2nd June, 2012     Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name.  (Malachi 3:16)       Our Image, Seen Through Two Images of Jesus     When born-again people gather to study the Bible together, it is different from the life of a religious person who lives as he pleases and then goes to a place called a church one day a week to offer prayers that are not really in his heart and listen to the words of the Bible that are given to him. We need to ask ourselves whether we are not perhaps living in this way.     Jesus said, “These [Scriptures] are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). All the words of the Bible teach us about Jesus. Therefore the Bible is not to be interpreted arbitrarily. Nevertheless, there are many passages in the Old Testament that we may easily misunderstand. The historical events presented in the Old Testament are far removed from our way of living and the times in which we live; they are a record of events that took place in the nation by the name of Israel a very long time ago. The Bible contains an account of the turbulent course of Israel history which took place from about four thousand years ago to about two thousand years ago. The Bible refers to us as Gentiles, and, as such, we are not part of the blood lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Living in the age of grace, we have come in contact with the Bible and we have received the light in our hearts through the Bible. Before the mirror by the name of the Bible, which is cleaner than any mirror in the world, we are able to look at ourselves and, from it, we can learn how we are to live our lives and how we should act.     There are hardly any passages in the Bible that are addressed specifically to any one particular individual or designated group. All the words of the Bible provide lessons for us as individuals, but they are also addressed to the Jews and the Church. If we have entrusted our lives to the hands of God, we will not listen to the superficial words of man, but rather we must follow wherever God leads us. Battles are not only to be seen on television. The words I hear every day, the words of the Bible I come to know, the words I say, the many things I do, whether right or wrong, all these things may give rise to struggles in my heart. We get a glimpse of this even just from reading the letter to the Romans.     I left South Korea when I was seventeen years old. Until that time, I had never lived anywhere but my hometown, and I had never been on a plane. I walked on American soil from a young age, but now when I look back, I can see that even though I lived there for a long time and moved a lot, I never thought, “This is my home.” The Bible tells about the Jews who had to leave the land of Canaan and wander about here and there, living a life of many difficulties, so when I come across these accounts in the Old Testament, I think about how fortunate I am, since I do at least have a “hometown”.     I am not talking about the place people generally refer to as their hometown in that it is the place where they were born. Of course, there is the hometown, or homeland, of my spirit, but that is not what I am talking about, either. This fellowship with brothers and sisters is my hometown. No matter where they have been scattered in the world, the Jews have always lived their lives with their hearts focused on the temple. In a similar way, I could not spend every day with the brothers and sisters, but I think it is good that we have this hometown of the heart while we are living in this world.     Jesus stands before us in the work that we do, the steps that we take, and at the center of our thoughts. The gospel has been entrusted to the church, and in order for us to keep it, there are many tasks that have been given to us to perform. Inside of man there is a spirit and a mind, and we perform physical actions in order to protect these and carry out their will. In a similar way, many tasks have been assigned to the church to carry out. If, like religious people, we were to meet just once a week to listen to a sermon, and then go our separate ways and live our lives individually, and then we met again the next week to listen to another sermon, there would be no need for Israel as it appears in the Old Testament; only the temple would be necessary.     I think often about the books of the Kings, Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah lived at around the same time. Ezra was the person who roused the nation of the Jews to rebuild the temple when they had forgotten all about the Law and God’s word. Also, in the book of Nehemiah, it talks about the rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem. When we read these passages, we may think, “That is truly the way it is.” Even now, on the one hand, the gospel continues to be spread and people continue to be born again. We should not think simply in terms of the numbers of people being saved, whether many or few. Let’s think about the time when we, as individuals, were born again. There was the moment when we experienced that change, but also there have been other changes that have come over us since then as we have been through various trials and blessings. The newly born-again brothers and sisters will go through the same experiences that we have been through. The salvation of an individual is a tremendous event in God’s eyes. The gospel continues to be spread through the lips of born-again people in the midst of fellowship, through their hands, and through their efforts and service, and we carry out many tasks in order to help in this work. Such images are revealed throughout the Old Testament.     