Sep
8
Wax On, Wax Off
Filed Under Devotional
Nearly everyone in my generation can hear the movie quote, “Wax on, wax off,” and know immediately who said it in which movie and for what reason. Daniel had come to Mr. Miyagi to learn karate and he started by having Daniel sand the fence, wash the patio, and wax the car. He was teaching Daniel’s muscles to learn particular movements and react in predictable ways. He was creating muscle memory.
Daniel was annoyed with this process because he didn’t see how it related to learning a martial art. Later, of course, he realized what was happening and saw the value of learning a simpler form of the movements to depend upon later.
I like that analogy to understand the Old Covenant and the New Covenant and why God gave us both.
“For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.
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then He said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:1,9-10
The Law was given precisely to act as an oversimplified outline of what the New Covenant would mean. It etched into the hearts and minds the need for a perfect blood sacrifice to enable the forgiveness of sin. The debt had to be paid by a perfect offering. The old sacrificial system was a daily reminder of the chasm between Man and God and what was required to bridge it.
Then, Christ came to fulfill all that the Law had pointed to. He was the perfect and final sacrifice. He closed the deal and paid the price. Now, we can see all of the parallels with the old system and how it pointed us towards the acts of Jesus and how those met all the requirements of justice and righteousness.
The Israelites were trained to repeat these rituals and ceremonies to give them spiritual muscle memory regarding their relationship with God and how to serve Him. Apart from the cultural resistance to change, the life of Jesus should have been very recognizable to all of Israel as the fulfillment of what they’d been playacting for centuries.
It was training for the big show.
Wax on, wax off.