microcosms

Jesus often spoke in parables... parables about familiar relationships, sowing seed, wedding feasts, loaning money, and many other subjects. These parables illustrate truths about God and His Kingdom in terms familiar to the people. As I read the Bible, some of the things that fascinate me the most are the parables that aren't specifically labelled as such. Many are small scale events:

• The tearing of the veil (Matthew 27:51) - The veil marked the entrance to the Most Holy Place in the temple, where the very presence of God resided. Only the high priest could enter past the veil, which he did once a year to atone for the people's sins. When the veil was torn in two upon Jesus' death, the need for the ritual sacrifice to atone for sins was abolished by His ultimate sacrifice. He became our high priest and our sacrifice. With the veil gone, we are all free to enter His presence and approach Him for forgiveness of sins. The veil of sin separating us from God has been destroyed! Amen!
• The gifts of the wise men (Matthew 2:11) - Gold was a gift given to a king. Frankincense was incense, burned as a sacrifice for a deity. Myrrh was a very expensive ointment used in funerals, foretelling His ultimate purpose.
• The bronze serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9) - Jesus explained in John 3:14-16 that this pointed to His death on the cross. Just as the Israelites were saved from death simply by looking at the serpent that was raised up, anyone who looks to Jesus and believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

Many of the larger scale, broader themes of the Bible could also be considered parables:

• God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to give them the promised land. Yet once they left Egypt, their unbelief led them into 40 years of wandering in the desert before they could finally enter the Promised Land. Likewise, we have been saved from the slavery of sin, and yet to the extent we continue to languish in sin, we struggle to fully take hold of the promised Kingdom.
• God instituted a sacrificial system that was followed repetitively for hundreds of years. Over and over again the people would offer sacrifices of the most perfect of their livestock to cover over their sin, and it was never sufficient. Nothing we could do could ever be enough to fully reconcile us to God. When Christ died, he became the ultimate, perfect sacrifice, finally providing a way for us to be holy enough to be in the presence of the Father. (read the book of Hebrews for more on this)
  

God created us, He created our minds, so he knows how they work. The true, complete nature of His eternal plans are far above what we can understand, but it seems He has woven history in such a way as to reveal to us bits that we can get our minds around. I praise God that He has been gracious enough to reveal these mysteries to us in the Bible, and I'm awe-struck whenever I catch a fresh glimpse of one of these microcosms of His ultimate reality.