Just Genesis

Alice Linsley recently created a blog--Just Genesis--to share a lifetime of research about her favorite book of the Bible. She doesn't post very often, but when she does, it's interesting reading.

In this entry, I learned some fascinating facts. Here, she illustrates the relationship between Jesus and three important Old Testament figures--Abraham, Isaac, and Moses:

The Person of Jesus Christ is foreshadowed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul, John, Peter and the early Church Fathers found continuity between the faith of Abraham and the revelation of Jesus Messiah. Nothing in the Scripture is extraneous to the Person of Jesus Christ.

As with Isaac, Jesus’ sacrificial journey required three days. As with Isaac, Jesus carried the wood upon which he would be sacrificed. As with Isaac, the sacrificed one is bound. As with Isaac, the Son is sacrificed on a mountain. Only with Jesus, no substitute is provided. God did not make a switch to save His Son. This is because Jesus is the real thing, not the archetype. Salvation is an embodied reality and has archetypes which point us to the True Form.

As we consider Abraham and Moses as archetypes of Christ, we begin to see a pattern. Here are some threads of the pattern:

• The Prophet Hosea tells us that God called His Son out of Egypt. Since both Abraham and Moses were led out of Egypt, this cannot apply to Israel. Were it so, the prophecy would speak of “sons.” Clearly this prophecy speaks of the Son, Jesus Christ.

• Jesus’ is revealed at his Baptism in the Jordan. Instead of the waters parting, the heavens part.

• Jesus had no progeny. (Sorry Dan Brown.)

• On earth, Jesus’ natural relationship with the Father is distorted in that moment when He cries: “Why hast Thou forsaken me?”

• Jesus victorious rose from the grave, Almighty God.

• Jesus was a Prince whose royal lineage was not recognized by his own people. John reminds us that He came into the world but the world did not recognize or “receive” him.

• Jesus was blessed by noblemen sages (priests?) at His revealing by the great star.

• Jesus met his archetypical “bride” in the woman at Jacob’s well. She was the first female evangelist, and according to tradition, Photini and all her children were martyred. Photini means “Illumined One” and she represents the Church, the Bride of Christ.