Part 1: Old Testament Images
By Ed Tarkowski

The Old Testament is the spiritual history of Israel, God's chosen people. It contains the Law, the promises of God, and the prophetic messages which enabled Israel to recognize God's hand in events as they came to pass. When Jesus came, and with Him the New Covenant between God and man, the people and events of the Old Testament were brought into His light, and were fully revealed. Jesus WAS the fulfillment of the Law, the promises, and the prophecies, and those Jews who recognized this fulfillment accepted Him as their Messiah. But the extent of the prophetic nature of the Old Covenant far exceeds the actual predictions of the prophets: Jesus Himself and the New Testament writers drew many parallels between His work and the roles of Scriptural figures. He is seen as the Last Adam, and compared with Noah, Jonah, Isaac, Joseph, Moses David and many others. But the Old Testament parallels were not just confined to people. As the first Christians reflected on the significance of Jesus' life, His words, His Death and Resurrection, they came to understand the hidden meaning of many of Israel's historical memories, her rites and ceremonies, even the object used in worship.

The Brazen Serpent On A Pole

During the exciting times of the early Church, these new revelations filled the disciples with wonder as they grew in comprehension of the completeness of God's work. The Old Testament came to be seen as a shadow, preceding the reality of Jesus. For example, God had instructed Moses to make a brazen or fiery serpent, "set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." (Numbers 21:8). Here God was pointing to someone, the reality of the One who was to come. When questioned by Nicodemus, one of the teachers of Israel, Jesus claimed that the brazen serpent was meant to foreshadow Himself:

"14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3).

The Sanctuary's Two Gold Cherubim

Again, the Tabernacle in the wilderness was constructed exactly in accordance with God's instruction to Moses: "See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount" (Hebrews 8:5). Within this Tabernacle was the Holy of Holies and within it was the Ark of the Covenant, and "And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat"

(Hebrews 9:5). The High Priest entered the Holy of Holies only once a year to sprinkle the blood before the Ark, and there God manifested Himself to accept the blood in atonement for the sins of the people.

At that time, there was no way into the real presence of God; Israel awaited its Messiah. As the writer of Hebrews later wrote, "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing" (Hebrews 9:8).

It was only after Jesus became the perfect blood sacrifice, and as High Priest entered the true Heavenly Sanctuary, that the full significance of God's instruction became clear. The Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant were, in each detail, only the shadow of the Heavenly reality (Hebrews 8:1-8; 9:14).

The Shadow Becomes Reality In Christ

These shadows of the Old Testament were wonderfully and powerfully designed: the purpose of each was fulfilled temporarily in its own time and eternally by Jesus Christ. Concerning the brazen serpent on a pole, Jesus was the reality of healing, of forgiveness for sins, of life and truth. Concerning the Temple (the Sanctuary), those Jews who rejected Jesus as their Messiah, who chose to cling to the shadow, saw the structure of that shadow collapse in 70 A.D. But for those whose eyes were opened to the reality of Jesus, the confidence in God's presence was assured, the body of Christ became the temple of the Living God, and each of its members, a participant in the life of Christ.

The Second Commandment of God

Jesus was the fulfillment of the Law, and He now sends the Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who believe in Him. As He does His work in us, we realize that it is our new understanding of God which brings us into obedience, rather than the enforced conformity of the past. Our minds are open to the connectedness of God's plan; we see the reason behind the Law as well as the logical consequence of its violation. The wisdom of the Holy Spirit widens our view of the Ten Commandments also, and we come to see the age-spanning truth contained in each of them.

The Second Commandment of the ten given is a case in point. Although we learned a
shortened version, the entire commandment broadens our understanding of His seriousness of purpose. The Lord commanded:

Exodus 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. :3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

The Universal God Spoke Universal Law

Carved images, false gods, and idols bring to mind the ancient civilizations of Babylon and
Egypt, or our contemporaries, the pagan worlds of the Far East and Africa. Enlightened western cultures such as ours have interpreted the word "idol" in a larger sense, to include money, power and sex, among other things. Surely these have the potential for interfering with men's worship of God. But the phrases God used in giving this command point more to a RELIGIOUS idol; He is warning against possible relationships with spiritual beings, something other than human relationships or the objects of man's needs. Furthermore, money, power and sex are covered by other commandments - those forbidding stealing, covetousness, and adultery. God's Ten Commandments are so complete that every sin known to man fits into one category or another.

The only Commandment we moderns don't know quite what to do with is the Second. If we take it literally, there doesn't seem to be much temptation with it. But would God, whose intelligence and vision is infinite, have included in His comprehensive set of Commandments of which only one forbade a condition confined only to some localities and times? No, because the universal God spoke universal law. Instead of re-interpreting the First Commandment to conform to our understanding of false gods, we would do well to enter more deeply into God's wisdom.

-End of Part 1.