How Do We Know When the Old Testament Foreshadows Christ and When It Doesn’t?

How do we know when the Old Testament is foreshadowing Christ and when it's not? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, I'm Bill Meyer along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you on this front. Here is our phone number, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so, so jump on the phone right now. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and you can always email us your question at questions at corechristianity.com.

First up today, here's a voicemail we received from one of our listeners earlier this week. I'm calling because I wanted to know what the Bible says about anime and bestiality. I was violated when I was five, and this has led to a lot of sexual perversion in my life. I recently told my husband about some of the stuff I've been struggling with, and he was like okay with it, and it says it's not hurting anybody. But I know that God wants the marriage bed to be pure.

I've tried opening up to a few members of my church, and I feel judged. They just say, just pray about it. I don't know how to be free. I don't want God to give me over to these sins. I'm just struggling, and I wanted to know how I'm supposed to be set free, even though I have asked Jesus to take away these desires. Thank you. Bye.

Well sister, my heart goes out to you, and I mean there's a lot to unpack there. It sounds to me like you are longing for deliverance, like you're being open with your husband, even with people in your church confessing your sin, and just know that when we confess our sins to the Lord sincerely, he does forgive us, and definitively through Christ, having been justified by faith in a real sense, positionally, you have been set free through the blood of Jesus Christ. This is the point that the apostle Paul makes in Romans chapter 6. You and I, we have these new identities, if you will, in Jesus Christ, and it's something God calls us to in terms of living in light of those new identities. Romans chapter 6 verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness, for sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace. And so the first thing I want to say to you is that through the gospel, through the blood of Jesus Christ, you are no longer under the law, you're under the grace of God, and you are called as a daughter of the true and the living God to not let sin have dominion over you. Now, this is a real struggle that Paul is going to get into in Romans chapter 7, and there's a couple of things I want to say.

First, with regard to what your husband said, you know, sometimes we try to justify our sins by saying, well, I'm doing this, I feel guilty about it, but it's not hurting anyone else. Well, the reality is that's not how we should think about sin, because first and foremost, we belong to God. Our bodies belong to God, and especially as the children of God, and in a unique way, our bodies belong to the Lord. This is the point of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 6 in verse 17. He says, he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside of the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. We're sinning against ourselves here. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own. You were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. But sister, based on what you said, there's another component here, and you talked about the trauma that you experienced as a young girl, and I think a part of addressing this is getting the help that you need, the support that you need, especially with things like sexual addiction. I think that therapy can be really, really helpful, and getting a good therapist who, you know, believes in God's word. I mean, not always the case that you're going to find someone like that, but I think just a good therapist who's going to respect your Christian beliefs and also going to help you untangle. I mean, some of the history there, almost deconstructed, if you will, because those things that we experience, those traumas that we experience do impact us, wound us, if you will, shape and mold us in certain ways that can lead to destructive behavior, and it's not a way of, you know, I'm not trying to minimize or justify, you know, sin when we're sinning against the Lord, but the reality is because we're sinned against as well, you know, we have these habits that are created, and I think it's really important to get the help that you need to get beneath the surface of some of that, and why we're drawn to or you're drawn to these particular things, and so I would really recommend seeing a therapist who specializes in sexual addiction and processing some of these things and working through them and then doing that alongside of the help of the church. Now, I'm sorry, this sounds like you've opened up, but, you know, people just said, well, I guess, you know, you need to pray about it or I'll pray for you. I think what the church can do is they can provide accountability, in particular the leadership in the church.

Maybe this is something that you and your husband talk with the leadership in the church about, the pastor, maybe some of the elders there. Get accountability. Sometimes there's one thing that can be helpful is internet monitoring software, you know, having an accountability partner just as a way of, you know, it doesn't address the heart issue, but it's a way of creating distance between you and this particular habit that's been created that's become a really serious struggle because you're setting up roadblocks for yourself.

