These Became Our Examples
Bible Study Time 2-4-07
Church links:
Bible Study Time 2-4-07
At the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus gave his disciples a cup of wine and said:
Matthew 26:27-28 (NKJ)
27 . . . "Drink from it, all of you.
28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
The New Covenant was not a temporary covenant like the Law of Moses, but it was to be an everlasting covenant. It was and is the covenant that will bring about the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abraham and all of God’s promises to David.
But in this statement that the Lord made at the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus was saying that He was about to shed the blood that was required for the ratification of the New Covenant.
When the Lord Jesus arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, He carried a portion of His own shed blood up into the temple in heaven. Then, functioning as the High Priest of heaven, He sprinkled His own blood upon the lid of the Arch of the Covenant to provide atonement for the sins of mankind. The book of Hebrews says:
Hebrews 8:1-6 (NKJ)
4 . . . there are (earthly) priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For (the Lord) said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
6 But now (Jesus Christ) has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is (the) Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Hebrews 9:11-12 (NKJ)
11 (For) Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands . . .
12 (And) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Hebrews 4:14 (NKJ)
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
As we read this, we see that the temple in heaven is the master design upon which Israel’s earthly tabernacle was based. Moses was instructed by the Lord to make all things according to the pattern that he was shown. Therefore, the earthly tabernacle was a copy, or shadow, of the temple in heaven.
The earthly tabernacle was a picture of the temple in heaven. The earthly priests were a picture of Jesus Christ, the High Priest of heaven. The blood of the animal sacrifices was a picture of the blood of Christ.
Some people wonder why God would single out Abraham and his descendants as the nation to whom He would give all of these pictures and shadows, and if we go back to the beginning, we see that Adam’s sin brought darkness to the heart of all men. As a result, man had no concern for the things of God. Genesis 6 says that by the time of the flood, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
After the flood, it wasn’t long before the men of the earth banded together to build the Tower of Babel. Men knew God, but they refused to glorify Him as God. Instead, they worked to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Mankind had no desire to learn about God, but God was determined to reveal to man the treasures that are available in heaven.
One day God appeared to a man who name was Abram. Abram was an idol worshipper just like everyone else from Ur of the Chaldeans, but God appeared to Abram and said:
Genesis 12:1-4 (NKJ)
1 . . . "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him . . .
Abram trusted the Lord and believed what the Lord said, and so Abram became the friend of God. God ultimately changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and because of his faith, Abraham was made righteous in the sight of God.
As a result, God chose Abraham and his descendants to be the people through whom He would reveal all of His secret, heavenly treasures. This did not mean that all of Abraham’s descendants were saved in the sense that they had faith in God like Abraham did. In I Corinthians, Chapter 10, Paul says
1 Corinthians 10:1-6 (NKJ)
1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,
2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
3 all ate the same spiritual food,
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
Here, Paul confirms that with most of the Old Testament Jews, God was not well pleased. They refused to believe in God in spite of the fact that God had demonstrated His saving power over and over again as He delivered them and provided for them. But Paul says that those Old Testament events were just as much for our benefit as they were for the benefit of the Jews. They were meant as examples for us.
The rock from which the Jews drank in the wilderness was a picture of Jesus Christ from whom we draw the living water of the Holy Spirit.
Paul said that the manna which came down from heaven was a picture of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus, Himself, taught that He was the bread of life which came down from heaven to give life to the world.
Paul said that the children of Israel were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea as they were delivered from Egypt, just as we are baptized into Christ for our ultimate redemption.
Therefore, the rituals of the Law and the contents of the tabernacle were pictures of heavenly things, but the events of the Old Testament were also pictures for us, and they were given to show exactly how a person can establish a relationship with God and gain access to the glorious riches of heaven.
When the blood of the Passover lamb was placed upon the doorpost in Egypt, that blood was a picture of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who was the Lamb of God. Those who did not have the blood of the lamb applied were sentenced to death, but those who had the blood applied, were delivered from the curse of death.
At that point, the Lamb had been slain, but the redemption came only to those who were willing to follow Moses and leave Egypt behind. Those who left with Moses were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Moses, in a sense, was the mediator between God and the children of Israel.
The faithful Jews who followed Moses, had to follow him right down into the bottom of the Red Sea, and they had to trust that God would bring them out the other side. They were baptized into Moses as he led them through the Red Sea. Only after this baptism could they say that they were really free from the bondage of Egypt and truly headed for the Promised Land.
