Seeing the Big Picture: A Christian’S Guide to the Old Testament

By Dr Alastair T. Ferrie

To many Christians the Old Testament is a mysterious document, a treasure hidden in the dust of antiquity. It is historical, it tells the story of ancient Israel but has it anything to do with me? Seeing the Big Picture is the story of one mans voyage of discovery. The Bible as a whole is the dramatic story of redemption, which comes to a climax in the New Testament. In every book of the Old Testament the theme of the coming of Christ is there, burning brightly like a lamp in the darkness, heralding the day when the glory of the Christ would burst majestically forth. Suddenly I saw that this was truly one story. It was almost as if someone had turned a light on. I could see things much more clearly and so many aspects of the New Testament study were brought into such clear focus that I understood as never before.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781475954401

Dr Alastair T. Ferrie

Alastair Ferrie is a Physics graduate, but soon after graduating decided to devote his life to sharing the story of Amazing Jesus with others. He has been a full time evangelist for 40 years in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee (Scotland). He has preached in several states of the USA, as well as several European countries and Australia. He has devoted his life to sharing the good news and helping new Christians take their first tentative steps in the footprints of Jesus. Whether speaking to a crowded auditorium or one on one, he is equally comfortable talking about Amazing Jesus. He has worked with one church which grew substantially and two congregations which doubled in size during his ministry with them, as others caught the enthusiasm for Jesus of Nazareth. Alastair has Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the University of Stirling.

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PROLOGUE

Congratulations! The mere fact that you have picked up this volume says volumes about you. Trying to understand the Bible is one of the most fulfilling, thrilling, challenging, difficult, confusing, captivating activities you will ever engage in.

The Bible is truly the world’s most amazing book. Most of it can be understood by a young child. And some of it stretches the scholarship, learned study and imagination of the world’s greatest experts. After more than thirty years of studying it, I am always amazed to find myself learning something new every time I meditate upon it. It is a voyage of discovery for every Christian.

It is difficult to imagine a more ignorant Christian than I was when on January 21st 1968 when I put on the Lord Jesus Christ in baptism. This was a very honest act of obedience to the gospel call. I had been searching for God after all for several months before I finally acceded to the call to put the Lord on. But surely you could write the sum total of my knowledge of the Scriptures on the back of a postage stamp. I knew certain things without any shadow of doubt:

• I knew that God loved me. I don’t know why, but He did and He does.

• I knew that Christ died for me. That was even more baffling, but He did.

• I knew that on the basis of His sacrifice I was being redeemed from the consequences and guilt of my sin and set before God in a righteousness not my own.

• I did not know what God wanted of me, but I knew this; whatever that was, I was going to do it.

And thus my pilgrimage began. I learned very early that if I wanted to understand more and grow in my faith I needed to learn more about the Bible. The Bible was God’s communication with me and I needed to listen more. When you are extremely ignorant as I was, then it is good to open your ears and close your mouth and listen.

So I attended every Bible class I could find, every ad hoc Bible discussion group going on in our church, and I devoted several evenings a week into studying and learning what God was saying in His word.

I learned that the Bible is a very big book, and it is not always easy to navigate your way around it if you don’t know anything. I also learned pretty quickly that other more mature Christians round about me had devoted a lifetime to studying the Word and they were still learning. In fact, when you are fortunate enough to sit at the feet of a spiritual giant, you learn that even the giants are also still studying and still learning.

So congratulations in having the interest to pick up this volume. You have entered into a lifetime study of the Word of God. It will help you to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The more that you feed on the Word, the closer you will be drawn to Christ and the Heavenly Father. There are rich dividends to be gained by your study. It will change you. It will strengthen you. It will make you more spiritual. It will draw you closer to the Father in heaven.

But when you start out on the journey, the Bible seems daunting, containing many things that are difficult to understand. You do not start out with a proper understanding of how the Bible is made up, or how each part relates to the rest. This places you at a disadvantage.

In fact the Bible is not one book, but a library of 66 different books. Each writer is inspired by the Holy Spirit to record the unfolding drama of our redemption.

¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17.

²⁰ First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, ²¹ because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Pet 1:20-21.

Hence, when we are reading the Bible, we are reading no ordinary book. We are reading a record of God’s dealings with man and God’s holy purpose in redeeming man whom He had created.

