Similarities All The Way!!!

SIMILARITIES ALL THE WAY!!!

All these things happened to them as examples—as object lessons to us—to warn us against doing the same things; they were written down so that we could read about them and learn from them in these last days as the world nears its end-I Cor 10:11 (TLB)

At the very outset (of this message) I would like to state that it may surprise some (not very familiar with the chronological order of NT Books) that when Apostle Paul penned those immortal words “All Scripture is God-inspired…” (2 Tim 3:16), New Testament section of the Bible in its present form was not yet fully compiled. For instance “Books” such as John’s Gospel or for that matter the Book of Revelation had not yet been written. So what exactly did Apostle Paul have mostly in mind when he wrote those epochal (figuratively speaking) words…obviously the Jewish Scriptures (Genesis to 2 Chronicles… Note: The last book of Jewish Scriptures is not Malachi which incidentally is the last Book of Second section of Jewish Bible comprising 3 sections. For more on Jewish classification of Scriptures, one may read my article titled Sage Speak available at the following URL… http://www.jandsmministries.com/Sage_speak.asp)!!!

Whilst meditating on the afore-referred Scripture which is all about “learning from the History of the Nation of Israel”, it would serve us well of the present age to remember that the unchanging Lord we are serving is the same Lord of OT Scriptures who still blesses the obedient but sets Himself up against the proud (James 4:6 b/1 Peter 3:12-TLB).

While our Heavenly Father is the same unchanging One all throughout the Scriptures, do we the see similarities between the people of the Old Covenant (read the Sinai Covenant) and the ones’ of the New one especially in the matter of Lord’s dealings with them? Yes, would be an affirmative answer!!!

In this message of sub-headings beginning with the alphabet “D” (alliteration to make the message delightful has a Scriptural mandate in Eccl 12:10 wherein we would see the Preacher using “words of delight” whilst preaching!) Yours Truly endeavours to bring similarities between the “Church of the bygone Covenant” (Acts 7:38 KJV) and the Church of the existing Covenant beginning with the “principal actors’ ” of the respective covenants.

I) Deliverers’…

Both Moses and Jesus have been used by the Almighty as “Deliverers’”. If Moses was used by the Almighty to deliver the people of Israel from the Egyptian slavery (Pharoah was an agent of the Devil) to be His own “property” (Exo 19:3-6), then our to Heavenly Father used our Saviour deliver us from the bondage to the World of Satan (represented by sin and darkness) to be His exclusive “property” too (1 Peter 2:9).

If functionally both the “main initiators” of the 2 Covenants were similar, then one would observe stark similarities with respect to other aspects of their lives too (note the words of Moses of God raising a “similar” prophet like him-Deu 18:18-20)…

1. Mother

Adopted mother of Moses with whom Moses would spend much of his childhood and youth time too was a virgin when she rescued Moses (Exo 2:1-10).

Mary the mother of Jesus was a virgin at the time of Jesus’ birth (Luke 1:26-45)

2. Mortal danger

As a child, Moses faced mortal danger from Egyptian King Pharoah but was miraculously saved by the Almighty (Exo 2:1-10)

As a child, Jesus also faced mortal danger from the Idumean King Herod but was miraculously saved by the Heavenly Father (Matt 2:1-21)

3 Marriage

Moses married a non-Jewish lady (Exo 2:15-21)

Church the bride of Christ is also non-Jewish (Gal 3:28/Col 3:11)

4 Miracles

Both Moses and Jesus performed awesome miracles'.

5 Mount of transfiguration

At Mount Sinai, Moses had the transfiguration experience which created fear amongst his close associates like Aaron (Exo 34:29-30)

At Mount Tabor, Jesus had the transfiguration experience which created fear amongst his close associates like Peter, James and John (Mark 9:2-6)

6 Mediator

Moses always played the role of fervent intercessor (Exo 32:30-32) to perfection

Jesus perpetually plays the role of passionate intercessor (John 2:1)

7 Methodology

Covenant was given to first Moses in written form and then onto the Jews (Exo 24:4/31:18/34:1)

Covenant before being “written” in the hearts of Christians as per the prophecy (Jer 31:33) was first “written down” in the heart of the Messiah (Psa 40:6-8)!!!

8 Meekness

Moses was the meekest on Planet Earth during his time. The Hebrew word for meekness used in Numbers 12:3 is Anav which means meekness borne not out of weakness but actually a condition of someone constantly bowed down under constant pressure…like a branch weighed down by fruit. The huge burden of leadership led to this fruitful spiritual condition in Moses. Let’s remember the fact he was more “weighed down” than anyone else whilst reading Numbers 12:3 lest anyone of us misconstrue that Moses was “proud” of his humility as he himself wrote that Scripture portion.