Even in the midst of all this, however, the primary subject of the Bible is Jesus, and we must always remember this. If we depart from this central point, we start to misunderstand the Bible. Our individual work and our destinies are inextricably linked to Jesus’ will. The Old Testament shows us this beforehand, and the New Testament offers a reply. What do we need to know first from the Bible? The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell us about Jesus’ birth and death. Then in Acts chapter 1, we read about Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven. Since then more than two thousand years have passed and some day?no one knows exactly when?Jesus will stand upon this earth once more. In First Peter, it says, “Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow” (1 Peter 1:11).     These two images of Jesus?when He walked the earth in the past and when He returns and stands before all the people of the world as King of kings?are the focal point of the Bible. As we read and come to know the Bible, Jesus, who suffered and then entered into His glory, must stand there with us. If we read the Bible with these two images of Jesus in mind, many things in the Bible become very clear to us.     This is also true when it comes to the story of David and Solomon. First the Bible talks about Saul, then David, then Solomon, and then, as the account turns to Rehoboam, the history of Israel begins to unfold. Yet, in the midst of all this, let’s consider the images of David and Solomon. David was exiled, disrespected and forced to flee from the sword one-time. His distress at that time is well presented in the book of Psalms. Here, we also find an image of Jesus who came to this world for the sake of my sins and shed His blood, suffering the rejection, trials and hatred that should have been mine. Also, Solomon enjoyed tremendous wealth and glory such as we cannot even imagine. Of course, according to the standards of the Law that God had given Moses, Solomon failed towards the end of his reign. Nevertheless, when we consider his glory and the temple that he built, we catch a glimpse in him of the image of Jesus as He stands in glory.     When we approach the Bible, we need to bear in mind the history of Israel beginning with Abraham and going through to David. Within this long period of history referred to when the Bible says, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1), we find that David made the preparations and Solomon built the temple that resembled the tabernacle made by the hands of Moses. Inside, the tabernacle was magnificent, but when seen from the outside, it looked shabby from its covering of badger skins. This is showing us a precise image of Jesus, the Son of God, who had no beauty that we should desire Him and came to this world in order to suffer. The age of the tabernacle continued until the time of David. David made the preparations so that his son, Solomon, might build the temple. David spent all his life engaged in war and living through many hardships, but still he committed his whole life to making it possible for his son to build the temple in accordance with the instructions received directly from God?a place where God might put His name.     The disciples on the way to Emmaus were not able to recognize Jesus, when He said to them, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days? … [He] was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.” So Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” and then He explained the whole Old Testament. (see Luke 24:13-27) He would have explained this image of suffering followed by glory Himself.     Believing that Jesus suffered and shed His blood for us, when we hear this truth, we are deeply moved by it. Also, as we think about Jesus dying for our sins, we may even feel pity for Him, but it is Jesus who died for us because He felt pity for us; there is no need for us to feel pity for Him. We are not even qualified to feel pity for Him; we should be grateful to Him. The image of Jesus shedding His blood shows the compassion with God the father has toward us.     When we see Jesus in the Bible, we are joyful and we are happy to have come to realize it in our hearts. On the other hand, my heart races when I think about how Jesus first suffered and how He will stand before us in glory. Some day, when Jesus stands with us, all the trials and tribulations we encounter in the course of our lives, all the persecution we face as we spread the gospel, and all the suffering we endure as we work together hand in hand with the brothers and sisters in trying to preserve the gospel, will disappear. The Old Testament presents us with an image of Jesus who bestows upon us joy upon joy.     God’s Answer to Solomon’s Prayer     We have already examined First Kings chapter 8 and seen how Solomon completed the building of the temple and then prayed making his supplications before God. In his prayer, he asked that when they faced disease or went out to battle against an enemy that was attempting to invade th

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