The Similitude of Grace
Understanding the New Covenant and the Hebrew Roots of Grace
The Messiah in the Torah: The First Five Books of Moses
The third chapter of John’s gospel describes a conversation Jesus had with “a ruler of the Jews;” a man named Nicodemus.
Here we see this representative of the old covenant, taking a seat beside the Messiah who represents the prophesied “New Covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31,33; 32:39,40).
The first thing Jesus says to this religious leader is, “You must be born again.” No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he has been “birthed;” given new life by the Holy Spirit of God (John 3:3-7).
Here Jesus is telling this one who had been brought up thinking that following the law was the key to eternal life, that he needed something more. His own efforts to achieve salvation were not enough. This would have been a massive shock to Nicodemus’ indoctrinated religious thinking. He must have thought that what he was hearing was something completely new.
While the Pharisees would have been picking up stones to eradicate the heretic, Nicodemus had recognized that God was with this man Jesus through the evidence of the abundance of miracles Jesus performed. Nicodemus understood that, “No man can do these miracles unless God be with Him” (verse 2).
So this very wise religious leader remained to ask, “How can these things be?” (verse 9). He had previously associated a spiritual birth with a physical one, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (verse 4). This is an indication that his religious upbringing was focused more on the physical, external realm rather than that which is inward and spiritual.
Jesus expressed His astonishment that this learned religious leader didn’t understand spiritual concepts. Jesus was talking about a spiritual rebirth which was something that the law was incapable of producing under the old covenant. Jesus then proceeded to show Nicodemus that what He was telling him, wasn’t new; it had been prophesied through the pen of Moses ages before the Messiah would make His entrance upon the world’s stage. -
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14,15).
Here Jesus is directing our gaze back to an incident in history that He is telling us represents His prophesied death and its purpose. Amazing. Our Teacher has just shown us one instance of the beautiful typology that has been so brilliantly implanted throughout God’s word to illustrate the coming and purpose of our Messiah Jesus. Astounding. It’s time that those who are so willing to pick up stones to hurl at Jesus, put them down and emulate the wisdom of Nicodemus, and sit and listen.
We have been directed back in time to an event in Israel’s history when God’s people were encountering yet another peril in their journey through the wilderness. In this particular incident, many of the people were dying from being bitten by poisonous, “Fiery” snakes. This onslaught was the result of the people’s bitter complaining against God and Moses for allowing them to journey through the wilderness with its lack of provisions. Being provided for miraculously with manna from heaven was even disdained. “Our soul hates this light bread”(Numbers 21:5).
The people finally realized that their own sinful attitudes had brought this reptilian pandemic upon them. They repented and in response, God told Moses to “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looks upon it, shall live” (Numbers 21:8). Moses made the serpent of brass, and the people were healed and did not die when they looked at the image of the serpent on the pole.
This is a similitude of God’s grace operating though Jesus when we receive His sacrifice and we are healed from our sins and the infirmities they produce. The serpent represents our sins that Jesus took upon Himself and became sin for us in order for us to receive God’s forgiveness, as the prophet Isaiah foretold. - He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities... Isaiah 53:5.
As we look at this brazen image of the serpent that Moses made, it reminds us of the very first encounter with a fiery serpent in Eden’s paradise. We realize that this similitude of God’s grace in the wilderness has roots that originated in the beginning of creation. With this in mind, we prepare ourselves for yet another journey back through time to the origins of grace and God’s miraculous plan for the redemption of mankind. Here we encounter another serpent, whose bite would infect mankind and catapult humanity out of the earthy paradise that God had originally intended for them to inhabit. In this illustration, the serpent is used as a similitude of Satan, the devil, or Lucifer as he is called in the scriptures.
Many people especially the Jews, reject the concept of a devil. The Jewish people are taught that Satan is a Christian invention, even though the Old Covenant scriptures clearly refute this false teaching. I think it is important for people to understand the origin of evil as it relates to God’s grace. Let’s examine how the scriptures reveal this specter of wickedness that has infected humanity with its fiery bite of sin.
The oldest book of the Bible is said to be Job, and it is here that Satan is first mentioned. -
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them (Job 1:6-12).
In I Chronicles 21:1, the devil is mentioned again as the tempter who influenced David to number Israel.
David mentions him in Psalm 109:6 and asks the Lord to send him to resist his enemies. – Set Thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
The prophet Zechariah shows us in the first verse of the third chapter of his prophecy, that Satan is standing at the right hand of Joshua, the high priest, in order to resist him.
In Isaiah’s prophecy we are shown that the devil is a fallen angel named Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12-17).
The king of Tyrus is compared with Satan in Ezekiel’s prophecy, (Ezekiel 28:13-19). This is designed to show us that man’s pride and exaltation of himself as god is satanic. It also shows us that the devil will ultimately be defeated.
The portrait of Leviathan in Job’s chapter forty-one, is also a similitude of the evil one who is “king” over all that are infected with the devil’s disease of pride (Job 41:15, 34).
So we can clearly and definitely see that Satan is viewed as a real being in the Hebrew Scriptures and it is not a Christian invention by any means.
We return to Genesis to confront this vile reptile. While many discount the appearance of a talking snake, the creature is a similitude of the devil. But, as we have learned, Satan is a fallen angel. Angels have supernatural abilities, and I am sure it is in the devil’s ability to assume different forms. With that in mind, the possibility of a talking snake is not beyond the scope of reality at that particular time.
This illustration of man’s encounter with an evil angelic being in the form of a reptile, begins what is the first example of salvation by grace in the Bible.
The First Sacrifice
God commanded His first children, Adam and Eve, not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16,17). God wanted to keep them in a state of innocence. It was not necessary for them to go beyond what they already had in their present state. What they had and what they were was sufficient for them for eternity.
They only had this one commandment to obey then, just one. Maintaining their obedience to this commandment would preserve them in their state of innocence in a perfect world they could inhabit indefinitely.
God had told them what the consequences would be if they disobeyed Him and broke this commandment; they would experience death. The perfect life they enjoyed would be terminated.
When Eve was confronted by the devil, he challenged her belief system. God had been specific in His instructions as to what they needed to do in order to be “saved” so to speak. The devil quickly began to undermine God’s original instructions by telling them, “You shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).
Eve was being tested. God tests the righteous (Psalm 11:5) to see if His people will be faithful to His word. Adam and Eve were tested and they failed. They preferred the words of another above the words of God. They chose to believe a lie.
God was true to His word and they proceeded to experience the reality of their disobedience. They quickly learned that sin has consequences, which God had told them and us from the beginning.
After Adam and Eve had sinned, they realized they were naked and they attempted to cover themselves by making aprons out of fig leaves (Genesis 3:7).
This temporary covering that would ultimately dry up and wither away, was obviously not a sufficient solution to the problem. The prophet Isaiah must have had this incident in mind when he said; But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6).
God could have left His children shivering in their inadequate coverings, but He provided them with a more permanent solution. -
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them (Genesis 3:21).
