BOOK SUMMARY: FROM EDEN TO THE NEW JERUSALEM - CHAPTER 2C: PAGES 42-60 - FROM THE SACRED GARDEN TO HOLY CITY: EXPERIENCING THE PRESENCE OF GOD

THE JERUSALEM TEMPLE

Soon after the Israelites enter the promised land, Shiloh, a district in the tribe of Ephraim, is chosen to be the central location for the tabernacle. Due to the wickedness of the Ephraimite and the priests, God leaves the tabernacle at Shiloh and allows the Ark of the Covenant to be captured. Since God’s presence was associated with the combination of the Ark inside the Tabernacle, it’s as if God allowed Himself to be captured and taken away from Israel (1 Samuel 2:12-17, 1 Samuel4:19-22, 1 Samuel 5:1-12).

Eventually, David is selected at King of Israel and His throne, along with the tabernacle and recaptured Ark (2 Samuel 6:15-17) are now located in Jerusalem. Instead of this moveable tent, David wants to build a house for God.  God says, “No! I will build a house for you.”  In other words, God would build a dynasty for David that would continue forever. This is the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7, Psalm 89:3-4). This, of course, is fulfilled in Jesus descending from David and being the eternal King of kings. A house for God (temple) would be built, but by David’s son, Solomon, since David was a man of war. After Solomon’s prayer of dedication, God comes and fills the Temple with His glory (1 Kings 8:10-11). The same thing happened in the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35). The tabernacle has now been superseded by the temple. Not coincidentally, the church, the Spiritual Temple, of the Lord was filled in the Day of Pentecost, superseding the earthly temple.  The point is that God had a dwelling place in the Garden, then in the tabernacle, then in the temple and now in the church.

For now, we are tracking the idea that God has taken up residence in Jerusalem, the city of David, in Zion. The magnificent furnishings and servants (priests) of the temple meet the “needs” of the resident and signify that a glorious Being dwells there. The nature of sacrifices in the temple allowed people to approach God just a little bit closer. Citizens could be cleansed and move into the courtyard. Priest could be cleaned and moved into the Holy Place. The High Priest could be cleansed and enter the Most Holy Place but only once a year. The reality is that pure holiness dwells at the center of Israelite life and only proper cleansing can bring them closer to God.

There was garden imagery inside the temple as were cherubim, giving us reminders of the Garden of Eden (1 Kings 6:23, 1 Kings 7:18). Even the Ark was covered with cherubim as they guarded God’s presence (1 Kings 8:6-7). But God’s dwelling place in Jerusalem, also called the City of God, was not the final product. It’s a miniature model of what God intends to do over all the earth. The ultimate blessing from God is His presence among us (Psalm 48). The entire city of Jerusalem is now the dwelling place of God as signified by all the gold brough in (2 Chronicles 1:15). Psalm 84 speaks of the blessing it is to dwell with God. SIDE NOTE: From this Psalm we sing at our church the song title, Better Is One Day.

Eventually, Israel’s sin leads to the northern 10 tribes being completely annihilated by the Assyrians and the southern 2 tribes being decimate and carried off into captivity by the Babylonians. At this point both Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed and no one knows what happened to the Ark of the Covenant.  Ultimately, this shows that, like Adam removed from the garden, Israel was removed from the land of Canaan because Israel is not holy enough to live with God (Isaiah 1:4-15). Isaiah moves from the earthly Jerusalem to a New Jerusalem in which people from all nations dwell, a time where even they are priests and Levites (Isaiah 66:18-24). This is the end outcome that God is moving towards. Isaiah 2:2-5 speaks of Mt. Zion, Jerusalem, the city of God, being the highest mountain ever in the latter days (end times). This is not altitude but importance or significance. It’s so big that it’ll cover the earth (Daniel 2:35). The Lord desires to dwell globally in a temple-city. That ultimate temple-city is the church (Revelation 21). Israel and Jerusalem are not replaced, rather, they were a stopping point along the way from the garden to the New Creation. Read Isaiah 65:17-25. The old Jerusalem bears little resemblance to the New Jerusalem.

