Cool Parallels between OT Sacrifice and Jesus

In the Old Testament there are a lot of rules about sacrificing, the different types of sacrificing and the rules for offering each. Hebrews 10 deals with Jesus as the final atonement sacrifice for our sins, and 1 Corinthians 5 calls Jesus our "Passover Lamb." Here are some interesting parallels that show how Jesus fits these descriptions.

• The passover lamb is to be "without defect" (Ex. 12:5). Jesus never sinned (Heb 4:15)
• Exodus 12:11 says they are to eat the Passover meal with their "cloak tucked into their belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand." These things symbolized being prepared to move, leave or travel. After Jesus' resurrection, he told us to go to the ends of the earth. We were challenged to go out, to spread the good news. More importantly, though, the next scene in exodus was the Israelites actually leaving captivity, being set free. Once we accept Christ as our Passover sacrifice, we need to be prepared to leave captivity and move to freedom from sin.
• Exodus 12:13 says "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. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." This is where we get the understanding that Jesus' blood acts the same way as the blood of the passover lamb. We allow it to mark us and God's judgment will pass over us. 
• Exodus 12:46 says they are to partake of the passover sacrifice but "not break any of the bones." John 19:32-33 says that, although it was customary to break bones when taking men off the cross, none of Jesus' bones were broken.
• Jesus came to Jerusalem and was crucified at Passover (Luke 22:15).
• The once-a-year atonement sacrifice (Yom Kippur) made by the High Priest was the only time he was to enter the "most holy place" in the temple. The High Priest was to make two sacrifices. One of a bull for his own sins. "He is to take some of the bull's blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover (of the ark of the covenant)." (Lev. 16:14). This made him clean to come before the Lord. Then he was to sacrifice a goat for the sins of the people and, "take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull's blood" (Lev. 16:15). Hebrews 10:19 says that "we have confidence to enter the Most Holy place by the blood of Jesus."
• The last part of the Atonement sacrifice is that a second goat was brought to be the scapegoat. This goat would have all the sins of Israel laid on its head, and would carry them off into the desert. The sacrifice cleansed the people, the scapegoat removed the sin from the people. Jesus is our scapegoat! On the cross, he "took away" the world's sins (Rom 11:27, Heb. 9:28, 1Jn 3:5)

These are not prophecies fulfilled but rather ways in which God designed Jesus' sacrifice to represent rituals that first-century Jews would understand. Those that "got it" would become the first early Christians, understanding that the sacrifice made in Jesus' crucifixion stood as the final blood sacrifice for the atonement of our sins and our deliverence from God's judgment.

Reading Plan: Bridging the gap between Abraham to Exodus

If you are following our reading plan, I am certain that it feels like it's jumping around quite a bit. Here's a summary of what's been going on:

Jacob wrestling with the angel of God

• Abraham was the first of the "patriarchs," or fathers of the Israelite nation.
• Job is believed by many scholars to be an early account of interaction with God. This likely would've come in the patriarchal age. It is placed where it is because from a literary standpoint, the majority of the book is considered poetical literature, so it is placed with the other poetical books (psalms, proverbs, etc.)
• BACK TO the patriarchs. Abraham's grandson, JACOB, would become the father of the nation Israel. After wrestling with God/an angel (Gen 32), Jacob is renamed ISRAEL. 
• Jacob had 11 SONS. These are where we get the tribes of Israel. The sons were: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Isaachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin.
• When you see names that are related to these, they are referring to the tribes. Examples are Reubenites, LEVITES, Gadites, Danites and Benjamites.
• These are only 11. Joseph had two sons and they are known as "HALF-TRIBES." These are Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph is NOT considered one of the tribes of Israel, but his two sons are.
• Jacob (Israel's) whole family numbered about 70 men, and they were driven to Egypt from Canaan because of a famine. 
• JOSEPH was already there, had found favor with the Pharaoh and got the family awarded a plot of land up near the northern part of the Sinai peninsula. 
• We pick up Exodus seeing that the Israelites had reproduced (a lot) and a new Pharoah did not know of the agreements made with Joseph, nor did he like the sheer number of Israelites in his land, so he forced them into slave labor to prevent any threat to his power.

Job 38-42 - Sarcasm, Dragons and Blessings

Here are some things that came out as I was reading Job 38-42 today as part of our reading plan. First of all, I should recap the book for anyone that hasn't read it. Job takes place pretty early in Biblical history, before God has revealed himself to his chosen nation, Israel, meaning less may be known about his character at this point. The first couple chapters of the book introduce Job and his predicament. Chapters 3-37 are a dialogue of Job and his three friends discussing God and how these things could possibly of happened. At various times, Job questions why he was born, why God would allow these things, etc. He never curses God. His friends, however, encourage Job to turn his back on a God that has seemingly done nothing but bad things for him. After a brief set of speeches from a bystander, Elihu (32-37), we come to God's response in chapter 38. You should be up to speed.