In order to make those coverings a sacrifice had to be made. We are being shown by this incident, three important things; -
man is incapable of covering his own sin.
Man can only be covered by a sacrifice instigated by God, and thirdly:
it is out of love for His children that this sacrifice is made.
Adam and Eve were shown at that moment the reality of death as they witnessed the life removed from the animal that was used to provide for their coverings. Thus we see the first illustration of the principle of salvation by grace. Man’s own efforts to cover himself, or remove his sins are vain. His sin must be covered by an act of God. The first sacrifice is a similitude of the Messiah’s sacrifice for the sins of mankind. The scarlet river that was released through the blood of that first sacrifice, flows from Eden’s garden throughout the pages of God’s word until it comes to its fulfillment in the prophesied New Covenant.
Prior to God’s act of grace in covering His children, the Lord had warned the devil that Adam’s offspring would be avenged and the devil would be defeated. God said, -
I will put enmity (hatred) between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel (Genesis 3:15).
As these words were ringing in the devil’s ears, he watched the sacrifice that was the similitude of his defeat. He witnessed God lovingly clothe His children and the evil one knew that God would not abandon them. Satan’s plan to destroy them had failed. And he hated them, just as God said he would. Satan would persecute and afflict their offspring through the ages, attempting to thwart the plan that God was instigating for the devil’s demise.
As we have seen, the sacrifice God made in Eden is a similitude of Jesus’ sacrifice that defeats the devil and “bruises” his head (Genesis 3:15). We also saw that the first tactic the devil used to deceive Eve was to undermine the authority of God’s word. So we can see from these examples that those who are opposed to the Gospel emulate the devil in these two major areas. -They will seek to undermine the authority of God’s word, especially as it relates to the Gospel; and secondly, they will attack Jesus’ sacrifice for the remission of sin.
We are told to test or try the spirits to see if they are of God (I John 4:1). Again, anyone who seeks to undermine the authority of God’s word and negates the cross, are emulating the tactics of the one who is the enemy of God and all mankind.
The Seed of the Woman
Christians recognize that the “seed” of the woman in Genesis 3:15, is a reference to the Messiah Jesus. Critics argue that this is a misinterpretation. The text in the original Hebrew as it is translated by some reads differently. -
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; they shall strike at your head, and you shall strike at their heel.”
The Jews interpret this to mean that the devil will be defeated by the nation of Israel, the seeds. However, the Hebrew word, “zera” seed, can be translated as an individual seed or “descendants,” so the word can be translated either in the plural or singular. When used in the plural, the “seeds” are an obvious reference to a lineage, which consists of more than one person. What we are being shown is that deliverance will come through the lineage of the woman.
Luke’s Gospel contains the lineage of the Virgin Mary (Luke 3:23-38). It was a custom to list the wife’s lineage under the name of the husband as they were viewed as one flesh (Genesis 2:24). This is why Joseph’s name is mentioned in verse 23. Joseph’s lineage is listed in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 1:1-17). It’s interesting to note that his lineage is traced from Abraham up to Joseph. Mary’s lineage however, is traced down all the way back to Adam. It has been discovered that the DNA of anyone is carried by the female. Therefore the Bible miraculously records Mary’s lineage connecting the DNA from the first Adam to the last Adam, the Messiah Jesus.
The “seeds” contained in Mary’s lineage, the individuals that God had chosen to be part of the Messiah’s family line, including Noah, Abraham and David, all had a part in helping to defeat the devil by being the seeds through which the Messiah Jesus would be born – the “Seed” of the “seeds.”
So we can see that in this sense, deliverance is accomplished by the Jews, solely because their nation was chosen by God to be the womb through which He would birth salvation for everyone through the prophesied Messiah Jesus.
The wording of the Hebrew texts illustrates the continuous warfare between the two lineages, the devil’s agents and Eve’s offspring. The bondage of death that the devil held was broken by the Messiah’s death and victorious resurrection. Faith in Him breathes eternal life on all who believe as promised.
In either case, the seed or seeds of the woman have the same victory in any translation.
The Tree of Life
Adam and Eve were sent away from their garden paradise. God did not want them living forever in their fallen state, so He removed their access to the tree of life, which apparently was the source of their longevity (Genesis 3:22). This shows us that their longevity could not be maintained except by a provision made by God. Someday God would grant them access to this tree again in the form of the Messiah, whose sacrifice would provide the means of eternal life. They would be given one commandment to obey that would grant them this life. “Eat of this tree – Believe.” –
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Cain and Abel
After Adam and Eve were expelled from their idyllic existence in Eden’s paradise, Eve gave birth to her first child after their fall. Eve may have assumed that this son they had named Cain, was the promised redeemer when she exclaimed at his birth, “I have gotten a man from the Lord!” (or with the Lord’s help.)
The Lord was going to begin to establish the lineage through which the Messiah would be born, but as we shall see, it would not be through Cain’s side of the family.
Her second son arrived and they named him Abel. The account of the brother’s dispute and Abel’s murder is recorded in Genesis 4:3-10. Both of the men offered the Lord gifts from their respective trades. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a herdsman.
God rejected Cain’s offering of the fruits of his labors, but God accepted Abel’s offering of his firstborn lambs. Why would God reject Cain’s offering even though it was offered in sincerity?
God had cursed the ground because of Adam’s transgression (Genesis 3:17). The land would no longer produce on its own and would have to be worked in order to bring forth sufficient sustenance for their survival. Thus this judgment represents “works” or labor.
Abel’s offering represented the sacrifice God made to cover the men’s parents. Therefore that would be the offering that God could accept. The Lord was illustrating the principle behind His plan of redemption for mankind. Man’s own efforts or works, symbolized by the labor needed to bring forth the provision for their survival, could never be accepted as an offering of atonement. This symbolic produce which is akin to adorning oneself with fig leaves, represents the futility of man’s own attempts to make himself righteous or atone for his own sin. Again, Cain’s gift did not represent the sacrifice that God made to cover the sin of his parents, and for this reason could never be accepted, because it was not figurative of the plan of redemption that God was instigating.
Abel’s offering of the first born lambs represented what God had ordained for man’s redemption. Abel’s offering symbolized the sacrifice that God made Himself to cover the sin of his parents. That sacrifice in turn represented the sacrifice of God’s Son, the firstborn “Lamb of God."
Cain became very angry at God’s rejection. Because he could not relinquish his pride in the works of his hands, he could not humble himself to recognize what was pleasing to God. Thus he symbolizes all those who refuse to acknowledge the plan of redemption that is ordained by God and will not come to Him on His terms alone.
God was instigating a plan of redemption that was designed to eliminate the spirit of pride and rebellion from His kingdom.
Cain was warned by God to master his anger or it would produce sin (Genesis 4:6). Cain disobeyed God’s command and allowed his anger and jealousy against his brother to commit the first murder. Like his parents, Cain would be banished, reaping the fruit of his disobedience.
