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Concrete to Spiritual: How Jesus Changes the Old Testament to the New
Week 4: Spiritual Replaces Concrete
One of the great takeaway lessons we learn from John 3–Nicodemus–and John 4–the Woman at the Well–is that Jesus introduces a Great Shift–the Great Change–away from concrete interactions with his people (physical symbols and types) to spiritual.
This is one of the biggest differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus himself introduced this change, and we see it in both the account of Nicodemus and the Woman at the Well.
The reason the Great Shift occurs with the advent of Christ at the beginning of the New Testament is that the Spirit of God in the later pages of the Old Testament had left the temple and never returned. John the Baptist predicts the return of the Spirit at the time of Jesus’s baptism, saying that Jesus would be the one to baptize people with the Holy Spirit.
Further, in the Old Testament, the Spirit dwelled first in the column of fire by night and cloud by day, which hovered over the Israelites in exile. It next dwelt within the Tent of Meeting, and finally, in the temple. All these are EXTERNAL to the human being. Humans did not have the Spirit of God living within them, and ever since Adam sinned, humankind had lost intimate contact with God and lived separate from him. This is why God needed to talk to his people with concrete, physical symbols–pictures formed by real, historic events. Humankind had become SPIRITUALLY DEAD.
In the New Testament, the promised Holy Spirit arrives, not to live outside humans in the spaces of inanimate objects, but to live within humans in the spiritual spaces of human hearts. This is an enormous change from the Old Testament to the New. It’s a change best described as new wine which no longer fits the old wineskins. (Luke 5:36-38) It is the change from CONCRETE to SPIRITUAL.
In John 3 and John 4, the main protagonists understand Jesus’s words in concrete terms only, that would be to say, in literal terms, using the word “literal” in its modern meaning of something physical, something which can be seen and touched.
- Nicodemus interprets Jesus’s words, “You must be born again,” as climbing back into the mother’s womb. (John 3:3-4)
- The Woman at the Well interprets Jesus’s words, “living water” as physical water that she could physically drink and therefore physically never thirst again. (John 4:10-15)
In both cases Jesus patiently explains the new spiritual meaning. He pours his new wine into their old wineskins. And as the text shows, he had more success with the woman at the well than with Nicodemus. The woman at the well understood, believed, and went running off to confess her new belief and her discovery of Jesus the Messiah to her fellow townsfolk. Nicodemus, on the other hand, needed more time.
And so we see that God is Spirit and truth, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
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For more information on how the Gospel of Christ changes the concrete into the spiritual, read Does Paul Spiritualize the Concrete?: The Great Shift Exemplified in Colossians 2:8-3:4
Jesus and the Big Bang: Prologue John 1:1-18
Jesus Christ is the Full Expression of God:
Jesus Is God the Word — John 1:1, 14
Jesus Is God the Creator — John 1:3-4, 10
Jesus Is Life and Light — John 1:4-5, 9
Jesus Is God the Savior — John 1:12, 17
Jesus Is the BIG BANG of God ! Without Jesus, God would not be known — John 1:18
Weeping May Last for the Night, But…
There is so much
to weep about in our world recently. Bad things happen as surely as night follows day. (John 16:33) It seems as though our country–along with most other parts of the world–has been experiencing one very long night. Will the violence and human pain never end? Yet for those who find their eternal hope in our great God and Savior (Titus 2:13), Scripture carries the promise of a bright day to follow each and every dark night: “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” — (Psalm 30:5).”
Christians know this biblical promise of God is true, because Christ has already deposited within them the fountain of life and joy–his Holy Spirit (John 7:38; Ephesians 1:13). And this fountain of joy and life is eternal; it can never be quenched no matter how much external circumstances say otherwise. And so we sing–
” “Spring up, O well! — Sing to it!”
Christians know and experience that God’s love and mercy arrive fresh and new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), and therefore unquenchable joy is their strength (Nehemiah 8:10).
A Joyful Liberation
Psalm 30:1 A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David.
I will exalt you, LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 LORD my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.
3 You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.
4 Sing the praises of the LORD, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.”
7 LORD, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.
8 To you, LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, LORD, and be merciful to me; LORD, be my help.”
11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. LORD my God, I will praise you forever.
∞
Exodus 15:26–How Could a Loving God Put Disease on ANYONE?
NET Exodus 15:26 He said, “If you will diligently obey the LORD your God, and do what is right in his sight, and pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then all the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians I will not bring on you, for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
At Bible study last evening, a young Christian asked the sincere question in the title of this blog. I, for my part, before I became a Christian, for many years nurtured anger against God because he killed the Egyptian babies.*
NET Exodus 12:29 It happened at midnight– the LORD attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 30 Pharaoh got up in the night, along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house in which there was not someone dead.
After I became a Christian, a better knowledge of God and his loving ways, especially as revealed in the Old Testament, brought me to peace with this difficult portion of Scripture. The key was to see the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt through God’s eyes, not through my own.
In beginning a small study to help my friend untangle her knot about God’s love and the Egyptian plagues of disease, I came across the following Bible study done by Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh and published at Bible.org on May 13, 2004. I think it does a good and complete job of laying out the facts as presented in Scripture. The Holy Spirit needs to work it into a believer’s heart, as He did in mine, by resolving the underlying issues there. For me, it was a matter of accepting the fact and gravity of sin, especially my own. Indeed, before I became a Christian, I was one of these biblical “Egyptians.” Here is the link:
The Passover and the Plague of the Firstborn (Exodus 11:1-13:16)
* I was not a careful listener in those years. God actually killed all the firstborn; many of whom were undoubtedly adults at the time.
