Behold the PatternMaker: How Embracing the Mysteries of the Old Testament Can Reveal Jesus Christ in New and Powerful Ways

By Bob Palumbo

"Before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58)

 

The Apostle John made it clear. Jesus Christ was the Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us. He was with God from the beginning, and He was (and is) God. The Apostle Paul wrote, "There is one mediator bet

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harper Partners LLC
• Release date: May 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781088033623

Book preview

BEHOLD THE

PATTERNMAKER

By

Bob Palumbo

How Embracing the Mysteries of the

Old Testament Can Reveal Jesus Christ in

New and Powerful Ways.

Copyright © 2021 by Bob Palumbo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Bob Palumbo/ Harper Partners LLC Centennial, CO

https://harperpartnersllc.com/

Behold the PatternMaker.

Self-Published by Harper Partners LLC

You search the Scriptures because you

think in them you have eternal life;

it is these that testify about Me;

[John5:39NASB]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION vi

PART ONE: PATTERNS OF CREATION

AlwaysandForever 2

The Mystery of theNot-a-wordWord 10

All Things Brightand Beautiful 17

L’Chaim 25

A MoreEnduring Covering 33

It is Not Good toBeAlone 42

And on the SeventhDay God… 52

A Hard Rain’sGonnaFall 61

PART TWO: PATTERNS OF PROMISE

The Hebrews Eleven HallofFaith 72

Sonof Laughter 84

Of Sonsand Nations 94

Of Typesand Shadows 104

The Return ofthe Serpent 114

Of Lawsand Numbers 124

Special Occasionsof Promise 133

What’s inaName? 149

PART THREE: PATTERNS OF THE PROPHETIC

O Little Townof Bread? 160

AcaciaandGold 169

Men NeedNotApply 180

Who Do You SayIAm? 190

More ThanACarpenter 200

Home-FieldDisadvantage? 210

No Sign ShallBeGiven 222

Great andTerrible Days? 236

FINAL THOUGHTS

GodHasRemembered 252

ABOUTTHEAUTHOR 265

INTRODUCTION

Change is not always good. Sometimes, we can simplify things to where we minimize or remove crucial elements that make them hard to use or understand that which is most important to us. Have you ever looked at the assembly instructions for putting together a TV stand or a computer desk? If so, you know what I am talking about.

They always seem to leave out the one pivotal step you need to make everything fall into place, right?

Sad to say, that is precisely what some have suggested we do with the Bible. I have heard reports of those in key positions within the Christian church at-large, suggesting it might be helpful for believers to shy away from reading or studying the Old Testament. They claim it is more of a hindrance than a help, especially to those young in the faith. It could cloud our ability to focus on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they say, skewing our view of what He taught us through His birth, life, death, and resurrection.

I, for one, believe that would be a serious mistake.

In my forty-plus years of being a Bible-believing and Bible-studying Christian, I have noticed one frustration voiced by my fellow Christians more than any other; I limit my study of the Bible to the New Testament and the Psalms. I have tried reading the rest of the Old Testament, but it is just too hard to understand. All the symbolism and ritualism confuse me. They distract me from my goal of gaining a deeper understanding of God.

And I must admit, I have also struggled with this. It is the reason I wanted to write this book. If we give in to this temptation, we deprive ourselves of the beauty and richness of God’s Word, as a whole. Plus, I believe our perception of Jesus Christ, as the One who existed before all things and will exist forever, suffers from what I like to call spiritual tunnel vision.

In this book, my primary goal is to help us learn to love and embrace the Old Testament for what it may offer us as followers of Jesus Christ; a fuller understanding of God’s plan for the redemption of those created in His image. We will look at the events, the traditions, the prophecies, and biblical patterns that God revealed before the appearance of the Messiah, thereby allowing us to discover new and wondrous attributes of the One we call King of Kings.

If you ask me, trying to grasp the wonders and mysteries of Christ just from the New Testament writings alone would be like trying to eat a hamburger bun without a patty. It would not take long to realize something is missing. So much of what Jesus said and did, while He was upon this earth, originated with the revelations given to the writers of the Old Testament. They not only foretold of His coming and the kingdom He promised, but they also allowed Jesus to confirm His claims of divinity by reminding the skeptics of the promises made long before.

Early on, God revealed His plans for mankind (for both then and now) to help us understand the significance of His coming. For without the shedding of His blood, there could be no redemption. We would be doomed to die in our sin because the Law has no power to save.

I hope that this book will show how God Almighty revealed all the pieces of the Gospel of the Kingdom through His Word, long before the miraculous birth of a baby boy in Bethlehem two thousand years ago.

To help us accomplish this, we will take a journey down two somewhat parallel paths:

1) We will look at foundational events found in Old Testament writings from the perspective of "looking for signs of the Promised

BEHOLD THE PATTERNMAKER

One." Signs meant to help us attain a deeper understanding of His mission, His character, and His love for us.