Eve would bear another son named Seth. It would be through this son that the Messiah’s lineage would be continued from Adam.
Cain could have contributed to this lineage if he had been willing to make a deal with his brother. I am sure Abel would have liked some nice, fresh vegetables to go with his lamb chops and he would have traded one of his lambs for some produce. Then Cain could have offered a lamb and that would have been accepted by God. But Cain’s pride in his own works would not let him submit and he killed his brother. Likewise today, people who think they can be accepted by God by circumventing His plan of redemption through the Messiah Jesus, will only incur rejection. These ones are spiritually joined to the family of Cain; and like Cain, they persecute and kill those who have humbly accepted God’s plan for the salvation of mankind that He instigated in Eden.
Preserving the Holy Lineage
Because God had predetermined that the Messiah had to arrive at a specific junction in history, it was vital that the lineage through which He was ordained to be born was carefully preserved. What made this lineage unique is that these children of Adam all had knowledge of the one true God. They were monotheists in a world that had deviated into the worship of many gods. Thus this monotheistic belief distinguished God’s people from the pagan nations around them and the Lord separated these “sons of Adam” (Deuteronomy 32:8) to be the Messiah’s lineage.
It was the devil’s intention to do whatever he could to pollute and destroy the holy bloodline that was designated by God to bring Satan’s defeat and to restore eternal life to those who choose the Lord’s plan of redemption.
We read in Genesis 6:2, that the sons of God, the fallen angels, began to intermingle with the daughters of men. As a result, people became very evil to the point where God had to eliminate them. He could foresee the wickedness of that generation eventually continuing on to a point where it would pollute the holy lineage.
That lineage at that time, was preserved in Noah and his family. Noah was perfect in his generations (Genesis 6:9). This means his seed had not been polluted by the polytheism and sin that the fallen angels had instigated.
God instructed Noah to build an ark for his family’s survival. Some see the ark itself as a similitude of the Messiah carrying those to safety who obey God by entering into Jesus by faith. With this in mind, we can understand the parable of the raven and the dove that is included in Noah’s story (Genesis 8:7,9).
Noah released a raven and a dove to see if the waters of the flood were abating. The raven did not return to the safety of the ark which represents the rest we have when we put our trust in God through the Messiah Jesus. The dove, however, was wise enough to return to that place of rest, while the raven had to keep flapping, or working until the waters abated, refusing to return to the place where it would find rest.
These birds are used as similitudes of two types of people; the “doves” who believe and rest in the finished work of the cross, and those like Cain, the “ravens,” who think their own efforts apart from God’s grace, His ark, can save them.
The waters eventually abated and the ark came to its rest on dry ground. Noah was commanded to not eat any animal with the blood still in in it (Genesis 9:4). God was establishing a foreshadow that would be carried over to the tabernacle services that the Lord would ordain through Moses. The blood is holy and would be used to atone for sin, because: – The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11).
The sacrifices made in the tabernacle were symbolic of the Messiah’s sacrifice that would be fulfilled by Jesus (Isaiah 53). Only the shedding of the holy blood of Jesus can make permanent atonement for sin, which the blood of animals could never do. Those sacrifices were only intended to be a foreshadow of their fulfillment in the Messiah’s sacrifice. Thus again we see the relationship between that first sacrifice God made in Eden, with the continuing symbolism God implanted through the lives of those He had chosen to illustrate the principle of redemption.
After the flood and the wicked had been annihilated from the earth, along with Cain’s hapless descendants, Noah and his family replenished the earth. The Lord would continue the holy bloodline through Noah’s son, Shem. Shem’s descendants would eventually birth a very special man called Abraham.
Father Abraham
In a world that was overridden by polytheism and idolatry, Abraham retained faith in the one true God that his ancestors had clung to since Adam. Abraham could hear God’s voice calling him out from the nations. And he heard God tell him that, “in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).
It would be through Abraham that the lineage through which the Messiah was to be born was continued. Thus Abraham’s lineage would be a blessing to the Gentile nations, bringing them the redemption that God promised in Eden. God loves the Gentiles, longing to make all people that He had made in His image one family with Abraham’s children. God’s plan was to unite them through the Messiah Jesus, who would be to the Gentiles, “rest” and “light” (Isaiah 11:10, Isaiah 42:1).
God had ordained the land where the Messiah was to be born, and promised this land to Abraham and his seed (Genesis 12:7, 13:14-17, 15:18).
Abraham believed God’s promises to him, and his faith was “counted to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). This was before the law was given, thus Abraham becomes a similitude of the believers in the future who receive Jesus and are justified by faith in Him alone.
Melchisedec
Another example of how God uses similitudes (Hosea 12:10) to foreshadow the Messiah is found in Genesis chapter fourteen. Abraham goes to war in order to rescue his nephew Lot, who had been taken captive during a conflict between several warring kings.
Abraham was victorious and it is recorded that Melchisedec who was a priest of God and king of Salem (which means king of peace), went out to congratulate him on his victory.
Here we are being introduced to a prophetic figure in the Old Testament that was designed to represent the priesthood of the future Messiah, who is to be a priest forever, an eternal priest. The prophet David also recognized the relationship with Melchisedec to the coming Messiah when he wrote; – The LORD has sworn, and will not repent (change His mind) You are a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec (Psalm 110:4).
A pastor I know shared this insight with me. He said that in the Old Testament the Levitical priesthood would represent the people before God, but Jesus is a priest of a different order, a priest after the order of Melchisedec, who represents God to the people. Melchisedec came to Abraham offering him bread and wine. Jesus came to earth representing God the Father; He is the image of God, (Hebrews 1:3.) When Jesus offers us His bread and wine, He is inviting us to partake of His royal priesthood and we are also called to represent God before the people; we are “Ambassadors of Christ” (II Corinthians 5:20).
When we receive the bread and wine of His sacrifice for us, then we too are clothed spiritually in fine linen, the clothing of the priests which represents our God bestowed righteousness (Revelation 19:8).
Abraham had exhibited a tremendous amount of courage, and I am sure his faith in God enabled him to gain the victory over the armies of those powerful kings with only three hundred and eighteen of his trained servants.
Melchisedec seemingly appears out of nowhere to bestow a blessing upon Abraham for his victory (Genesis 14:17-20).
Abraham apparently knew who Melchisedec was and responded to the blessing he received from this priest by giving him a tithe from the goods he had taken from the enemy.
There is no recorded genealogy of this priest, which sets him apart from the priests of the future Levitical priesthood that was established by God through Moses. This omission is significant and is intentionally designed to apply to the Messiah.
Melchisedec predated the Levitical priesthood and received tithes from Abraham long before tithes were appointed to be given to the Levitical priests. In Melchisedec we see a priest so great that Abraham, the father of the priests of the Levitical order, submitted to Melchisedec by tithing to him.
Melchisedec’s descent was not from Abraham, who was the father of the Levitical priesthood. Tithing was only to be given to the tribe of Levi for the Levitical priests, yet Melchisedec received tithes, predating the priesthood, and blessed Abraham, who by God, had been ordained to those “promises.”
