The Meaning of the Old Testament – by Des Ford
May 30, 2015 3265
To receive Jesus is to receive heaven. It is to receive life everlasting. This is meaning of all the Old Testament’s stories of victory and deliverance.
All the judges of Israel were types of Christ in their good deeds, not in their humanity and weaknesses. It was said at Samson’s birth the same as it was said at Jesus’ birth: “He shall save his people.” That’s where the New Testament quotes it from. And we behold Samson at the end of a young life, with his arms around the pillars, willingly bowing himself in death, bringing down that huge building as the central pillars collapsed under that giant’s might. crushing the captors of his people. And as the word went out to Israel, they said, “Samson has redeemed us! Samson has delivered us! Our enemies are dead – dead in the place where they sought to kill our judge and deliverer.”
And so, our Lord Jesus Christ, long centuries after Samson, willingly bowed Himself, and gave up His life, and in so doing, destroyed the world, the flesh and the devil. Legally and forensically, He brought them to nothing. Oh yes, the devil’s tail is still flailing; it’s always that way with a serpent or a snake, even when its head is crushed. But Hebrews 2:14 says, “By death He destroyed him (the devil).” And so Christ has delivered us, every one of us. Not one of us need be bound to vices, to weaknesses, to follies. He has delivered us. He has defeated the great tempter, the world and the flesh – yes, He has overcome them.
We think of David – little David, the stripling, the young lad, at the beginning of his ministry. David encounters a giant and the giant unsheathes his great sword and says, “I’ll take your head from its shoulders and I’ll give it to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” But little David fells him with a few stones and then he takes the giant’s sword and beheads the giant. David – do you know what his name means? It means “The Beloved.” Where was he born? Bethlehem. And what was his professions and calling? Shepherd, prophet, king, captor (in the sense of a victorious captain and deliverer). Oh yes, David is one of the titles for Jesus.
In the book of Ezekiel, the book of Jeremiah, the messiah is called “David, the Beloved, the Son of an Ancient of Days.” That’s what Jesse was; he was a very old man.
David, the son of an ancient of days, born in Bethlehem, who never lost a battle. In all the engagements where David represented his people, he was a winner. And behold him now, in his weakness, without any armor on, meeting this great giant and felling him and beheading him, and all Israel shouting out, “He’s won!”
David wasn’t fighting that battle for himself. He didn’t have to be there at all. Do you understand? He was the representative of his people. Goliath had said, “Give me a man that we may fight together and if he wins we’ll be your servants, but if I win, you’ll be our servants.” So David, who didn’t have to be there, willingly gave himself as the representative of his people, and when~ he won, all Israel won.
All the Old Testament’s victories and stories of deliverance point to the victory of Christ on your behalf. Ah, what folly it would be to reject Christ! It would be to thrust away life and joy and happiness and peace and pardon. Because the Scripture says that, “He that believeth on Him is not condemned, and he that believeth not is condemned already.” “He that believeth hath everlasting life.”
Right now, life eternal begins the moment you believe. You can be immortal, right now, in God’s sight. You have eternal life the moment you believe. “He that believeth has everlasting life.” Not “will have,” but “has.” “But he that believeth not shall not see life.” There is one question the Bible asks that it doesn’t answer, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”
– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32. Adapted from “Planetary Interchange”
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