Give me more teaching on the 613 laws of Moses—Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy are so exciting...said few Christians, ever, right?!
But I am LOVING the Community Bible Study's excursion from the Red Sea to the Jordan. It is absolutely life-giving, brimming with revelation of the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. I grew up in Sunday School and yet I had no idea how the revelation of the coming Messiah was hidden in the folds of every detail, preparing Israel to recognize him when he came. Instead, I was intimidated by the obsession demonstrated by the God of the Old Testament because I didn't understand the obsession was His lovingkindness keeping the Revelation of Christ. This lack of understanding created a tension in me or a tendency to relegate the Old Testament to the bits and pieces that "still applied" even under the caution of Bible's declaration that ALL SCRIPTURE is useful. And I missed so much!
I didn't catch that it was the pre-incarnate Christ who eats with Abraham as Sarah prepares the food, laughing to herself over the prophecy of a child in her old age. And talks with Abraham as they walk toward Sodom and Gomorrah, revealing his plans and allowing Abraham to negotiate while proving his point.
I knew the Angel of The Lord referred most likely to the pre-incarnate Christ, but I didn't realize he was the one who rescued Hagar (Genesis 16:7). I missed him when he stayed Abraham's hand from sacrificing Isaac (Genesis 22:11). I was too distracted by the angels ascending and descending the stairs to Heaven to notice that it's more than likely Jesus Christ himself who stands at the top of it (Genesis 28:13)! I didn't know he was the one winning the wrestling match with Jacob.
I spent a sleepless night tossing and turning when I realized that in all my Sunday School lessons, no one had showed me it was Jesus Christ in the midst of the burning bush as he called out to Moses (Exodus 3:1-5). I didn't know that is was Jesus Christ who went before the camp in the pillar of cloud and fire—standing between Israel and Egypt while they crossed on dry ground (Exodus 14:15). (What an incredible picture of Christ's ministry still to this day!) Or talked with Moses face to face at the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 33:11). Even the laws and feasts reveal Jesus Christ's ministry, his rescue to come, and his status in the Heavenly realms.
Was it his throne that descended on the mountain and the leaders of Israel saw when they ate with him? Considering the fact that we know no one sees God the Father's face and lives (Exodus 33:20), any time God draws near enough for us to see his form and face, scholars think it's likely we are seeing the pre-incarnate Christ.
I'm not sure, but I know the increased revelation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament has done wonders in my heart for resolving the two books and fleshing out the God who is revealed in both!
Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with my excitement for the revelation of Christ in the Old Testament. Droves of women have left Community Bible Study over the burden of the details of the laws and feasts, missing the revelation of Jesus Christ in what seems like heavy-handed holiness or unfamiliar requirements. This saddens me yet makes God's Spirit rise in me to call us to worship him in the beauty of his holiness:
“Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” (Psalms 29: 2)
“Give to the LORD the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his presence. Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor.” (1 Chronicles16:29)
“Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.“ (Psalms 96:9)
We do not—I know I certainly did not—understand and appreciate the holiness of God's law, as it emanates from his holiness, erecting a mirror of his holiness to show our desperate need for him, while keeping an unholy people in the way of holiness long enough for our holy Rescuer to come. Be holy, he says, over and over again. Be holy so I can dwell with you and give you myself.
The Father loved his holy law so much that, rather than compromise one jot or tittle of it, he sent his Son to bear the brunt of the whole of the law. The holy law was such a part of Jesus Christ's holy nature—the perfect and faithful nature that cannot abide where sin abides—that, rather than dilute it even one bit, he pours himself out to fulfill its holy requirements. His sacrifice transforms all who believe by his own holy nature into his nature.
In these past several years, my personal studies in Genesis have birthed in me a permanent appreciation of God's determination to uphold his covenant with Abraham by his own hand, by his own Spirit. It was the presence of God (Genesis 15:17) who passed between the sacrifices on the altar, not Abraham and God, which would have been customary for two covenant-makers. God did this to say that it would be he, and only he, who would be able to keep the covenant terms. This covenant has always been lopsided: God being All in All and us simply surrendering.
And now these books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy show just how difficult it is going to be to preserve us from the perverseness inside us. Through the Israelites we see that we cannot surrender. We cannot obey the first command to be holy, so God gives us ten. Then we continue to receive more laws to curb the hardness of our hearts and our insistence in our own way...613 in all from Moses (and generations' worth more laws thereafter in the oral traditions). None of which could make us holy.
I recognize my own sheer hubris in the unremitting stubbornness, pride, and doubt demonstrated by God's people. From week to week we careen from one god to the next, forgetting his demonstrations of might and mercy just the day before! Ignoring the cloud of his presence above them and growing comfortable with the fiery pillar that watched over them at night, they forgot it descends with God himself at the base of it to talk to the people and to Moses.
I hear the long-suffering in God's words to Moses before he consumes Korah, the 250 elders who thought themselves to be holy, and the 14,000+ who mutiny against God:
The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?“ (Numbers 14:11)
Now I sit, rescued. I am overcome with gratefulness for the Rescuer revealed with incredible beauty and precision of detail in every fold and knotted tassel who guarded us until our rescue (Galatians 3:24-29).
Grace guards us until our rescue.
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