Finding Christ In Genesis

Finding Christ In Genesis

We need to understand why God gave us these 66 inspired books. To understand
why, turn with me to Luke 24.25-27. Here Jesus gives a seven-mile Bible
study
to those on the road to Emmaus. Note what He said THEY (the entire Old
Testament) SPEAK (every book, every chapter, even every detail) OF ME (the
Bible
is Christ centered)!

Luke 24:25-27 "Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to
believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to
have
suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27 And beginning at
Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the
things
concerning Himself."

In the thirty-nine Old Testament books, Christ is in the shadows, seen in
analogies and in pictures. He is in types and rituals. He is prophesied and
anticipated.
The twenty-seven New Testament books complete the Old, revealing Christ in
person, in truth and reality, in the present and acknowledged.

Pictures of Christ: The Covering of Adam & Eve

When Adam and Eve clothed themselves with handmade leaf coverings, and God
covers them with coats of skins, God was teaching them that by the shedding
of
innocent blood they would be covered. The institution that we sometimes call
the Levitical system can actually be traced to Genesis 3. This gives us more
of an insight into Cain and Abel because the sacrifices were instituted in
the garden prophetically pointing to the redeemer. Abel observed the system,
Cain did not, he was offering the fruits of his own hands, in contrast to
the offering by faith.

Pictures of Christ: The Offering of Isaac

Perhaps the most dramatic prophecy of the Passover was when Abraham was
instructed to offer Isaac. They traveled three days by instruction (Gen 22),
and
they went up the hill, when Isaac asks "where is the lamb for the offering?"
Abraham turns to Isaac and says, "God will provide Himself a lamb." Abraham
knew he was acting out prophecy; he was relying on the resurrection of Isaac
for his salvation, because he figured that if God was going to kill him, God
would have to raise him because God had promised that Isaac would have seed.
So Abraham's belief in Isaac's resurrection is what scholars believe was the
kernel of Abraham's faith. Abraham knew that he was acting out prophecy
because he named the place, Jehovah Jireh (= in the mount of the Lord it
shall
be seen) which 2000 years later another Father offers His only begotten Son.

Pictures of Christ: The Burning Bush

The Burning Bush has some very interesting symbolism. Fire is always
symbolic of judgment (in the Scripture); brass was always used in the
Tabernacle for
vessels which needed to hold fire, so brass speaks of fire and thus
judgment.

So with fire speaking of judgment, what is being judged here? The bush. The
Hebrew for bush is (seneh), which actually comes from the word "to prick"
and
it thus means a bramble or thorn bush (sometimes called an acacia bush); the
thorn bush of the desert.

The symbol for sin is a thorn; see Gen 3:18. When we see Christ crucified,
we find the Roman soldiers made a crown of thorns and placed it upon
Christ's
head. Christ was made sin for us Gal 3:13, He bore our sins on His brow.

Here with the burning bush, we have sin being judged by God's consuming
fire! The thorn bush is not consumed; sin in the Hands of the Living God,
not being
destroyed, is a model of mercy. Do not get Grace and Mercy confused. Grace
is getting something that you don't deserve. Mercy is not getting that which
we do deserve.

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