If the wicked forsakes his ways and becomes righteous through faith in Jesus, this comes true:
"The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day." (Proverbs 4, 18.) That is to say, if you follow Jesus in word and deed, your star will continually be on the rise. Please note that there is no setting of the sun in that life. If you pursue righteousness, life will get better and better, despite the periodical setbacks with which we all grapple from time to time. - Paul even says: God leads us around in a perpetual triumphal parade, manifesting himself everywhere we go. (2 Corinthians 2, 14.)
If you change your track and ride the gospel-train, great glories await you.
Upon scrutinous study of the scriptures I even find that God uses the lives of dedicated people to play melodies of redemption on them. Believers become living proof of the living God. He arranges circumstances in their lives in such a way that they speak of him and his mercies. You could say: the life of a true believer serves as the "piano" of the Lord.
Let me elaborate.
The first time this really hit me was when I looked into the life of the prophet Elisha.
Just let this speak to you:
Elisha arrives at the city of Jericho. (2 Kings 2, 19-24.) It's inhabitants entreat him, because a curse seems to linger around the otherwise winsome site: the land is bad and the water is bitter. It causes barrenness and miscarriages in man and beast.
Of course, there is a curse on the place! God specifically told Joshua to destroy the godless city for all time. Joshua then he pronounced a divine imprecation on the one who would dare to rebuild Jericho. "Cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho." (Joshua 6, 26.)
But now it's citizens come to the prophet of the Lord for help. They humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. They are not godless anymore. Their eye is upon their master.
Elisha blesses the city and heals it's water by pouring salt into the bitter fountain. And all is well.
The cursed city became blessed!
Now, Elisha immediately resumes his travels and arrives at another city: the blessed city of Bethel. Here at Bethel, - which means House of God -, Jacob of old had seen a stairway to heaven, and angels ascend and descend upon the place, carrying prayers up and blessings down.
What other city can boast a spiritual heritage like that!
But alas! Bethel the Blessed has changed: a whole gang of godless punks flows from the city and begins to heckle God's prophet. In the end it gets so bad that Elisha turns around and curses them in the name of the Lord. Immediately bears descend upon this selection of mother's finest and devour a great number of them!
The blessed city became cursed!
This arrangement of events, the succession of these miracles, is not coincidental! It is divine. These are the fingerprints of an invisible mover and shaker in the life of Elisha.
I could go on and on showing you this thread of deeper meaning running through the biblical biographies of the great men of faith. Time and space don't permit that, so let me speak about the greatest life of all: let me show you the hidden symbolisms in the biography of Jesus. Especially the crucifixion and the events around it will be of interest here.
John says about the Christ: "And the word became flesh, ..., and we saw his glory, ..." (John 1, 14.)
The original Greek New Testament word for saw in this verse is theaomai, from which we derive our word theater. The life of Jesus is, so to say, a display of God on the earth. As a matter of fact, Luke 23, 48 even calls the crucifixion a "spectacle," using the Greek word theoria, which means a show. Like in a highbrow theatrical production the events are laden with metaphorical meaning.
Imagine the Father as a genial, crafty, director.
We can sit back, like spectators in a theater, read the bible and watch the "play" unfold.
Let's look.
Jesus' baptism: why did the Holy Ghost descend upon him in bodily form like a dove?
This speaks of the righteousness of Christ and harks back to Noah's time.
Noah let the dove out of the ark. But it found no place to light upon, since the world was still covered with the waters of judgment. No place was yet without judgment. But finally the highest mountain emerged from the flood, and Noah's dove had a place to nest once again.
Jesus is this tallest mountain, coming back up from the waters of his baptism. The divine dove landed and abided upon him.
In the days of the Old Testament the dove would find an occasional olive branch floating upon the waters, - a godly prophet or king or priest -, but it had no permanent dwelling in or upon anyone. All that changed when Jesus emerged from the waters of Jordan: a just man, utterly undefiled by sin could become the great Spirit's permanent resting place.
Jesus first miracle: the turning of water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana. (John 2.)
Cana is a symbol for the place of atonement.
The turning of this polluted dish water into new wine speaks of the New Birth that Jesus works in those who turn to him.
The earthen vessels containing the water are our bodies.
The water stands for our sin-defiled spirits.