I think that's just wisdom. Jesus says if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. I mean, it's part of taking his commandment very seriously there, and so I think you're going to need the help of the church, the support of your husband, and again, this is not just okay because you're not hurting anybody. This is a sin that hurts you. It hurts your marriage as well, and so there needs to be genuine repentance there, but also getting the help of a trained counselor or therapist who's going to help you process through some of these things and work on healing and getting the healing that you need, and I want to pray for you, and again, I could tell just in your voice that this is something that you long to be delivered from, and we know that we have the promise of God's word that the Spirit of God is at work in us, putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, Romans chapter 8, and so I want to pray for you that God would work in you and encourage you. Father, I want to lift my sister up to you right now who is crying out for help, crying out for your help, and Lord, I pray that you would see her and that you would minister to her by the grace of your Holy Spirit, God, that you would, one, fix her eyes on Christ crucified for her salvation, for the forgiveness of her sins, that she would believe the promise of the Gospel for her, that there is no sin, no struggle that is beyond your grace, that you are able to blot out, to wash away all of our sins, and so she comes to you, Lord.

Weighed down with this struggle, would you give her a sense of your love and your forgiveness as she confesses her sin to you, and would you, Lord, surround her with support, the support that she needs from her husband, from her church, would you open the doors for her to get support in terms of a good therapist, Lord, someone who can help her to work through these things, but would you minister to our sister, encourage her, strengthen her, and as you promise in your word, Jesus, sanctify her by the grace of your spirit, day by day, working in her to bring her closer to you, to give her strength in this fight, Lord, leaning not on her own strength, but on the strength that you give and the grace that you give to all who turn to you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Amen. Thanks for that, Adriel. We'll continue to pray for her here at CORE Christianity.

By the way, if you have a question for Adriel about the Bible, the Christian life, theology, doctrine, we would love to hear from you. Our phone lines are open right now, and you can call us for the next 15 minutes or so. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Sarah, who is calling from Connecticut. Sarah, what's your question for Adriel? Hi, thank you for taking my call.

Just some background, I am a single mother in my mid-30s. I grew up in a Pentecostal church because of my father, pretty much, so that might have some bring some context, but the other day I got upset with him because of something he did, and I let him know how I felt about it, and because of that he sent me a text telling me I need to ask God for forgiveness for the sake of me and my son's safety. So pretty much my question is, you know, will God allow some kind of calamity or punishment towards me because he felt I dishonored him?

And even if I had, will that be cause to allow a calamity to happen? I came across Proverbs 20-20, and I kind of want to know what that means too, so I almost feel that validates his statement there, so that's my question. Thank you. Sarah, thank you for reaching out to us. I'm concerned with the text that he sent you. It comes off to me as manipulative, you know, well you need to do this, otherwise you're in trouble and even your son is in trouble. There's a threat there, an almost wielding God and his judgment against someone. I don't know what the disagreement was, but I think one, this is not the proper way to go about a disagreement, and certainly threatening God's judgment because of the disagreement, yes, we're called to honor our parents. It's the fifth commandment, and yes, there is a blessing associated with it, certainly, and I think there are times where we say things or we're upset, we get frustrated, we can say, okay, I'm sorry, please forgive me. This is just relationships, right, with the people in our lives, even with our parents. As we confess, we ask for forgiveness if indeed we've sinned.

I don't even know if that's the case though. I mean, it could have been that there was frustration, you guys are going back and forth, maybe your frustrations were legitimate and you expressed that, and he was bothered, and so he came back and responded by threatening the judgment of God, and I just think, one, that's not proper, that's not right. If you have sinned in some way, if you've dishonored your father in some way, you're convicted about that, well then you confess it to the Lord and you go to him and you say, look, I'm sorry for speaking to you in that way or for mocking you or whatever it was, and know that you are forgiven, but wielding these threats in Scripture around or waving them around and then threatening people, especially the people that we love, I mean, that in my mind is a real red flag, that is a problem, and so if you're convicted, if the Spirit of God is convicting you, well then confess your sin. If you haven't done it, if you're searching your heart and you're praying and it's clear, well, you know, we had a disagreement but I didn't sin against my father, well then you don't need to confess your sin in that situation, and my hope would be that you guys could resolve it, and as father and daughter, but also as believers in Christ, find peace and restoration in the relationship, and so Sarah, my heart goes out to you as well. I was raised by a single mother.

