Today at the Newland Presbyterian Church the Rev Michael McKee continued with his year long series of preaching through the Bible. One of the major points he has been making in each sermon was that the apostles and early Christians spent much time after Jesus death and resurrection searching the Old Testament for signs and verification that the Christ was the embodiment of the Living God. Todays sermon titled IESOUS was taken from the first and third chapters of Joshua. Joshua is leading a part of the Children of Israel across the Jordan. Three of the tribes were to reside on the east side of the Jordan while the other nine were to settle on the west side of the Jordan. The man we know in the scriptures as Joshua was called Yeshua in Hebrew, which was translated into Greek as Iesuos. This was translated into English as Jesus. These names mean Savior. The early Christians would have most likely been reading the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, beginning with Joshua. The first five books called the Torah or Pentateuch were in Hebrew. What they would have read is After the death of Moses, the Lord said to JESUS...arise, you and all the people are to cross over Jordan into the land I will given them! The parallel was unmistakable to them. Jesus (Joshua) had taken his people through the water of the Jordan and Jesus (the Christ) had been baptized in the River Jordan. When the Arc of the Covenant crossed the River Jordan with the entry into the promised land, the mercy seat, where God resided, was invisible to the Israelites. Now, when Jesus was baptized God made flesh was there, visible for all to see. The apostles saw another parallel in that the death of Moses as representative of the death of the law; the law that Moses embodies. One cannot enter the land of Promise through the law. Only Jesus the embodiment of Grace can make us worthy. Only when Joshua, which means Savior the same as Jesus, takes the helm can the people of Israel cross the water. Jesus and Joshua. Law and Gospel. The invisible God comes to us, incarnate, in flesh like us. Desert and Promised Land. Faith and Trust and hope for the future. The scriptures Old and New are held together in one person, Jesus. They bear witness to him even in the earliest days, they speak of him, reveal him, and lead us to him.....and call us to worship him. The choral special was Give Me Jesus.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 22:09:44 +0000
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