These things were done as a picture for us. They served as a picture or foreshadowing of our salvation. Christ has shed His blood as the Passover Lamb, and He has sprinkled that blood upon the mercyseat in heaven, but no one can be saved by that blood until they are willing to be baptized into Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We must go down with Christ into the Rea Sea so to speak, and we must trust Christ to bring us up to victory on the other side through the power of the resurrection.
There are many people in our world today for whom Christ has shed His blood, but that blood can not be applied to their hearts because they are not willing to follow Christ in faith. Until they are willing to follow the Lord Jesus into His death, burial and resurrection, they will never be able to follow Christ to the Promised Land.
When the children of Israel came up out of the Red Sea, they were thrilled to see what God had done. They celebrated there on the eastern shores of the Red Sea, and they praised the Lord for what He had done, but their journey had only just begun. They still had many miles to travel before reaching the Promised Land.
As the children of Israel started their journey to the Promised Land, they soon discovered that it was not going to be an easy path. There were times when they were hungry and had no food. There times when they were thirsty and had no water. But God showed His love for them over and over again by providing for their every need.
Then three months after leaving Egypt, God led them to Mt. Sinai where He gave them the Law. He told them what He expected from them, and they agreed to live by all of God’s laws.
All of these events serve as a picture of our walk with the Lord after we are saved. There is no promise that we will have an easy path. In fact, we are told that there will be times of trial and tribulation, but we are also told that our God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
God provides for us, but He also calls us to live a holy life. After we are saved, and after God proves His love for us, He still leads us to the foot of Mt. Sinai in a sense. He still calls upon us to live a life that is dedicated to holiness. We are told that we once were dead in trespasses and sins, but now we have been made alive in Jesus Christ to demonstrate the workmanship of God, for we have been created unto good works.
Many people read the Law of Moses and say that one’s salvation and standing before God is determined by one’s ability to keep the Law. But if we look at the Law more closely, we see that eternal salvation is never promised in the Law. The Law merely promised financial prosperity, public health and victory over their enemies. There was no promise of eternal life.
But as we have seen, the events that surround the giving of the Law give us a very clear picture of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. We see that the Jews were granted a pardon from death when the blood was applied to the doorpost. Then, they were set free from Egyptian bondage when they were baptized into Moses in the Rea Sea. Only after this glorious redemption were the people given the Law. The Law was never pictured as a means of redemption.
Of course, this plan of redemption is exactly what Paul teaches us in Ephesians, Chapter 2, where he says:
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NKJ)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Good works can never bring redemption, but they do come as a result of redemption.
So, God gave the Law through the nation of Israel to reveal the glorious things of heaven. Then God gave the events of the Old Testament to reveal His plan of redemption, again through pictures and shadows.
But today, we no longer have any need for the pictures and shadows of the past. Today, we have the reality of Jesus Christ. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. In Colossians, Chapter 2, Paul speaks to us and says:
Colossians 2:16-17 (NKJ)
16 . . . let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or (any of the) sabbaths,
17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
All of the rituals and ceremonies of the Law were but a picture of Christ, but today we have the substance of Christ. All of the spiritual blessings that were promised and pictured in the Old Testament have now become a reality for us in Jesus Christ. We are seated in the heavenly temple with Christ at the right hand of the Father, and we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
After Israel was pardoned by the blood of the lamb in Egypt and redeemed by her baptism into Moses in the Red Sea, and after she was given the Law of God so that she would not be ignorant of God’s righteousness, after all of these things had taken place, Israel was taken right up to the Promised Land, but what did she do? Yes, you know what happened. Israel refused to go into the Promised Land. She didn’t have enough faith to go in and claim what God had given to her.
I’m afraid that many of us today, have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and we have dedicated ourselves to living good and decent lives, but we really need to take it a step further. We need to go ahead and take that step of faith and enter into the glorious blessings of God. Sometimes we are too afraid to let go and let God.
We still want to keep everything under our own control, and you know what? If we do that the problems around us will seem like giants. Giants that are too big for us to deal with. And they are. They are too big for us. But God has called us to walk by faith and not by sight. There is no problem that is too big for God. Only as we walk by faith can we really experience all of the blessings that God has in store for us. He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, if we just open our hearts to Him and walk by faith.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Matthew 26:27-28 (NKJ)
27 . . . "Drink from it, all of you.
