{"id":3143,"date":"2017-03-27T16:15:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T21:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/?page_id=3143"},"modified":"2023-11-10T08:30:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T14:30:04","slug":"people","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewaywesee.com\/religiondetoxnetwork\/mystery\/symbols-signs-types-copies-shadows-and-patterns\/people","title":{"rendered":"People"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARABLES AND TYPES <\/strong>
\nIt is a big mistake to think of Bible characters as historical people. If we do think of them as only historical people, we miss out on the potential to be corrected and trained in righteousness. <\/a>We might find them to be interesting, detestable and even fascinating characters, but if we do not see them through the lens of the Old\/First Covenant and New Covenant<\/a>, we miss what God is trying to teach us through their successes and failures. In other words, we should learn how to see ourselves in those characters and see those characters in us.<\/p>\n

To acquire this perspective, it is correct and necessary to always remember that God always speaks in parables<\/a>. With this truth in mind, we always regard each Bible character as a type (i.e. example)<\/a> of either an Old\/First Covenant religionist or a New Covenant disciple. And sometimes, because some characters have\u00a0 their hearts changed, they can be both Old\/First Covenant religionist and New Covenant disciple — but never at the same time. And we always regard their stories, and the progression of the lives of those who experience heart change<\/a>, as parables <\/a>about our own lives. Just as many, but not all, of those characters change, many, but not all, of us change.<\/p>\n

STUDY TIP: See TYPES AND FIGURES<\/a> for more about how Bible characters are types of either Old\/First Covenant religionists or New Covenant disciples.<\/p>\n

When we look at individual Bible characters and groups of people (i.e. Israel, Jews, Gentiles,<\/a> Egyptians, Babylonians, Canaanites<\/a>,\u00a0 Kings, Queens and Princes<\/a>, Prophets<\/a>, etc.) this way, the Bible takes on much more meaning than it does if we interpret it as mere history and geography. If we interpret the Bible as history\u00a0 and geography it is interesting but it is hard to apply it to our lives today.<\/a> However, when we interpret scripture symbolically<\/a>, and when we listen for God’s voice to teach us while we read<\/a>,\u00a0scripture makes us wise for salvation and trains us for righteousness<\/a>. Then scripture comes alive and we grow spiritually.<\/p>\n

When we listen for God’s voice to teach us while we read,<\/a> we can see ourselves in the travels and travails of Israel. We can see ourselves in Egypt and Babylon<\/a>. We can see ourselves in conflict with Canaanites. We can see ourselves in characters like Adam, Cain, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Lazarus, Judas, Paul, Peter and Jesus. We see them in all their complexity as natural men who had their spiritual ups and downs. When God teaches us, we see that even Jesus, who is otherwise considered to be sinless, spent the first thirty years of his life as an Old\/First Covenant, Jewish religionist<\/a>. He did not become a messiah<\/a>, and a\u00a0mediator of the New Covenant<\/a> until he was baptized by the Holy Spirit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We see this pattern repeated in all Biblical characters beginning with Adam who, beginning as a man of the earth\u00a0(i.e. Old\/First Covenant religionist), was recreated (i.e. born again<\/a>) as a life-giving spiritual being (i.e. New Covenant disciple<\/a>). In other words, he went through the same process that Jesus went through:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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