In the beginning of my pilgrimage as a Christian I largely ignored the Old Testament. Of course there was much for me to learn and it seemed that the New Testament would be my all-consuming passion. I studied all I could, and learned all I could about the Messiah-King. The gospels built up my faith as nothing else could and the epistles challenged me to learn more and apply more of the Lord’s teaching.

There were passages I couldn’t understand too well because they made reference to Old Testament practices and passages. The Book of Hebrews was somewhat mysterious and beyond my comprehension. One old preacher referred to Hebrews as the hinge of the Bible and I did not understand that statement at all, at least not at the time. I believed in Jesus with all of my heart, the rest would have to wait.

After some years I realized that I was ignoring two thirds of the Bible. The startling conclusion that I had to come to was that I had been given all those pages for a reason. They had some purpose, not just to make my Bible heavier to carry around. By this time I had entered into ministry, a ministry of preaching and teaching the Word of God. I had read much of the Old Testament but still focused my ministry on the New. I had managed to pick up some books which were helpful . . . New Bible Commentary (surely one of the best one volume commentaries available), New Bible Dictionary (helpful in lots of circumstances), The Analyzed Bible by G. Campbell Morgan, Halley’s Bible Handbook, and a few others. However I made a decision. That if I was to teach the Old Testament, which is the Word of God, then it was necessary that I prayerfully read it and meditate upon it first.

I set myself that task that I would teach it, one book a week, and that I would discipline myself to read the book during the week, make all my notes upon it before consulting any help book. I wanted to confront myself with the text. I wrote down every term I did not understand, every verse or passage which puzzled me, and every lesson that thrilled me or challenged me. Then I proceeded to the help books to clear up the things I could not understand.

• I had no idea what the big picture was.

• I had no idea I would learn so much.

• I had no idea how much my understanding of the New Testament would be enhanced.

• I had no idea that my faith would be helped so much.

I was amazed at how much I learned and for the first time in my Christian life I began to feel that I had some understanding of that mysterious section of the Scriptures called the Old Testament.

As I studied I began to build up the sheet of paper that I have called Appendix One which immediately follows this statement. I had begun to build up a chronological picture of the Old Testament for the first time. I began to see how all of these stories fitted together. They were not just a collection of stories but they fitted into a time line and an overall picture of the story of redemption, which would come to its climax in the New Testament. This was truly one story. It was almost as if someone had turned the light on. Suddenly I could see things much more clearly . . . and so many aspects of New Testament study were brought into such clear focus that I understood as never before. Not that I am claiming that I have nothing left to learn. The Bible is truly a multilevel book and the more that you learn the more you realize that you have much left to learn.

However suddenly I had an overview. I had found the lid of the jigsaw box and things were starting to make a lot more sense than they ever had before. I have taught the series again a few times since then and every time I do I learn more. Every time I read through the pages I see something I never saw the last time and each little piece of understanding, every new light of revelation brings a clearer vision of the unfolding drama of God’s redemptive plan for me. Centuries of preparation and intervention have gone into His marvellous plan which culminated in my redemption in Christ. Oh what majesty in His grace!

Lately as I have meditated on these things, that which was plainly obvious to anyone with any sense finally penetrated home. The whole story of the Scriptures is really all about the Christ. From the time of the fall in Genesis 3, we see God’s loving plan to bring about my redemption in Christ Jesus. Jesus is there in the very beginning . . . from the creative acts of Genesis chapter one . . . through the history of Israel and God’s dealings with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob . . . it is clear that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is indeed the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It all points to Jesus. From Genesis to Malachi, it all points to Jesus and Jesus is the theme.

How simple!

How obvious!

And yet it took me years to realize it.

It is all about Jesus, start to finish. Perhaps there are two main things which I hope will make this volume useful to you. The first is that which immediately follows. The Old testament Mind Map gives an overview of the whole of the Old Testament story and shows how all of the Old Testament books fit into this picture. If you would keep this before you it will help you to understand the chronology of each book, i.e. how it fits into the big picture. The second is to see how the big picture of Jesus in every book, is the recurring theme that runs through the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures.

When the gospel was preached in the very beginning of the church (from Acts ch. 2), there were no New Testament Scriptures written. What material did Paul use when he stood up to preach in synagogues all over the Roman Empire?

