2005 North American Bible Study MeetingDecember, 29th, 2005 AfternoonAnd every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.  Hebrews 10:11-14Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of Godwhich He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.Romans 1:1-4Forgiveness of Sins in the Old TestamentThrough the Bible, we have seen that, as the history of Israel unfolded, God revealed on a larger scale the plan He had in His heart. So far, we have been examining the Bible together to see how distinctions are made within its pages. Now, we will take a more detailed look at the basis on which these distinctions are made. Adam disregarded God’s command and became a sinner, and as a result, all mankind became sinners. At that time, Adam made himself a covering of fig leaves to cover his shame. Let’s turn to Genesis chapter 3. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  Genesis 3:6-10We easily come into contact with wood in our everyday lives. We use wood to make musical instruments, tables, and chairs. We make doors and ornaments out of wood. Our Bibles are made of paper, and paper is also made from wood.The Bible also contains many references to wood. We read that wood was used for kindling when a burnt offering was made, and we read how one person amongst the Israelites was put to death after he was discovered gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Through passages such as this, we can see that wood is one of God’s creations that tells us about our fate. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were both together in the midst of the garden of Eden, just as light and darkness exist together in this world. God’s reason for creating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not a matter to quibble about. This is divine providence. Such misunderstandings will fade away when you know precisely the process by which God created the world. Yet, it was through that tree, through the fruit of that tree, that man was deceived and mankind fell into sin. As soon as he fell into sin, Adam made himself garments out of the leaves of a tree to cover his shame. Then, when he heard the voice of the Lord God, Adam hid himself from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Through Adam, God presents us with an image of ourselves, who have been born into the world and live here lost in sin as though we are not even aware that we are sinners, making every effort to cover up our sin ourselves, but as we do so, we fall ever deeper into sin. Also through Adam, we are able to hear the screams of man as he cries out to God in his anguish as Adam did when he heard the sound of God when He came looking for Adam, and Adam said, “I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”Once Adam had fallen into sin through the tree, God was speaking to him, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field” (Genesis 3:17-18). Thorns and thistles are also kinds of trees. God told Adam that he would have to procure his food amongst these things.Then Adam’s son, Cain, who was born later, offered to God the fruit of the ground he had farmed. At that time, God accepted neither Cain, nor his offering. Before that, God Himself had slaughtered an animal and made garments of the skins with which He clothed Adam and Eve. Similarly, Cain’s younger brother Abel offered to God the firstborn of his flock and of their fat, and God accepted both Abel and his offering. Also, when the Israelites offered burnt sacrifices, they would put some wood under the sacrificial animal. An image of our sins being thoroughly cleansed through the blood of Jesus Christ is presented once more in the altar of the Israelites. We can see things like this recorded in the books of the law. Thus, in the Bible these two images are presented to us repeatedly: our fate being revealed to us through wood, and above all the sacrifice of animals. One day, Jesus, who had been born into this world and lived as a carpenter, met a blind man. Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything. And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.” Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.  Mark 8:22-25Jesus spat on the eyes of this blind man. This is completely incomprehensible from the standpoint of modern medical science. It is offensive enough to spit in someone’s face, but Jesus spat in this man’s eyes.This is something we become aware of through the Bible; we discover the real person inside of us, while on the outside we have washed ourselves clean and are wearing clean clothes. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings (Jeremiah 17:9-10). When you examine your heart through the Bible, it is as though God is spitting in your face as He points out to you that your heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. In the book of Isaiah it says that we grope for the wall like the blind. (see 59:10) Jesus compared to a blind man the state of a person whose physical eyes are opened while the eyes of his spirit are closed to the word of God. As Jesus spat in the eyes of the blind man, we are presented with an image of God as He speaks to mankind. The book of Jeremiah says, “the word of the Lord is a reproach to them” (6:10). In other words, we do not like it when the Bible points out the state we are in. What did the blind man say, when Jesus asked him if he saw anything? He said, “I see men like trees, walking.” This is an image of each one of us when we discover that our sins are alive and squirming around. Then Jesus put His hands on the blind man’s eyes and he was able to see everyone clearly. This is what happens to an individual through the Bible when he calls on the name of God, acknowledges the kind of person he is, and waits for God to touch him. Jesus had been born into the household of Joseph, a carpenter who had spent His life shaping wood and knocking nails into it. When He spoke to the Israelites of matters such as this before He was crucified, He was letting them know in advance that some day His own flesh would be nailed to the wood. Your flesh was united with that of Jesus and went through the judgment. In this way, your sin crumbled to nothing before God. The history of sacrificial offerings continues unbroken throughout the Bible. Noah also offered an animal sacrifice when he came out of the ark at the end of the great flood. Abraham, too, put the wood to be used for the sacrifice on the shoulders of Isaac and together they went up Mount Moriah. Then Isaac’s son Jacob covered his neck and hands with the skins of a slaughtered animal and went to his father to receive the blessing. When we see such events flowing continually through the book of Genesis, we can see that God is trying to tell us something through all of this.Also, the Israelites went down to Egypt, and after 430 years, there was the incident of the Passover. God told the Israelites to slaughter an animal and put its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses. This door is an image of the door to sin in our hearts. God said that the blood of an animal was to be put on the door of the sin that we commit endlessly. He also said that when the angel of the Lord went out to strike the land of Egypt and saw the blood on the doorposts and lintels of the houses, he would pass over those houses. The wrath of God does not remain upon. This is what is referred to as the Passover. This incident is recorded in Exodus chapters 11 and 12. Then in chapters 13 and 14, we read how this nation came out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, and from then on, the Passover continued to be observed within the history of Israel to commemorate these events.The journeys of the Israelites, beginning in Exodus chapter 12, provide us with much food for thought. The many accounts that appear in the Bible all have their beginning and their end, but we need to make definite distinctions as we read these accounts. If we are not careful, we may be rash to take the image presented of the Israelites and make it an image of ourselves. