Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "israel"
God's Dictionary
It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring [Romans 9:6-8].
The Apostle Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was not ashamed of his lineage. He was, however, ashamed of the natural man, the sinner. The Lord taught him that natural birth can only breed sinners. We must be born again. This applies to Jews as well as to Gentiles (non-Jews).
Abraham had many descendants, but only those of the lineage of Isaac were incorporated in the Lord's covenant. Abraham's progeny had nothing to do with it either. Those in the covenant didn't choose to be so. They were born into it. Those outside the covenant didn't choose to be so. They were born into it.
This teaches us that it is all of God's grace, not man's goodness or worth or smarts or athleticism, or anything else in all creation. This logically raises the question, "Then why are we accountable?" We could answer it philosophically by visiting with Aristotle. No good ever came of that, though, so we pass.
God's mysterious workings are inscrutable to us, His mere creatures. Instead of attempting to descry eternal things which are beyond our temporal abilities, we would be better served to stick with the text. So let's return to the text now.
By His own sovereign choice God chose Abraham. By His own sovereign choice He chose Isaac. Abraham's other kids were not included in God's covenant with Abraham. That is the point Paul made. God created the nation of Israel to be His people and He their King. Those who submitted to Him were His people. Those who didn't were not. That is how God's Dictionary defines a true Israelite.
He made this point to note that natural birth does not make anyone a child of God. The context for Paul's words in Romans 9-11 had to do with the Hebrews, not the Gentiles. Yes, we Gentiles also must be born again, but that isn't Paul's subject matter here.
Paul taught the Gentile Christians in Rome how they should understand the situation with the Jewish people. Just because someone was born of Abraham did not make them God's kid. Some of the Hebrews received Jesus and so they were God's kids. Others didn't, so they were not God's kids. Their natural birth did not determine it. Their acceptance of Jesus as their Messiah did.
Back in Paul's day the Jewish authorities, who controlled the Jewish communities throughout the world, violently rejected Jesus as the Messiah. They persecuted those Jews who accepted Him. These Gentile Christians in Rome were hated by the Jewish leaders because they promoted what the Jewish leaders considered to be heresy.
Paul wanted them to understand that salvation was an individual matter, not an ethnic one. Yes, the Jewish communities overall made life difficult for Christianity because their leadership instigated it. Nonetheless, many Jews did receive Jesus and were born again. Ergo, the Christians should not see people as their enemies based on ethnicity—in Paul's case because they were Jews—but they should share Jesus with everyone, including the Jews.
This is not much understood today. There is no way to the Father but through Jesus (John 14:6). Culture isn't the issue. Ethnicity isn't the issue. Christianity is hated because the Word of God denies that all religions are different approaches for getting into heaven. Every person MUST be born again, and Jesus is the only way to reach that destination. Hard words, these. But we dare not deny them!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. For more info please visit these sites to purchase my books:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The Apostle Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was not ashamed of his lineage. He was, however, ashamed of the natural man, the sinner. The Lord taught him that natural birth can only breed sinners. We must be born again. This applies to Jews as well as to Gentiles (non-Jews).
Abraham had many descendants, but only those of the lineage of Isaac were incorporated in the Lord's covenant. Abraham's progeny had nothing to do with it either. Those in the covenant didn't choose to be so. They were born into it. Those outside the covenant didn't choose to be so. They were born into it.
This teaches us that it is all of God's grace, not man's goodness or worth or smarts or athleticism, or anything else in all creation. This logically raises the question, "Then why are we accountable?" We could answer it philosophically by visiting with Aristotle. No good ever came of that, though, so we pass.
God's mysterious workings are inscrutable to us, His mere creatures. Instead of attempting to descry eternal things which are beyond our temporal abilities, we would be better served to stick with the text. So let's return to the text now.
By His own sovereign choice God chose Abraham. By His own sovereign choice He chose Isaac. Abraham's other kids were not included in God's covenant with Abraham. That is the point Paul made. God created the nation of Israel to be His people and He their King. Those who submitted to Him were His people. Those who didn't were not. That is how God's Dictionary defines a true Israelite.
He made this point to note that natural birth does not make anyone a child of God. The context for Paul's words in Romans 9-11 had to do with the Hebrews, not the Gentiles. Yes, we Gentiles also must be born again, but that isn't Paul's subject matter here.
Paul taught the Gentile Christians in Rome how they should understand the situation with the Jewish people. Just because someone was born of Abraham did not make them God's kid. Some of the Hebrews received Jesus and so they were God's kids. Others didn't, so they were not God's kids. Their natural birth did not determine it. Their acceptance of Jesus as their Messiah did.
Back in Paul's day the Jewish authorities, who controlled the Jewish communities throughout the world, violently rejected Jesus as the Messiah. They persecuted those Jews who accepted Him. These Gentile Christians in Rome were hated by the Jewish leaders because they promoted what the Jewish leaders considered to be heresy.
Paul wanted them to understand that salvation was an individual matter, not an ethnic one. Yes, the Jewish communities overall made life difficult for Christianity because their leadership instigated it. Nonetheless, many Jews did receive Jesus and were born again. Ergo, the Christians should not see people as their enemies based on ethnicity—in Paul's case because they were Jews—but they should share Jesus with everyone, including the Jews.
This is not much understood today. There is no way to the Father but through Jesus (John 14:6). Culture isn't the issue. Ethnicity isn't the issue. Christianity is hated because the Word of God denies that all religions are different approaches for getting into heaven. Every person MUST be born again, and Jesus is the only way to reach that destination. Hard words, these. But we dare not deny them!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. For more info please visit these sites to purchase my books:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Parlor Tricks – Part 1
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fulness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fulness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
There is a significant division within Christianity. It often wears the label Dispensationalism vs. Covenantalism. I personally don’t choose to employ the label in my own writing because it smacks of a systematic theology doctrine. I myself am not a proponent of systematic theology. I am a practitioner of Biblical theology.
