fold division of the Hebrew Old Testament is enumerated - with "Psalms" representing what I just said about the "Ketiviim" or "Writings".  

    The Book of Psalms itself is a series of five collections of 150 songs in total. Each collection or "Book" is comprised of the following Psalms, arranged in a combination of chronological order and topical arrangement:

Book I = Psalms 1-41

Book II = Psalms 42-73

Book III = Psalms 74 - 89

Book IV = Psalms 90 - 106

Book V = Psalms 107 - 150

    Each "Book" begins with a headline Psalm and ends with a praise song to God (otherwise known as a doxology). The entire Book of Psalms itself (otherwise known as "The Psalter") begins with Psalms 1-2 functioning as "Pillar Psalms" for the whole collection. Whenever the reader arrives at Psalms 145-150, these appear to draw the Psalter to its conclusion and God-focused end. The Bible Knowledge Commentary, page 779, states the following in its introduction to the Book of Psalms:

"Of all the books in the Old Testament the Book of Psalms most vividly represents the faith of individuals in the Lord. The Psalms are the inspired responses of human hearts to God's revelation of Himself in law, history, and prophecy. Saints of all ages have appropriated this collection of prayers and praises in their public worship and private meditations."

    The Book of Psalms occupies the section of "Wisdom literature" in our English translations. Truly, it is appropriate to deem the Psalms as "wisdom literature". Wisdom refers to the God-given skill to relate to God and to others through a lifestyle that can lead in a Godward direction. The greatness of the Psalms lies in how widely varied they are in application across human experience. For instance, different types of Psalms are identified by scholars to express their contents and method of poetically connecting with the Lord or the human predicament:

1. Penitential or prayer Psalms, like Psalm 63.

2. Torah Psalms, which celebrate God's Word, such as Psalm 19 or 119.

3. Enthronement Psalms, which highlight the enthronement of the king in Jerusalem, such as Psalm 2. 

4. Imprecatory Psalms, which feature the author praying down curses against his enemies, as in Psalm 69.

5. Mourning Psalms, which detail a time of grief in the author's life, as in Psalm 42 or Psalm 43.

6. Confessional Psalms, in which the author is confessing their sins to God, as in Psalm 51.

7. Messianic Psalms, which, though closely related to enthronement Psalms, seem to focus attention on the (then) future Messiah as related to the throne of David in Jerusalem, as in Psalm 110.

8. Rejoicing Psalms, which focus attention on the worship of God, as in Psalm 150.

    There are several other categories, but the above gives a general sampling of how far-ranging the Psalms are. What I find very helpful is using the Psalms in times of prayer. Who, for instance, cannot miss seeing Christ in Psalm 23, or hearing His voice on the cross in Psalm 22? Psalm 110, quoted or alluded to over fifteen times in the New Testament, is a prime example of how the Psalms direct our focus upon the Triune God - and particularly the second Person of the Trinity - the Son of God Himself.

How the Psalms show us Jesus

    Whenever we read those particular Psalms that are referred to as "Messianic Psalms", we need to keep in mind a few principles that aid us in discerning the Person and work of Jesus. 

    First, we must pay attention to the immediate context of the Psalm. Most of the Psalms will contain "headings" which inform readers about the author and perhaps the situation in which the Psalm was written. Sometimes though, some Messianic Psalms may not have a heading - such as Psalm 2. Oftentimes, we know we are dealing with a Messianic Psalm whenever it contains the term "Messiah" or "Anointed One", which refers to King David or some other King on Jerusalem's throne in the immediate context. Often, the Messianic Psalms can "switch worlds" to an ultimate Messianic figure yet-future to the Psalm; a "Heavenly Figure" or some combination of the two. If we take Psalm 2, for instance, its context suggests the coronation and enthronement of David as king over all of Israel, yet, the Psalm then "switches worlds", speaking of some Heavenly figure that is referred to as "You are My Son, Today I have Begotten You" (Psalm 2:7).