¹⁰ The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea; and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Acts 17:10-11.

There can be little doubt that Paul presented the Christ as represented in the Old Testament Scriptures, showing how Jesus fulfilled every Old Testament prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah.

¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it ¹⁵ and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17.

What Scriptures were familiar to Timothy from his youth? These of course must be the Old Testament Scriptures, and these, says Paul are inspired of God and hence profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.

When Philip preached the gospel to the Ethiopian in Acts 8, the Ethiopian had been reading from Isaiah the prophet and when met by Philip inquired of him whether the prophet was speaking of himself or someone else. He needed someone to explain the Scriptures to him. Philip began with that self same Scripture and told him the good news of Jesus.

It should not surprise us then that Christ is the central theme of the Old and New Testaments.

The more we understand the Old Testament, the more we can appreciate the New. The message of the Old concerning the coming Messiah can only deepen our understanding of and appreciation for the Messiah who came.

• To us He is the prophet who was promised, a prophet like Moses (Deut 18).

• To us He is the promised King whose kingdom is eternal and shall never be destroyed (Dan 2).

• To us He is the Passover Lamb through whom we are redeemed from the slavery to sin (Ex 12).

• To us he is the scapegoat, who takes our sins far away from our camp (Lev 16)

• To us He is our great High Priest who has passed through the heavens into that most Holy Place, made without hands, there to present His own blood as the perfect sacrifice for sins (Heb 4:14-16).

This list could go on and on. The more that we populate this list, the deeper is our appreciation for Jesus who is all of these things for us.

This book will not solve all the difficult passages of the Bible, but it will seek to introduce you to each book of the Old Testament and help you to understand more about it. Who wrote it? When? What is it about? What are the main themes? What did God want me to get out of reading this book? For many Christians this is a quite pressing need for there is a tendency to regard the Old Testament as history only and the New Testament as the main focus of our attention for today. Whereas there is an element of truth in that statement, we must realize that a proper appreciation for the message of the Old Testament deepens and enriches our understanding of the New beyond comparison. You should not read this book instead of the Bible! The Bible is the source book of the wisdom and majesty of God. Use this humble volume to stimulate you into reading the Word of God, and perhaps help you to put each book into some kind of context as you read through.

My suggestion is that you should attempt to read the Bible one book a week and use the appropriate chapter in this volume to help you in your reading. Some of you may use this book as a guide in a group Bible study. At the end of the chapter there are questions which come out of reading the book of the Bible to which the chapter refers. That being the case, it may be more useful to have the questions at the beginning of the next session so that each member has a chance to read the text of the Bible first. In attempting to read one book of the Bible per week, this may be challenging especially when a longer book is in view. To some that may seem like a tall order. But I know that is not the case with you. Because you have been thrilled to respond to the gospel call of Jesus, you have a great motivation to study and learn the Book of books, inspired by the Lord of lords, to lead the life of lives.

One of the things that caused me greatest confusion in those early days was that I had no overview of the Old Testament. There was no mind map of how the whole thing fitted together. It took me years to gather this perspective on the Old Testament and it became clear to me that I would never have had any real appreciation for or understanding of the Old Testament until I saw the big picture, how it all fitted together.

Perhaps the following modern parable may assist us to see the point more clearly. A certain man went into a junk shop one day and found a bag which contained every piece of a 5000 piece jigsaw. A label on the bag assured him that every piece had been counted and verified and was guaranteed to be present. The whole assembly was priced at a dollar. This seemed like a very good buy so he made the purchase and took it home. Of course, the task was immediately found to be very difficult because one thing was missing. He did not have the lid of the box. There was no big picture to follow to see how everything fitted together.

It seems to me that this is the experience of many Christians. They go to church every week and hear a sermon on Acts of the Apostles one week, the prophet Jonah the next, of the thrilling story of the Exodus the week after . . . . And each week they learn how to fit 6-8 pieces of the jigsaw together. But the whole process is somewhat mesmerizing because they do not have the big picture to see how the stories relate to each other and to the whole. The sermons are still helpful. It is very satisfying when we see those six or eight pieces of the jigsaw fitting together . . . but essentially there is still something missing. It can take many faithful years of attending and listening attentively before we build a big picture. It is like trying to do the jigsaw blindfold or without the aid of the box.

