In a recent First Principles Bible Study lesson our Echo Groups are doing, we discussed how the Bible is one long story of God’s unfolding plan to redeem fallen humanity by providing salvation through the Messiah Jesus Christ who then provided empowerment to His new people by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel and to live in His everlasting Kingdom! That’s a very brief summary of a HUGE undertaking spanning thousands of years and a lot of God power and planning. However, once we realize that all of scripture contains and points to the starring player—JESUS—it becomes a challenge to find the shadows and types of Jesus throughout the whole story.
In my study of scriptures I have begun to use this lens of looking for Jesus to help me make sense of the scriptures, but it is not always apparent right away! For example, I was recently reading in the book of Numbers chapter 7, and the whole chapter discusses an offering that each of the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel brought for the dedication of the altar. And it started out on day 1 this leader brought these sacrifices…this silver platter weighing this many shekels…this many rams for this offering… and as I continued reading I quickly realized that the pattern repeats for each of the 12 leaders who brought the exact same offering. So, for 89 verses I am reading these same seemingly-mundane details of the same sacrifices given over and over with just the name of the leader changing. I began to think, “Lord, this text really could have been condensed by a summary of what was given and who gave it! Why must I read the same thing 12 times over??” (How quickly in reading God’s holy word do I begin to tell God how much better and more succinct I think it should have been written! Yikes…how arrogant can I be?)
However, I have been utilizing a resource called Spoken Gospel which is featured on a YouTube channel, and they actually provide some insight into how Jesus can be found in these very scriptures (WATCH IT HERE: https://youtu.be/6eW-pABBvFM). Drop what you’re doing and read Numbers 7-8 and then watch this video to see what I mean!
You’ll see they addressed my very questions about the necessity of including all the extra info, and explain how it points to Jesus! Whenever I read a passage/book where I’m struggling to see how Jesus fits in, this is one of my go-to resources. I suggest trying this approach by reading a scripture and checking out one of the Spoken Gospel videos to see if it helps paint some broad strokes of understanding in the scriptures for you of how it’s all connected! May the Lord use the Word and trusted resources to help bring understanding and revelation of the whole story of the Bible in your life.