28 "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
The New Covenant was not a temporary covenant like the Law of Moses, but it was to be an everlasting covenant. It was and is the covenant that will bring about the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to Abraham and all of God’s promises to David.
But in this statement that the Lord made at the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus was saying that He was about to shed the blood that was required for the ratification of the New Covenant.
When the Lord Jesus arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, He carried a portion of His own shed blood up into the temple in heaven. Then, functioning as the High Priest of heaven, He sprinkled His own blood upon the lid of the Arch of the Covenant to provide atonement for the sins of mankind. The book of Hebrews says:
Hebrews 8:1-6 (NKJ)
4 . . . there are (earthly) priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For (the Lord) said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
6 But now (Jesus Christ) has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is (the) Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Hebrews 9:11-12 (NKJ)
11 (For) Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands . . .
12 (And) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Hebrews 4:14 (NKJ)
14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
As we read this, we see that the temple in heaven is the master design upon which Israel’s earthly tabernacle was based. Moses was instructed by the Lord to make all things according to the pattern that he was shown. Therefore, the earthly tabernacle was a copy, or shadow, of the temple in heaven.
The earthly tabernacle was a picture of the temple in heaven. The earthly priests were a picture of Jesus Christ, the High Priest of heaven. The blood of the animal sacrifices was a picture of the blood of Christ.
Some people wonder why God would single out Abraham and his descendants as the nation to whom He would give all of these pictures and shadows, and if we go back to the beginning, we see that Adam’s sin brought darkness to the heart of all men. As a result, man had no concern for the things of God. Genesis 6 says that by the time of the flood, “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
After the flood, it wasn’t long before the men of the earth banded together to build the Tower of Babel. Men knew God, but they refused to glorify Him as God. Instead, they worked to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Mankind had no desire to learn about God, but God was determined to reveal to man the treasures that are available in heaven.
One day God appeared to a man who name was Abram. Abram was an idol worshipper just like everyone else from Ur of the Chaldeans, but God appeared to Abram and said:
Genesis 12:1-4 (NKJ)
1 . . . "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.
2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
4 So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him . . .
Abram trusted the Lord and believed what the Lord said, and so Abram became the friend of God. God ultimately changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and because of his faith, Abraham was made righteous in the sight of God.
As a result, God chose Abraham and his descendants to be the people through whom He would reveal all of His secret, heavenly treasures. This did not mean that all of Abraham’s descendants were saved in the sense that they had faith in God like Abraham did. In I Corinthians, Chapter 10, Paul says
1 Corinthians 10:1-6 (NKJ)
1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea,
2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
3 all ate the same spiritual food,
4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
Here, Paul confirms that with most of the Old Testament Jews, God was not well pleased. They refused to believe in God in spite of the fact that God had demonstrated His saving power over and over again as He delivered them and provided for them. But Paul says that those Old Testament events were just as much for our benefit as they were for the benefit of the Jews. They were meant as examples for us.
The rock from which the Jews drank in the wilderness was a picture of Jesus Christ from whom we draw the living water of the Holy Spirit.
Paul said that the manna which came down from heaven was a picture of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus, Himself, taught that He was the bread of life which came down from heaven to give life to the world.
Paul said that the children of Israel were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea as they were delivered from Egypt, just as we are baptized into Christ for our ultimate redemption.
Therefore, the rituals of the Law and the contents of the tabernacle were pictures of heavenly things, but the events of the Old Testament were also pictures for us, and they were given to show exactly how a person can establish a relationship with God and gain access to the glorious riches of heaven.
When the blood of the Passover lamb was placed upon the doorpost in Egypt, that blood was a picture of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who was the Lamb of God. Those who did not have the blood of the lamb applied were sentenced to death, but those who had the blood applied, were delivered from the curse of death.
At that point, the Lamb had been slain, but the redemption came only to those who were willing to follow Moses and leave Egypt behind. Those who left with Moses were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Moses, in a sense, was the mediator between God and the children of Israel.
The faithful Jews who followed Moses, had to follow him right down into the bottom of the Red Sea, and they had to trust that God would bring them out the other side. They were baptized into Moses as he led them through the Red Sea. Only after this baptism could they say that they were really free from the bondage of Egypt and truly headed for the Promised Land.
