See Christ unveiled in the Old Testament. Pretty long:)

Believers, remember those two disciples (Cleopas and his companion) on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24? They were sad because they felt all hope was lost since Jesus had been crucified, was dead and His body was not in the tomb. They did not recognize our Lord Jesus on the way. Here's what our Saviour did on the way:

"27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."

There was no New Testament at this time so Christ taught them about Himself from the Law and the Prophets. After Christ was revealed to them in the breaking of bread, "32 They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”

Believers, the Law and the Prophets (Old Testament) is filled with faith pictures that fire up our hearts with our Saviour's love for us. See our Salvation (Jesus Christ) brought out of the shadows in the story of David (a picture of God the Father) who cut a covenant with his beloved Jonathan (a picture of Jesus Christ who came to save the world as the Son of Man.) Saul (mankind, a picture of Adam) and Jonathan died, with Jonathan leaving a son, Mephibosheth (the world that God so loved) behind.

When Saul's house heard that Saul was dead, they feared for their lives. Was this not David that their father Saul tried to kill several times? They thought David was coming to exterminate them (a picture of the world and even believers today thinking that God is still angry with them and wants to punish them for their sins and those of their fathers.) So they fled.

With sycophants going around killing Saul's family members in the name of David and against David's wishes, even Joab, David's army captain, murdering Abner of the house of Saul (who had made peace with David) for his own personal vendetta (see 2 Samuel 3,) Saul's family members were certain that David wanted to kill them. How wrong they were. But how does this relate to the believer today?

Thanks to the preaching of the law ("the ministry of death" according to Paul) in many churches today by preachers who present God as a hard, angry Taskmaster who is just waiting to catch you in sin and whose desire is to rain judgment on His people, many are oblivious of God's love for them and His desire to save the world from a well-deserved judgment in that He gave His own Son to die for us. Such wield the letter that kills and throw accusations like the Accuser right from the pulpit, killing their congregation softly with the law that they tell them to "obey, or else...." These killers are those who condemn and judge the sinner that God loves and sent His Son to save.

But David (a picture of God the Father) killed all those who came to give him the "good news" that Saul (mankind) was dead or to tell him that they had a hand in the death of Saul and his sons. See his response to two such men who killed one of Saul's sons in his sleep in 2 Samuel 4:9-11.

"9 David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 10 when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”12 So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them."

It is not God's wish for mankind, even the wicked, to perish but for all to have everlasting life in Christ. God does not delight in judgment. He delights in mercy.

Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth (a picture of you and I before our salvation and the world) was dropped by his nurse (like the maid Hagar- a picture of the law,) as they were fleeing from David that was not even in pursuit and the boy became lame in both feet. This is a picture of trying to escape God's punishment by our own efforts aka lawkeeping, the various "fast and deliverance sessions" and good works done to escape punishment and get right with God. It has dire consequences. Romans 7:5 says having this old nature, being under law and not under grace, leads to producing "a harvest of sinful deeds that result in death." The letter kills.

Mephibosheth was lame in both feet (a picture of our sins that God hates, even though He loves the sinner.) Imagine him hearing that the one he fled from (David) hates the blind and the lame, a saying that started when David and his men attacked the Jebusites to conquer Jerusalem. See 2 Samuel 5-

6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.” 7 Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David. 8 On that day David had said, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those ‘lame and blind’ who are David’s enemies.” That is why they say, “The ‘blind and lame’ will not enter the palace.”

Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan knew that twice over, there was no hope for him with David. He was of the house of Saul (just as Adam's sin made all humans sinners - see Romans 5:19) and he was lame (all have sinned.) The message he heard was that judgment will fall if he does not do something to save himself, much like what we hear in many of our churches today. Recall that he became lame as he was trying to escape judgment from David whose heart was to bless the house of Saul. Carried by his nurse (a picture of being carried by the law, like Hagar,) he was maimed and cut off from David, as are those who are trying to obey the law to escape God's wrath:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace." Galatians 5:4.

Because of the wrong opinion that Mephibosheth had about David, he was cut off from David and dwelt in a place called Lo Debar meaning "no pasture" or "not having."

But see our Abba Father's heart for the world that He so loved: David (a picture of God the Father) remembered his covenant with Jonathan (a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins.) God always remembers the covenant He cut with Christ on our behalf. The New Covenant that makes we who are in Christ a new creation. In 2 Samuel 9:9 David asked,

“Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

Many of us do not yet realise that our invitation to the Lord's table is ONLY because of the covenant that we have with God through our Saviour Jesus Christ. It is for Christ's sake ONLY that God saves us and shows us kindness, not because of our filthy rags righteousnesses from keeping the law and our carnal (fleshly/human) efforts at pleasing Him or avoiding His wrath, which will only cause lameness (remember Mephibosheth) and death! See Romans 7:5.

Remember at the time of David's remembrance, Mephibosheth was dwelling in Lo Debar, meaning "not having" or "no pasture." Remember Psalms 23's first few lines? Mephibosheth "lacked" when he should not have lacked and had no pasture to lie down in talk less of "green pastures" because he was not made aware of or he forgot the covenant that David had with his father, Jonathan. He was under a constant cloud of fear that David would visit judgment on him for being a grandson of Saul and for being lame, much like how many Christians today are more conscious of God's judgment and their sins than they are about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mephibosheth thought David was out to punish him but his enjoyment of David's grace was not based on what he did. It was based on Jonathan's relationship David. Believers, this is a shadow and type of the covenant that we (today's Mephibosheths, borne of Adam and having sinned) have with our Lord God through our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Lord is our Shepherd. We sheep can do nothing without Him. Please beware of such who teach that your salvation, including the Rapture, is in your own hands; based on what you do and not what Christ has done. If it was up to us, no one will make it. God cannot lie. The arm of flesh will fail.

The account of the meeting between David and Mephibosheth is in 2 Samuel 9. See verse 7-8-

“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.” 8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?"

This is a picture of God's grace - undeserved, unmerited favour through Christ and Christ alone. After David gave him all that he promised,

13 "And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table; he was lame in both feet."

But wait. Shouldn't verse 13 read the reverse? Shouldn't it be: "Mephibosheth always ate at the king's table because he lived in Jerusalem?" How can always eating at the king’s table cause him to live in Jerusalem?

Living in Jerusalem is a picture of our salvation in Christ, our holiness and our living a righteous life. Many believers think we must first be holy and live right by our own efforts in order to eat at the Lord's table. Not so! Eating at the Lord's table, being conscious of His presence and love for us, is what causes us to live right. When you continue to eat at His table, even with your lameness (sins, addictions, oppression) you will be made whole! This is the story of all who received from Him when He walked the earth. From Zacchaeus the thieving tax collector to the woman with the issue of blood.

We don't get good to get Christ; we get Christ to get good, His kind of good! This is Grace- undeserved, unmerited favour. You will not continue to sin.

So many more things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament: God's love revealed in His sacrifice of His own Son for us in the story of Abraham and Isaac; the church as the bride of Christ in the story of Ruth the Moabitess, a woman from a cursed people; our Lord God's abundance of grace to Zerubbabel and His gift to righteousness to Joshua the high priest that enabled them complete the Temple, the same gifts that we have in Christ through whom we reign in life; and the Ark of the Covenant, Christ Himself! Christ (the real Ark of the Covenant) dwells in us today. Our bodies are the temple of God!

You don't have to go it alone. Just tell our Abba Father that you don't know what to do. The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.