Jesus The True And Better
Most people are familiar with the Bible's opening line, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." From this verse we must recognize that before there was a beginning, God was. Clearly God could not have created something "in the beginning" if He was not already preexisting. John picks this theme up for us in the intro to his gospel. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John unfolds for us that this Word is the preexisting God come in the flesh as the God-man Jesus. John continues that everything was made "through" Him and, as the Genesis narrative continues to unfold the story of the creation account, we see that Adam was the crowning achievement of God's creation.
Adam was created in perfection in the Garden of Eden and God told him to be fruitful and multiply by having dominion over the whole earth. The image is of Adam and Even expanding the perfection of the Garden to the ends of the earth with their descendants. The Garden was paradise and would remain so as long as Adam was faithful to obey the command of God concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Though Adam did not have a sin nature as we do today, he failed the Garden test and ate from the forbidden tree. God removed him from the Garden and the entrance to it was guarded by the angels with the flaming swords.
God cursed the ground so that the man would have to work and toil to reap from it and his wife would have great pain with childbirth. But, one day she would have a future Son that would come and crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent would bruise His heel.
The rest of the Bible teaches us that God is eternally existing and perfect in every way, and He certainly didn't need to create anything. Because God is Father, Son and Spirit (triune), they had perfect community among themselves, but God decided to create man to bring us into this perfect community that He already enjoyed. Yet, due to Adam's failure to live up to the perfect standard of God's holiness, he was now stained by sin and unable to be in God's presence. Adam had to wait for the promised descendant that would crush the head of the serpent.
Later God chose Abraham and made his descendants a great nation - Israel. God now narrowed the original promise of the future Son of Adam to be a descendant of Abraham. God promised Abraham that his descendant or seed would be a blessing to all nations. Paul shows us the dual imagery of this prophecy in Galatians 3, revealing that the true seed was Jesus. Though Israel was to be a blessing to all nations, it was Jesus who was the true and better blessing by living the perfect life for us and then dying for us.
As with Adam, Israel was given an amazing piece of land which they were to cultivate, have dominion over and expand the boarders by being a "kingdom of priests" to all nations. But before they came to this land they were delivered from their bondage in Egypt. God sent them a 'deliverer' - Moses - and God, through many miracles, saved them from their oppressors.
God brought them to the boarder of the Promise Land and told them that He would give them this land, but 10 of the 12 spies returned with reports of fear, so Israel was made to wander the desert for 40 years while the adult generation died off and only the children were allowed to enter the Promise Land. Finally, upon entering the Promise Land they were continually blessed as God gave their enemies into their hands. As long as they remained faithful and obeyed Him, He continued to drive out the nations before them. Though they were never able to keep their covenant promises to God, He was patient with them and pleaded with them to obey.
Just as God made Adam and called him to have dominion and to expand the perfection of the Garden around the world, God later chose Abraham and Israel bringing them into their own 'Garden' the Promise Land and called them to trust and obey Him and to be a light to the other nations. To both, God had promised that one day a Deliverer would come, another Son of Adam. When this Son came He was baptized and the voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" and then immediately after He would also head into the wilderness to face a trial. Except, where Israel had failed their trial in the wilderness, Jesus did not. He overcame the devil's temptations saying, "Man cannot live on bread alone but by every word of God."
Later this same Son of Adam would also pass the 'Garden' test as He cried out to the Father, "If there be any way to let this cup pass from me, but not my will but Thy will be done." Whereas, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose their will over God's will, Jesus, the true and better Adam, obeyed the Father's will and crushed the head of the serpent with His death and resurrection. Adam was banned from the Garden by the penalty of the flaming sword, but Jesus took the penalty of the sword being cut off for us.
With His death and resurrection, He freed us from our bondage to sin and death that would claim our eternity. Just as Moses displayed the power of God with many miracles, Jesus came healing the sick, making the lame walk and the blind to see. Casting out demons Jesus demonstrates His power over the kingdom of darkness. Whereas, a lamb was sacrificed and the blood applied to the door so that death would 'pass over,' Jesus Himself was our sacrificial lamb. The Lamb of God that came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus is the true and better Moses, the true Deliverer that saved us from the true enemy, by living and obeying the perfect standard of the law in our place.
While this is a far too brief look at the "Centrality of Christ" found in the Scriptures, I hope that you have been amazed at how these stories point us to Jesus, the true and better. Every page of the Bible whispers His name, calling us to see that He is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega. Jesus claimed to be the centerpiece of the Bible in Luke 24:44-45 - "Then He said to them, 'these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures."
I pray that our response will be like that of the disciples, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?"
