Symbolism in Christianity

Many religious traditions throughout the world are highly dependent on symbolism, ceremony, and some, mysticism, as part of the expression of their system. The only religion promoted in the New Testament is Christianity, and the only place in which God promotes Christianity as a revealed religion is in the New Testament.

The use of symbolism and ceremony as set forth in the New Testament stands in stark contrast to what is found in many other religions. There is even a marked difference between Christ’s church (Matt. 16:18) in the NT and the Old Law of Moses in the OT. Christianity may be one of many world religions, but it is one of two religions that have come to us from God of the Bible.

Islam makes a claim to have come from the same God, but if that were to be true, it would immediately discredit all three religions. The god depicted in Islam is nothing like the God of the Bible. The teaching is not the same. The promise is not the same. The tenets are not the same. In the Bible, Jesus claims to be the son of God, and God also makes that claim, but in the Koran Jesus is a mere prophet. There is much more to be said here, but for now this will have to suffice. We have already digressed from our purpose.

We find much symbolism in the Old Law of Moses. In fact, even many of the historical occurrences in the Old Testament were symbolic. The expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden is symbolic of man’s free moral agency leading to man being unfit for the kingdom of God, Rom. 3:23, Isaiah 59:1-2. Noah’s family being saved from the sin of the world by the waters of the flood is symbolic of the place of baptism in the salvation of mankind, 1 Peter 3:21.

The blood on the doorposts of the Israelites in Exodus 12 that signaled the death angel to “pass over” that house is symbolic of the blood of Christ, once it has been applied through baptism as explained in Rom. 6:3-4, saving Christians from eternal death. The Israelites being saved from the Egyptian army by passing through the waters of the Red Sea which fell on the Egyptians who drowned in the water is also symbolic of the water of baptism saving God’s people in the New Testament. There are many other examples of OT events being symbolic of NT teaching.

There are also, in the Old Testament, examples directly from their worship and religious observances which were symbolic with reference to something in the New Testament. The Passover mentioned above was a feast day of religious significance. The “blueprint” of the tabernacle and later the temple, symbolically represented the world (the outer court of the temple,) the church, or God’s people (the Holy Place,) and Heaven (the Most Holy Place.)

The Laver, in which priests washed before coming from the outer court into the Holy Place, was again a symbol of baptism with which sins are washed away before one moves from the world into the church, Acts 22:16. The Altar of Incense, in the Holy Place, and before the Most Holy Place was symbolic of the prayers of God’s people. The Veil that separated The Most Holy Place from the Holy Place and through which only the high priest could go, and he only once a year, was symbolic of the priests being mediators between God and man. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil was rent from top to bottom, symbolic of the end of the Old Law of Moses, and the beginning of the Christian dispensation in which all of God’s children were priests with access to God. There are other examples as well.

All of these examples of symbolism during the Old Testament period, both in the historical events of the times, and in the religious observances of the people, have something in common. Every one of them pointed to, or hinted at, something that was coming in the future. This is because it was the whole point of the Old Law of Moses to point to the coming of God’s only Son to this world for the purpose of giving His precious physical life for sinful man, Gal. 3:23-25.

It is not mere coincidence that many historical events, many religious observances, and the very structure of the tabernacle/temple itself were, at their deepest level, about the Christian age, the fullness of time, Gal. 4:4-5. They were not so much about the Mosaical Age during which they took place. They were pointing to Jesus Christ.

God’s plan was pointing toward Jesus from before the foundation of the world, Eph.1:3-4. It was made explicit as early as Gen. 3:15 in which God said to Satan, “. . . He [Jesus] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His [Jesus’] heel.” The Old Testament, its times, its people, and its stories are all about leading us to Jesus.

Of course, the New Testament has the same purpose. It is all about leading us to Jesus. Some of it is contemporaneous with Jesus, but some of it is written after the time of Jesus, so it points back instead of ahead, but everything in the New Testament points toward Jesus.

In the New Testament church, which was built by and belongs to Jesus, Matt. 16:18, there are only two items of symbolism which are authorized and approved by God. One is baptism which is a form of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, Rom. 6:3-4, 17-18. The follower of Christ dies to sin (repentance), is buried (immersed) in water, and raised to walk a new life.

In this way the follower of Christ is covered by the blood of Christ like the Hebrew households were covered by the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. You followed this pattern, Paul tells the Roman brethren, and that is how you obeyed that “form”, or pattern, of teaching. He also says that it is then that they were made free from sin. When? When they symbolically participated in the pattern of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

The other symbolic act in Christian teaching is partaking of the Lord’s Supper, or communion. We can read of Jesus instituting the Lord’s Supper in Matt. 26:26-28, Mark 14:22–26, and Luke 22:14-23. Paul gives a summary of this event in 1 Cor. 11:23-29. It is clear from these passages that the bread is symbolic of Christ’s body which was sacrificed on the cross, and the blood is symbolic of His blood which was shed on the cross. The point of the Lord’s Supper is to keep our minds focused on what Christ has done for us, to be appreciative of that sacrifice, and yes, to feel the great debt we owe for something we could never have achieved on our own.

Of course, there are many symbols connected to Christianity by men: the cross symbolic of Christ’s death, the fish symbol of two half circles inverted against each other to symbolize that “these people are Christians,” and many more. But baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the only symbolic items in Christian worship or observation that are appointed by God. There are no others to be found in God’s word.

Because He wanted Christ’s sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection, to stand out like a bright shining light, always reminding us of our unworthiness and His great love and mercy, God kept it simple. Because Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection constitute the singular event which was the focus of everything else in the Bible, God kept it simple. Because God wanted us to see that It is the most vital and important event that has ever occurred in all of human history, bar none, God kept it simple.

In the movie “Saving Private Ryan,” Captain Miller, with a small band of soldiers, searches for Private Ryan, the only survivor of four brothers, to relieve him from the war and send him home before he is also killed. The war is fierce and bloody and Captain Miller is wounded and all but two of his men killed as they find Ryan. As he lies dying, Captain Miller tells Private Ryan, “Earn this.”

We are incapable of earning the sacrifice that Jesus made to rescue us from our sins. But we certainly should put our utmost effort into living as though we are trying to “earn this.” We should do our best to “walk in the light as He is in the light,” 1 John 1:7-9, and “walk not acccording to the flesh, but according to the spirit,” Romans 8:1. Pray and live so that God’s grace, mercy, and love may achieve His desired affect in our lives - the eternal salvation of our souls.