    The second trait of a Messianic Psalm which tells us that we will likely link to Jesus is when that Psalm is quoted in the New Testament. If we consider Psalm 2 once again, Psalm 2:7 is quoted by the Apostle Paul in his sermon in Acts 13:33 and twice by the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 1:5 and 5:5. Now if we consider that Psalm 2 originally first described the enthronement and establishment of King David, coupled with it "switching worlds" to focus attention on a conversation between Yahweh and another whom He call "My Son", we can see then why Paul and the writer of Hebrews would connect Psalm 2 to the resurrection and eventual coronation of the ascended Jesus in Heaven. Also too, the identity of the "Heavenly Figure" in Psalm 2 is truly Divine, that is, the Person of the Son in Psalm 2 is truly God in the same sense as Yahweh who is addressing Him. Such observations "set-the-table" for the full revelation of the equality of the Father and Son in the New Testament and the full revelation of the Trinity itself.

    Thirdly, and lastly, the way we can see how a Messianic Psalm is pointing us to Jesus is in how it may very well relate to other Messianic Psalms. For example, if we take the two above criteria for identifying Jesus in the Messianic Psalms and consider this current criteria, we can observe how Hebrews 1 strings together several of these Psalms. For instance: Hebrews 1:5 quotes Psalm 2:7; Hebrews 1:9 cites Psalm 45:7; and then Hebrews 1:10-12 replicates Psalm 102:25-27. Whenever we see such a "string of pearls" with respect to the citation of one Messianic Psalm after another in affirming the person and work of Jesus in the New Testament, we know we are well within our rights to look for Jesus in that Psalm. 

    As I close out this post today, I want to simply list the Messianic Psalms in which we can see the Person and work of Jesus. Below the reader will note how each Messianic Psalm corresponds to at least six particular activities or fulfilled events in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Christ's eternal pre-existence: Psalm 102:26-28

2. Incarnation: Psalm 8:4-7; 40:5-7

3. Crucifixion: Psalm 22:1,19; 69:2,10; 109:25

4. Burial: Psalm 16:8-11

5. Ascension/Enthronement: Psalm 2:7; 16:10; 45:7; 102:26-28; 110:1,4

6. Second coming/reign on earth: Psalm 89:3-4,27-29,36-37; 110:1,4; 132:10-11,17

 

Part Two: The Doctrine Of Divine Simplicity - Exploring Christ's Deity And Pre-existence In The Old Testament

Hebrews 1:1-2 "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world."

Introduction:

In our last post in this series, we considered the doctrines of Divine Simplicity, the Trinity and Christology. For those readers wanting to review "part one", simply click on the following link: http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2018/08/part-one-doctrines-of-divine-simplicity.html.  

The purpose for presenting those three doctrines was to lay the groundwork for exploring the compatibility between the doctrine of Divine Simplicity (DDS) and Biblical Christology. The Person, natures (Divine and human) and work of Jesus Christ comprise the main points of what is called "Christology" (i.e. "the study of Christ"). The focus of this particular set of posts is whether or not the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity (i.e. God is not composed of parts, is immaterial and is identical in His existence and essence, with no potentiality in being) is a useful doctrine in shedding light on Christology. We want to start with considering Christ's deity as revealed in the Old Testament. Along the way, we will consider the doctrine of Divine simplicity and how the Bible talks about God in His interactions with people by way of various Old Testament appearances of what is arguably non-other than the Divine Person of the Son. 

How The Old Testament Reveals The Second Person of the Godhead and Why Divine Simplicity Is Not Affected 
   


What is meant when we say that Jesus Christ is, "very God and very man" or "Jesus is Lord"? 2 Peter 3:18 commands us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. No one can ever exhaust the Person of Jesus Christ. He is all-together lovely. 

