The Scriptures provide us clues for how to look at the patterns of God’s revelation in time. If the descendants of Abraham were the people of God through whom the whole world would be blessed, (Genesis 12:1-2) then they were the prism through which the world would experience the revelation of God’s Word. They were the “light to the nations” and this was proclaimed with full knowledge that they were sometimes obedient and sometimes disobedient. When they were disobedient, they distorted the revelation that God sought to “incarnate” through them.
Jesus became the embodiment of obedient Israel in one person. Note the parallels. The birth was beyond human explanation. Each was proclaimed to be God’s first-born son. (Exodus 4:22, Jeremiah 31:9, Psalm 89:27). Both journeyed down into Egypt for survival. Both experienced a wilderness journey of testing. That testing centered around bread, power and the miraculous. The kingship of each was centered in Jerusalem.
By looking at the physical structure of our universe, one can note a pattern that can provide us with a metaphor for how God works. Whether you look at the structure of a molecule or the structure of the solar system, the pattern is the same. There is a sun or nucleus and planets or electrons that circle around it. It is as if each small unit and the whole have the same pattern. Therefore you can examine the smallest part and learn about the whole or vice versa. The same is true in God’s relationship with the world. If you read about the history of Israel, you can see that same history “fulfilled” in the person of Jesus. It is as if, by looking at either history, you can discover clues of how God works in this universe. Each unit and the whole have the same pattern. As we seek to listen to the Word of God through the church, we apply the “canon”, or pattern which we see in Scripture to the church before us. By examining how God worked in Israel or in Christ, you can also discover how God works in the Body of Christ.
