Friday 19 February 2010

Essence of Christianity : Shadows of old covenant fulfilled in the new

The Old Testament, was a shadow of the things which were to come in the New Covenant we have with Christ. Dr. Lynn Hiles "The Revelation of Jesus Christ : an open letter to the church from a modern perspective of the book of revelations" describes these shadows beautifullyIn Heb 10:7b the Scriptures tells us "In the volumes of the book it is written of Me...", talking about Jesus. All through scripture we see JesusHe is the beginning, "first fruit" (see strongs #7225) in Genesis 1:1, Col 1:16, John 1:1-3.In Genesis 4, we see another picture of Him, in the "first fruit" lamb offered by Abel.His picture is seen in the ark of Noah, the pitch is the blood that covers, He is the vehicle through which the Father rescues us out of the old world. Through water baptism, we identify ourselves with His death.His picture is seen when Isaac was rescued from death by the male lamb provided by God.His picture is seen when the Lamb's blood was placed on the doors of the Israelites in Exodus, and when they were baptized in the Red Sea (1Cor 10:2)50 Days after receiving the law on Mount Sinai, 3000 people died. 50 days after the true Lamb was sacrificed 3000 people were given new life on day of Pentecost. The Old Covenant letter kills, but the Spirit gives life to us in the New Covenant (Dr. Lynn Hiles "The Revelation of Jesus Christ : an open letter to the church from a modern perspective of the book of revelations", 2007, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc. ISBN 13: 978-0-7684-2435-5)He is the Rock from which we drink living water (Numbers 20:8,Deutr 32:4, 1 Cor 10:4, John 6:35)He is the bread from Heaven (Deutr 8:3, John 6:35, 41)The tree of the cross took away our bitterness (Exodus 15:23-25)
Jesus is our Jubilee. The cross is the gate to Paradise. It is the way back to the garden of God. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). Not just a portion of it. Not just a segment of it. But He is it. In Him we have everything.Jesus is symbolized by the Tree of life spoken of in Rev 22: 1-3 "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on every side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.""On the cross, in the garden, Jesus once again spoiled principalities. He beat the enemy on his own turf. He took back that which rightfully belonged to Him. He not only spoiled principalities on the cross, but He also took an old creation down into death." "In this last garden (Rev 22) there is no mention of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and there is not a hint of the serpent's presence in this new place. In this new place, there is a river flowing out of a slain Lamb and the tree of life, whose leaves are used for the healing of the nations. This is a perfect picture of Jesus Christ. He said that He was the true vine of God...and we are the branches. The revelation of the work of the cross of Jesus Christ will restore us back into this paradise of God. It puts us back in a finished work with dominion." Dr. Lynn Hiles.
All the feasts were pointing to Christ. The Sabbath were pointing to a place of eternal rest in Him. The priests were pointing to Jesus, who are our only mediator with God now. The journey of the Israelites represents our journey as Christians, out from Egypt as slaves (out from the world as slaves to sin) through the waters of the Red sea (through the waters of baptism, being buried with Christ and rising up in a new life with Him) and daily lead by the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night (representing the Holy Spirit’s leading of the believer daily). We go through a desert place first, where Egypt are being taken out of us, and in the dryness we get to know Him and change our rebellious ways. When we are ready, we may proceed to enter into the promised land, our promised land, the inheritance that God has for every believer and also for the Church. There we will find many enemies to overcome. There we will find seven enemies, which are the seven spirits of evil, opposing the seven spirits of God. Shamah-elim gives a beautiful description of these seven enemies that each believer need to overcome in their lives
Jesus was the lamb of God that presented Himself to be inspected in Matthew 27:11-24
Participating in Holy Communion is the celebration of the New Covenant. It is not a covenant of physical circumcision, but of a circumcision of the heart, of the innermost being.
Mephiboseth’s story is another beautiful biblical story, illustrating the wonderful New Covenant which Christ Jesus has sealed with His precious blood. Please refer to the following link for more about the shadow type of Mephiboseth
For more about the new Covenant, see: “What is the New Covenant”,

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