Abraham was great, but even though Abraham was so great, who was the promised father of Israel, and the progenitor of the lineage though which the Messiah would come; Abraham was blessed by a priest that was viewed as someone even greater; a similitude of the Messiah.
The Levitical priests were mere men who received tithes, and died, but Melchisedec represents the eternal priesthood of the Messiah who rose from the dead and lives forever. The prophet Isaiah foresaw the Messiah’s death and resurrection when he prophesied that this One whose soul was made an offering for sin, “shall see His seed” and the Lord would “prolong His days” - live again (from Isaiah 53:10).
Levi paid tithes symbolically through his father Abraham; this entire lineage of the priesthood was submitted to the greatness of Melchisedec. In this illustration we are shown that the Levitical priesthood is subordinate to the figure of Melchisedec, who in turn is a foreshadow of the Messiah. This shows us that there would be a time when there would no longer be any reason to depend on the imperfect sacrifices made through the Levitical priesthood for the forgiveness of sins, when the prophecy has stated that there would be another eternal priesthood that would take its place. And this priesthood would not be after the order of Aaron, the Levites. Mechisedec therefore having no record of descent, is symbolic of a priesthood that is from another tribe, other than Aaron’s, that never ministered at the altar that was established by God through Moses. Thus we see the Levitical priesthood being changed to a priesthood coming from another tribe, the tribe of Judah, not mentioned by Moses, but foreshadowed by Melchisedec. -
“You are a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec” (Psalm 110:4).
The office of the priesthood now held by Jesus, is the fulfillment of David’s prophecy; - Jesus’ priesthood is eternal, foreordained by God.
Jesus died, rose from the dead, thus guaranteeing an eternal priesthood through His everlasting life. This assures us of a better testament, an eternal one, far superior to the previous order that had to be continually maintained through the frailties of the previous priesthood.
When we look at Melchisedec as a foreshadow of the eternal priesthood of the Messiah, we are also being shown again the practice of God to install this typology in the Old Testament to validate Jesus as the fulfillment of those typologies. No one else matches these foreshadows and descriptions which are numerous and varied.
The Covenant of Circumcision
When Abraham was 99 years old, God made a formal covenant with him, promising him that he would be a father of many nations (Genesis 17:4). This covenant, referred to as the “everlasting covenant,” (Genesis 17:7), was given to Abraham so that his lineage would eventually be a blessing to many Gentile nations through the Messiah Jesus, thus making the Gentiles one with believing Messianic Jews. The sign of this covenant was circumcision (Genesis 17:10-14).
Have you ever wondered why the Lord would require the sign of this covenant to be placed on the most intimate part of a man’s anatomy; the appendage that is used to join a man with a woman to produce new life? What is God trying to say to us through this illustration?
I think we can summarize the whole concept by stating that circumcision is God’s way of showing us that He wants to be spiritually and intimately connected to His people. God used the practice of circumcision under the old covenant to illustrate this spiritual principle.
This symbol of intimacy with God was never fully understood throughout the ages that were classified as the old covenant, or testament. The intimacy that circumcision represents would not be achieved as long as the old covenant was in effect. During that time only certain people that God had chosen to speak for Him could be moved and influenced by God’s Holy Spirit, but not indwelt. God was orchestrating a unique plan that would enable His Spirit to actually come into all believers and the purpose of that union would be to restore the eternal life, that was lost to us in Eden, and to produce the holy fruit of a transformed life; a new birth.
In order for God to achieve the intimacy He desires to have with His people, sin, the element that blocks that desired union, would have to be eliminated. The foreshadow of this plan to remove sin is illustrated for us in the third chapter of Genesis as we have been shown.
God wants to circumcise our hearts, cut off the things within us that are displeasing to Him and replace them with the divine nature of Jesus. Under the new covenant we are not justified by works, we are justified by the Messiah alone, and in turn that faith, that relationship with Jesus, works in the believer to change us into the people He wants us to become. When we are led by the Holy Spirit of God, He moves us away from sin and we naturally will want to walk in the things that please Him.
In the old covenant, Abraham is symbolic of the relationship that God wants to have with all of his children. Abraham was guided by God directly by His voice (Genesis 26:5) and naturally did the things that please the Lord by doing “Justice and judgment” (Genesis 18:19). This is the relationship all believers in the Messiah Jesus can have when they allow themselves to be led by the Holy Spirit.
Abraham was called God’s friend (Exodus 33:11, Isaiah 41:8) because of the intimate relationship he had with the Lord. Likewise, as God’s image, Jesus calls His disciples “friends” (John 15:15). Jesus died so that all who receive Him can have a relationship with God like Abraham.
Again, Abraham’s relationship with God is a foreshadow of the relationship that believers in Jesus have. This relationship is the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy of the New Covenant when the law would not be a list of things to follow, but a natural walk in response to the word of God that has been implanted within the heart (Jeremiah 31:33).
Lunchtime with God
It is often claimed by those who profess to be followers of Abraham that God cannot be a man. Thus Christians are vilified for saying that Jesus is God.
However, they fail to recognize the fact that Abraham shared a meal with a man that is referred to as God in the eighteenth chapter of Genesis.
In this instance, God appears to Abraham with two angels who would later be sent to retrieve Lot from Sodom (Genesis 18:22).
It is obvious from this account that Abraham knew he was conversing with God. Now we know that God is so holy no man can look upon His face and live. He only allowed Moses to see His back parts (Exodus 33:20-23). So how could Abraham dine with God and not be fried by His holiness? He was obviously beholding God’s face in this instance and lived.
Throughout the Old Testament scriptures the Messiah Jesus has appeared representing God the Father as His “theophany;” a manifestation or appearance of God. God is a Spirit and when He manifests Himself physically to humans He operates through His image, or representative. That image always was and is the Messiah Jesus who is the image of God (Colossians 1:15). God was in Messiah reconciling the world to Himself (II Cor. 5:19). This is one reason why Jesus could say to the religious leaders of His day that "Before Abraham was ‘I AM” (John 8:58). Jesus and the Father are one (John 10:30).
It was at this special luncheon that Abraham was informed that he was to have a son in his old age. This son who was called Isaac, was to be yet another very special link in the Messiah’s linage.
A Parable of Grace
God fulfilled His promise to Abraham, and his wife Sarah, miraculously had a son in her old age. Imagine a ninety-one year old woman walking around their camp with her belly round with child. God told them to name this special child, “Isaac” which means laughter. God has a sense of humor.
Then one day, God told Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son to Him. God was testing Abraham’s faithfulness.
The broken-hearted father obediently followed God’s direction and took Isaac to the place where the Lord said the sacrifice was to be made.
On the way, Isaac questioned his father as to why there was no animal for the sacrifice. Abraham replied, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:8).
