Articles
According to the Pattern
When Moses was on mount Sinai, and was “warned of God when he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount” (Hebrews 8:5), we can readily see that Jehovah has a pattern for all that is to be done in service to Him. Let’s consider this concept of a pattern, for just a moment.
From Genesis to Revelation, we are introduced to Jehovah’s efforts to save mankind. Before the foundation of the world Jehovah had a plan in place for the salvation of mankind. The Apostle Paul confirmed this plan, saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:3-5). What was predestined, foreordained or predetermined was not the person and/or persons, but the method through which the adoption would be effected, i.e., “through Jesus Christ.” That which God had planned, “before the foundation of the world,” was accomplished by and through Jesus Christ.
When the “Word,” (John 1:1), who “in the beginning…was with God, and the Word was God,” “became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), He did so in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, of whom the Apostle Peter said, “And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved” (Acts 4:10, 12). We are told that God had foreordained this before the foundation of the world: God had a plan!
This plan was executed by the Son of God, the Word, Jehovah (Isaiah 44:6), in the person of Jesus, of whom Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” to which Jesus said, “upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:16, 18), of which, the Apostle Paul said, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the dispensation of the mystery which for ages hath been hid in God who created all things; to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him” (Ephesians 3:11). Thus, it was “according to the eternal purpose” of God that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known.
This plan, “which was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but hath now been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10), is the message of which Paul told Timothy, “Hold the pattern of sound words which thou hast heard from me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13).
As Moses was “warned of God when he is about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount” (Heb. 8:5), so we also have a pattern to follow.
Ross Triplett, Sr.
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