I have been thinking and reading a lot about the church in
the past few years, and I have been praying that our local church would be a
shining example for our community and world. I have also been thinking about
relationships lately, including and especially the marriage relationship.
Today, I was reminded of a prophecy that helps me see another link between these
categories.
In the Old Testament, Psalm 34:20 says,
"He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken." According to the
subtitle in the ESV, this psalm is "of David, when he changed his behavior
before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away." In writing
this psalm, David is probably rejoicing that God protected even David's bones
in this confrontation with his enemy, but he is also extrapolating from his
circumstances to the circumstances of the righteous, making many proverbial
statements leading up to this declaration of protection as he reminds the
reader that "the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed
in spirit," delivering the righteous out of all their afflictions.
If I read this Psalm on its own merits, I am encouraged to
"taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8), but I
miss another level of meaning revealed by Jesus in John 19:36, where he
quotes Psalm 34:20. John is describing the crucifixion of Jesus, when, at the
request of the Jews, the Roman soldiers broke the legs of each of the thieves
who were crucified with Jesus so that they would die in time to be removed
before the Sabbath. When the soldiers approached Jesus, he was already dead, so
they did not break his legs. John claims that Psalm 34:20 prophesies this event,
but, without John's insight, I would certainly have missed that connection. In
fact, in retrospect, my initial instinct is that John was grasping for meaning
beyond the original intent of David in writing that psalm. After all, David
does not explicitly identify his statement as a prophecy, and the context feels
more like an exhortation to God's people to enjoy the benefits of their
salvation from God as they live righteous lives.
In making this assessment, I am too near-sighted and too self-focused.
I am reading the text to look for a personal application. I have forgotten that
Jesus came "that the scripture would be fulfilled." All of the Old
Testament is preparation for Jesus, looking ahead to Jesus, the Messiah who
would save his people. In particular, Jesus was declared to be the son of David
(Matt. 22:41-46)
while also being David's Lord. Thus, David was a particularly important
"type" of Jesus, his life and words foreshadowing Jesus. David's
entire life was intended by God to foreshadow the coming Messiah, including the seemingly small detail that David's bones were not broken in his escape from Abimelech.
Now, I want to connect these concepts to the concept of
marriage. In Ephesians
5:23, Paul writes that "the husband is the head of the wife as Christ
is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior." Paul has
provided us with an analogy, stating that the husband is the Christ-figure in
the marriage relationship. Thus, just as David was used as a type, an example,
a foreshadower, of Christ, so husbands are called to be examples or
"aftershadowers" of Christ. David's example was not one of sinless
perfection, but God used his life and circumstances to prepare his people for
the coming Messiah and to explain the Messiah to those of us who live in the
present age. In the same way, then, husbands are called to be "aftershadowers"
of Christ, reverse prophecies that point back in time to Christ
while also pointing to Christ in eternity, loving our wives as Christ loved the
church so that the world will see our living examples and thereby "taste
and see that the Lord is good."
