Church, OT anticipations of

As the people of God, the Christian church is continuous with Israel. The OT provides important anticipations of the church.

OT terms for the people of God

The descendants of Abraham

2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8–9; Romans 4:16; Galatians 3:7 “children of Abraham” in the NT refers to those who, like Abraham, put their faith in God

The saints

The term for saints'' meansset apart for God'', ``made holy'', and is the most frequently used NT term for Christians: 1 Samuel 2:9; 2 Chronicles 6:41 parallel Psalm 132:9; Psalm 16:3, Psalm 31:23; Daniel 7:18

The assembly

assembly'' meansa community gathered together in response to God's call to serve and worship him''. Its NT equivalents include the synagogue and the church: Psalm 1:5, Psalm 107:32, Psalm 149:1

The scope of the OT people of God

Israel as God's people

Exodus 6:7 See also Exodus 19:5–6; Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 30:22; Ezekiel 36:28; Hosea 2:23

I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

Not all Israelites are God's people

Romans 9:6–7 Even within Israel there are believers and unbelievers. See also Ezra 9:8 Those Israelites who believed were sometimes called “a remnant”; Isaiah 1:9, Isaiah 11:11, Isaiah 11:16; Jeremiah 23:3; Ezekiel 14:22; Micah 2:12

It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”

God's people included non-Israelites

Isaiah 2:2–3 parallel Micah 4:1–2 See also Exodus 12:38, Exodus 12:48–49; Deuteronomy 31:12; Ruth 4:10–11

In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

The formation of the OT people of God

God's people are formed through God's promises

Genesis 12:2 See also Genesis 15:5, Genesis 17:5–6, Genesis 22:17–18; Exodus 1:7

I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

God's people are chosen and called

Deuteronomy 7:6 See also 1 Chronicles 16:13 parallel Psalm 105:6; Psalm 33:12; Ezekiel 20:5

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.

God's people have been redeemed

Deuteronomy 5:6 parallel Exodus 20:2 See also Exodus 6:6, Exodus 19:4; Ezekiel 20:6

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

God formed a covenant with his people

Exodus 24:8 See also Exodus 19:5, Exodus 34:10, Exodus 34:27; Deuteronomy 4:13; Judges 2:1; Jeremiah 31:31

So Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

OT images of the people of God

As God's bride

Jeremiah 2:2 This OT image is taken up in the many references to Jesus Christ as the bridegroom and the church as his bride. See also Isaiah 62:5; Hosea 2:16, Hosea 2:19–20; Ephesians 5:25–27; Revelation 21:2

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

As God's vine

Isaiah 5:1–7 Psalm 80:8; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 17:5–6, Ezekiel 19:10; Hosea 10:1

I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour! “And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit? Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.” For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

As God's flock

Psalm 95:7 See also Psalm 74:1, Psalm 77:20, Psalm 100:3; Isaiah 40:11; Zechariah 9:16; Matthew 26:31; Zechariah 13:7; Luke 12:32; John 10:16ACT John 20:28–29; 1 Peter 5:2–3

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,

As God's inheritance

Deuteronomy 4:20 See also Psalm 28:9, Psalm 33:12; Isaiah 19:25; Malachi 3:17

Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.

As God's family

Amos 3:1–2 See also Exodus 4:22–23 Israel was sometimes called God's “firstborn son” as well as his children; Deuteronomy 1:31, Deuteronomy 32:6; Psalm 103:13; Isaiah 1:2, Isaiah 30:9; Hosea 11:1; Malachi 2:10

Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: “Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

Requirements of the people of God

To obey God's word

Deuteronomy 5:1 See also Exodus 24:3; Deuteronomy 6:1–3, Deuteronomy 13:4; Joshua 1:7; 1 Samuel 15:22

Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I declare in your hearing this day. Learn them and observe them carefully.

To remember their redemption

Deuteronomy 5:15 See also Deuteronomy 7:18, Deuteronomy 15:15, Deuteronomy 16:12; Psalm 105:5

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

To commemorate their redemption

Exodus 12:25–27 The focus of Israel's commemoration of their redemption was the Passover, which is one of the ceremonies lying behind the Lord's Supper. See also Numbers 9:2–3; Deuteronomy 16:1; Luke 22:14–20

When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service. When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

To love God wholeheartedly

Deuteronomy 6:5 See also Deuteronomy 10:12, Deuteronomy 11:1, Deuteronomy 19:9; Joshua 23:11

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

The marks of the people of God

Circumcision as a mark of God's people

Genesis 17:10–14; Leviticus 12:3; Deuteronomy 10:16, Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4; Romans 2:27; Colossians 2:11

The presence of God

Exodus 25:8, Exodus 33:15–16, Exodus 40:35; Numbers 10:33–36; 2 Chronicles 5:14