I challenged our faith family at Central Christian Church to read through the Bible in 90 days with me starting 1-1-2015. We want to focus on truly growing in Christ this year and one of those ways is through reading the entirety of God’s word. I also have pointed out before that the entire Bible either points ahead to Jesus and the cross, or back to Jesus and the cross. For those of you that have never done this kind of study before, that is one theme that should become clear as you read the whole Bible this quickly.
So I thought I would take a few minutes to point out a couple of things that point to Jesus from the first couple of days of this reading plan. Day 1 is pretty obvious as it is a direct prophecy about what is to come. It comes from Genesis 3, after the serpent’s deception causes Adam and Eve to sin.
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15 NIV)”
This refers to what Jesus does on the cross and in His resurrection. He defeats Satan, even though Satan is able to hurt Him. God’s plan of salvation has been in place since the beginning, in the garden of Eden. That’s why the whole Bible either points forward or back to Jesus. He was always the plan, and we see that in the garden during this encounter.
What I saw in the day two reading isn’t as obvious, but it is just as powerful, if not more so. Look at Genesis 22. It’s the story of Abraham being told to sacrifice his only son Isaac, the son God promised Abraham that descendants as numerous as the stars would come from. God is testing Abraham’s faithfulness and trust.
The obvious part of this is that Abraham is being asked to sacrifice his son, just like God is eventually going to do with Jesus. But the coolest part is easy to miss if you don’t know the history of the geography of the area. God tells Abraham to take Isaac to a place called Moriah. This is s mountain, or hillside right outside of the area that would eventually become the great city of Jerusalem! In other words, Abraham takes Isaac to sacrifice him in the same place that thousands of years later, Jesus would be crucified for the sins of the world. This is direct foreshadowing of what is to come and one of the main ways that we see the OT pointing toward Jesus and the cross.
I plan on writing reflections of our readings on a somewhat regular basis over the next 90 days, but it won’t be everyday. Let me know if you come across any questions during your reading and I will do my best to answer them.
God Bless,
Kraig
Thoughts from a Crosseyed Jesus Freak 