Building your own Systematic Theology.

This heading sounds quite technical and something for the theologian and not for the humble disciple. But essentially it is not technical, or need not be . . . it is a practical step we all need to take as Christians. For Systematic Theology substitute the words Big Picture, and we are getting to the heart of what I mean. Naturally whatever theology we develop has to be in agreement with the revealed Word, and perhaps the newer Christian will need a little help here.. but what we are discussing need not be rocket science. Let me give a couple of illustrations which I think will help us to see it more clearly.

Story of Israel Picture

One possible way of looking at the Scriptures is to see it as the story of Israel. This is evident from our reading of the Old Testament. God chose Abraham for his great faith and from the descendants of Abraham formed a nation who would be given a land and become numerous, and from that nation He would send forth His Son which would lead to blessing for every family on earth. But what about the New Testament? We can regard the New Testament as the formation of the New Israel of God. Those of us who are born again are born into a new spiritual nation . . . born of the water and the spirit and formed into a special people for God.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. 1 Pet 2:9-10.

We who were no nation have become the nation of God, the new Israel of God. So one way of analyzing the story of Scripture is to see it as the unfolding story of God’s nation, physical and now spiritual. This becomes the lid of our box and a way of integrating the message of the whole Bible.

Story of Redemption Picture

Another alternative is to see the story of Scripture as the story of Redemption. In my last book¹, I make special reference to this approach and referring to it as a Christian World-view. I outline a five stage platform for a Christian worldview.

1. Creation.

2. Fall.

3. Redemption.

4. Sanctification.

5. Glorification.

We may see ourselves as somewhere in this great divine process. And we may see the whole story of the Bible as portraying this story. The Christian narrative says that I am made in the image of a holy God. We are created in the image of a God that defines morality. Morality is defined in terms of His character. To be moral is to be like deity. And I am created in order to be like Him, made in His image. Thus I am more than the product of blind chance and natural selection.

The principles which are involved in an evolutionary worldview must by definition be amoral. In this view there can be no objective morality. Morality is merely that which assists me to survive and leave my gene legacy. But the Christian view is in sharp contrast to this. I am made to be like God. God is moral and defines morality. This says something about who I am, and the kind of being that I am. It separates me from the rest of creation, and sets me on a pedestal. God has made me. And humankind alone is created in His image. We are moral beings with moral choice. We are free moral agents to choose to do good or evil.

Creation defines where I have come from. It defines who I am. It defines where I am. And it defines where I am going. Hence in this creation narrative we can define origin, identity, location and objective.

The Biblical story is further defined by the events of Genesis chapter three. Then came the fall. Man rebelled against this heavenly perspective. God took the riskiest course of action, He created man with the ability to choose good or evil, to choose to follow Him or reject His ways and pursue wrong choices.

All of us who are parents live with this scenario every day. This is what makes parenthood scary, and all the more so as we witness our children growing towards adulthood. No matter how much we would like to program our children into always making right choices we know that it cannot be done. For, the child is growing up in the image of a God, who is a free moral agent. They are growing up in a fallen world with all kinds of influences. We hope to influence our children to make right choices but deep down we know that we cannot make these choices for them. They must make their own choices. The Bible tells the story of men making choices and culminates with the ultimate choice we may have to exercise . . . fallen man is delivered by the powerful gospel of Christ which calls him from his fallen state and lifts him up out of the miry clay, setting his feet upon a rock and establishing his way (Psa 40:1-3).

"I’ve been redeemed, by the blood of the Lamb, sings the Christian in a rapturous outpouring of thanksgiving. The naturalistic worldview man stands by in amazement. To him this is complete gobbledygook. If there is no fall, there is certainly no need for redemption. And if the fall is illusory, then so is the redemption. Little wonder that worldly man finds the good news of redemption to be irrelevant. If I deny the reality of the fall, then I must deny the relevance of redemption. It becomes merely a religious myth, which seems to help some people in the evolution of their value system. I once was lost but now I’m found! Good for you . . . personally I was never lost" croons the evolutionary-worldview-man.

But for the Christian, the story of redemption is the narrative which defines who we are. We are the redeemed of God! Just as Israel in the Old Testament was redeemed from slavery in Egypt, so we also are redeemed from the slavery of sin.