God had promised Abraham that it would be through this son, Isaac, that the Lord would establish an “everlasting covenant” though him and his seed (Genesis 17:19). Abraham walked to that place of sacrifice believing that what God had promised He would somehow fulfill, even though he thought this special son’s life was about to be extinguished.
Then just at the moment when Abraham was about to plunge the knife into his beloved son’s heart, God spoke through an angel, His representative, and stopped Abraham from killing his child.
Abraham looked up and saw that a ram was tangled in some bushes. He gratefully sacrificed the ram in his son’s place. The ram in this instance is designed to represent the future sacrifice of the Messiah, whose death would spare the lives of multitudes and clothe them with forgiveness, just like our first parents experienced in Eden’s garden.
The Lineage Continues
Abraham’s son Isaac, was chosen by God to continue the Messiah’s lineage. This lineage as we have seen, represents the lifeline for the nations.
Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob valued his heritage, but Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of lentils (Genesis 25:29). Esau represents all those who do not value the things of God and ultimately, disdain and reject God’s plan of salvation that He had ordained since Eden. This is why God says, "Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau” (Malachi 1:2,3).
Abraham’s seed multiplied as God had promised, eventually producing the twelve tribes of Israel. One of those tribes was named after Jacob’s son, Joseph. In Joseph’s story we are given a beautiful parable of redemption as we shall see.
Jesus and Joseph
The Messiah Jesus is God’s well favored Son. He inspired jealousy among the religious leaders of His day, and He was rejected by His own people. That rejection caused Him to be received and exalted by the Gentiles. That rejection would also result in His becoming the means through which He would be His people’s provision and redeemer, saving their souls from death.
We can take these elements from Jesus’ life and compare them with the life of Jacob’s son, Joseph, and we see that Joseph’s life was orchestrated to be a parable of redemption that Jesus would ultimately fulfill centuries later.
Joseph was the well favored son of his father which instigated jealously among his brothers. Their rage against him expelled him from their midst, and caused him to be received by the Gentiles, and he was exalted into a position of great authority among them. That exaltation put Joseph in the position to save the lives of his people, during a time of great famine.
When Joseph’s brothers realized what they had done, and were mourning that had rejected him so cruelly, he comforted them with these words. –
Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here: for God did send me before you to preserve life (Genesis 45:5).
And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
So it was not you that sent me here, but God: and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt (Genesis 45:7,8).
Joseph was trying to make his brethren see, that all their actions against him, were part of God’s plan. If they had not rejected him, they all would have died in the famine. Joseph understood the plan and he forgave them.
When his brothers finally understood what had happened, I am sure they were rejoicing at God’s miraculous care for them, even when they were at their worst, hating Joseph and wanting him dead.
We look at Jesus hanging on His cross with the angry mob taunting Him while He suffered, bearing the rejection of His own people. And He prayed for them, as we should do as well. –
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
The Jews had no idea they were rejecting the Son of God, and they also did not understand that everything they were doing against Him, was also part of God’s plan to fulfill the prophecies concerning the Messiah’s purpose. –
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief: when You shall make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand (Isaiah 53:10).
Like Joseph, Jesus became the means by which our souls are saved from eternal death.
Jesus was abundantly received by the Gentiles, fulfilling the prophecies that the Messiah would be accepted by them (Isaiah 11:10,42:1,6,49:6,63:16).
Joseph’s union with a Gentile wife produced two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph’s father blessed them, and said that they would be accepted as Jews (Genesis 48:51).
When Gentiles come to God through Jesus, they are considered to be His sons through His Holy Spirit which He gives to them through Jesus. The Gentiles are made part of the divine union God desires to have with all people; the many nations promised to Abraham through the lineage that is fulfilled in the Messiah Jesus under the New Covenant.
Before Jacob died, he pronounced blessings on all his sons and prophesied over them. His son Judah is shown to be one that his brothers shall praise, and bow down before him. Judah is seen as a lion and it is in this prophecy the tribe Judah is indicated to be the tribe through which the Messiah would come at a time when the scepter would be departed. –
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Messiah) come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be (Genesis 49:10).
The Messiah Jesus came at a time in Israel’s history when the Jews were under Roman rule. This was the only time in their history when they were not permitted to pronounce capital judgements. This is why they had to take Jesus before Pilate to accomplish Jesus’ execution. Thus Jacob’s prophecy that Messiah (Shiloh) would come when the scepter had departed, was specifically fulfilled.
We return to our place with Nicodemus as he sits with Jesus, contemplating the significance of that serpent on a pole which is the symbol of the sins that used to be our own, now far removed through faith in the magnificent sacrifice of the sinless Lamb of God.
We wonder at the enormity of the plan that took so many years to fulfill and so many lives that were born to illustrate and connect us to the lineage that birthed our salvation.
The journey isn’t over yet, there are still many more things to consider and explore; many more foreshadows and typologies that will further enhance our understanding of the plan of redemption God has orchestrated for our salvation in the New Covenant. With this in mind, we gaze back again through the lenses of time to behold a man named Moses.
Moses
Many years ago when I was a relatively young Christian, I had an animated conversation with a Jewish man. We were discussing our respective beliefs. He of course, as a Jew, was vehemently opposed to Jesus being the Messiah. “We do not need a mediator!” he exclaimed.
At that point in my walk with the Lord I had not yet gained the background in the scriptures that I needed in order to answer him adequately. I should have responded by saying, “Well, if it wasn’t for Moses as your mediator then you and your people would all still be in Egypt.”
We have been shown how God uses similitudes, foreshadows and typologies to illustrate who the Messiah is and His purpose in God’s plan of redemption for mankind. The story of the Messiah continues to unfold with the advent of God’s mediator, Moses.
The ending chapters in Genesis left God’s people as slaves in the land of Egypt. Their conditions worsened when a Pharaoh rose up who “knew not Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). The favor that was shown to God’s people because of Joseph’s status in that land was forgotten
God had brilliantly engineered Moses to be adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and he was raised as a prince in Pharaoh’s house. The spark of his role as a deliverer of his people was beginning to ignite in his soul. As a result he murdered an Egyptian who was abusing one of Moses’ brethren.
When the deed was made known, Moses had to flee Egypt and he arrived in Midian. There he would be introduced to the God he was to serve, and where he would receive his commission to be the mediator of God’s people.
Moses received his instructions to liberate God’s people from their bondage in Egypt through the flames of some burning shrubbery that miraculously was not being consumed by the fire (Exodus 3:2).
The elements of fire and water are used in the scriptures to represent the Holy Spirit. God’s presence manifested through His Spirit and God spoke to Moses through “The Angel, (or representative) of His presence.”
Moses was given his instructions, was obedient to God’s voice and faithfully executed everything that he was commanded. The miracles that God did through His servant Moses were astounding and were orchestrated to reveal the One True God among the polytheist Egyptians.
Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to let God’s people go, in spite of all the afflictions he witnessed, resulted in one final plague that would take the lives of all of the Egyptian’s firstborn. The Hebrews were spared from this disaster because they obeyed God’s instructions to put the blood of an unblemished lamb upon the doorposts of their houses. –
And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel, and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.