These things were done as a picture for us. They served as a picture or foreshadowing of our salvation. Christ has shed His blood as the Passover Lamb, and He has sprinkled that blood upon the mercyseat in heaven, but no one can be saved by that blood until they are willing to be baptized into Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We must go down with Christ into the Rea Sea so to speak, and we must trust Christ to bring us up to victory on the other side through the power of the resurrection.
There are many people in our world today for whom Christ has shed His blood, but that blood can not be applied to their hearts because they are not willing to follow Christ in faith. Until they are willing to follow the Lord Jesus into His death, burial and resurrection, they will never be able to follow Christ to the Promised Land.
When the children of Israel came up out of the Red Sea, they were thrilled to see what God had done. They celebrated there on the eastern shores of the Red Sea, and they praised the Lord for what He had done, but their journey had only just begun. They still had many miles to travel before reaching the Promised Land.
As the children of Israel started their journey to the Promised Land, they soon discovered that it was not going to be an easy path. There were times when they were hungry and had no food. There times when they were thirsty and had no water. But God showed His love for them over and over again by providing for their every need.
Then three months after leaving Egypt, God led them to Mt. Sinai where He gave them the Law. He told them what He expected from them, and they agreed to live by all of God’s laws.
All of these events serve as a picture of our walk with the Lord after we are saved. There is no promise that we will have an easy path. In fact, we are told that there will be times of trial and tribulation, but we are also told that our God will supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
God provides for us, but He also calls us to live a holy life. After we are saved, and after God proves His love for us, He still leads us to the foot of Mt. Sinai in a sense. He still calls upon us to live a life that is dedicated to holiness. We are told that we once were dead in trespasses and sins, but now we have been made alive in Jesus Christ to demonstrate the workmanship of God, for we have been created unto good works.
Many people read the Law of Moses and say that one’s salvation and standing before God is determined by one’s ability to keep the Law. But if we look at the Law more closely, we see that eternal salvation is never promised in the Law. The Law merely promised financial prosperity, public health and victory over their enemies. There was no promise of eternal life.
But as we have seen, the events that surround the giving of the Law give us a very clear picture of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. We see that the Jews were granted a pardon from death when the blood was applied to the doorpost. Then, they were set free from Egyptian bondage when they were baptized into Moses in the Rea Sea. Only after this glorious redemption were the people given the Law. The Law was never pictured as a means of redemption.
Of course, this plan of redemption is exactly what Paul teaches us in Ephesians, Chapter 2, where he says:
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NKJ)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Good works can never bring redemption, but they do come as a result of redemption.
So, God gave the Law through the nation of Israel to reveal the glorious things of heaven. Then God gave the events of the Old Testament to reveal His plan of redemption, again through pictures and shadows.
But today, we no longer have any need for the pictures and shadows of the past. Today, we have the reality of Jesus Christ. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. In Colossians, Chapter 2, Paul speaks to us and says:
Colossians 2:16-17 (NKJ)
16 . . . let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or (any of the) sabbaths,
17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
All of the rituals and ceremonies of the Law were but a picture of Christ, but today we have the substance of Christ. All of the spiritual blessings that were promised and pictured in the Old Testament have now become a reality for us in Jesus Christ. We are seated in the heavenly temple with Christ at the right hand of the Father, and we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
After Israel was pardoned by the blood of the lamb in Egypt and redeemed by her baptism into Moses in the Red Sea, and after she was given the Law of God so that she would not be ignorant of God’s righteousness, after all of these things had taken place, Israel was taken right up to the Promised Land, but what did she do? Yes, you know what happened. Israel refused to go into the Promised Land. She didn’t have enough faith to go in and claim what God had given to her.
I’m afraid that many of us today, have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, and we have dedicated ourselves to living good and decent lives, but we really need to take it a step further. We need to go ahead and take that step of faith and enter into the glorious blessings of God. Sometimes we are too afraid to let go and let God.
We still want to keep everything under our own control, and you know what? If we do that the problems around us will seem like giants. Giants that are too big for us to deal with. And they are. They are too big for us. But God has called us to walk by faith and not by sight. There is no problem that is too big for God. Only as we walk by faith can we really experience all of the blessings that God has in store for us. He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, if we just open our hearts to Him and walk by faith.
Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning. I’ll look forward to being with you again next week at this same time.
Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com
Church links:
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