The equality of the Son with the Father is not just a New Testament truth (even though it is most fully realized in the New Testament). Certain Old Testament patterns of revelation suggest some sort of plurality of Personhood as identifying the One God of Israel. The term "Godhead" speaks to this specific feature of the God of the Bible in which a plurality of persons (we've used the terms "subsistences" or "hypostases" in previous posts to refer to how the Divine Persons bear the properties of Deity or are instances of the Divine nature as revealed in scripture). Whether we speak of the Father, Son or Holy Spirit, all three share in and each bear the appropriate properties that are assigned to Deity (i.e. omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, simplicity and all the rest). 

This broadly hinted at "plurality of Personhood", as characterizing the One God called "Yahweh" or "Elohim" in the Old Testament, is traced out in quick fashion below. The Old Testament's revelation of God is relevant to our discussion of the deity of the Son hinted at in the Old Testament and expressed in the New Testament.

For starters, there are times where the idea of at least "two divine Persons" are hinted at and even asserted in various Old Testament passages (Psalm 2; Psalm 110; Proverbs 30:4; John 1:1; John 17:3-5; Colossians 1:13-16). The Person of the Son appears throughout the Old Testament record and is even explicitly named as a distinct Personage in passages such as Psalm 2; Psalm 110 and Proverbs 30:4. Under various revelations of Himself to people in what theologians refer to as "Theophanies" or "Christophanies", this second Divine Person is shown as a distinct but nonetheless co-equal identity within the Divine revelation of the God of the Old Testament. Examples of such "Christophanies" include:

1. In many places throughout the Old Testament, we see appearances of the Angel of the Lord with Divine attributes equal to Yahweh (Genesis 16; 22; Exodus 3:2; Numbers 20:16; Judges 2:1-4; 13:20). 

2. In other places, we will see "two Yahwehs", one invisible in Heaven and the other appearing in temporary human form to various people (Genesis 18; 19:23; Judges 2). The "visible Yahweh" is portrayed as having the same Divine authority and status as the "invisible Yahweh". Theologian Michael Heiser refers to this Old Testament phenomena as "the two powers of heaven" doctrine, functioning as a precursor to the New Testament's teaching on the unity and equality of the Father and the Son (John 17:1-5; 1 Corinthians 8:6).

3. We also see the Person of the Son appear in disguise as a rock from whence water flows (Numbers 11:4,34; Psalm 106:14; 1 Corinthians 10:6); the burning bush which spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:14); a man that wrestled with Jacob (Genesis 32; Hosea 12:4); the Captain of the Lord of hosts that spoke to Joshua (Joshua 5) and other places.  

The Relevance Of Divine Simplicity to The Various Appearance of God the Son in the Old Testament



At this point, it is important to ask about what relationship the doctrine of Divine simplicity has to what we see in the Biblical text. The DDS asserts that the Divine nature is "without parts" and thus, immaterial in nature. Whenever the Bible asserts that "God is" something or uses a noun to affirm "what God is" or "how God is" in His essence and existence, we have the smoking gun of the doctrine of Divine simplicity. For example, Psalm 99:5 ends with the short phrase: "Holy is He". Such expressions are what theologians refer to as "predicating of attributes to God", meaning that God is the truest and fullest expression of that attribute. In other words, Yahweh does not merely have an attribute called "holy", rather, He is Holy and Holy is He. God is, by His essence and existence, holiness par excellence. To expounds further on this attribute of holiness, Isaiah 6:3 records the Seraphim crying out the three-fold repetition of "Holy, Holy, Holy". God is , in His existence and essence, this very attribute, and conversely, this very attribute is God. The other attributes of God we find in scripture (i.e. omniscience, mercy, love, goodness., etc.) are described in the same fashion as what we saw with God'a holiness. The doctrine of Divine simplicity teaches us that God is all His attributes, with no attribute being more center stage than another. What this means then is: God as Holy is truly Holy with respect to other attributes with which we understand Him in similar terms (i.e. God is holy loving and lovingly holy; God is holy merciful and lovingly merciful; God is holy omniscient and omnisciently-holy and so forth). 