The prophet Ezekiel was supposed to be a priest but could not serve in the temple because it was destroyed along with Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 597 BC. He was only 25 but 5 years later God gives him a series of visions over a 20 year period.  Before all of this, Ezekiel is given a vision and it shows God on a throne-chariot. This signifies that God is still with Israel in some way even though God is about to punish them and God is about to depart the temple/sanctuary (Ezekiel 8:6, Ezekiel 9:4).  This is a somewhat modified departure because God is pictured as standing on a mountain near Jerusalem looking at it from afar (Ezekiel 11:23). Ezekiel 40-48 show us another vision with a focus on new temple. Remember, it’s a vision and vision are often non-literal (symbolic) ways of communicating literal truths, just like the book of Revelation.  Ezekiel sees a replacement temple and a replacement city with a river that continues to grow and grow. This Jerusalem gets a name change. It’ll now be called, “The Lord is there” (Ezekiel 48:35).

This vision would no doubt encourage the Israelites to rebuild a second temple after their 70 years in Babylonian captivity. A new physical foundation would have to be build and the wall around Jerusalem would be to be erected. But this vision to Ezekiel was not about that 2^nd temple. The 2^nd Temple era simply served as a reminder of what was still yet to come in the final phase of God’s ultimate plan. Jerusalem (Zion) and the temple were there to point us to the final outcome. Worthy of note is that God never said to have filled the 2^nd Temple like He did the tabernacle or the 1^st temple. The Ark was missing and still never has been recovered to this day. But He promises to fill this 2^nd temple with glory (Haggai 2:7-9). In fact, He promised Judah that He’d finally visit that 2^nd Temple in Malachi 3:1.  This was fulfilled when Jesus came and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The word dwelt in Greek means tabernacled. Jesus is the true Temple (John 2:19). He came to live with us in the flesh! And He Himself went into the 2^nd temple and did much teaching and even cleansed the temple from wicked practices. Indeed, God came and visited the temple and filled it with His own incarnate glory.

Since Jesus is the true temple, when we are united with Him by faith in Him, we become part of the temple of His body. And the Holy Spirit comes to LIVE in us. We’ll dive into this living/spiritual temple next time.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
1.  Share what stood out to you.

2.  What do you make of God’s allowing the Ark of the Covenant to repeatedly captured? What does it signify?

3.  If you had to summarize the theme of God dwelling among us using Biblical language how would you do that? Starting from Genesis and ending in Revelation.

4.  What’s the significance of fruit and cherubim imagery in the temple? What about the lighting, smells and presence of food? What is the significance of all the ornate decorations of gold, silver, onyx and purple?

5.  What does God teach us when we see Israel being removed from their land and Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed?

6.  Based on our understanding of Jerusalem being called Mt. Zion, what should we expect God’s kingdom to be like in light of Daniel 2 and Isaiah 2:2-5)

7.  How are visions meant to be understood?

8.  Why is the name change of Jerusalem important in the last verse of Ezekiel?

9.  What must we seen continual progressions in the meta-story of God dwelling with us and Israel in various stagesd?

10.  What are you most encouraged about as we continue to study Biblical Theology and this particular theme? 

SERMON: JOEL 3:9-13 - HUMANITY'S WAR - THE TRUCULENCE OF JUDAH'S ENEMIES - PART 1

 

Sermon: Humanity's War - The Truculence Of Judah's Enemies - Part 1

Audio: SermonAudio

Video: SermonAudio

Text: Joel 3:9-13

Slides: 

Series: Joel

BOOK SUMMARY: THE CHRIST KEY - CHAPTER 3 - PENCIL SKETCHES: HOW OLD TESTAMENT INDIVIDUALS OUTLINED THE MESSIAH’S COLORFUL LIFE

Much of biblical interpretation is also people interpretation. When we do this, we are doing analogical thinking. That is to say, we are comparing A to B or comparing one person to another. People may act in typical ways in which we can discern predictable patterns. From the word typical we get the idea of types or kinds of people. In this way, many people were types of Christ. They acted in ways that were typical for our Savior. They pointed to predictable ways in which the Messiah would act. Scripture does in Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 by comparing Adam to Jesus. Hebrews does this to show that Jesus is greater than the prophets, greater than the angels, greater than Moses and greater than the High Priest. Jesus did this when He compared Himself with Jonah. Here we find another key to understanding how the Old Testament was about Christ.