Don’t Sabotage Your Own Blessing
“Why is this blessing happening to Me?”
When life goes well–peaceful, happy, prosperous, successful–for a long period of time, and then great calamity strikes, a common response is, “Lord, why me?”
And for some on the other end of the spectrum, those who have always lived under pain, bearing up under sorrows of sadness and affliction, when joy comes, when God answers the prayers, when the river turns around and runs in the other direction, when blessing arrives, when the ship laden to overflowing docks in the harbor, when promises are delivered, rewards distributed, do some also cry out, “No, Lord, not me?” Often–yes.
Change of any sort is hard.
Those who live happy and successful lives find the change to hardship difficult, and those who live difficult lives of sorrow and trial find the change to joy and blessing hard to receive.
Challenge: I want to challenge and encourage you today–if you are one who has learned to live a life of strong faith, inner fortitude, and grace under trial–when the end of the road of travail arrives and the promised blessing comes, receive it with as much faith in God’s goodness as you learned when things were tough. 
Don’t feel you are not worthy. Don’t feel destined to disappointment. Not one of us is worthy. It’s God who is good. Don’t sabotage your own blessing because you are used to suffering. Receive the reward of your faithfulness with belief, trust in God’s trustworthiness, rejoice, and keep on giving thanks. Yes! This blessing is for you. Your day has come, and Christ is distributing his reward. Hallelujia!
Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Christ Jesus: Son of His Father’s Love
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love (NKJ)
Many children are born from the physical expression of love between their parents, often planned, and perhaps as often, not planned. The Bible teaches in Colossians 1:13 that Jesus Christ is the Son of his Father’s love. God in his love planned his Son from all eternity past, since they both co-exist eternally, along with the Holy Spirit:
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Colossians 1:15-17 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
God’s love for Christ his Son and for the humanity he created in the world surrounds and lives within the incarnation of Christ. Both the Father’s love for his Son, his beloved Son, and his love for people are the fountainhead, the source, the driving motivation of the incarnation, the divine humanity of Christ on earth. Christ is the full expression of his Father’s love. The love of the Father birthed the Son, and Christ is “the Son of his [the Father’s] love,” both in eternity past and in the incarnation.
Scripture
First, Christ is the outspoken word which reveals the Father’s nature and character of love.
John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave…
his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 8:39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 1:3a He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature,
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love
Second, Christ is the beloved Son, the one whom his Father loves.
Matthew 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Mark 9:7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
Where Does This Leave Us?
Believers are in Christ, in the Beloved.
1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
John 17:23 I in them and you in me– that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.
Ephesians 1:4 For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love.
Everything concerning us is motivated and dominated by God’s love.
Romans 5:5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 8:38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 3:19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
What difference does this make?
The difference is that we once lived under the authority of the darkness, and God transferred us into a different kingdom, a different realm of reality, a kingdom of light in which Christ rules, that very Christ who is the Son of the Father’s love. Chains are broken, bondages are collapsed, the prisoners are free. We no longer owe allegiance to what causes our own destruction, and we have one fighting for us who is greater than death and darkness itself. God is love! And he is our God.
Love rules for us, within us, and through us. Love has become the new expression and protection of our being. We are safe at last. We no longer need to worry, nor to plan out our own futures. Jesus Christ reigns in our hearts and lives. Love rules our day. The one who is stronger than everything else in the universe claims us as his own. We are his. We can live our lives without fear. We can turn and face our enemies and in the name of Jesus Christ the King command them to leave. And at the end of the day, a great big no matter what, we are loved in Christ.
Good News!
What is the Gospel? It’s the Good News of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.
1 John 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
That is the Gospel in a nutshell.
Also: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.” from Luke 24:46-48
Here is the Gospel from Isaiah. Note how much the same it is! Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
The phrase from Isaiah, “…so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he,” is (mini-Colossians 1:5-6).
In 1 John 5:11 (see the 2nd verse Above) “testimony” is the same word as “witness” in Isaiah. A witness is one that gives testimony. John tells us that the testimony is that God has given us eternal life in Jesus the Son of God. Jesus Christ himself IS the basic Gospel message. Part and parcel of Christ is the fact that as Savior he died on the cross for our sins. When we receive the testimony of Christ, it is with the realization that we are sinners who need to be cleansed, and that cleansing Christ provides. No one else does this.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 is also the Gospel. God-giving-his-Son means that God gave him to incarnation and to death and resurrection on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.
MY POINT: So often when we hear evangelists we hear a focus on ourselves and our sins. This (according to my reading of Scripture) is NOT the focus of the Gospel. The focus is Jesus Christ and who HE is. Presenting Christ–a God who loves us and is for us is tremendously joyful Good News! It is easy to present Christ this way: “Hey, did you know that God loves you?”
As it turns out, the only people who will receive this news are the lowly in heart, those who need a Savior, those who are aware of their sins. Christ IS Savior. What he did as Savior is die on the cross for our sins.
The Good News is that I have eternal life in Christ. That’s what I want to share, because our world is ruled and dominated by death in all its many forms. That my sins are forgiven, is also great news, because my sins are Death. Christ’s defeat of death is the Good News! His love for me is Good News! In order to make those things happen, Christ died on the cross and rose again. Christ and the cross are inseparable. And I do believe that many if not most sinners need to hear about the LOVE of God in Christ before any focus or attention is given to their own sins. It’s about Christ–it’s not mainly about my sin.
May God bless us all richly on Good Friday and on Easter.
One Small Voice 