As Israel of old was a redeemed people, freed from slavery in Egypt, so is the new Israel of God today a redeemed people. We are set free from a slavery to sin and set on a pilgrimage to that heavenly promised land. And down through the ages, Israel was taught to be thankful for their redemption through the system of worship referred to as the Passover. And now we are taught thankfulness through our Passover Lamb, Jesus, who was slain for our redemption, and by His blood we are set free.

Part of our identity is that we view ourselves as a redeemed people. Once we were no particular people, but now we have a sense of identity with the people of God, a new spiritual nation.

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. 1 Pet 2:9-10.

When the Christian thinks about who He is, he thinks of the Passover Lamb, and the new redeemed people of God, freed from the slavery of sin, free from the bondage of a hard taskmaster, in order to be the willing servant of a loving Leader and Shepherd. This is who I am!

And no wonder this worldview sets us apart from the naturalistic evolutionary worldview. That worldview is sadly lacking. There is no sense of identity there! There is no sense of redemption. There is no sense of thankfulness for what God has done and is doing for us and with us.

Sanctification is the story of the Christian life. Jesus accepts me just as I am, but loves me too much to leave me in that condition and the story of the Christian life is the story of change. It is God at work in our lives to make us more like the Saviour. At our baptism we receive the gift of the Indwelling Spirit of God. And the Spirit is at work in us to bring us to higher levels of spirituality, displaying more of the fruit of the Spirit day by day.

¹⁸ And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Cor 3:18.

What difference does this make to our identity?

It inserts purpose and direction into our lives. Life is not an endless cycle of meaningless events and transitory relationships. Up one minute and down the next. It is not some pointless existence which is going nowhere and means nothing. Rather life is filled with a holy purpose and a heavenly direction. We are in the process of being beautified by the Spirit of God, to enable us to become like Jesus. This is a narrative which summarizes what your life is about. And the point is that your life is about something, it is not about nothing.

For the naturalistic man, the only purpose in life is to seek fulfilment through pleasure. Fill your life with pleasure and there you will find fulfilment. But Scripture, history and personal experience give the lie to this philosophy.

Peterson in his excellent version The Message renders Solomon’s take on this from Ecclesiastes chapter two:

Oh I did great things:

Built houses,

Planted vineyards,

Designed gardens and parks

And planted a variety of fruit trees in them,

Made pools of water

To irrigate the groves of trees.

I bought slaves, male and female,

Who had children, giving me even more slaves;

Then I acquired large herds and flocks,

Larger than any before me in Jerusalem.

I piled up silver and gold, loot from kings and kingdoms.

I gathered a chorus of singers to entertain me with song,

And – most exquisite of all pleasures –

Voluptuous maidens for my bed.

Oh how I prospered! I left all my predecessors in Jerusalem far behind, left them behind in the dust. What’s more, I kept a clear head through it all. Everything I wanted I took – I never said no to myself, I gave in to every impulse, held back nothing. I sucked the marrow of pleasure out of every task – my reward to myself for a hard day’s work! Then I took a good look at everything I’d done, looked at all the sweat and hard work. But when I looked, I saw nothing but smoke. Smoke and spitting into the wind. There was nothing to any of it. Nothing.

The final stage in the Christian worldview is the passage from this life into glory. Some might say that the point of the pilgrimage of Israel through the wilderness was that one day they might cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land of promise. On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye, to Canaan’s fair and happy land where my possessions lie. When we sing that song, what are we singing about? Is it a song about ancient Israel under the leadership of Moses or Joshua? No it is not! It is a song about our pilgrimage and how one day we shall cross over the flooded waters of the Jordan (spiritually) into our heavenly promised land. Death’s cold chill from the waters of the Jordan shall not discourage us nor diminish our sense of expectancy. For one day we shall cross over and take possession.

And the message of the gospel is one of hope.

¹ "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. Jn 14:1-3.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Pet 1:3-5.

It is possible for us to view the whole message of the Bible as being encompassed in this big picture.

Story of Christ Picture

The final suggestion as to a workable systematic theology that will serve us well in integrating the whole story of the Bible is to see the whole Bible as portraying the story of the Christ. This is our big picture.

