Hiddenness, Surprise, and Reversal
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways.”
Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)
This week my women’s Bible study focus is to “trust God to deliver in his own unique way.” In context, we’re studying the historical events recorded in Exodus 14, the Israelites’ miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. I’m pretty sure that not one of those recently released slaves expected God to make a highway for them through that sea! Nor would they have imagined that what was an avenue of escape for them would soon become an ambush for their enemies. “A gateway to the one and a graveyard to the other,” writes Robert J. Morgan.
Read the Bible and you’ll soon discover that God often reveals himself in hiddenness, surprise, and reversal. Throughout God’s Word we see glimpses of Jesus hidden in the Old Testament types and shadows that point us toward God’s final salvation in Christ. Jesus is the:
Seed in Genesis
Deliverer in Exodus
Mercy Seat in Leviticus
Manna in Numbers
True Israelite in Deuteronomy
Commander in Joshua
Kinsman Redeemer in Ruth
Warrior King in 1 & 2 Samuel
Redeemer in Job
Rock & refuge in Psalms
Wisdom in Proverbs
Man of Sorrows in Isaiah
Weeping prophet in Jeremiah
Faithful husband in Hosea
Desire of the nations in Haggai
Everything about Jesus is a surprise. The Jews were expecting an earthly king who would free them from their Roman oppressors; establish an earthly kingdom, and return Israel to national glory. But from the beginning, Jesus reset all expectations, including ours. The King of Kings wasn’t born in a palace, but in a stable manger. His heavenly birth announcement came to lowly shepherds working the night shift outside Bethlehem, not to the privileged and powerful. Jesus didn’t encourage his followers to grab their weapons and go fight Rome, but to repent of their sins and receive the good news of the Gospel. He actively sought out the least, the last, and the lost. His kingdom was given to the poor, not the rich; to the weak; not the strong; to humble little children, not mighty solders. In Christ’s kingdom, the outsiders are in, and the religious insiders are out! His kingdom is the upside-down kingdom that overturns both the world’s values and our expectations.
Matthew 21:1-11 records Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem where the surprise with Jesus only crescendos. This King is not leading an army, but a mob of peasants. The crowds aren’t waving swords, but palm branches. Jesus doesn’t ride a white horse of victory, but rides a donkey and comes in peace. Instead of conquering, he is conquered. Everything is a surprise in the Kingdom of God.
Tim Keller writing in his book Hope in Times of Fear says, “God is the God of Great Reversal- the God who brings life out of death; resurrection after crucifixion, the God who makes the last to be first and the first to be last…The Great Reversal is the heart of the Gospel.”
The miraculous parting of the Red Sea for Israel was just a preview of the Great Reversal that would come 1400 years later with Jesus’ atoning death and resurrection. The Great Reversal made way for our Great Exchange. Jesus came from heaven to earth that we might go from earth to heaven. He who was rich became poor so that we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He lived the life we should have lived and died the death that we should have died. He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). His curse is our blessing (Galatians 3:13-14). He was abandoned by his Father so that we will never be abandoned by God.
James Bruce’s favorite book was The Jesus Storybook Bible. Each Sunday he would excitedly clutch it just before we left for church saying, “Mama, Mama, I got my Bible!” Author Sally Lloyd Jones writes, “Every story whispers his name. Jesus is like the missing piece in a puzzle- the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together.”
Read your Bible and look for Jesus, “the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2 NIV). He is the God of hiddenness, surprise, and reversal. The piece that makes all the other pieces fit together!