A BRIEF PITSTOP: BODIES, BIBLES AND TETELESTAI
(1). BODIES – We are part of a larger body of people. We are corporate; in Adam all die, in Christ all will be made alive. We are not as individualized as we think. Israel was well aware of their corporate identity. Our deep unity is not simply superficial.  (2). BIBLES – There were millions of Israelites in the times of Scripture. God chose to give us biographies of certain individuals and to show visible patterns in their lives to point us to Christ. As we study Scripture we begin to see links between people but then we begin to see similarities and differences. (3). TETELESTAI – Jesus cried, “It is finished,” while on the cross. In Christ, all thing have been brought to their end goal. Those compared to Jesus have their telos in Christ. Their biographies lead us to Christ and find their end in Christ. The intimately connected lives of OT believers, whose bios have been inscripturated and filled with foreshadowing hints, are designed so as to lead us to the divinely planned telos of the Messiah.

THE DEEDS OF THE FATHERS
The patriarchs are paradigms in that they establish patterns repeated by their descendants. We see a repeated pattern of barren women who eventually have children and the younger son is favored over the older. Do we see connections in the account of barren Elizabeth/John the Baptist or even the virgin birth of Christ? Do we see God’s electing grace in these accounts?  We also see several exiles and returns in Abraham, Jacob, Naomi and Israel.  Does this enrich our understanding of the prodigal son parable? Does this help us to understanding salvation as exile from God’s presence in the Garden of Eden and a return to God’s presence in the New Creation?  These accounts point to Christ in what we call typology, figural interpretation or foreshadowing. This is not a new way to read the Bible. It’s present in the Torah.

ADAM AND THE ARK MAN
All eyes were once on Adam as the head of humanity but now they are on Noah. A reboot of creation was need; a new Genesis. Noah’s dad hope his son might be the one to rescue humanity from the curse ground and hard labor they endured as a result of Adam’s failure (Genesis 3:17, 5:29). We see Lamech using typology by using words clearly taken from Genesis. He thought Noah was going to be a new and better Adam.  With Noah, creation was rewound. The waters covered the face of the earth in both accounts. The ark floats above the waters as the Spirit did in Genesis. Creation is waiting once again for the waters and land to be separated and for the earth to be full of vegetation, animal life and humanity. A purged and clean creation await God’s purpose of creating a place where He’d dwell with humanity. God blesses Noah like He did Adam. God issues the same command: be fruitful and multiply. A pattern is clearly being presented to us. The days of Noah are a time of renewal. Later, the prophet Isaiah would describe a time of joy after the suffering Servant (Christ) accomplished His work. Isaiah compares these times of joy to the days of Noah when God promises never to judge the world by flood again. Again, we see Noah and his days as a type of Christ and His days (Isaiah 54:7-10).  Noah and the flood are a paradigm for the work of the Suffering Servant. Typology and patterns are not new. They are inherent in Scripture. Reading Christ as the substance of the OT is the right way to read Scripture. Even Jesus compared His coming again to the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). Peter does the same (2 Peter 3:5-7).

MELCHIZEDEK: PRIEST AND KING IN SALEM
Melchizedek pre-dates the Israelite priesthood. He is a historical figure: a Canaanite priest of God Most High and king of Salem. Abraham gave him a tithe of his spoils after Melchizedek blessed him after Abraham defeated Chedorlaomer. Psalm 110 is about the Messiah but also mentions Melchizedek. In Matthew 22:41-45, Jesus quotes Psalm 110 to show that Messiah was more than just David’s son. Messiah was Divine. Messiah was supreme over the Aaronic Priesthood since Messiah was after a pre-Israel order of priests. In Psalm 110 Messiah is victorious. In Genesis 14, Abraham is victorious. In Psalm 110, Messiah is a priest. In Genesis 14, Melchizedek is the priest. In one fell swoop, David uses the types of Abraham and Melchizedek and shows that both these men are patterns that point us to Christ. The author of Hebrews (7:1-28) wants us to see how Melchizedek resembles the Lord. Melchizedek is greater than the Levitical priesthood. Jesus is after the order of Melchizedek and is thus greater than the Levitical priesthood. Christ is a priest forever unlike the Levite priests who all died and were buried.

