Black Lights: Christmas Detectives

Black Lights: Christmas Detectives

A Christmas Study, Part 5

by Sarah Jinright

December 19, 2012

Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 1:19-21

“Okay, officer! Okay, I admit it! I'm guilty!” That's what I would have to say if you put me in an interview room at the police station and asked if I like crime dramas. Guilty as charged. I love NCIS, CSI, Numbers, The Mentalist, Bones, and Blue Bloods. The who-done-it question gets me every time, and I probably spend far to much time watching all these dramas unfold.

Imagine my excitement, when I started to discover a mystery unraveling in the Old Testament. In my favorite shows, I'd seen investigators apply a special substance to their crime scenes, and then hold up a black light to look for clues that they could not see with their naked eyes. Just like the crime fighters on TV, I started applying a steady solution of study to God's word and held up the black light of faith and curiosity. What was I looking for? Blood. Christ's blood.

Throughout the Old Testament, I found picture after picture of what Christ would do for us as the lamb of God, and how his blood would atone for our sins. We've already taken a look at the sign of the passover, but there are so many more awesome pictures of Christ the Redeemer!

One of my favorite clues is when, by God's command, Abraham takes his promised son Isaac to the top of mount Moriah intending to offer him as a sacrifice. Isaac is not a dumb kid. He asks, “Dad, we have all the stuff we need for the sacrifice, except the lamb. Did we forget something?” Abraham must have been in complete anguish, but he expresses faith to his son. “Isaac, God will provide a lamb.” But it isn't until Abraham's shaking hand is raised over his son's exposed chest—prepared to obey at any cost—that God says, “STOP!” He then blesses Abraham's faith, and provides a lamb in the place of Isaac. In the black light, we can see how Christ, the Lamb of God, will be offered in our place.

The trail of clues continues. When Joshua attacks Jericho, Rahab and her family are kept safe only through associating with the scarlet thread hung from the window of Rahab's house. Likewise, we cannot be saved from destruction without associating with the blood of Christ.

During the wilderness wanderings, God is displeased with the complaining of the Israelites, so He sends poisonous snakes to punish the people. God tells Moses to place a brazen serpent on a pole and carry it through the camp. Only those who choose to look to God's means of salvation are saved from the harmful bites. Each individual had to choose to “look and live.”

The clues go on throughout the Old Testament, from the story of Ruth who sought a kinsman redeemer to pull her out of a plight from which she could not save herself, to the very sacrificial system of Israel. The blood of bulls and goats would not always be required. God would provide the perfect lamb. Case closed!

Are you searching the Scriptures for yourself? Christ was God's gift to us at Christmas, but the Bible is God's gift to us every day of the year. Don't forget to open your presents, not just on Christmas morning, but every morning!