Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament In Provisions LT = Lysa TerKeurst
JM = Joel Muddamalle Lysa TerKeurst: Hi, I'm Lisa TerKeurst and
this is Dr. Joel Muddamalle. We're the co-authors of Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament. This week,
we're going to be talking about Week Four, which is Provisions. I really want to focus in on seeing
Jesus when your prayers go unanswered, or it seems they're going unanswered. It kind of feels like,
at times, this question would pop up, "Is God really going to be there? Is Jesus really
going to provide what I need or whatever it is that I'm praying for?" Joel, I know that we keep
going back to Genesis, and this week is going to be no exception again because we want to see:
Where are some of the first times that we see Jesus in the Old Testament providing
and coming through for us? Joel Muddamalle: Yeah,
so one of the things that we know about Jesus, and we'll look at this more this week, is that
Jesus is our faithful Prophet, Priest, and King. Now, Lysa, I know one of your favorite passages
of Scripture is definitely Genesis Chapters 1 and 2, but also Hebrews Chapter 2. What is it
about Hebrews 2 that you love about Jesus? LT: I love in Hebrews Chapter 2, where we
are absolutely assured that Jesus is a merciful and faithful High Priest, because it gives this
indication that, yes, Jesus came to make atonement for our sins, but He also came to lead us,
mercifully and faithfully as our High Priest, but not a high priest that we can't identify with. We
can 100 percent identify with Him because He identifies with us. He was made fully human in
every way. We've already read this from Hebrews Chapter 2 before, but I think His role as a
merciful and faithful High Priest is one that lets us know He is there for us, and He is leading us,
not absent of the knowledge of what it feels like to be human, but very much having
experienced humanity for Himself. JM: So, one of the things about a
high priest, the way the priests would function in the Old Testament and elsewhere,
is that the priest would come on behalf of the people of God. In a way, the priest would be
the one who would pray all the prayers to God; he would intercede on behalf of the people to God.
The high priest, one time a year, would go into the Holy of Holies, and do this thing called the
atonement sacrifice, where the priests would go into the Holy of Holies and plead on behalf of all
of Israel for God to show kindness and mercy. Jesus is the greater High Priest, but here's
what's so interesting--the first picture or the first image or the first reality of a faithful
priest, prophet, king--is actually, guess where? LT: In Genesis, because it's the
role that God assigned to Adam and Eve. JM: That's right. So, if you go to Genesis Chapter
2, there's a lot here. One is in Genesis Chapter 1, verse 26, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, [the
Hebrew word is shalom] and after our likeness [another Hebrew word, demuth]. And let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock,
and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him; male and female he created
them." The reason why I highlighted those two words, image and likeness,
is because those are two words that are used all throughout the ancient world to describe a royal
king who would have children, and those children would reflect the image and likeness of the king.
So, what we have is a picture of royalty. Adam and Eve are royal children of the King of heaven
and earth. Now, let's look at Genesis Chapter 2, verse 15. Every member of a royal household,
honestly, every member of any household, Lys, has responsibilities. My kids have chores,
it's amazing; well, when they actually do their chores.
LT: Right. JM: But here in verse 15, God gives Adam
and Eve responsibilities. "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it
and keep it." If you're a highlighting, underlining type of gal, you might want to go ahead and circle
that, keep it. The Hebrew word there is shamar. Here's what's so interesting. This is the exact
same word that's used in 1 Chronicles 9:23, of the priests who were to guard the temple.
Also, in Nehemiah 11:19, of the gatekeepers who are supposed to guard the city limits. So,
in other words, we could say that God put Adam and Eve in Eden, not just to cultivate the garden,
not just to flower all the plants and to maintain what's taking place. Is that in mind? For sure.
But there's another nuance. There's this other understanding that they were there to
protect the garden. LT: Right.
JM: They were supposed to keep anything bad from coming in and disrupting the peace, the
shalom, that was present inside of Eden. LT: And I think it's also important to
ask this question, "How do we know that Adam and Eve were assigned the specific role,
that we're about to get to, of high priests? How do we know that they were as they are to take
care of the garden?" Well, I think it points to the reality that the presence of God was there.