GIDEON AND THE DAY OF MIDIAN
Moses is the central human figure of the OT and is paradigmatic/typological of our Messiah. Moses was a prophet, leader over the house of Israel and deliverer in Israel’s history. Other prophets and leaders are painted in Moses-like colors. Gideon was also a mini-Moses, pointing back to Moses and forward to Jesus Christ. Both Gideon and Moses were subjugated by the Midianites and Amalekites.  Exodus 10:12 shows God’s judgment of locusts on Egypt. Judges 6:5 shows us that God judged Israel with “locusts” (invading armies). The word “devoured” also appears in Exodus 8:24 and Judges 6:4). The Messenger of Yahweh appears to both men (Exodus 3:2, Judges 6:12). Both have personal inadequacies making them feel unfit for God’s calling (Exodus 3:11, Judges 6:15). Both receive the same reply from God (Exodus 3:12, Judges 6:16). It’s not enough to randomly form types and patterns. There must be legitimate connections. The clues just mentioned show us linguistic and historical patterns and connections. They continue on…both Moses and Gideon tear down idols (Exodus 32:20, Judges 6:25-27). Both men lead Israel into seemingly unwinnable battles that the Lord won on their behalf. God used Moses to free Israel from Egypt just as God used Gideon to free Israel from her oppressors. Gideon is a neo-Moses pointing back to Moses but pointing forward to Jesus who will lead His own people in a freeing exodus in what looks like a losing battle that ends in victory. Isaiah used typology when he said that the work of Messiah would be like that of Gideon in the days of the Midianites (Isaiah 9:4).

THE MESSIAH NAMED DAVID
Messiah-centered biblical interpretation did not originate in the NT. Lamech did it. David did it. Isaiah did it. The NT authors simply continued doing proper interpretation of Scripture, showing how certain individuals were pictures or figures of Christ in particular ways. David was another figure of the OT that people knew would foreshadow Messiah. David, too, was born in Bethlehem, Judah. David was a King and Jesus descended from David. David’s victories and sufferings recorded in Psalms are used to describe Christ’s ultimate victories and sufferings. David wanted to build God a house, but God would build David a house in Christ’s dynasty (2 Samuel 7:11-16).  David’s son would be more than Solomon for David’s son would be David’s Lord. David stands as the penultimate link between the first promise of a saving child and the coming incarnation of Christ. The coming of Christ has narrowed down from Eve (humanity), to Abraham (patriarch), to Judah (tribe), to David (family). See Luke 1:32. David, like Messiah would shepherd (Micah 5:4). As David slew Goliath (whose armor is described as scales in Hebrew), so Jesus slew Satan, the serpent in Genesis and Revelation.  How much of David’s life foreshadowed Messiah? Saul’s persecution of David? David going up the Mt. of Olives? In Psalms the lives of David and Jesus overlap.  On the night Jesus was betrayed He quoted Psalm 41 to refer to prophecy fulfilled concerning Himself when it was originally written about a betrayal against David. When Jesus quotes Psalms He is calling us to see David’s life and how it pointed to Himself in analogous ways. This means we should read 2 Samuel in tandem with the gospels. Also, in 1 Samuel 21:10-15 we read of David acting crazy in order to save his life. David then wrote Psalm 34 in response to God saving his life from afflictions. Later the apostle John wrote that Scripture was fulfilled when none of Jesus’ bones were broken (Exodus 12:46 & Psalm 34:20). Jesus, the Passover Lamb, had no bones broken and had sufferings like David. This is a case of double metalepsis. David’s deliverance was a foreshadowing of Christ’s resurrection. Do we read also Psalms in light of their historical context to get a glimpse of what Messiah would come to do?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
(1). Do you pay attention to how the Psalms are used in the NT?  How can Psalms be used in our corporate and daily worship? How can Psalms be used in our evangelism? How can Psalms be used for encouragement?
(2). What other figures in the OT do you think pre-figure our Messiah?
(3). Are your eyes opening further to just how amazing God is in revealing His Son to us in all Scripture?
(4). Is your heart filled with gratitude that God would reveal Christ to us?
(5). Do you see just how supernatural the Bible is?
(6). Do you see just how short many sermons and Bible studies fall short in preaching the full meaning of the Old Testament?