On the one hand, we God’s people are on a journey; on the other hand, we are serving God. Everything in this service is also Christ Himself.
The service of the children of Israel before God mainly involved the tabernacle, the offerings, and a group of priests (the tabernacle includes the furniture, such as the bronze altar and bronze laver in the outer court, the golden lampstand, showbread table, and incense altar in the Holy Place, and the Ark of the Testimony in the Holy of Holies—all of these items are included with the tabernacle). All three categories—the tabernacle, the offerings, and the priests—refer to the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus is our tabernacle; He is the place where we can appear before God and where God can meet with us. John 1:14 clearly says that in the Lord’s incarnation He tabernacled among us. Therefore, the Lord Jesus is the tabernacle for both us and God; in Him we meet God, and in Him God meets us. As for the furniture in the tabernacle, the bronze altar signifies His cross, the laver signifies the Holy Spirit who flows from Him, the showbread signifies Him as our bread of life, the golden lampstand signifies Him as our light of life, the golden incense altar signifies Him as our acceptance before God in resurrection, and the Ark of the Testimony signifies Him as our testimony and everything. All of these items are Christ Himself.
All of the offerings refer to the Lord Jesus, including the five main offerings—the burnt offering, the meal offering, the trespass offering, the sin offering, and the peace offering—and various other offerings. On the one hand, these offerings are the gifts we offer to God; on the other hand, they are the food accepted by God. All of them refer to Christ.
Furthermore, the priests, including Aaron and his sons, typify the Lord Jesus as well.
In our service as God’s people, our tabernacle is Christ, our Priest is Christ, and our offerings are also Christ; everything in our service is Christ. When we read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy, the tabernacle, the priests, and the offerings should all be understood as referring to Christ.
Not only do we as God’s people have to follow God in our journey and serve God, we also have to fight because there are enemies throughout the journey. Even when we have reached the God-promised good land, there are enemies occupying the land. In our fighting, Christ also has a particular position, which is typified by Joshua. When the Israelites entered Canaan to receive their inheritance, Joshua led them in their fighting. Joshua is a Hebrew word, which, when translated into Greek, becomes Jesus. Therefore, Joshua in the Old Testament is Jesus in the New Testament. Joshua typifies Christ leading us to fight, destroying all our enemies so that we may gain our rightful position and receive our rightful inheritance.
Not only did Joshua fight for God’s people, he also caused God’s people to receive the inheritance. He fought for God’s people in order that they would receive the inheritance. He was able to allot the inheritance to them because he fought for God’s people and was victorious. In the same way, the Lord Jesus enables us to possess the inheritance that God has given to us.
When we lose our God-given inheritance due to desolation, Christ redeems it for us. This is typified by Boaz. As Joshua, Christ causes God’s people to receive the inheritance; as Boaz, Christ causes the lost inheritance of God’s people to be redeemed. He is the One who allots the inheritance and the One who redeems the inheritance. The allotment of the inheritance is typified by Joshua; the redemption of the inheritance is typified by Boaz. This is the position of the Lord Jesus in the inheritance of God’s people. So far we have covered the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.
God’s people were delivered from Egypt, journeyed through the wilderness, won the victory, entered Canaan, and received the inheritance. At this point God gained a kingdom among them. The Lord Jesus also has a particular position in the kingdom of God.
All the kings in this kingdom typify Christ. The Lord is the King, the Leader, in this kingdom.
The center of this kingdom was not the throne of the king but the temple of God. The temple typifies Christ Himself.
The priests who served God in the temple typify Christ.
All of the offerings that were offered in the temple typify Christ. In this kingdom, the King is Christ, the temple is Christ, the Priest is Christ, and the offerings are Christ. These points cover 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
The preceding section speaks of the kingdom of God. Now we need to point out that in this kingdom there were many godly, spiritual men who lived in the presence of God. In God’s presence they had experiences, and from these experiences came the expressions of their sentiments. This is the story of the five books of poetry—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. These five books concern the sentiments of the saints in their experiences. When they expressed their sentiments, unknown to them the Holy Spirit uttered Christ through them.
When we read the sentiments of the saints, we can see how Christ was the glorious One who humbled Himself and went through all kinds of sufferings and was killed by men; even the scene of His death is clearly portrayed and expressed in their sentiments, including how He was forsaken by God, how He was sneered at by men, how men divided His garments and pierced His hands and feet, how His bones were out of joint, and how His heart melted like wax on the cross. Furthermore, we can see how He was resurrected, how He was begotten of God and manifested as the Son of God in resurrection, how He was exalted and made both Lord and Christ by God, how He received authority to rule over all things, how He is coming again in majesty, and how He will rule and reign in the coming age. If we carefully read Psalms, together with Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs, we will see that the process the Lord Jesus went through—from glory to humiliation, from humiliation back to glory, and from glory to reappearance—is clearly and accurately depicted in the expressions of the sentiments of the saints.
An outstanding feature in this portrayal is the use of the married life of the saints to portray the relationship between Christ and the church, especially in the process of His going from glory to humiliation and from humiliation to glory to gain a counterpart to match Him and to be joined to Him as one entity to become the great mystery in the universe. Christ occupies a full position in the books of poetry.
The books from Isaiah through Malachi also contain many prophecies concerning Christ. Micah 5 reveals that Christ’s coming forth is from eternity; Christ is the One from ancient times, from the days of eternity (v. 2). Isaiah 7:14 tells us that Christ would become flesh by being born of a virgin. Micah 5:2 tells us that He would be born in Bethlehem. Isaiah 9:6 says that the One born in Bethlehem of a virgin is a Son and also the eternal Father; He is a child and also the mighty God. His name is called Wonderful Counselor and a Prince of Peace. Isaiah 53 tells us that He is a man of humble origin as a root out of dry ground, who had no attracting form nor majesty that men should look upon Him, nor beautiful appearance that men should desire Him (v. 2). He was despised and forsaken of men; He was persecuted by men and passed through all kinds of sorrows and trials (v. 3); in the end, He was crucified by men and judged by God on the cross; God made Him a sin offering as our substitute (vv. 4-6). Then He was resurrected and His days were extended. Hosea 6:2 reveals the day of resurrection, showing us that it would be the third day. Zechariah describes how He was pierced on the cross by His people to become the fountain that washes away sins (12:10; 13:1).
If we carefully read through all the books of prophecy in the Old Testament and put all of the prophecies concerning Christ together, we will see that these prophecies begin with His being in eternity past and continue with His humbling Himself as a man, passing through sufferings, dying and being raised, entering into glory, gaining the church, and coming back to the earth as the Sun of righteousness to manifest His majesty and glory. The prophecies in the prophetic books are too numerous to be adequately explained in a short time. We can only go over them briefly.
This is one of the lines in the Old Testament. From the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Malachi, the entire Old Testament is linked together by the Lord Jesus.