It’s all about Redemption

I am doing a really good study on the History of Redemption.  Even though I am maybe a fourth of the way thru it, it is one of the more informative studies I have done.  I’d like to bring up a few points the author, Dave Shirley, makes.

We all know that there are many types in the Old Testament.  By that I mean that there are many things that happened that point to years down the road when Jesus Christ is born.  There are many that we think about.  Let’s look at just a few.

I love how rich the Bible is in details.  Have you ever wondered why a certain part of Scripture is in the Bible?  Maybe it’s just something that seems innocent enough, but all of a sudden when you read it again and you go, Wow!  How come I’ve never put that together before? I love it when that happens.  God is using that particular Scripture to bring me to a truth I need at that moment.

In the History of Redemption, it shows how every word, every deed, ultimately points to Christ.  When God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, He did it by putting His (G0d’s) name in the middle.  He called Abraham to come up out of Egypt.  Do you think it’s a mere coincidence that Jesus was brought up out of Egypt?  (Remember right after His birth His parents fled to Egypt to protect Him.)  What does Egypt stand for?  It stands for the world.  Abraham was called out of the world to be separate unto God.  Jesus was called out of the world to be the Perfect Sacrifice for our sins.  We as Christians are called out of the world to live a holy life, one set apart from the temptations of this world.

Why do you think Moses was not allowed to enter into the Promised Land?  When you read the book of Numbers you see that Jesus is the Smitten Rock.  Moses was told very clearly how to get water from the rock, but in his anger he struck the rock not once, but twice.  It brought to my mind that Moses was simply to point the people to God’s provision, just as now Christ is our Living Water.  But the sin was when Moses took it upon himself to give the people water.  Just as we today sin when God calls us to do a work for Him but we do it under our own power, then ask God to bless it.

Circumcision was the outward sign of belonging to God.  Today we are to have our hearts circumcised to peel away all the layers of the world and stand as the called out Christians we should be.

Ishmael is a type of the flesh.  Abraham and Sarah had been told by God 14 years earlier that He was going to make Abraham the father of a nation.  Abraham waited and waited, then listened to Sarah and took matters into his own hands by having Ishmael not with Sarah but her maid Hagar.  You and I never get ahead of God do we?  Yeah, right.  Christ, on the other hand, is a type of Isaac, God’s promised provision.

Look at Boaz and Ruth.  Boaz is a type of Christ purchasing His gentile bride, us.  And Ruth shows us the devotion and dedication that we are to have to Christ.

And let’s look at the way the children were to cross over into the Promised Land.  God told them to stay about 1/2 mile behind the Ark, didn’t He?  They were to watch where the Ark went and follow it.  Doesn’t this point to how we are to be?  We should never get ahead of Christ.  We should simply follow where He leads and go where He goes.

There is so much more I could list here.  There is so much to absorb.  I really get so excited about studying God’s Word.  But I’ll stop here for now.  Perhaps as I move further into this study I’ll be back to share more. 

I’d love you to do this study yourselves.  Simply go to www.blbi.org and register.  There you can pick numerous studies.  I have also done the one on The History and Authenticity of the Bible.  Wow!  Words can’t express how much I got out of that one.  So please, if you’re looking for a scripturally sound bible study, look into these.  You are able to download the text books for each study, and everything is free.  (To put this into perseptive, I printed out the text book for The History of Redemption and it’s 498 pages long.)

I will leave you with these bits of information.  Ask God to reveal to you truth.  Don’t believe it just because I say it’s true.  Always make the decision on your own studies and on what Christ and the Holy Spirit reveal to you.   If we all do this, there would never be any conflicts over the interpretation of the Bible, would there?  After all, God can not lie.

Go through this study.  Then come back and share with us what you discover, what God uses to show you where you need to change, where we all need to change.  I look forward to hearing from you.  Until then, spend some time and …. think about it.