In this article we will start breaking down the Old Testament passage quoted in the previous post.
We want to see our dearest Jesus and the Kingdom arrangement that He represents hidden in it. You know, Jesus is the Word of God and so can only be found within words of the Scriptures.
Typology
In normal everyday life, it is ‘difficult’ to say that Jesus is a type of the Serpent on the pole, because how can He metaphorically be a snake.
But, we say that because He Himself alluded to this act of Moses lifting up a Serpent on a pole, and said so would it be done to Him – Jn. 3:14-16,
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begot-ten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” – Jn. 3:14-16.
From slavery to ruler-ship
You know, Israel was on a journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Now, when they got to Mount Hor, they had to go round the land of Edom. But they did not like it and so were discouraged, because it was a
long route trying to avoid Edom.
Why avoid Edom?
Now why did God want them to avoid the land of Edom? It is partly because Edom stands for the religious order or ways of doing things that does not please God.
You know, Edom is another name for Esau the brother of Jacob- Gen.36:1, 25:30.
So, whereas Jacob stands for the Kingdom-ways of going about issues of life, Edom stands for the religious.
The chief enemy of the Kingdom of God
Beloved, religion is man’s ways of living to please God. It is half good and half evil, hot and cold. In other words, it has truth and falsehood at the same time. That makes it very deceptive- Prov. 14:12, 16:25, Acts 14:16-17.
Now, because of its nature, a lifestyle of religion is very appealing, not just to mankind, but the devil also, who is transformed into an angel of light-2 Cor 11:14.
So, God wanted Israel to avoid Edom or religion (although it was a shortcut to the Promised Land) because it would not please Him. You know, religious ways come easily to mankind than Kingdom-ways.
Kingdom-ways
Kingdom-ways are often a long cut to getting what God has for you. It was introduced and modelled by the Lord Jesus, when He came with the Kingdom on His Shoulders- Matt. 11:28-30.
Therefore, its long-cut nature makes believers get discouraged and so they became seduced by religious-ways of getting things done – Prov. 12:26.
In other words, God cares about how you obtain what you get. For a Kingdom-person, the end does not justify the means. So, the means to getting what God has for you is very important to Him.
Beloved, God wants you to get His blessings through a lifestyle or methods that please Him, as modelled and taught by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jacob and Esau
Jacob and Esau is a picture of two different lifestyles or ways of living, with one being superior to the other – Gen. 25:21-23, 27-28. Of course, the lifestyle of Jacob is the superior one – Gen. 25:23b.
You know, Jacob was a mild, domestic and quiet man who worked as a shepherd or cultivator of rebellious animals.
Simply put, unlike his brother, he did not rely on his own strength to get by, but on the strength of another. For example, he relied on his mother who prepared food for him for his father Isaac to bless him.
On the other hand, Esau was a wild man of the field, a hunter who worked as a killer of rebellious animals. He was, simply put, someone who banked on his own strength to get things accomplished.
So, instead of depending on his mother to prepare sumptuous food for his father Isaac, Esau prepared his own food for his own blessing, which then eluded him.
Beloved, it is only by reliance on Jesus Christ that God can be pleased and have Him release His blessings on you, as happened to Jacob. Yes, blessings that pleases God does not come by relying on your own self effort, wisdom and righteousness, as Esau did. Hallelujah!
This is why God wanted Israel to avoid the land or lifestyle and methods of Edom or Esau, for that of Jacob.
In other words, he wanted Israel not to use their own wisdom, efforts and good works to obtain His blessings. It is the same today.
Jesus’ Kingdom scheme of things
God desires for you to follow Jesus’ Kingdom system of living.
This is because it gives you blessings without focusing on your works or performance, but on that of the only One Who pleases Him i.e. Christ Jesus-Matt. 3:17.
This means that God wants you focused on Jesus as your life, righteousness, wisdom, victory etc. – 1Cor. 1:30, Col. 3:4. Although it may be a long process, He wants you to feed on Jesus, follow His Kingdom-words.
It is because Kingdom-words fully glorifies Jesus’ Person, Principles and Performance for you on the Cross.
So, do not be discouraged (like Israel was) about going against the religious lifestyle expected of a believer by the world’s standards or under-standing.
The Kingdom system of feeding on Jesus
“And the people spoke against God and against Moses: why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread” – Num. 21:5.
Beloved, when, when Israel was in Egypt, they were slaves. And what kept them as slaves was the type of food they were fed on by the Egyptians. It was garlic, leeks, onion, fish, cucumbers etc. – Num. 11:5-6,
“We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic, but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes.”
So, the food they were fed on in Egypt only made them strong to be slaves. Therefore, when God took them from Egypt, He completely changed their diet. What God offered them was manna. To God, this was what they needed to orient them into ruler-ship.
The Rulers diet
But, Israel despised the manna and described God’s ruler-ship diet for them as worthless bread. Wow! By so doing, they were indicating that they still ‘wanted’ to be slaves, even in freedom.
That is how some believers want things even though they are candidates for Heaven.
These believers are ‘fed up’ with the true Manna, who is Jesus Christ. They have no appetite for the Ruler-diet or the Kingdom-word or Christ Jesus.
Can you imagine that believers can have a long Church-service full of wonders, ‘inspiration’, motivation and information but with very little or nothing about our Lord Jesus?
The Kingdom-word
But, Jesus is the Kingdom-word that brings about the rule of God in your life and circumstances.
You know, sad to say, some believers are saved from Hell, but are slaves to their sin-nature, situations, sickness, society and Satan.
The solution to this slavish condition is to change diet, from a slavishone that they are used to, to a rulers-one that they are not used to.
Of course, I do not mean eating literal food into our stomach, because the Kingdom of God is not about that-Rom 14:17.
Feed your mind
I rather mean what Jesus’ believers feed their minds on. You must always ask yourself whether what you are imbibing into your mind is enhancing the Royalty, Rule and Realm of God in your life; or is rather making you easily subject to sin, sicknesses, situations, society and Satan.
So, you have to feed on Jesus Christ and His Kingdom system always without being fed-up with Him. Ps. 81:10-16; Matt. 23:37, 2Tim. 4:4
Therefore, although they may appear like that to you, stop looking at the unveiling of Jesus and His Kingdom-arrangement as worthless, because they are not.
You know, some believers would not verbally admit that feeding on Jesus and His Kingdom system is worthless for them.
But their attitude to ‘such food’ shows that they do not value it.
They would rather have you bring out some philosophical quotes or a great research finding of some scholars or some sweet illustrative stories about a subject-matter that does not reveal anything about Jesus Christ.
Bread is revelation
But beloved, what you feed your mind and life on is very important. I like to say that what you eat determines what you see. So, in the first Kingdom era, the vision of Adam and Eve changed the moment they ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil – Gen. 3:6-7a.
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked…”.
Yes, the first effect of eating food in the Bible was that it affected what mankind saw and man’s rule in this life.
This is why I encourage you to feed on Christ Jesus the Tree of Life, for you to rule in life in a way that pleases God – Rom. 5:17. Hallelujah!