2) Along the way, I would like to reveal tidbits of the depth and beauty of the Hebrew language. I will present a handful of word studies into key names, words, and phrases that can help us go from using Crayola’s 64 colors (to understand who God is) to the millions of brilliant colors now available on our TVs and computer screens. Through this process, we will perceive things we could never have comprehended before seeing the fuller manifest nature of our triune God who is also, without a doubt, One God.

NOTE TO THE READER: For centuries, Bible translators have used out-of-the-box capitalization to denote deity. They capitalized words like you, he, or him (even in the middle of a sentence) to let the reader know that the word is pointing to God or something sacred. So, as you read this book (and even its title), know that I have taken some creative liberties. For this study, I’ve wandered outside of traditional spelling and capitalization rules with such things as the P and M in PatternMaker, and the P and D in Pattern Designer when I am specifically referring to God. I also capitalize words like you. me. he, him, and heaven, when I feel it is appropriate for this topic. These are not typographical errors (although I have quite a reputation for making those as well). I just preferred to elevate the awareness of deity, whenever the Lord God Almighty, Creator of all things was being mentioned or implied (oops…I just did it again…forgive me).

Thank you for joining me in this study. I hope and pray that your walk with Him will deepen through the unveiling of these patterns and principles that God saw fit to reveal to us in his glorious Word, just as mine has over the last few years.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all Your might. [Deuteronomy 6:4-5]

PART ONE:

PATTERNS OF CREATION

CHAPTER ONE

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

I suppose if someone were to set out to write a book called Behold the PatternMaker, not one about just any patternmaker, but a special one such as the world has never known, it would be a good idea to start by revealing just who or what the focus of the study will be; especially if the author planned to suggest this PatternMaker is worthy of being

beheld (whatever that means) as divine.

So, let me begin by stating the obvious. For the benefit of the subject at hand, the patternmaker in question is God. But as we shall see, if we just leave it at that, we will fall well short of our goal to add new depth and dimension to our understanding of who Jesus Christ truly was, is, and will be…and why.

Also, we would miss the incredible forethought, planning, and implementation that God Almighty applied to make sure His children would know ahead of time (if they cared to hear and understand) the hope of what was yet to come. And yes, I believe that was not only true for those who were on the earth before He arrived just as the prophets said He would, but for those of us in our generation, as well.

To be sure, The Greatest Story Ever Told is not complete. Some of the most spectacular chapters are still ahead of us. For this reason, I felt the need to write this book. And after many months of praying,

studying, and preparing, I believe the Lord has given me the green light to put pen to paper. So here we go.

But, before we dive into the spiritual aspects of this fascinating subject, I would like to talk about what I mean by patternmaker. As I am sure you realize, there are many kinds of patternmakers in the world. Some work in the fashion industry, some work in graphic arts, and there are even patternmakers who work in heavy industry.

For example, some patternmakers work in automobile plants where they make huge dies to stamp out metal parts for the vehicles they produce. I worked in that industry for sixteen years. Seeing those giant rolls of sheet metal, process by process, being turned into beautiful fenders and roofs for state-of-the-art vehicles was quite an amazing process to watch.

But we should also note that patternmakers do not do this work alone. There are also pattern designers who are the ones who conceptualize, plan, and design what the pattern should look like and how it will work. Then, it is the patternmakers who take these designs and make them a reality, so others can then use these patterns or templates to bring about the finished product.

In doing my research into what a patternmaker does, I found this great explanation of the difference between a patternmaker and a pattern designer:

Patternmakers work closely with fashion (or pattern) designers to create an initial rough draft of what the designer has in mind for a particular garment (or whatever it is they are designing patterns for).

I think this statement rightly describes the focal point for our study here. The One who I am referring to as the PatternMaker is not the One who dreamt it all up. That would be the Pattern Designer…God the Father.

You may ask yourself, Since God is three persons yet truly one God, wouldn’t the PatternMaker and the Pattern Designer be the same? For the sake of our discussions here, I would answer, "Umm, no, not

exactly." But it will take a little while to show you why I am making this distinction; so please bear with me. In the end, I hope you will believe, as I do, that it was worth the effort. I will do my best to make it so. I promise.

THE SUM OF THE PARTS

For starters, I would like to look at a few passages that may start us down the right path. You may have heard of the concept of synergy. It means, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I believe we can apply this when describing the triunity of God, which makes sense because He created all things and how they work together…even the concept of synergy.

God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that he

should change his mind. Has He said, and will He not do it?

Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it? [Numbers 23:19]

So, here in the first passage, Moses is referring to God in His totality. He is not speaking of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, specifically. That is not uncommon for Old Testament passages. But it reveals something important. God is One who changes not. What is interesting to me is that this passage refers to God as a whole and His trustworthiness to do what He says He will, and in turn, that points to God’s Word as being unchanging, as well

The Apostle John started his Gospel by boldly proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us. John even made this seemingly outlandish proclamation, the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1). Oh yes, calling this radical newcomer God in the flesh caused many of the religious leaders of the day to experience serious cases of something we call acid reflux. But John’s mission was to get the truth out to as many people as possible. He did not concern himself with the consequences of telling the truth. Maybe that is why John became known as the disciple whom Jesus loved.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming

down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation

or shadow due to change. [James1:17]

Here, the Apostle James, half-brother of the Lord Jesus, talks about the gifts that come down to us from our Father in Heaven. Now, if I were to ask you this question, Can you think of a perfect gift that has come down to Earth from the Father? What comes to mind? For me, what pops into my brain is the fact that only Christwasthe perfect gift from the Father.And yes,we know that Heal so changes not. Do you see a patterndeveloping?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

[Hebrews 13:8]

I think the writer of the Book of Hebrews summed things up quite nicely.The One who Christians call Jesus Christ and Messianic Jews call Yeshua Hamaschiach (which in English means Jesus Our Messiah) has thesame divine qualities asOur Father who art in Heaven.Hehas not changed since time began and will not for all eternity. So, if Christ has all thesame divine qualities,can He beanyless divine? I believe the answer is clear, No siree!

This is one theme that we will come to time and time again in this book. Jesus Christ is God. He did not become God when He came to Earth; and He did not cease to be God when He ascended into Heaven. Jesus was, is, and always will be God…not any more or less than God the Father or the Holy Spirit.

Now, it may surprise you to hear me say this. But other than the Virgin Birth of Christ, His miracle-filled life and ministry, and His death and resurrection…most believers say the concept of a triuneGod(orthe Trinity…as many call it) is the most difficult precept in the Bible to get a grip on. For many folks, it just boggles the mind.

In the same way, some gloss over the idea that when a man and a woman marry, the Bible describesthis merging asthe two shall become one flesh.Although we accept that as a nice- sounding platitude,we do not believe they physically become one person, do we? Of course,not.

But in the eyes of God, they become one and inseparable. Husbands and wives may have unique roles and functions within the relationship, yet God sees it as a whole…even though they remain two individuals.This is what some call adualism.

Ah…we have just touched on our first biblical pattern. Somethings, as intended by the Pattern Designer, may apply to more than one person or situation at thesame time. As I grew to know God and His Word more intimately over the years, I realized that theMaker of All Thingsloves to reveal Himself in dualisms. The Bible is full ofthem.

As an example of this, allow me to share the first three verses in the Bible with you, and I will explain how I interpret them( this is purely my way of boiling it down…not trying to create some new theology here). I think it may help you see how I have been able to grasp the concept of a triuneGod, with three separate persons functioning inseparate roles, not only as One God but working to get her in concert from the very beginning.

So now, let’s take apart the first three verses in our Bible and see what jumps out:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said,‘Let there be light,’and there was light. [Genesis1:1-3]

As we look at these three well-known verses, there are a few things that catch my attention. Interestingly, they are the first three verses of the entire Bible. So, God wasted no time in establishing this pattern of the three being present and working as one from the beginning of time. Next, we notice that in the first verse it is God, seemingly in all Hisfullness, bringing the universe and all that is in it into existence. And what do we see in the second verse? Ah yes, there is the first biblical reference to the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters.

Present and accounted for.

And lo-and-behold, what do we find in the third verse? It says, God said,‘Let there be light.’And there you have it, the third part(or

person) of this triune God arrives on the scene…the Word of God. God speaks and things happen.

And once again, who did John tell us was the Word? Bingo… the Lord Jesus Christ. Before Mary’s miraculous conception and His birth, He had not yet become flesh. But the Word of God wasalready fulfilling His role, working in harmony with the Father and the Holy Spirit, wouldn’t you agree?

If this seems a little confusing, let me explain it this way. When God speaks, what comes out of His mouth is His Word, and His Word is part of who He is (just as my words are part of who I am). Then, when the Father sent His Son to Earth, He did so by causing His Word to become human. He became known as the Incarnate Word…because that is exactly what He was. God’s Word clothed in a human body… now fully alive.

But how could that happen?All I can say is, God is God and we are not, and we know all things are possible with Him. There are just some things about God we will never fully understand, at least not while we are dragging around this gradually decaying mind and body…and I am OK withthat.

So yes, what I see in the first three verses of the Bible is the revealing of three distinct personalities who make up God in all His fullness (I will call the first part God the Father or God Almighty for the sake of our discussion). Then there is the person of the Holy Spirit of God (also co-equal with God), and the Word of God, (who we know would later become known as the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ…also co-equal with God). That is how I compartmentalize my understanding of the triune God. For me…it just works. I try to not overthink it.

