Lately I’ve been thinking about the imagery of the Bible, concerning salvation, the church, family etc… The Bible is packed with pictures, we see salvation as a new birth (John 3:3-7), a transfering of kingdoms(Matthew 7:21, Colosians 1:13), adoption(Romans 8:15, Romans 8:23, Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5), resurrection(John 5:19, John 11:25) and I think that’s it. But we can see these pictures in everyday life (ok, maybe not resurrection) and we can see the parralells between the earthly picture and the spiritual truth.
In the same way, the church is called the Body of Christ (Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:12, Ephesians 4:12)and the Bride of Christ(Ephesians 5:32, Matthew 25) and a family (Acts 13:26, Matthew 12:46-49). These are things that we can see everyday, we see our own bodies, we see marriage and we see families.
God the Father is called Father for a reason, Psalm 103:13 says, “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” Fatherhood is meant to represent God’s love for his children, as our families are meant to represent the church, our marriages to represent Christ and the church, and our bodies to represent the church.
Acts 2:23 says, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definate plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” If Christs’ crucifixion was according to God’s definate plan, then it would follow that all the pictures used to describe salvation, the church, parentage and family would be modeled after this plan. Its not the other way around, God does not describe himself as a Father becuase human fatherhood exists, but human fatherhood exists becuase God made it to represent His fatherhood.
Overall, I’m just astounded by God’s soveriegnty in ordaining these things to give us better understanding of His ways and to give us something higher to strive for. If husbands are striving to be like Christ in relation to His church, though the standard is unattainable, they will know their shortcomings and failures all the more and have a perfect example of how to be. If fathers are striving to be like God the Father in relation to His Son, they have another perfect example.
It is comforting to know that God ordained all things, and all things should give glory to God. These earthly, finite pictures are so amazing in the way that they reflect the spiritual truths that God has revelaed to us not only in His Word, but also in these everyday things.
In Christ,
Scotty
