Man has always tried to prove or disprove the existence of God. Philosophy tells us it can't be proven one way or the other, and that those who believe in God believe only because they have had an 'experience' which, they say, is an unreliable proof. Believers have come up with lists of reasons, such as creation itself, to insist there is a God.
God allows man to flounder in his own intellectual arguments. In the meantime, He has been busy during the course of history working out a plan of 'patterns'. Now, in these last days, we can see that MAN cannot prove or disprove God's existence, but GOD has proven it Himself!
In our day, God is allowing man to see the plan for the ages in a new and fresh way as one piece after another fits into the giant jigsaw puzzle. We shrink back in awe as we look at it! The Bible is one massive collection of these patterns or types!
For example, Abraham, the Jewish patriarch is a type of God Himself, the "father of many nations" (Gen.17:4). His son Isaac, whom he was asked to sacrifice on the altar, represents God's Son, Jesus Christ. Isaac's wife, Rebekah, whom he loved so much and for whom he had to wait for many years before she could become his bride, is the Bride for whom the Bridegroom, Jesus, has waited so long. Beautiful Rebekah had a time of preparation just as the true church has had almost 2,000 years to get ready for end- time prophecy to be fulfilled when the Bride will be "a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless" (Eph.5:27 NIV).
When the Jews were freed from Egyptian slavery, they went into the desert to worship God (Ex.7:16). As they crossed the desert to get to Israel, they would have arrived much sooner had they not rebelled against God and insisted on their own way rather than being obedient to God's leading. So, too, the church, Christ's Bride, has been detained by stubbornness and rebellion, unwilling to leave the ways of the world. Often its leaders are responsible for the delay as was Rebekah's father.
The entire salvation message of Christianity is represented in that tabernacle set up in the desert. One room, called the Holy of Holies, could not be entered by anyone except the high priest because anyone who entered would die. The priest alone could make atonement for the sins of the people by sprinkling of the blood of animals. When Jesus died as the Lamb slain for the sins of the world, the Bible tells us the curtain of the temple was torn in two (Matt.27:51). Man could now go into the very presence of God and, because of the blood Jesus shed at Calvary, would not die as they did in the desert tabernacle, but have eternal life.
God allowed man to follow the laws given to Moses and, when man proved that he was incapable of keeping them, God put a new law of love in his mind and heart. Instead of physical circumcision, the cutting now takes place as the Holy Spirit cuts sin from the heart with His double-edged sword (Heb.4:12). The blood on the doorposts in Egypt which saved the Israelites from death is the blood of Jesus applied to the doorposts of our hearts which saves us from death of the soul.
Jesus is our high priest who has entered the Holy of Holies into the presence of God where He intercedes for us (Rom.8:34). Because we have been set free from the slavery of sin, we can now worship and praise in freedom just as the Israelites did when they left Egypt. We hold up our hands to praise the King and give Him glory just as the wings of the cherubim were raised above the ark in the Holy of Holies as guardians of God's glory (Heb.9:5 LB). We have been freed from the vicious circle of sin and death (Rom.8:2).
A good teacher uses blackboard illustrations to demonstrate a lesson. The greatest Teacher of all time has been illustrating His truths since the beginning by using the experiences of His chosen people as patterns in one giant lesson plan. As the lesson draws to a conclusion, we can now see what He has been trying to teach us. He has proven His own existence!
© 1999, Doreen Palmer