Parallels

Gtcotr/032818

Romans 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

The Old Testament contains both a historical record of the natural journeys of the Children of Israel and a spiritual roadmap for the Believer in Christ today. We have been reading through the Book of Exodus together over the past few weeks drawing spiritual parallels between the Children of Israel and ourselves. I hope you have enjoyed finding yourselves within the pages of the Bible and I know the Light of God has given each one of you revelations of Truth.

Among the greatest revelations God gives in the Old Testament accounts of the Exodus is that of the great feasts which He ordained for His children to observe. Each one of the seven major feasts God commanded the Jews to observe each year is a picture of a great spiritual event that was yet to come. The Children of Israel kept the feasts each year as a dress rehearsal pointing to a future spiritual event. The first feast, Passover, is the model we use to see all the things God ordained to paint a perfect picture of the coming Messiah. The Bible tells only one story, it’s the story of Jesus.

Genesis 22:8  And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” …

Exodus 12

1 ¶  Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2  “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.

3  “Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.

4  ‘And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb.

5  ‘Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

6  ‘Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.

7  ‘And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

8  ‘Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

9  ‘Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire — its head with its legs and its entrails.

10  ‘You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.

11  ‘And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’S Passover.

12  ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

13  ‘Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

14  ‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.

John 1:29  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Revelation 22:3  And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.

Jesus is that Passover Lamb all throughout the entire Bible …

This next week is Passover Week. I want to encourage you to find spiritual parallels from the Passover accounts in the Bible upon which you can meditate this week. God will give you greater understanding and spiritual insight when you meditate on (deeply consider) His Word.

Tonight I would like to share another parallel from an Old Testament story. This story comes from the records of Moses going up on the Mountain of the Lord to meet with God after Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt.

Listen as we read and see if you can discover any spiritual parallels from this account and how they apply to us, the Church, the world today, and for the future. Ask yourself these questions and consider:

·        Who are these people in today’s world?

·        Who does Moses represent in this story?

·        What about Aaron?

·        What was happening in their day to them naturally that you can see happening to some Christians in the world today?

·        Where are you in this story? Where should you be?

·        What were they tempted to do; believe; spread?

·        What can we learn about the temptations we will face and how can we avoid them?

·        What New Testament scriptures or sayings of Jesus can you think of that support the redemptive quality of God’s Word and support the truths and principles of this story?

·        Remember, God left us this roadmap as an instruction manual for our lives. It always contains a redemptive quality and it never leaves us out on the road stranded or without help.

Exodus 32  NKJV

1 ¶  Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

2  And Aaron said to them, “Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”

3  “So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

4  And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!”

5  So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.”

6  Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

7 ¶  And the LORD said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves.

8  “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ”

9  And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!

10  “Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”

11  Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: “LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

12  “Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.

13  “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”

14  So the LORD relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

So, did you see yourself? What did you learn? What will you do to avoid temptations and to help others, the Church and the lost of the world to see these principles and live a life more pleasing to God.

I love finding myself and the times we live in within the pages and stories of the Bible. That’s why we have it! The Word of God is awesome!

Do not be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who will believe it, to the Jew first and then to the Gentile.