Commenting on Psalm 48:4-7 Calvin, 2:223, encourages us to look up to God:
At the same time, let us remember that a nod alone on the part of God is sufficient to deliver us; and that, although our enemies may be ready to fall upon us on every side to overwhelm us, it is in his power, whenever he pleases, to strike them with amazement of spirit, and thus to make their hearts fail in a moment in the very midst of their efforts against us. Let this reflection serve as a bridle to keep our minds from being drawn away, to look in all directions for human aid.
VanGemeren, Willem A.. Psalms (The Expositor's Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 13854-13858). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Commenting on Mat 19:3-10 Ray Ortlund show us a great way to read the Bible in the in the footsteps of Jesus
The way he reads the Bible is grounded in a certain preunderstanding he brings to the Bible. He hints at it in verse 4, “from the beginning,” and again in verse 8, “but from the beginning it was not so.” Jesus shows that how the Bible begins must take precedence. This leads us to realize that the structure of the Bible as a whole shapes how we interpret its parts. The Bible starts with a glorious beginning (Genesis 1–2), then moves quickly to a catastrophic betrayal and precipitous decline (Genesis 3–11), and then to a growing body of divine promises of grace intermixed with many episodes of human failure (Genesis 12–Malachi 4), leading to Jesus in his life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, the spread of the gospel out into the nations, his second coming, the final judgment, and the greater glory of his renewed creation (Matthew 1–Revelation 22). So the Bible is not flat literary terrain. The Bible is built as a growing narrative, with a trajectory of progressive revelation trending toward the renewal of all things. And the point is this: all the parts of the Bible along the way cannot be rightly understood if they are detached from the grand narrative starting in the creation and culminating in Jesus. And it is the end that finally explains the beginning and the middle.
Ortlund Jr., Raymond C.. Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel (p. 82). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
Exodus and the New Testament | The two sons of God Israel and Jesus
The matching of Old and New Testaments around the Exodus theme can be pursued a little further. Exodus, right at the start, announces that the currently enslaved and oppressed Israel is none other than ‘my firstborn son’ (4:22). This, too, is where Matthew’s Gospel begins. The son of David, son of Abraham, son of Mary is also ‘my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’ (Matt. 1:1, 16; 3:17). Yet Jesus’ life, like the existence of Israel, was threatened by the contemporary political authorities, and, like them, he even made the journey into and out of Egypt (Matt. 2:13–15). He too was subjected to adversity and satanic opposition (Matt. 4:1–11).
It is instructive to note other parallels. Just as Israel left Egypt and came to the Red Sea (Exod. 14), Matthew immediately follows the account of Jesus’ return from Egypt (the only reference he makes to the boyhood of Jesus) with his coming to the Jordan for baptism (Matt. 2:23; 3:1). Just as Israel emerged from the Red Sea to go into the wilderness (Exod. 15:22), so Jesus went from the waters of baptism into the wilderness (Matt. 4:1). Israel experienced in turn absence of water and food (Exod. 15:23; 16:3), as did Jesus during his first temptation (Matt. 4:1–4). Israel came to the place where they put the Lord to the test (Exod. 17:2), something that Jesus refused to do in his second temptation (Matt. 4:7). Israel arrived at Mount Sinai (Exod. 19) where, promptly, they turned from the Lord to worship an idol (Exod. 32:1–6), whereas, by contrast, looking on all the kingdoms of the world from a ‘very high mountain’ Jesus insisted that only the Lord is to be worshipped (Matt. 4:8–10).4 In other words, Exodus is the story of the son of God who stands in need of salvation, failing at every point of life and even of privilege; Matthew tells of the Son of God who brings salvation (Matt. 1:21), perfect and righteous at every point and in every circumstance and test.
4 The other side of the parallel between Exodus and Matthew is that despite Israel’s sin, when they came to Mount Sinai, God himself descended to reveal his word (Exod. 19:18–19). Jesus too took his place on a mountain, not as Israel awaiting the word of God, nor as the mediator Moses, ascending and descending, but as God come to teach his people (Matt. 5:1).
Alec Motyer, The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage, ed. Alec Motyer and Derek Tidball, The Bible Speaks Today (Nottingham, England: Inter-Varsity Press, 2005), 22–23.
The Lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband; (2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:30; Is. 62:5; Hos. 2:9; Jer. 3:1, 2; Hos. 2:2.) the union by which he connects us with himself, when he receives us into the bosom of the Church, having some resemblance to that of holy wedlock, because founded on mutual faith. As he performs all the offices of a true and faithful husband, so he stipulates for love and conjugal chastity from us; that is, that we do not prostitute our souls to Satan, to be defiled with foul carnal lusts. Hence, when he rebukes the Jews for their apostasy, he complains that they have cast off chastity, and polluted themselves with adultery. Therefore, as the purer and chaster the husband is, the more grievously is he offended when he sees his wife inclining to a rival; so the Lord, who has betrothed us to himself in truth, declares that he burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of his holy marriage, we defile ourselves with abominable lusts, and especially when the worship of his Deity, which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired, is transferred to another, or adulterated with some superstition; since, in this way, we not only violate our plighted troth, but defile the nuptial couch, by giving access to adulterers.
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997).
The classic description of zeal for God was given by . We quote it at length.
Zeal in religion is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way. It is a desire which no man feels by nature—which the Spirit puts in the heart of every believer when he is converted—but which some believers feel so much more strongly than others that they alone deserve to be called ‘zealous’ men. . . A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing, he cares for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives, or whether he dies—whether he has health, or whether he has sickness—whether he is rich, or whether he is poor-whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offence — whether he is. thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish—whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise—whether he gets honour, or whether he gets shame-for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing; and that one thing is to please God, and to advance God’s glory. If he is consumed in the very burning, he cares not for it — he is content. He feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if consumed in burning, he has but done the work for which God appointed him. Such a one will always find a sphere for his zeal. If he cannot preach, work, and give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray. . . If he cannot fight in the valley with Joshua, he will do the work of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, on the hill (Exodus 17:9-13). If he is cut off from working himself, he will give the Lord no rest till help is raised up from another quarter, and the work is done. This is what I mean when I speak of ‘zeal’ in religion. (Bishop J. C. Ryle, Practical Religion, 1959 ed., p. 130)
Packer, J. I.. Knowing God (pp. 196-197). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.