Intertwining the Old and New Testaments
This masterpiece is a strand of time woven from your hand
The Old is the New again
Your face appears
Recorded through time you appear throughout Genesis
From the start, you supplied and buried and hid
evidence.
The Old is new Brillance
A Portrait of you
God can be funny at times. He caused people to write things that just come out of the blue with no rhyme or reason ever given for certain statements made in the Old Testament.
One, in particular, is the fact that he called Ephraim his first-born.
It’s a confusing statement with nothing to attach it to.
What causes God to claim that Ephraim is his first-born?
God gives the template in the life of Joseph to attach that statement too and if we miss it then statements such as “Ephraim is my first-born” will be shrouded in mystery and we’ll just read it and move on not understanding the deeper nuggets God gave us in his Word.
In the previous article Jigsaw we understand why Ephraim is considered the first-born because he is the second Son of Joseph and Joseph is a type of Christ that God weaved throughout the Old Testament. Joseph’s two sons are blessed by Jacob (who is the type of the Holy Spirit) and he blesses both of the sons, but the younger son receives the greater blessing.
Jacob by crossing his hands to bless the boys shows that both Sons are in a covenant relationship.
Ephraim is the first-born being born-again because both sons are representing two people groups that belong to Joseph (Jesus) which represents Israel and the Church.
Old Testament becomes the New
When the template that’s given in the Old Testament is missed then statements made and stories such as the Levite and the concubine make no sense, but everything in God’s word has a reason behind it and has historical significance at the time they occurred and long term significance.
Old Testament stories and statements become New Testament fulfillments.
The interesting truth is much of the Old Testament is obscured and the significance is just hidden away and not understood until Jesus stepped into history and started his ministry and then the Old Testament exploded with detail. God hid the nuggets in history by fulfilling the Old Testament promises, and reading New Testament fulfillments causes us to pause due to the Old Testament which then takes on incredible depth not realized before.
When reading Old Testament stories that lead to New Testament fulfillment in the Gospels we can see then that the New Testament leads back again to the Old Testament where the whole Gospel is recorded in Genesis.
The Old leads to the New and then back to the Old that becomes the New.
It’s staggering.
God has drawn a circle.
Alpha and Omega
Jesus is the alpha and omega throughout the whole Old and New Testament and the portrait is of him throughout. He literally left heaven emptied himself and stepped into our skin.
We often look at the scriptures from our perspective and to fully grasp the whole of the war between good and evil we first have to realize the war did not begin with humanity or Adam and Eve in the garden. The war began when war broke out in heaven due to Lucifer and his rebellion.
Earth is just a place where this war of wills is fought and humanity has become a part of this war. Jesus was present at the rebellion when Lucifer was puffed up and demanded to be worshipped as God.
Jesus before his ministry began had to face this reality again during his temptations when the devil said to him “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.”Matthew 4:9
This is the third and last temptation hurled at Jesus and Jesus had faced this before, this wasn’t the first time. One can wonder if at this time if God his Father had allowed Jesus some memory of the first time this had occurred when he was with his Father in heaven. Of all the temptations I think this one would have been the least tempting.
Jesus chose to follow his Father’s will and emptied himself to rescue lost humanity by becoming the second Adam and stepping into our skin, with the same weakness as Adam born of the seed of the woman Jesus became the God/Man being the representation of both parties that were alienated.
God at any point could have saved humanity another way, he makes the rules, but this dilemma isn’t about God, it’s about his enemy causing Adam to fall and in that fall someone has to represent humanity to win back the terrain that was lost in a fair duel. Adam wasn’t God, Adam was a man created in God’s image and likeness, created in weak flesh and far lower than the angelic beings God created.
Where Adam had failed, Jesus had to square off with his enemy in the same way with the same weakness.
Jesus was tempted and with temptation is the possibility of failure, otherwise, it is no temptation at all.
Although Jesus is the God/Man it is unlikely Jesus was allowed any advantage as God over his enemy but had to face the dragon in the same way Adam had previously and failed. If you’re in the skin to represent someone else as Jesus was, then you are representing them completely and on the very same footing, with the same weaknesses.
God’s character is of such a high degree in a duel with his enemy that the same ground that was lost, is the same ground you need to win back and to completely represent the person who actually lost it, which was Adam.
Jesus won the battle over his enemy as a representation of Adam being the second Adam winning this completely which lead to Jesus beginning his ministry. It makes complete sense that the very one that caused humanity to be lost in the first place is where you begin to correct and undo the damage, you cannot even begin your ministry until you smite the dragon’s ownership.
Where Adam failed Jesus destroyed the enemy and now begins his ministry to represent God to humanity.
Jesus is the bridge of both parties he represents God to humanity and represents humanity to God, he truly becomes the way back to the Father, and in and through him alone we find salvation.
Jesus Christ is truly The Way, The Truth, and The Life
The way back to the Father, He is the Truth, and the Life- in the Holy Spirit.
He is the Alpha and Omega.