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, for example, they crossed the Red Sea. Then later, they crossed the River Jordan in order to enter the land of Canaan. It would be easy to conclude from this that we are to be baptized twice.Yet some of the many accounts that appear in the Bible have their beginning and their end, and then they continue on into another incident. It is similar to the way in which each day begins and ends, but as the earth keeps turning another day begins. Also, just as the earth is bigger than the moon, and each of them has its own orbital path, in the Bible there are smaller incidents that take place in the midst of larger ones. The work of God flows through the Bible as these greater incidents are all put together. This is why you may fall into your own trap if you persist in applying your own situation to all the accounts in the Bible, trying to interpret them in this way. Through the journeys of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans to the land of Canaan, and then from the land of Canaan to Egypt and back again, we can see in advance the many incidents through which the Israelites would later have to go. Also, through the life of Jacob, and through the life of his son Joseph, we can see an image of the entire history of Israel. Similarly, when we examine carefully the contents of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and the first six chapters of the book of Joshua, we can see God’s entire plan in regard to the historical events He intended for Israel. When we read the Bible, we need to be aware of the starting and the finishing points. If you just keep reading, unaware of when an account began and when it will finish, there will be no end to it. Try reading from Genesis through to the book of Judges, and then from First Samuel through to Second Kings. As you read through the Bible, you will come across many amazing truths. Accounts are laid before us there that no human mind could have invented. When we read the Bible, it is relatively easy to take in the content of Genesis and Exodus since we often come across these books, but when we come to books like Leviticus, Numbers, and Judges, we may become somewhat confused since they contain whole lists of names that are difficult to pronounce and with which we are unfamiliar. The Israelites, having been through the Passover, crossed the Red Sea, received the law through Moses at Mount Sinai, and then continued their journey till they came to the River Jordan. Moses died before they crossed the River Jordan, and Joshua led the Israelites across the river. Then after they had crossed the River Jordan, more incidents were added to the history of this nation. If you consider the incidents that occurred amongst the Israelites after they crossed the River Jordan and until David became their king in connection with what we have studied so far, you will find it a little easier to understand the books of Judges, Ruth, and First and Second Samuel. As we read about the time of the judges when everyone did what was right in his own eyes because they had no king as such (see Judges 17:6, 21:25), we find that David, of the tribe of Judah, appeared on the scene, and we have another glimpse of the history of Israel. We are able to see the whole of this history. This is really quite unique. We are able to see this to a greater and greater extent; first through one person, then through one family, then through one incident, and then through one section of history. What I am suggesting is that we learn little by little how we should go about reading the Bible. To give you an example, when we teach our children the content of the book of Judges, are we just going to teach it as a series of stories? Are we going to teach merely as a story, the incident in which Samson pushed the pillars and the building collapsed, bringing about the death of all the Philistines who were there. Then, there is the incident in which a man offered up his own daughter as a sacrifice, and the time when the concubine of one of the Levites played the harlot against him, so he handed her over to be raped all night long, and then he took a knife and divided her into twelve pieces, sending these pieces throughout all the territory of Israel. Hidden within such incidents are God’s plan for Israel, the terrible sins that the Israelites committed against God, and the heart of God as He witnessed all these things. It was after these events had occurred that David appeared on the scene. This is a shadow of Jesus when He comes as King of kings. The history of the Israelites was proceeding towards the time when one particular person would appear amongst them. We see this in the books of Judges, Ruth, and First and Second Samuel. In the Bible we also read about matters that arose in regard to the offering of sacrifices. The law that God established came into effect after the time of the passover, and the Israelites made an effort to preserve the law. Nevertheless, they did not do everything necessary in order to preserve the laws governing the offering of sacrifices, and in the end we find these laws were transformed. We can see clearly what the apostle Paul was talking about when he wrote, “For they . . . seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3). We can also take a look at ourselves within this context.We may think of books of the Bible like Judges and First and Second Samuel as though they are a series of interesting stories such  as might be written by man, but not one word recorded within those books would be possible if they were not the voice of God. If we acknowledge that even those parts of the Bible with which we are not very familiar and tend not to think about in the course of our lives are the words of God that He is speaking to us, we are able to be aware once more of how great God’s love is.If we think of the history of Israel on a broader scale, it is really quite simple. One nation by the name of Israel was established; the people of that nation had Jesus crucified; then Jesus rose from the dead; and the age of the Church began. Nevertheless, countless incidents took place in order to explain all this, and the tremendous number of events that took place and the images of the people who sinned within this history allow us to see ourselves as we are. Through the Israelites, God is teaching you what kind of person you are. This is why we are able to look at the Israelites and feel compassion and love for them; not for individuals, but for the nation of Israel as a whole.Ask yourself if perhaps you say you are born again, and yet you look down on the Jews or see them in a bad light. If that is the case, you need to set things in order in your heart. When God said, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you” (Genesis 12:3), this was a law that God established in regard to the Jews. As members of the Church and as mem

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