It is similar, in my mind, to look ingata tree. There are roots,a trunk, branches, and leaves. Each part is not a tree, on its own. But none of the parts of an apple tree (for instance) is any less important to bringing forth juicy, delicious apples than the other parts. Together they make an apple tree. But if you remove any of the pieces, they are no longer part of the tree and become unable to complete the process.

THE ULTIMATE PATTERNMAKER REVEALED

I would like to add one more important passage to the mix because it reveals another critical piece of the puzzle we are trying to put together in this book. Who then, within the triunity of God, should receive the credit as the Creator?

He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together…He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him allthe fullness of God was pleased to dwell. [Colossians1:15-19]

These are the words of the Apostle Paul, a man who not only had a miraculous conversion through a personal encounter with the risen Christ, who knocked him off his horse and caused him to become blind saying, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? Yes, I would say he came to know Christ up close and personal.

But he also was a devout Jew, a student of the Torah. He knew very well just how troubling making these types of claims about Jesus Christ would be. As time would tell, it eventually caused him to die at the hands of the Romans.

In this passage, he is making an astounding statement. It was the pre-incarnate Christ, not God the Father, who did the work of creating all things.But how? The prophet Isaiah also had something to say about this (when God spoke through him seven hundred years before the birth of our Lord):

So shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. [Isaiah55:11]

Did you notice that? The Lord God Almighty spoke through Isaiah saying,It shall accomplish thatwhich I purpose.Right there, Isaiah is showing us the Pattern Designer (God the Father)and the PatternMaker (Jesus Christ). So, it was the Father’s will thatthe Word of Godwas the One charged with the responsibility of bringing the divine purposes of God into existence. This will all become much clearer in later chapters, trust me. I am just making sure I lay a proper foundation.

Remember in Genesis One, Moses wrote that God said, Let there be light, and there was light. God spoke things into existence; and it was His Word (as Isaiah said) that accomplished these creative tasks. It was Jesus Christ, the PattenMaker, performing the will of His Father, the Pattern Designer. That is how the Apostle Paul can rightly say it was Christ who created all things. He was the Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, endowed with all the power and authority of God Himself.

And for that to be so, it is also right to conclude that Jesus, the Word of God, was with God from the beginning of time. But roughly two thousand years ago, God allowed His Word to come to Earth, take on human flesh, and fulfill the prophecies that one day God would send a Redeemer, a Messiah, a Savior; and He would be called Immanuel... which means God with us.

God’s Word is reliable and true. As we saw earlier, "Has God said it? Will He not do it?

Yes…yes, He will. Always and forever…amen.

"Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am He. [Isaiah 41:4]

CHAPTER TWO

THE MYSTERY OF THE NOT-A-WORD WORD

I

n Chapter One, we talked about how Jesus Christ, the Word of God, became flesh and dwelt among us, and how He was with God from the very beginning of time as we know it…just as we know of the Father, the Word of God has no beginning and has no end. Heiseternal in the truest sense of the word. He was before the universe existed, He is now, and ever more shall be. But since we already dealt with the fact that Christwas with Godfrom the beginning at length in the previous chapter, I wanted to use this chapter to explore the other side of the coin.

Is He truly both the first and the last, and if so, what does that mean exactly?

To get the ball rolling, I believe this would be the perfect time to introduce one of the most amazing mysteries found in the Hebrew Scriptures.

May I ask you a question? When is a word not a word?

What if I told you that throughout the Bible, hundreds and hundreds of times beginning with Genesis 1:1, there is a tiny two-letter Hebrew word that scholars, rabbis, and Bible translators have struggled with and debated for years? Yet most of them agree it is not a word at all,but rather a mark, a sign, or an indicator that something more pronounced is happening with one or more of the words near it in the Hebrew

Scriptures.It might seem hard to believe that two Hebrew letters, sitting all by themselves, could cause such a stir. We shall soon see why.

I would equate this little two-letter mark to how we, in the English language, capitalize certain words when they are proper names of people, places and things…or in some Bible translations, referring to deity. The capital letter signifies special importance. For instance, if you are talking about the Chicago Bears, we capitalize the first letter. But if you are talking about a grizzly bear, it requires no capitalization. The same is true with this mysterious Hebrew word; these two Hebrew letters, when by themselves, show that special attention is merited.

I know. The suspense is killing you, so here it is: The Aleph Tav. The name is self-explanatory because the two words are the first and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet…Aleph and Tav. You may wonder, What makes this little mark, sign, or indicator so special?

Well, for those of us who only speak either Greek or English (and not Hebrew), we could describe the problem as "lost