What makes this intriguing, in terms of the Person of the Son, is that Jesus Himself asserts in John 12:41 that what Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6:3 was no less than He Himself! By affirming the deity of the Son, the terminology used by the Old Testament in describing such Old Testament appearances suggest the applicability of Divine Simplicity as expressing what we mean when we say "Jesus is truly God". 

How the Bible Talks About God and Its Relevance to Understanding Christ's Deity and Divine Simplicity


So what about all the various Old Testament appearances in terms of an "embodied Yahweh" and other sorts of appearances that clearly involve Yahweh manifesting Himself in created or creaturely ways? Do these appearances in any way conflict the doctrine of Divine Simplicity? More specifically, does the Son's appearances in various forms and ways in the Old Testament do away with the notion of Him bearing a Divinely Simple nature?

Theologians have understood the Bible's way of speaking of God occurs on a two-level way of speaking. Passages that speak of God as "not changing" or "changing His mind" (Numbers 23:19; Malachi 3:6) and which describe the Son (Hebrews 1:8-13; Hebrews 13:6) use language that speaks of God as He is in His existence and essence (i.e. "being language" or "ontological language"). Such "ontological language" is God telling us what He is like and how He is like as the Divinely Simple Being that is identified as Father, Son and Spirit. 

A second type of description used by the Bible for God utilizes analogies and metaphorical descriptions, such as God having "eyes" (2 Chronicles 16:9); "wings" (Malachi 4) ; some sort of embodiment (Daniel 10:6) and even "changing His mind" (Genesis 6:1-6). This second way of talking about God is the way in which God communicates Himself for our understanding. God's use of this second manner of revealing Himself is called "analogical language".  An "analogical description" refers to how God reveals an attribute of Himself in a comparative way to something in the created order. Thus for instance, whenever we see God described as "having eyes", this expression points us back to the "being language" or "ontological language" of God as everywhere present or omnipresence. 

To handle all the Biblical data correctly, it is important to interpret the analogical language scripture uses to describe God according to the ontological or "being" texts that reveal God as He really is. If the student of scripture fails to consider these observations, heresies such as Mormonism, which teach that God is some sort of Divine humanoid being with physical parts, will result. 

I know that today's post has tossed a lot of new terms at some readers that can quickly get us all deep into the weeds. So, to put what I just wrote in another way, a wonderful, proven illustration may help. Older Theologians use the illustration of a parent lisping to an infant in so-called "baby-talk". Why do parents do this? So that the baby is not hindered in interacting with the parent. 

As to what occurs in the relationship between the Son and the created order, the experience of change is with respect to how people experienced Him in the Old Testament. The Person of the Son, like the parent in the above illustration, "stoops down" to the level of His people by various ways, whether they be covenants, through objects or in taking on a temporary embodied form (see Hebrews 1:1-2). As author Dr. Sinclair Ferguson once remarked in a sermon, 

"Christ's Old Testament appearances functioned as a dress rehearsal for His permanent taking on of a human nature in the incarnation."

As noted already, God, by the Person of the Son, appears as a burning bush, somehow as a rock issuing forth water or as the visible Yahweh for our sake. Even though we know "that" the water from the rock and the burning bush are "Christophanies" or "Theophanies" or appearances of Christ; we still don't comprehend "how" Christ is genuinely revealed to His people in those instances. All we can say is that the pre-incarnate Christ "bent down" in such appearances to communicate to His people while all the while not ceasing to remain Divinely simple as a Divine member of the Godhead.

The Person of the Son, as we have discussed above, is free to interact with our world. Any changes and interaction with such a Divine Person like the Son (also called "the Word" in John 1:1-3,14) are how we experience Him on our side of things. It is not God's nature that undergoes such changes. Instead, we are the ones that experience change in such interactions. In the next post, we will discover how these features of the Old Testament's portrayal of God sets the stage for how we understand the Son's decisive revelation of God in His incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth. 

More next time....