Building on the Foundation

  Are you Jewish? That question is one I often get asked upon someone learning that I don't eat pork, that I celebrate the Biblical Festivals instead of the pagan ones, or that I keep a Saturday Sabbath.  It seems common knowledge that all the things the Bible commands in the Old Testament, were for the Jews, and that we modern people (after 30 AD.) are not required to observe such rites, and especially if we are not Jewish. Before we delve into that though, we need to define some terms:  A “Jew” is someone that is ancestrally descended from the tribe of Judah. Judah was one of the twelve sons of Jacob (later named “Israel”)    The line-up went like this: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin.   Joseph's two sons; Manaseh and Ephraim each became a tribe and replaced the tribe of Joseph.  Thus there were thirteen “tribes of Israel” that were enslaved in Egypt, and released at Passo...

  God’s Word, the Bible, is an incredible book! Though it took more than 1,500 years to write, and though it involved roughly 40 or more human authors working under Divine inspiration, it all fits together perfectly. Researchers have identified roughly 340,000 cross-references between various passages in the Bible. The Old Testament explains the New Testament, and the New Testament explains the Old. It’s impossible to understand either one without the other. From beginning to end, it preaches the same God, the same plan of salvation, and the same standards of good and evil. There’s no filler or wasted space. Every story, every instruction, every prophecy, and every detail is there for a purpose. Or probably for more than one purpose, because God’s Word also contains many layers. There’s the face value interpretation, but hidden within are also types, symbols, and additional meaning. Today, let’s look at one such example: a part of the story of Isaac. I think we’re all familiar with...