Chapter 38-39
If anyone ever wondered where sarcasm came from, know that we were made in God's image! These two chapters are God's ancient way of saying, "Who do you think you are, little man?" The imagery in these chapters is AWESOME! It describes storehouses for hail and snow, setting the limits to the oceans, etc. God is using some pretty thick sarcasm (38:21 - "Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!") to bring Job to a point where he understands his position compared to God. (40:4 - "I am unworthy, how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.")

Chapters 40-41
Behemoth (40:15-24) - Is likely the Hippopotomus.
Leviathin (ch. 41) - Probably referring to the crocodile, but what is interesting to me here is all the language about breathing fire (vv. 18-21) and scales that are hard as rock and totally impenetrable (vv. 15-17, 22-30). Could this be Biblical evidence of the existence of dragons? Or perhaps this is just using imagery of mythical dragons? After all, we can write stories about dragons despite the fact that they don't exist. Just a thought.

Chapter 42
In the final chapter, two important things stick out to me.

1. God despises it when people speak incorrectly of his character and his name. 42:7 says, "After the Lord had said these things to Hob, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, 'I am angry with you and your two friends beause you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.'" This tells the modern reader that if we are going to pontificate on the character and will of God, we better take great care to make sure that we are not distorting his word.
2. God rewards a repentant heart. Job had no pretention of deserving any reward from God. He repented because that was the right response to God's greatness and his smallness. We don't voice these expectations out loud very often, but in our hearts it is not uncommon to bargain with God and expect certain things. "I will repent if I know you'll bless me my way in the end." The correct thing is to recognize our position and repent simply because God is God. He will reward that in a uniquely individual way every time.

Reading Plan

Here is a copy of the Reading plan, if anyone needs it!
Chronological_80day

Love Wins!

I have been reading Luke the last couple of days and somethings stuck out to me that is incredibly pertinent to the discussion we had in class on conflict. We are to be firm and unwavering in what we believe, but gracious and gentle with those that wrong us. Read this passage from Luke 6. In it, Jesus describes the way we ought to treat the difficult relationships in our life.

 ²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.   ³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

This can be a really tough teaching. Just a couple of verses above this, Jesus says exactly why these things are true. 6:24 says, "Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your reward" (You may want to read verses 17-26 for context here). We need to remember what our intended goal is in life and constantly examine the relationships and actions in our own lives. In our own lives, have we already received our reward? Or are we living boldly, knowing that a reward beyond anything we could possess on this earth is in store for us?

The Benefits of Bible Study

There is a lot to be said in scripture about the benefits of studying God's Word. The author of Hebrews calls scripture "living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword," and in Paul's letter to the Ephesians the Word of God is the single offensive weapon listed in the "armor of God" section in chapter 6. Jesus quoted scripture to ward of Satan's temptations in the desert and then even more to rebuke pharisees who were too wrapped up in their own supposed righteousness. This post's purpose, though, is not to dissect what the Bible says about study. My purpose in writing this is to share what God has done in my life through regular reading of His Word.

In January 2010, our church started a 90-day reading plan through the New Testament. Here are some things I discovered about following through with a plan like this:

• I got better! By reading every day I got used to the language in the Bible. I got faster at reading and more efficient at absorbing the material. I got better at looking at seemingly obscure histories and finding something useful to my life today. Just like with anything, practice makes perfect!
• I started to understand God in a more complete way. There is still much to learn, but with every day that I read, I felt like my understanding of God grew because I was reading His revealed word as opposed to someone's opinion on His word. 
• I started to recognize the things that put space between myself and God. Our relationship with God is fragile on our end, not on His. As we do things that are ultimately sinful, they drive us away from God. I began to see these things and to desire to rely on God and his will.
• I felt the difference on the days I skipped. Yes, I skipped days. I sometimes had to come back later and catch up, but the lesson here is that those days felt different. Like going a day without talking to your closest friend, these days just began to feel empty, off-balance and incomplete.

I always set an alarm and did my reading in the morning. What started as a chore and a hindrance to my sleep schedule quickly became the biggest blessing in my day and something I willingly and joyfully jumped out of bed for. Jesus said "I came so that you may have life and have it to the full." When we challenge him to prove it, he won't disappoint!