I know how difficult that can be. You need the encouragement of the Lord and the the knowledge of the fact that Christ loves you, is with you, and is for you in the work that you're doing, raising this child, and so may the Lord bless you and give you a sense of his Spirit and give you wisdom, and again, if you've sinned, confess that sin and know that Jesus forgives you and cares for you and loves you, and may the Lord also be with your dad, because as I said, that there's something really troubling about the way in which he responded to you. That's not how we use scripture, and so may the Lord be with you guys.

Thanks for calling. So well said, Adriel. We've talked before on this program about spiritual abuse, and unfortunately in some cases, people do wield the Bible, wield God's judgment, because of their own particular, you know, opinions or anger, and that's, as you said, not appropriate at all. So Sarah will be praying for you. That's a tough one, huh? Well, this is core Christianity. Go ahead.

Well, I was just going to say, Bill, because you named it there, right? And I don't know all of the details with Sarah's situation, but there is such a thing as spiritual abuse, where people will use God's Word as a tool to manipulate others, whether it's their children or the people in their church or somebody in their life, and will try to control them through that, through fear. But that's using the Word of God in a way that is unhelpful, destructive, and dishonoring to God, and so we have to call it what it is and address it. And so I'm glad that you said that, Bill, because it is such a serious problem in the church today. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and if you are a parent or a grandparent, you know that the school year is just around the corner for many kids, and we actually have a wonderful resource we want to tell you about. It's a free resource from Core Christianity that's just perfect for this time of year. Yeah, Bill, as fall is now fast approaching and kids are getting ready to go back to school, we have this resource. As Bill said, it's a free resource to help parents and grandparents bolster the faith of their kids. It's called Six Ways to Help Your Kids as They Go Back to School, and so we really got to help our children and to prepare our children as they go to school, the conversations that they're going to be having, the pressures that they're going to feel both to succeed and to do really well, and also to please their peers or to be popular. It's important that we're talking to them about what the Bible has to say about some of these things, and so head over to corechristianity.com and get a hold of this free resource, Six Ways to Help Your Kids as They Go Back to School. Love to get that to you this weekend. Here is the email or the web address, again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. That's corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Look for Six Ways to Help Your Kids as They Go Back to School. Well, we do receive voicemails here at CORE, and you know what? If you have a question that you weren't able to call on the live program, you can call anytime this weekend and leave us a voicemail message. The number is 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Danny. My question is concerning in the Old Testament when Moses had to hold up his arms so the soldiers would win the battle, and his arms would get tired, so two gentlemen held up his arms for him. Is this symbolic of Jesus on the cross? Thank you very much.

I appreciate your program. Yeah, thank you for that question. Well, you're thinking about Exodus chapter 17. This is battle with the Amalekites, and Moses is holding up his arms, and as he does, the children of Israel are prevailing in the battle, but when he lowers his arms, they begin to be defeated, and so he needs help holding up his arms, and he gets that help, and as a result, the children of Israel defeat the Amalekites, and I've heard pastors say, you know, you got Moses there with his arms stretched out. It's a picture of Jesus on the cross for us.