To assist us in this matter I have compiled Alastair’s own high points of the Old Testament history and attempted to identify for us where each book of the Old Testament fits into this story. This is contained in The Old Testament Mind Map which follows and I have repeated it at the end of the book for ease of finding. Whenever you study any book of the Old Testament you should first check this page and identify where this book fits into this outline story. I hope that you will find this reference page to be helpful throughout your study.

At the very beginning of this volume I thought I would share with you some kind of picture that is analogous to the picture on the box of the jigsaw. If I am reading from the prophet Jonah, how does that fit into the overview of the whole Old Testament. What is the book of Deuteronomy and how does that fit into the story? The following chart is an attempt to help you to get a clear historical perspective on the story of the Old Testament and God’s dealings with Israel down through the ages. This will help us to contextualize every book of the Old Testament and will also lead to a greater understanding for the story of the New Testament which will follow in a companion volume in the near future.

The choice of highlight events of characters is entirely mine and you may choose to develop your own preferred mind map which you think is more appropriate. If that happens then my feeble attempts have become even more valuable to you because it has encouraged you to develop your own big picture which will make the Old and New Testaments more meaningful and more understandable.

Old Testament Overview Mind Map

Look at the historical list above. I want us to notice this theme running everywhere through the Old Testament.

It is all about the Christ.

Start to finish!

The Old Testament is all about Jesus.

In fact we could say that the whole Bible is all about Jesus start to finish. Someone has put it this way very succinctly:

Old Testament:       Jesus is coming!

Gospels:                  Jesus has come!

Epistles:                  Jesus is coming again!

When we look at the one page appendix and Alastair’s list of highlights of Old Testament history we see how the big picture of the Christ is carried all the way through the Old Testament either visible on the surface or just below the surface and there to be seen if we look deeper.

The highlights begin with the story of Abraham. One of the undisputed highlights of this story is the story of his offering of Isaac upon the altar which is contained in chapter 22.

⁹ When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹ But the angel of the

LORD

called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here am I. ¹² He said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. ¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called the name of that place The

LORD

will provide; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the

LORD

it shall be provided."

The approach to gods in the days of Abraham meant that they viewed gods as those to be appeased by the offering of sacrifices, then the god of the rains would surely provide rain, or the god of the sun would provide the sunshine for the crops to ripen and so on. The story of chapter 22 turns this on its head for we see that God, the God of Abraham is the One who provides the sacrifice! How revolutionary is this that God Himself should provide His own sacrifice. And Abraham is seen as the friend of God because he was prepared to do what God Himself ultimately did . . . . Abraham perfectly illustrates the commitment of God, Isaac prefigures the offering of the Christ. For God provided a ram caught in a thicket. God provided His own unique Son, that the sacrifice for the sins of men might be effected. The Christ is right there in the story, even in Genesis, Christ is right there in the midst of the story. See the end of the chapter on Genesis for more examples of the presence of Christ in the Genesis story.

Exodus similarly is a story of redemption and hence is a story which prefigures the ultimate redemption of mankind through the sending of the Christ to be our Redeemer. Paul in the New Testament makes passing reference to this.

¹ I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same supernatural food ⁴ and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 1 Cor 10:1-4.

It is clear that the story of the Exodus is in the mind of the apostle as he writes. He does not develop the story of the Passover which is too obvious to mention . . . but Christ is of course our Passover Lamb who accomplishes our redemption from bondage to sin and sets us free to begin our pilgrimage to the Promised Land not of Canaan but of heaven. Christ as Passover Lamb had been mentioned by him back in chapter five.

⁷ Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Now in chapter 10, Paul mentions that following their redemption from the bondage of Egypt, Moses led the children of Israel through a wall of water on left and right and the cloud above them, likening this to a baptism (or immersion in water), which he calls the baptism of Moses. Later the new spiritual Israel would be led through the baptism of Christ as they began their spiritual pilgrimage towards heaven. They would be fed by supernatural food in the wilderness (manna sent from heaven). In the same way the new Israel of God will be fed by the supernatural bread which came down from heaven.

³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ³² Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world. ³⁴ They said to him, Lord, give us this bread always."

³⁵ Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. John 6 31-35.

Christ is that supernatural food which came down from heaven . . . we feed on His body . . . He is the bread of life for the people of God, and spiritually we find our