For the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer (permit) the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you (Exodus 12:22,23).
We look back through time once again to remind ourselves of the sacrifice that covered Adam and Eve. We remember Abel’s offering that was accepted by God and the ram that was offered in the place of Abraham’s beloved son. Then we behold the blood of sacrifice that spared the Hebrews firstborn from death that resulted in the yearly memorial of this event called the Passover. Then we look ahead to the Passover meal that was shared with Jesus and His disciples and we hear Him say, “Take eat; - this is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20).
Shortly after that Passover supper, the Lamb of God was sacrificed to spare you and me from eternal death; for when God sees the blood of the Messiah upon the doorposts of our hearts, death must pass us by.
God told His people not to break any of the bones of the lambs that were sacrificed for the Passover. Likewise, when the soldiers were instructed to break the legs of the crucified to hasten their deaths, (John 19:31-33), the life had already left the body of Jesus, and not a bone of this Passover Lamb was broken as the prophecy confirms, - He keeps all His bones: not one of them is broken (Psalm 34:20).
After the first Passover, the Hebrews were released from their bondage in Egypt. Likewise, all who have obeyed God and received Jesus’ sacrifice to atone for their sins, are released from the bondage of the fear of death, and are set free to follow the Lord wherever His Spirit leads.
The Law and the Tabernacle of Grace
The Hebrews followed God into the wilderness to a mountain in Arabia (Galatians 4:25) called Mount Sinai. Moses would make three very significant treks up that mountain to commune with God.
On Moses’ first excursion, God gave the law to him orally (Exodus 20:23). When Moses came down and gave God’s commandments to the people, they all responded, (I’m sure enthusiastically), “All the words which the Lord has said we will do” (Exodus 24:3).
Yeah, sure.
Then Moses wrote all the words, and made an altar. Sacrifices were made, then Moses took the blood and sprinkled the altar with this scarlet representative of sacrifice. Then he took the book of God’s law that he had made and read it again to the people. Once again the people declared, “All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient” (Exodus 24:7).
Was Moses skeptical or hopeful?
The God who knows all things led Moses to take the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it upon the people. Then Moses said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words” (Exodus 24:8).
The law was not given to the people without the symbolic blood of God’s grace covering them at the same time; a foreshadow of the Messiah’s future sacrifice – “So shall He sprinkle many nations” (Isaiah 52:15).
Before Moses’ second trip up the mountain, he and the elders “saw the God of Israel,” and like Abraham, shared a meal with Him (Exodus 24:9-11). Again, the Image of the invisible God, appears to men as one of them, because with God nothing is impossible.
After this, Moses is called up the mountain a second time and he remained there for forty days and nights (Exodus 24:18). On this second camping trip with the Lord, Moses was given the plan for the tabernacle and all the details concerning it, including the plan for the ark of the covenant which symbolized God’s presence among the people; and instructions for the priests (Exodus 25-31).
The tabernacle would be the place where forgiveness of sins was made; where blood would be offered upon the altar to make atonement for the soul. – “For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).
After God had given Moses all the instructions for the tabernacle and the office of the priests who would serve there, He concluded with an emphasis on the importance of keeping the fourth commandment; to rest on the Sabbath. Here God is linking rest with the principle of grace, the forgiveness of sins that is represented by the tabernacle. We will return to examine the Sabbath in relation to the tabernacle and what it represents later on, but first we need to witness the events that required Moses to make his third climb up that mountain.
The commandments that God gave to Moses on his first trip to the mountain were written in stone “by the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18). After God had written His commandments in stone, He informed Moses to get back down quickly because the people had corrupted themselves. –
They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, ‘These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt’ (Exodus 32:8).
It was at that point God declared that He would destroy the people and make a nation from Moses. But Moses the Mediator made intercession for the people and procured their deliverance from God’s wrath. Likewise, Jesus the Mediator is seated at the right hand of God making intercession for us at this moment (Romans 8:34). Without those mediators there would be no Israel and no hope for the salvation of mankind.
The depth of the people’s sin is unimaginable, when we consider the abundance of miracles that the Israelites had witnessed: the plagues in Egypt that led to their freedom, the parting of the Red Sea, (Exodus 14:19-29),the miraculous healing of the bitter waters of Marah (Exodus 15:23), the provisions of quail and manna (Exodus 16), the visible, continuous manifestations of God’s presence in the cloud and pillars of fire (Exodus 13:21), and the momentous miracle of a massive rock splitting in two releasing a waterfall in the desert to meet their needs when they were thirsty (Exodus 17:17).
The sight of the people dancing around a replica of an Egyptian idol being worshipped in the place of the majestic and only true God threw Moses into a rage, and he broke the tablets of stone containing God’s word (Exodus 32:19).
The people had already broken the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). The shattered stones that lay at Moses’ feet shows us, that if we break one commandment we have broken them all.
Moses destroyed the golden idol and scattered the dust of it into “the brook that descended from the mount” and made the people drink from it (Exodus 32:20, Deuteronomy 9:21). There was no water in that place when they first arrived. That brook was the result of the miraculous splitting of the rock that produced a continuous reminder of God’s presence and His provision.
As the people sucked through their lips the golden dust of the false image they had worshipped, they were being directed to remember the awesome miracle that gave them life in the desert. How easy it was for them to forget the wonderful works that God had done for them. How easy it is for all of us to forget how much we need God’s forgiveness.
The infinite God who knows well the weakness of the little clay creatures of His design, had the means through which we could receive His forgiveness prepared for us from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). The plan and foreshadow of that forgiveness had already been given to Moses in the architecture of the tabernacle.
Moses was directed by God to make his third trip up the mountain, where God once again wrote His law on a new set of stone tablets that Moses had made (Exodus 34).
Moses was there another forty days and nights and when he came down his face was glowing from his intimate communion with God. The physical sign of Moses’ intimacy with God was too much for the people to look upon and Moses was compelled to veil his face when he was in the presence of the people (Exodus 34:29-34). Sadly, even today there are many in the Christian camp who have difficulty with the concept of intimacy with God.
Moses again gave the commandments to the people with an emphasis on keeping the Sabbath as a day of physical rest. Then he immediately instructed them to construct the tabernacle, the place where their sins could be forgiven. Again, the emphasis on the Sabbath in conjunction with the tabernacle, links rest with the concept of forgiveness of sins through blood atonement.
The inner covering of the tabernacle was of ram’s skins dyed red (Exodus 36:19). By now we should recognize what the covering of red ram’s skins was designed to represent. The symbol of the first sacrifice that clothed our shivering first parents, now covered the place where other sacrifices would be made to symbolically cover God’s people as a foreshadow of the future last sacrifice made by Jesus, the Lamb of God.
Strange Fire
The pattern that God gave Moses for the tabernacle had to be followed precisely. There were to be no man-inspired additions to anything associated with the tabernacle services. It had to be God’s plan alone, because the tabernacle was designed by God to be a foreshadow of the plan of redemption He had ordained from the beginning of creation. Salvation, the redemption of the human soul, cannot be obtained through any means other than by what God has provided.