Jesus transforms us through the New Birth into sweet wine, intoxicating to everybody who takes a sip. You could say that born again believers should give everybody a divine buzz!
The first and main miracle in every believer's life is the New Birth.
The second miracle in Cana some time later was a healing. (John 4.) The new birth and healing are both in the atonement.
Let's now take a look at the supernatural arrangement of circumstances occasioned by the crucifixion. Everything that happened upon Calvary highlights different aspects of Jesus' redemptive work.
Let me say this first: the actual redemptive work of Jesus was executed in the Holy of Holies in the Temple of God in heaven, when the Lamb of God went in and poured his own holy blood out onto the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. (The mercy seat.) (Hebrews 9, 11-12.)
The cross in itself would have been worthless without the resurrection.
The resurrection would have been worthless for us without the ascension and entry into the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, where Jesus obtained the eternal redemption.
Our actual redemption was completed in heaven.
Barabbas, the murderer, is a symbol for sinful, fallen, mankind. (John 18, 40.)
(Murder, - to send somebody to hell before his time -, is the worst sin anybody could ever commit.)
Barabbas is the first sinner whose position Jesus took in judgment.
The innocent suffered for the guilty.
Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. (John 19, 1.)
Isaiah says that by his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53, 5.) The bruises and scourge-marks of Jesus are symbols of our sicknesses and diseases. Healing is in the atonement! Glory to God!
Then the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put a purple robe upon him. (John 19, 2.)
They made him a mock king.
This picture of the humiliated king reminds us of the loss of rulership or control of our lives.
Man is born to rule - at least himself -, but how many people do you know, who lost all control over their lives? Who are stricken in addictions and have fallen victim to their animal-drives?
Jesus restores us and makes us kings of our lives again. (Romans 5, 17.)
He bore the shame for us.
He gives us back our dignity.
This prickly crown of thorns upon his brow also speaks of painful thoughts of sorrow and anguish.
Jesus bore this undesirable crown for us. Now we can have peace of mind. (Philippians 4, 7.)
Jesus being led through the city speaks of the "word of the cross," which is preached and displayed throughout the world, Jerusalem symbolizing the world. And the tremendous middle beam of the cross upon his shoulders signifies the big minus of sin pressing down upon man's life. Jesus bore that big minus of sin and turned it into a plus on Calvary. Since then the gospel has been on a triumphal parade around the world. (2 Corinthians 2, 14.)
Jesus was nailed to coarse wooden cross.
First his hands: his pierced hands speak of judgment and redemption for sinful deeds.
Then his feet: his pierced feet speak of judgment and redemption for a sinful walk.
Later his side was pierced: his pierced heart speaks of the sin-nature of man.
Jesus hung on the cross naked. His clothing had been removed and had been divided up between his Roman tormentors. You can't get any poorer than naked. Yet he became poor so we might become rich.
Two transgressors were crucified with him. One on his left and one on his right side. Both reviled him at first. However, one of them recanted a little later, turning into a believer. (Luke 23, 39-43.)
So, one sinner was saved and the other one lost.
These two transgressors symbolize mankind: all are sinners experiencing various levels of judgment. But some convert their mockery into a confession of faith and are saved. While others plunge into eternity without asking Jesus for a place in his kingdom.
In the end Jesus says "I thirst." His thirst is quenched with vinegar. (John 19, 29.)
This vinegar is unpleasant to the palate. It is a symbol of sin, our sin-nature.
Jesus became sin for us, so we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.
When he shouted: "My God, my God! Why hast thou forsaken me?" he experienced our alienation from the God the Father, which was further symbolized by the great darkness that settled upon the land from noon until 3 p.m.
Then Jesus died, to rise again on the third day, and to consummate his work in heaven.
You see, it was impossible for Jesus to arrange all that beforehand. This is the hand of God upon the life of a man who is wholly sold out to him.
The instances in Jesus' life which we studied were negative, so you can experience the positive. He went through all this for you!
God can and will use your life, too, as his personal piano, if you will live for him. Live holy! Dare to be a spectacle for the world! Let them watch you being overtaken by blessings.
Pray in faith!
Remember what we read in the beginning: "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day." (Proverbs 4, 18.)
God's richest and best in this jingle-bells time,
Gert Hoinle, Editor of Teaching News
Copyright (c) 1999 by Gert Hoinle