You know, I think you can draw some lines of analogy there. You know, taking a step back, Moses as the mediator of the old covenant, the one who gave the law a prophet in many respects, as we're told in Deuteronomy, there are a lot of ties that we can draw to Jesus and that you see in the New Testament, so it's not like this foreign idea that Moses is a picture of or a type of Christ in some ways. Over and over again in the New Testament, that's made absolutely clear, and so sometimes, you know, I think when we're reading the Old Testament, we look for Jesus in the gospel, in the minutia, you know, in the little story. He's this or that, whereas I think it's better to take a step back and think about Moses in his office of prophet, a mediator of the old covenant, and really to think about Christ there through those bigger, you know, sort of picture things. Now, it's interesting because earlier in Exodus 17, you have that scene where Moses brings water from the rock for the children of Israel as they're complaining, grumbling, because they don't have anything to drink, and in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, the apostle Paul says the rock that was there was Jesus Christ, and so you do have these very specific examples of Christ being present there even in that chapter for the people, being the water of life for the children of Israelite through the wilderness and for us as we travel through the wilderness of life, and so one of the things that's highlighted here, I think, is just the centrality of Christ in all of scripture. You know, sometimes I think people can go about finding Jesus in the Old Testament the wrong way, maybe overly allegorical or something like that, but the fact of the matter is Jesus himself said, all scripture testifies of him.

Moses wrote about him, and so if we're not getting to Christ and the gospel through the Old Testament, we're not properly understanding the Old Testament, and so I would say, yeah, I think Moses there in Exodus 17, both with the water from the rock and then also as he's standing and interceding for the children of Israel is a picture of Jesus and what he does for us as our great high priest, whoever lives, to make intercession for us. Thank you for that question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and we do receive emails here. In fact, you can email us anytime, 24 hours a day, questions at corechristianity.com, and here's one from Leticia. Interesting question about baptism. She says, if someone realizes they're a false convert and was baptized before realizing they truly converted, should they get baptized again when they truly repent and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior?

Yeah, thank you for that question, and you know, this is something that we've talked about on the broadcast before that people can debate about. Of course, there's disagreement between Baptists, those who believe that you need to make a profession of faith before you're baptized, and that the legitimacy of your baptism is dependent upon that, on the legitimacy of your faith, and then there are those who say, well, no, baptism is rooted primarily in God's word and promise, and so if that's the case, then whether you're baptized as an infant or not, right, like if God has extended this promise to you objectively through his word, then the reality is you've been baptized, and you might come to faith later in life or come to truly understand the gospel later in life and lay hold of the real objective promises that were exhibited to you in your baptism at an earlier point. The grace of baptism isn't necessarily tied to the moment it's administered to you, but I wouldn't say that an individual has to get re-baptized.

Now, again, this is kind of sticky and complex. If somebody had no intention of being baptized, you know, they know they're not a believer, and maybe they're going through this ritual, and it's a big joke for them, and there's no sense of what's taking place, well, I think we can have a discussion about that. Another concern that I have is that there are so many people who they're looking for that moment when I really feel like I was saved, and they'll say, oh, well, I had this conversion experience, and then I fell away for a long time, and then I came back, and it really felt like I was truly walking with Jesus.

Should I be baptized again? The reality is I think we can see God working in our lives throughout our lives, right, and there are times where we can sense his call, and we are pushing him away. There are times where we embrace the truth, where we believe, and then we go through a season of doubt and struggle, and so one concern that I have is that people just, you know, they go through this sort of roller coaster where they're questioning, and they feel like every time they have this renewed moment with Jesus, they need to go and get baptized.

I've actually seen this before. No, what we should do is rest on God's word and the promise he gives to us through his word and through the ordinances of grace, like baptism, so that if we're questioning, if we're wondering, I'm not sure, we'll look back to that promise exhibited to us in baptism and cling to it, lay hold of it as surely as we are washed with water through faith in Jesus Christ. All our sins are forgiven. This is why the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 6 is writing to a group of Christians who are struggling. You know, they're in that battle, that fight with sin, but he reminds them of their baptisms, and he says, in light of your baptism, how can we who have died to sin live any longer in it? You have a new identity in Jesus Christ. You don't need to keep on trying to get baptized, if you will, but just embrace that identity that God has given to you and walk according to it. See, friends, God has given us all these wonderful gifts in the gospel through what he's done in his son, and he calls us to live in light of those gifts, to live in light of the fact that we have been forgiven. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.