Adam was created in perfection in the Garden of Eden and God told him to be fruitful and multiply by having dominion over the whole earth. The image is of Adam and Even expanding the perfection of the Garden to the ends of the earth with their descendants. The Garden was paradise and would remain so as long as Adam was faithful to obey the command of God concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Though Adam did not have a sin nature as we do today, he failed the Garden test and ate from the forbidden tree. God removed him from the Garden and the entrance to it was guarded by the angels with the flaming swords.
God cursed the ground so that the man would have to work and toil to reap from it and his wife would have great pain with childbirth. But, one day she would have a future Son that would come and crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent would bruise His heel.
The rest of the Bible teaches us that God is eternally existing and perfect in every way, and He certainly didn't need to create anything. Because God is Father, Son and Spirit (triune), they had perfect community among themselves, but God decided to create man to bring us into this perfect community that He already enjoyed. Yet, due to Adam's failure to live up to the perfect standard of God's holiness, he was now stained by sin and unable to be in God's presence. Adam had to wait for the promised descendant that would crush the head of the serpent.
Later God chose Abraham and made his descendants a great nation - Israel. God now narrowed the original promise of the future Son of Adam to be a descendant of Abraham. God promised Abraham that his descendant or seed would be a blessing to all nations. Paul shows us the dual imagery of this prophecy in Galatians 3, revealing that the true seed was Jesus. Though Israel was to be a blessing to all nations, it was Jesus who was the true and better blessing by living the perfect life for us and then dying for us.
As with Adam, Israel was given an amazing piece of land which they were to cultivate, have dominion over and expand the boarders by being a "kingdom of priests" to all nations. But before they came to this land they were delivered from their bondage in Egypt. God sent them a 'deliverer' - Moses - and God, through many miracles, saved them from their oppressors.
God brought them to the boarder of the Promise Land and told them that He would give them this land, but 10 of the 12 spies returned with reports of fear, so Israel was made to wander the desert for 40 years while the adult generation died off and only the children were allowed to enter the Promise Land. Finally, upon entering the Promise Land they were continually blessed as God gave their enemies into their hands. As long as they remained faithful and obeyed Him, He continued to drive out the nations before them. Though they were never able to keep their covenant promises to God, He was patient with them and pleaded with them to obey.
Just as God made Adam and called him to have dominion and to expand the perfection of the Garden around the world, God later chose Abraham and Israel bringing them into their own 'Garden' the Promise Land and called them to trust and obey Him and to be a light to the other nations. To both, God had promised that one day a Deliverer would come, another Son of Adam. When this Son came He was baptized and the voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" and then immediately after He would also head into the wilderness to face a trial. Except, where Israel had failed their trial in the wilderness, Jesus did not. He overcame the devil's temptations saying, "Man cannot live on bread alone but by every word of God."
Later this same Son of Adam would also pass the 'Garden' test as He cried out to the Father, "If there be any way to let this cup pass from me, but not my will but Thy will be done." Whereas, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose their will over God's will, Jesus, the true and better Adam, obeyed the Father's will and crushed the head of the serpent with His death and resurrection. Adam was banned from the Garden by the penalty of the flaming sword, but Jesus took the penalty of the sword being cut off for us.
With His death and resurrection, He freed us from our bondage to sin and death that would claim our eternity. Just as Moses displayed the power of God with many miracles, Jesus came healing the sick, making the lame walk and the blind to see. Casting out demons Jesus demonstrates His power over the kingdom of darkness. Whereas, a lamb was sacrificed and the blood applied to the door so that death would 'pass over,' Jesus Himself was our sacrificial lamb. The Lamb of God that came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus is the true and better Moses, the true Deliverer that saved us from the true enemy, by living and obeying the perfect standard of the law in our place.
While this is a far too brief look at the "Centrality of Christ" found in the Scriptures, I hope that you have been amazed at how these stories point us to Jesus, the true and better. Every page of the Bible whispers His name, calling us to see that He is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega. Jesus claimed to be the centerpiece of the Bible in Luke 24:44-45 - "Then He said to them, 'these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures."
I pray that our response will be like that of the disciples, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?"
Very interesting: the part where you talk about Adam choosing his will over God's will and then Jesus choosing God's will over his own will. You read the "please, if this doesn't have to happen, spare me" line and I kind of at first went "huh? Jesus, you have to know what the deal is." But he did EXACTLY what God knew he would do, front to back cover. There is so much in the O.T. that makes me wonder what the meaning is of a passage. Or it goes against what I want God to be. But I agree with you, even before I read this, that it all points to Jesus. I just really struggle with some of the stuff, like where God seems to be using people and races and taking away their free will to achieve his ends.
ReplyDeleteHey bro, thanks for the comment. The thing to remember is that God never takes away our responsibility or forces evil on us. James says God cannot even tempt us to evil. Rather God sovereignly knows and uses our freely chosen sinful actions and works them out for the good. The OT can be intimidating and confusing, so we must measurebit by God's goodness and sovereignty.
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