Everything Means Something

I’ve been reading a series of novels called the A.D. Chronicles by Brock and Bodie Thoene. They are known for weaving amazing stories in the midst of incredible historical accuracy. In reading their blog, I’ve come to understand that one of their purposes in writing this series is to show how ‘everything means something’. They pull out prophecies or traditions within the Jewish literature or culture that all point to the Messiah. Little things that might seem insignificant at first glance take on great meaning. I love it. I love seeing how intricately the message of God is woven into the story of his people and discovering those things makes me stand in awe of God, his wisdom and his foresight.

The following is the latest thing that made me stop and go ‘Wow!’  The scene is a synagogue and a Rabbi is bringing a Torah scroll to the bema, a reading table (like our pulpits I guess). They describe how the way in which the scrolls were wrapped for storage resembles the raiment of a king complete with crown (I’m assuming like a topper for a storage tube), a breastplate (maybe a gold fastening plate), and a royal mantle (maybe a rich cloth wrapped around). In order to read the scroll, the Rabbi had to ‘undress’ it. They also described how Word itself was written on a scroll of lambskin. I’ll include the quote below and let you catch the significance of this for yourself.

“There he (the Rabbi) undressed it, removing crown, breastplate, and royal mantle. What remained when the kingly garb of the Word was laid aside was a scroll, made from the skin of perfect, unblemished lambs. Upon this lambskin, holy to the Lord, the Word of Yahweh was inscribed. A long strip of linen cloth was wound about it as final protection. It was at this stage that the Word appeared like a baby wrapped snugly in swaddling clothes. The King of Heaven had descended from His great throne to be born on earth and live among men. Yes, everything meant something.”

Isn’t that amazing. The symbolism of the Messiah and how he ‘being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness’ (Phil 2:6-7), born wrapped in swaddling cloths’ (Luke 2:7), and later being recognized as ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29)…all right there in an everyday tradition.

I long to learn more of the amazing ways that God chose to reveal himself and his plan. When I doubt, when I wonder if I’m just nuts, wanting a God to lean on as a crutch as some claim, I remember these amazing details and how everything means something. It encourages me to keep on seeking a God who is everywhere, in everything, revealing himself to us in so many ways that its more nuts to not acknowledge him.

This snippet from the novel, however, also challenges me about my level of reverence for the Word. The Jewish people celebrated the Word of God. They treated it carefully, welcomed it like a king, commemorated its gift in their feasts. I, on the other hand, struggle with the mentality that reading God’s Word is a chore. I don’t keep ever before me the great privilege I have been given to have access to the very words of God, life itself contained within the pages of a book. Amazing.