The default sin of the human heart is to put ourselves first.
“It really is all about me!” was once a funny t-shirt slogan; it has now become a way of life.
Unless we are careful, the way we handle Scripture can actually feed into this beast.
We rush to application, consumed by the question, “How is this relevant to me?”
But the Bible has God as a central focus, not with humankind as the central or most important element of existence.
It is more concerned with tracing God’s ways, his character, purposes, and his cosmic redemptive plan “For God so loved the cosmos” than it is to give modern believers character-building resource material “be courageous like Daniel; lead like Nehemiah; with the faith of Abraham”.
We must start by remembering the overarching plot of Scripture.
The Bible is remarkable: 66 books, dozens of human authors, 1,500 years in the making, various types of literature.
However, its grand diversity is held together by a golden thread, a single plot in three movements, creation, fall, redemption, that is unveiled in its first few pages.
This plot establishes the crucial backstory to the coming of Jesus Christ.
A backstory introduces characters, establishes relationships, and defines key terms.
In this case, the Old Testament introduces Jesus, defines his work as Messiah, and establishes the theological framework for understanding God’s redemption.
A brief glance at two Old Testament festivals illustrates this.
The first is Passover, the familiar feast that anchored the exodus.
Some of its features, the angel of death, blood on doorposts, a meal eaten in haste are well known parts of the story.
Others are not.
What matters is that all are foreshadowing of the coming Christ.
Jesus ministered in a Jewish context, keeping the Passover with his disciples. Yet, God took pains to show that the customs were more than context; they defined him.
The Torah required selected lambs to be put on public display for four days, “Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects. “Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight.”” Exodus’s 12:3-6 to verify that they were without blemish.
Jesus, following the triumphal entry, presented himself in the temple for that exact period, for that very purpose.
He submitted to testing by the Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, and scribes, “Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which he could be arrested.” Mark 12:13, tried before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, he proved spotless.
“This is my body” and “this cup is a new covenant in my blood” are Lord’s Supper keystones, but they were spoken during the Passover Seder.
The meal, and the true exodus, are found in Jesus.
Passover was both a family and a communal feast.
The lamb chosen “for the nation” was staked out in the temple courtyard on Passover at 9 a.m, and slaughtered publicly at 3 p.m.
So was Jesus, nailed to the cross at 9 a.m., he died at 3 p.m., just as the four-footed beast died in a liturgy that concluded, “It is finished!”
Why are such details important?
Because the point of Jesus’ death, contra to popular theology’s selfish twist, is not merely how much physical pain he endured for me.
It is, rather, what God accomplished by his death.
The answer is found in Passover imagery.
The Passover story Exodus 12:2 began with strange words: “From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you.”
With Passover, God reset Israel’s calendar.
Her old life as slaves was ending, a new life as sons beginning.
Jesus’ death announced the same, but on a grander scale.
Paul declares, “Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.” Romans 6:5
But he also exults, “Death is swallowed up in victory” 1 Corinthians 15:54
Death with a capital “D” not only personal physical death, but sin’s devastating reign over the first Adam’s world Romans 5:12-21 was defeated in the cross of Christ.
If death’s reign was defeated in the cross, where dawns the new?
It bursts forth in Jesus’ resurrection on the Feast of Firstfruits.
This feast’s Old Testament roots were agricultural: early sheaves were brought to the tabernacle to share God’s bounty with the poor and aliens.
But the feast always tilted Israel forward, rehearsing the day when all of life would be “very good” again as it once had been.
Paul uses festal language to explain this, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.” 1 Corinthians 15:20
As Jesus’ death conquered death, so, too, as the second Adam, his resurrection dawned a new creation, a kingdom of grace, “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant.” Romans 5:20
Christ is the “firstfruits” of this new world. Raised with him, we, too, who “have the firstfruits of the Spirit” Romans 8:23, are the firstfruits of the new creation, “He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.” James 1:18
Thus the Old Testament Feast of Firstfruits is the ground of a vigorous and practical New Testament view of the age to come.
These are only two brief examples; there are many more feasts, countless temple practices, and narrative stories that serve to rehearse the redemption that would come in Jesus.
A gospel shaped by the rich Old Testament backstory is evangelistically more compelling, for it honors the cohesive unity of Scripture.
And such a gospel produces disciples with a healthier self-image: resisting the default sin of putting themselves first and learning to deny themselves and follow him.
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