It has been said that the Old Testament is Christ concealed and the New Testament is Christ revealed.  An example of this occurs in Exodus 25:30 where Yahweh commands that “you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.”  Yahweh didn’t command this because He was hungry!  No, He required that this bread be set in the Holy Place before the veil so as to be an object lesson, an object lesson consisting of twelve loaves of bread—one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. There is a plethora of symbolism here. For example, just as bread is a tangible thing, so Jesus would take on flesh.  In fact, the twelve loaves symbolize that Jesus would be born into the tribes of Israel. Also, as bread nourishes the body, so Jesus, the bread of life, nourishes the soul, and finally, while the bread of the Presence is only to be eaten by the priests, the bread representing the body of Christ in Holy Communion is only to be eaten by baptized believers–a priestly caste.  Food for thought…just sayin’

Colossians chapter 2 is full of mystery–just not the “who done it” type.  It deals with the mystery of how Christians are circumcised.  Circumcised?  Isn’t that Old Testament stuff?  No, it is definitely New Testament, as verse 11 makes clear:  In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.”  Whereas the circumcision of the Old Testament includes putting off a small portion of the flesh, the New Testament circumcision requires a “putting off [of] the body of the flesh”–the whole body.  Thus, New Testament circumcision is an all-encompassing proposition for us.  The mystery deepens as verse 12 links it to our baptism and our being raised with Christ.  Suffice it to say that there is way more going on in our salvation than meets the eye…just sayin’.