Aaron’s well intentioned sons were incinerated by the Lord when they got creative and attempted to make an offering that was not part of God’s original instructions. –
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He commanded them not.
And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD (Leviticus 10:1,2).
This event was designed to show us that salvation cannot be obtained apart from the plan that God has instigated. Any deviations from God’s instructions will result in death, the loss of the soul, and that is why His plan of redemption cannot be tampered with. Anyone who removes the cross from their theology is making the same fatal mistake that caused Aaron’s son’s charred remains to be dragged from the tabernacle.
There is only one way to God, as the tabernacle was designed to represent.
God is a God of love and justice, but His ways are absolute. The Apostles were well aware of the “goodness and severity” of the Lord (Romans 11:22). His love seeks to corral humankind into the plan He has ordained to save their souls. It must be His way for He is eliminating the spirit of rebellion from His presence. We cannot profess to worship God, and then criticize His methods and at the same time claim to be submitted to His authority.
A Bird in the Hand
The tabernacle services were designed by God to prepare His people for the future advent of the Messiah.
The ritual for the cleansing of a leper found in the fourteenth chapter of Leviticus, verses one through seven, is another wonderful example of the typology foreshadowing the prophesied Messiah that God has so brilliantly interwoven throughout the Holy Scriptures.
In this ritual, the priest commands that two birds be taken. One is killed in an earthen vessel over running water. Then a cedar stick with a scarlet cloth and hyssop are dipped in the blood of the sacrificed bird and placed upon the living bird. Then the priest sprinkles the leper with the blood on the scarlet hyssop pole seven times and releases the living bird to freedom and the leper is pronounced clean.
In this example we see a beautiful parable of the Gospel. The first bird is killed in an earthen vessel because someday the Spirit of God would be in a Man, the Messiah, for the purpose of saving His creation by making them clean from their sin. The Messiah would enter an earthen vessel and be killed, enabling the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the running water, to be released into the believer.
The scarlet hyssop (healing) pole is symbolic of the cross, or pole, Jesus died upon in order to sprinkle His blood upon many nations, cleansing them from the leprosy of their sin. Then covered by the blood of the Messiah, the captive soul, represented by the second bird that has been touched by the blood of the sacrifice, is set free and can rise into new eternal life because of the other’s sacrifice.
This illustration foreshadows the principle of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus the Messiah; the captive bird in an earthen vessel, sacrificed to purchase eternal life so all our cleansed, believing souls can be set free to soar into the limitless expanse of eternal life in the presence of God.
The Tabernacle and Salvation by Grace
The design for the tabernacle that was given to Moses by God, was divided into two parts. The first part was called the sanctuary. This part was used on a regular basis to fulfill the various ordinances like the ritual for the cleansing of lepers. The second part was called the Holy of Holies. It was separated from the sanctuary by a thick, woven veil, said to be almost a foot thick. This portion of the tabernacle was designed to represent the presence of God in heaven. Inside the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant and the golden censer that held the blood of the sacrifices.
The plan of the Ark’s construction was given to Moses when he received the plan for the tabernacle. The ark was overlaid with gold and inside it was a sample of the manna, the miraculous food that God provided for His people in the wilderness, Aaron’s rod that budded that was the sign that God had chosen his tribe to be the priesthood, (Numbers 17:8), and the second set of stone tablets that recorded God’s commandments, His word.
The typology of the Ark is designed to represent the Messiah, who in turn represents God’s presence among the people. The Messiah would come as a man, symbolized by the plain wooden box. The gold that covered it represents His divinity, purity and anointing.
The items inside the box that were chosen to represent God’s word, His provision for His people and His chosen Priest, also describe the Messiah. He is the Word of God (John 1:1). He is the manna, God’s provision for His people (John 6:31-35); and the High Priest of God’s choosing “after the order of Melchisedec” (Psalm 110:4, Isaiah 42:1, Matt.3:17, Hebrews 3:1).
Because the Ark is symbolic of God’s presence among the people in the Messiah, the second set of stone tablets that were placed into the Ark, represents the word of God that is to be ministered under the covenant of grace.
The space on top of the ark was left open symbolizing the place where God resides in between two golden cherubim. The Ark again, represents God’s presence among the people.
The Holy of Holies which was intended to represent the presence of God, was only entered once a year by the high priest who made atonement for himself and the people. The blood of a slain animal was sprinkled upon the altar with the golden censer.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11).
Entering into the Lord’s presence back then was not something that was permitted by everyone, only the high priest. The high priest represented the future Messiah who was ordained to remove the sins of the people, even though at that time, this symbolism was not understood by the people.
God’s presence remained separated from the outer court by a foot think veil. Thus the characteristic of the first covenant was one of religious ritual and knowing God remotely, from a distance, symbolically separated from Him by that heavy thick curtain.
The entire set up was designed to illustrate the principle that God could not be approached by anyone other than a specially designated priest to make atonement for the people.
The carnal ordinances that were performed in the sanctuary, again, could not make anyone pure enough to approach God. No religious service or ritual can purify anyone. The “conscience” or the inner man, could never be purified or made holy by outward works or religious ceremony. No matter what attempts for cleansing were made in the first tabernacle, still only one person was permitted once a year to symbolically enter “heaven” to represent everyone else, and that person, as previously mentioned, was designed to represent the coming and purpose of the Messiah.
This temporal illustration that the tabernacle was orchestrated to represent is very powerful. We want to enter that inner sanctuary where God resides, but nothing we do in our own efforts will make us holy enough to enter heaven which the Holy of Holies represents. No ritual will suffice, no discipline we can perform will make us worthy.
The physical tabernacle is a foreshadow of a heavenly sanctuary where our High Priest, Jesus, has entered the heavenly Holy of Holies through His once for all time sacrifice, the offering of Himself for our sins. He alone has purchased our salvation by His own blood; the sacrifice that has secured our eternal redemption.
When certain sacrifices were made in the tabernacle, the priests were instructed to eat those sacrifices after they were offered to God (Leviticus 6:16,18,26, 7:6,16). When Jesus was being followed by a large group of His disciples, He turned to them and said, “Eat My flesh and drink My blood” (John 6:53).
This offended all but His twelve disciples, and the remainder left. They did not understand the symbolism that Jesus was showing them. Knowing that He was to be sacrificed as the offering to God for their sins, He was relating His death to the commands that God had given the priests concerning their ingestion of the sacrifices.
As the priests were instructed to eat the sacrifice, we in turn are instructed to eat the Lamb of God; to ingest Him into our lives. We do that by repenting of our sins, and receiving Him as our savior by believing that He died for our sins and rose from the dead. We are thus indwelt by His Holy Spirit, which is the Life in His blood that is imparted to us so we may have eternal life and we are made one with Him and God.
