The Old Testament is filled with glimpses of Jesus! Join Joni and Ken as they read through the Bible chronologically this year and look for hints and whispers of Jesus. Find more information at joniradio.org!
When I read the Old Testament, I see Jesus here, there, and everywhere.
Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada, and as you probably know, my husband Ken Tada and I are reading through the Bible this year. Right now, we are in the Old Testament and every morning, before we read the daily selection, we always pray, “Holy Spirit, show us Jesus here in the Old Testament. Show us hints, show us whispers of his presence.” And you know what? The Spirit never disappoints us.
For instance, here’s an example. I’m sure you remember in the book of Jeremiah where we read about the potter. God told Jeremiah to go down to the potter’s house – interesting, that he chooses that word “down.” Like, potters don’t reside in a particularly nice part of town. You’ve got to go down to their houses. Anyway, Jeremiah goes down to see the potter and he watches him work the wheel. He notices that the potter casts aside a piece of pottery he’s working on when the vessel becomes misshapen. Jeremiah watches as the potter takes up that spoiled vessel again “and reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” Okay, so, you got the story, right, and Ken and I paused in our reading to reflect how God does the same thing in our lives. We’re like a clay jar in the hands of God, the potter. We’ve got an idea of what we want to be, but God is working on another kind of person in us, as it seems best to him.
So that’s the story from Jeremiah, right. But we found ourselves in our reading in 1 Chronicles 4. Not a particularly fascinating part of Scripture because it’s a long list of the names of the descendants of the 12 tribes of Israel. But even here, Ken and I are scanning the page, looking for hints of Jesus. And in this chapter among the descendants of Judah, it lists Jokim, the men of Kozeba, Joash and Saraph. And it describes them as potters. Those same people who reside in the poor side of town. In fact, 1 Chronicles 4:23 says that these men, "were…potters …those that dwell among the plants and hedges: there they dwelt with the King for his work." Oh my goodness, we had to stop. Pottery makers were not part of elite society – they were those who dwelt among the plants and hedges. People went down to their houses. Down to the poor side of town where they dwelt among the hedges. But they dwelt with the King. It says there, again, “there they dwelt with the King for his work.”
Ken and I just had to stop and thank God. Here, Almighty God, the King of the universe, dwells down among the potter’s houses where the plants and hedges grow. He dwells among those who do his work. And it told us that anywhere and everywhere, no matter how humble our circumstances, we may dwell with the King for his work. Now, that may seem like a small thing to you, but to my husband and me, it nearly brought tears. It made us all the more want to yield ourselves to the one who is shaping us into vessels for his choosing. And hey, if you would like to join Ken and me in our daily Bible reading, it is never too late. We are never too far along that you can’t join us. So go to Joniradio.org today where I have provided a link to our chronological Bible reading schedule. Join us in looking for hints and whispers of Jesus, the great King who dwells among the potters. Again, that’s Joniradio.org, and we’ll see you next time for more hopeful words in your hardship here at joniradio.org. God bless you, and thanks for listening.
© Joni and Friends