JM: That's right. LT: Therefore,
we look at what unfolds later, where we see the presence of God. It's often in the Holy of Holies,
which is where the high priest had to go in. So, I see this beautiful image of the garden of Eden
being almost like this Holy of Holies. It was like I know some scholars even call it
the Temple Garden, right? JM: Temple Garden
LT: And so, Adam and Eve were assigned the roles of protecting it, just like the high
priests would have protected the Holy of Holies. JM: Absolutely. It's in this place, the fact that
as we know, Adam and Eve, they do let evil in, and they do let sin in, and they let the serpent
tempt them. That this is the place that created the separation--we've talked about this earlier,
in earlier weeks--that created the separation between God and man. And once the separation
made its way into the relationship between God and man, this is where prayer was introduced. Prayer
was now the conduit of being able--in the past, they were just able to talk to God, just like you
and I are talking right now, Lysa. But after this, they would pray prayers. And then there was this
feeling of, "Gosh, are my prayers answered? God, are You listening? God, are You hearing?" This is
where Jesus is the faithful Prophet, Priest, and King. He takes us back to that eidetic state,
that eidetic vision of Adam and Eve. LT: When you say eidetic,
you mean the time of the garden of Eden? JM: Yeah. That resembles and represents
a time where we walk and talk with God Himself. LT: And we didn't need to go through another man,
a high priest or a priest, in order to talk to God. We have a direct connection with God Himself.
And Jesus provides that direct connection again. JM: Absolutely.
LT: So, I just find this completely fascinating. You know, Joel, I want to end today by telling a
story of a time that I was really wondering, "Jesus, are you protecting me? Are you going
to be there for me? Is Your presence even seen in my life right now? Are you being a merciful
and faithful High Priest?" Because I was feeling like I was crying out in absolute desperation,
but not seeing an answer from the Lord. And it was when I had some issues, just a lot of deep,
emotional turmoil, and it started to play out in these unexplainable, really terrible stomach
aches. Eventually, the pain got so intense one morning that I woke up and it wasn't even possible
for me to stand up. I mean, I just collapsed from the pain. So, my family rushed me
to the hospital, to the emergency room, and they started running tests, and they didn't see,
they couldn't immediately find out what was wrong with me. But because I was in so much pain, they
admitted me to the hospital, and they kept running tests. While I was there--Monday night, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday--the only reason that the doctors didn't send me home was because of
the pain. Otherwise, they kept running tests and the tests kept coming back negative. Until
Friday morning, a surgeon happened to be at this hospital and got my case, looked at it, and said,
"I want to run one more test." He ran one more test, a CT scan with contrast. And when he did that,
he realized why I was in so much pain, and it had been missed before. My colon had literally ripped
away from the abdominal wall, twisted around itself and cut off the blood flow inside of me.
As the doctor came in and explained the results of that last test to me, he said, "Lysa,
we have to rush you into emergency surgery, and we're going to have to remove most of your colon."
And I remember him then saying, "Lysa, I know you've been in a lot of pain.
And I know you've been asking for the pain to go away, for God to take away your pain. But I just
want you to know, Lysa, if God would have answered that prayer, then we would have sent you home,
because it was only the pain that kept you here. If we would have sent you home, your colon would
have ruptured, and you probably would have died in your sleep." As the surgeon walked out, I suddenly
realized God was answering a greater prayer than what I even knew to pray.
I was asking God to take away the pain. God was answering the prayer to save my life.
JM: Wow! LT: And, He left the pain,
and the pain wound up being the very thing that kept me in the hospital and that
provided a way for me to get the surgery that I desperately needed. I know I said this before,
but today, I want to close, and I want to say this again. Truly, God loves us too much
to answer our prayer at any other time than the right time and in any other way than the
right way. And as you study Jesus this week, seeing Jesus through the different Provisions
in the Old Testament, I hope you remember even if it doesn't look like He's providing for you
in the way you think He should today, maybe He's giving you a greater answer, a greater Provision
you didn't even know to ask for. [Music]