The most brilliant part is Paul's allegorical interpretation. This is not just some drams in family history, it points to Jesus and salvation through Jesus. Ishmael is our old self born of flesh, Isaac is our new self born of the spirit. The old self is in enmity with the new self, as Ishmael was "scoffing" at Issac (Gen. 21:9), and when we ought to subdue our fleshly desires and submit to the will of God, we're "displeased" as Abraham was "displeased" when Sarah told him to cast out Hagar and Ishmael (Gen. 21:10-11). Paul used this familiar section in the Torah to demonstrate how to read Jesus in the Old Testament.
Amen loved that post !!! And because we are new people born of a better spirit we have a better covenant now.
yes the ot is really about Jesus in many many many ways just like your saying he appears everywhere in figure and prophecy.
Isaac for instance speaks of what God was going to later do in Christ when the time of the ot was fulfilled just one short example and then New Testament witness of it
“And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of
the mountains which I will tell thee of.
And Abraham took
the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son;…
…And Abraham said,
My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:
so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and
laid him on the altar upon the wood.
And Abraham
stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said,
Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that
thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son from me.
And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said,
By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and
in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
Genesis 22:2, 6, 8-12, 15-18
this is such a clear image of the gospel even the resurrection when you consider the New Testament witness
“
By faith Abraham, when he was tried,
offered up Isaac: and
he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.”
Hebrews 11:17-19 KJV
The gospel literally answers what Abraham did but it applies to the original promise of how God would bless all People through Abraham and his seed of promise which we realize is actually Jesus and Isaac was an allegorical figure of him
“Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And
to thy seed, which is Christ.”
Galatians 3:16 KJV
and so abrahams children are born through Christ and the gospel of all nations through the faith of baptism into his seed which is Christ
“For
as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ….And
if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Galatians 3:27, 29 KJV
He appears in many ways like that such as also
the son of David the promised eternal king and his promises also which build upon abrahams promises
“The book of the generation of
Jesus Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham.”
Matthew 1:1 KJV
He fills the Old Testament like that and then he came to fulfill all those things in reality.it changes everything when we start seeing the ot is a true witness of Jesus Christ through and through it makes these type of statements make so much sense
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and
he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
whom
the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
For
Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye
hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that
every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.”
Acts 3:19-24 KJV
It’s amazing when we realize the whole Bible is about Jesus isn’t it ?