The priests and all the people were forbidden to drink blood, or eat an animal with the blood still in it. The blood had to be thoroughly drained before the meat could be eaten. When Jesus said, “Drink My blood,” that would have been extremely offensive to the Jews who could not understand that Jesus was speaking in spiritual symbolism and was referring to the Holy Spirit.
Before His crucifixion at the last supper He shared with His disciples, He gave them bread, the symbol of His broken body and told them to eat it and drink the wine, which is the symbol of His shed blood.
Just as God instructed the priests to eat the sacrifices, so are we instructed to eat of the sacrifice that was made to atone for our sins.
God told Moses, “The life is in the blood and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for sins. It is the blood that makes atonement for sin (Leviticus 17:11). God has never changed this requirement for the forgiveness of sin. The blood of Jesus contains the eternal life, the Holy Spirit that is released to us by Jesus’ sacrifice, the last sacrifice.
God put an end to the temple sacrifices in 70 AD when the temple was destroyed, only forty years after Jesus’ death for our sins, showing us that the old system was only meant to be a foreshadow and a preparation for the ministry of the Messiah Jesus. It was no longer necessary for animals to be slain by a priest who was merely a symbolic representative of the One who would make the removal of our sins and entrance into heaven possible, something that the blood of calves and bulls could never do.
The Life in the Blood
After Jesus rose from the dead, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy that the Messiah would be killed and then miraculously be able to “see His seed,” live again (Isaiah 53:10), He breathed the Holy Spirit into His disciples (John 20:22). The only other time the word “breathed” is used in the scriptures is when God breathed the breath of life into Adam. Thus we are shown by this example that Jesus is operating as the Creator in bestowing new, eternal life in His people through His Holy Spirit, which is the “life in His blood.”
We note that Adam was given life by the “breath,” the neshamah in Hebrew. The apostles recognized the distinction between the life source that animated Adam and the Holy Spirit that birthed the Messiah. “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening (life giving)spirit” (I Corinthians 15:45).
Jesus said, "For as the Father has life in Himself: so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself" (John 5:26).
Jesus was born with the life in Himself because He was given life by the Holy Spirit, not the neshamah, the breath.
Because human beings were intended to live forever in the earth realm, the neshamah, the breath of life, was never designed to transport our souls into heaven after the death of the body. After sin entered, and death became a reality, provision had to be made in order to permit the soul to ascend into God’s presence when the soul is released from the body. In order to accomplish this, the soul would need a new source of life that could transport the soul into God’s realm. Through Jesus, the life in His blood, the Holy Spirit, is transferred onto our souls when we believe and thus enables the soul to ascend into heaven. Without this divine attachment of the Holy Spirit with the soul, souls will be doomed to drift in a cold outer darkness after the prophecies concerning the destruction of the planet are eventually fulfilled (II Peter 3:10-11, Revelation 20:11, 21:1, Isaiah 65:17).
God is offering people the only lifeline, the only provision for the preservation of the soul through the Messiah Jesus.
The Sabbath Rest
We noted earlier in this study, that the Sabbath was mention several times in conjunction with God’s instructions concerning the law and the tabernacle. The emphasis of the Sabbath commandment was physical rest. The people remained in their tents. Attending religious services was not instigated at that time, again, the emphasis was on physical rest.
One purpose of the Gospel is to give us rest from our labors. That is, through faith in the atonement we have rest. Our salvation is not contingent on our frail abilities to keep all of God’s commandments perfectly all of our lives; especially when we consider that the tenth commandment, “Thou shalt not covet” deals with the heart and our thought lives.
Jesus is the only one who did keep God’s commandments perfectly and His righteousness is imparted to us. God receives us as He receives His own Son. Therefore we do not have to work for our salvation, it is a Divine gift, and Jesus gives us rest from that labor. - Come to Me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
That rest is foreshadowed in the fourth commandment. God commanded His people to rest on the seventh day, as God also rested after He finished creation (Genesis 2:2). Thus this scenario shows us God’s plan of redemption through the Messiah. In Jesus we rest from our own works and rely on His work for us. So the Gospel was preached to us in a form through the fourth commandment. There would be a rest from our works.
If we reject God’s plan of redemption and insist on working for our salvation, relying on our own efforts or flawed righteousness, then we are like the man who was found gather sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-35). This one blatantly disregarded God’s command to rest and he was put to death.
While the punishment may seem to us today as severe, the Lord was illustrating the fact that if His commandment to rest in the Messiah is not obeyed, the result will be death, for there is no other provision for the redemption of the soul apart from what God has ordained.
Therefore we can see why this rest, symbolized by the Sabbath, was emphasized with the plan of the tabernacle which foreshadowed the rest that is given us through the Messiah Jesus.
The Rock: Why Moses was not Allowed to enter the Promised Land
Moses was not allowed into the Promised Land for two reasons: he disobeyed God in a crucial scenario, and also because he represented the Old Covenant of the law.
Joshua led the people into the new land because he is used by God in this instance to be a type of the Messiah Jesus, who is the mediator of the new covenant. It is through Jesus that we can enter into the promised land of eternal life (John 3:16). Keeping this in mind, we can see that it is no coincidence that Moses changed Joshua’s name before he entered that land (Numbers 13:16). Joshua’s name was Oshea which means salvation. It was changed to Jehoshua, “the Lord is salvation,” which was the name of the future Messiah; Yehoshu'a in the Hebrew, Yeshu'a/Aramaic, Jesus, the English derivative from the Greek)
God used Moses’ disobedience to disqualify him. In this instance, Numbers 20:1-12, the people again needed water and were complaining. God told Moses to speak to the rock (verse 8). Moses allowed his anger at the people to override God’s command and Moses struck the rock with his staff, just as he did at mount Horeb (Exodus 17:1- 6). The water gushed out because of God’s mercy toward His thirsty people, but because Moses did not speak to the rock as he was instructed, God forbad him to enter the Promised Land.
The real sin here was that Moses’ disobedience marred the parable God was constructing in His word. In the first rock splitting incident, God told Moses to strike the rock. The rock itself represented the Messiah, who would be struck and wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5).
In the second incident Moses was told to speak to the rock instead of being told to strike it. This is because the Messiah would only be struck or crucified once, then after the atonement, we are to only call upon the Lord, or “speak to the rock” in order to receive salvation. We are saved by His grace and we cannot be justified by the law (Romans 3:20). This parable of the gospel was then disrupted by Moses, who as a representative of the law, symbolically could not speak to the rock in the dispensation he was under.
At the time poor Moses didn’t understand what he was designed to represent, and why his punishment was so severe, even though he begged God to forgive him and allow him to enter. He didn’t know he was part of a story that God was writing through the centuries and through the lives of the people that He had chosen to illustrate His plan of redemption for mankind.
I’m sure Moses understands now. And because of the Messiah Jesus, all those who have placed their faith in the sacrificed Lamb of God, will have the privilege of celebrating our salvation with Moses in the Promised land of eternal life.
Copyright 2020 by H. D. Shively