It isn’t my aim today to descant upon those two systems of theological interpretation. My goal is to define the division within Christianity in practical terms, rather than as the doctrines of Dispensationalism and Covenantalism. So let’s take a stab at it, shall we?
The Old Testament (aka the Old Covenant) actually consists of more than one covenant. For our purposes today the only covenant in the Old Testament we will concern ourselves with is the Covenant of Law (aka the Law of Moses or Torah). In contrast to this is the New Testament (aka the New Covenant). This covenant can be labeled the Covenant of Grace. So the contrast is between Law and Grace.
In a nutshell proponents of Covenantalism view Israel’s time as the Lord’s chosen people on earth as a past tense thing. The Law promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience to the Word of God. Israel sinned by disobeying God’s Law, so the Lord cast her off and chose the Gentiles instead of Israel (i.e., the Jews). Now Israel has all the curses for disobedience, while the Gentiles (who make up the Church) have all the blessings for obeying God’s Law. In fine, Israel is no longer God’s chosen people, nor will the Jews ever again be so.
Huh? That does not compute, dear friends! Since when has the Church obeyed God’s Law? Answer: NEVER! The Jews have nothing on us Gentiles when it comes to sinning. We are highly skilled at disobeying God’s Word. So that part is wretched theology.
And then there is the meat of the matter. The Church is NOT under the Law: we are under GRACE! The Law served as a pedagogue, a school marm, until the fulness of the times had come. That is the substance of the Book of Galatians. When the fulness of the times did finally arrive—viz., when the Messiah, Jesus, took upon humanity and died as a sin offering for all mankind—then the Law had fulfilled its function.
So what was the function of the Law? Its function was to reveal invisible spiritual truths by making use of visible physical realities. In many different ways the Law pointed out to the Israelites, and through them to the Gentiles also, that every last human being (Jesus Christ excepted) is born with a sin nature. Consequently all of us sin! The wages of sin is death, so all of us have to die.
The Messiah took our place and died as payment for the penalty of man’s sins. Now that He has done so, the Law no longer has its purpose. Messiah Jesus fulfilled the Law for us, went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins, and rose out of death, demonstrating Father God’s acceptance of His payment on our behalf.
Anyone who will acknowledge Jesus’ Person and Ministry and accept His payment is born again. With this new life we don’t obey the Law in order to live—for that was indeed the function of the Law, viz., to set forth rules and regulations to be obeyed perfectly all the time with no exception. Otherwise it proved man was not perfect and could not live with God in eternity. No, but now that we have this new life, we live it rather than try to earn it.
Oh, dear. We are out of time today. Let’s pause and reflect on what we’ve studied thus far. Sit at the feet of Jesus and allow the Spirit to lead you into all truth. May His name be exalted in all our lives!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Parlor Tricks – Part 2
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Of Covenants and Dispensations – Part 1
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! [1 Corinthians 10:11-12]
I incessantly teach that Christians are not under the Law. We are under grace. We are not required to obey the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the Israelites while they inhabited the Lord’s land, the Promised Land.
There have been occasions where folks have taken exception to this teaching. Some of them are covenantalists, as contrasted with dispensationalists. We won’t spend words on defining these two positions, dear friends. It is not the subject for today’s study.
Suffice it to say that covenantalism holds to the tenet that God is always the same throughtout time and eternity, and so He always operates the same. This means that the way God interacted with Adam and Eve was the same way He interacted with Noah, with Abraham, and with the Church.
Dispensationalism, contrariwise, embraces the tenet that, yes, God is always the same. He never changes. However, mankind does, and God varies His approach at different times in order to effectively interact with man. For example, in Genesis 2 before man sinned, God came down to the Garden of Eden to spend time fellowshiping with man.
In Genesis 3 man sinned and God booted him out of the garden. It is obvious that God no longer related to man in the same way thereafter. Man was no longer in the garden! This fact precluded God from coming down to the garden to visit with man! Genesis 2 was one dispensation, one way in which God decided to interact with man. Genesis 3 was another dispensation entirely.
Some of the folks who’ve objected to me not teaching obedience to the Law were covenantalists. They believe God rejected Israel permanently and replaced Israel with the Church. God’s method of interacting with Israel, you see, now became God’s method of interacting with Christians. Christians, rather than Israel, are now obligated to keep the Law.
Belief in covenantalism does not in and of itself equate to not being a Christian. The two are not exclusive, the belief is just a wrong understanding of the Scriptures.
Some of the folks who took exception to me teaching that Christians are not obligated to obey the Law—well, they did so for other reasons. Some cults still insist on obedience to the Law.
A cult is a religious group which professes belief in the Bible and Jesus, but denies the Father and the Son (cf., 1 John). Or the group denies that Jesus has come in the flesh (cf., 1 John). They don’t accept that Jesus is literally God the Son, eternally and fully God. They don’t believe Jesus is the only way to be brought back to the Father. In one or more ways they reject the true, Biblical Jesus.
They are therefore not really Christians but wolves in sheep’s clothing, regardless of good intentions or anything else (cf., 1 John). Christianity is not a religious system or a set of doctrines. It is the Person and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The churches are full of folks who hold to a set of doctrines and practically never leave the church building. Alas, but they know not Jesus personally and, because of this, they are not Christians.
We must take our leave at this time. The day is far spent. The night falls fast. Let’s spend time with Jesus before we hit the pillow. He has much to teach us from our study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
I incessantly teach that Christians are not under the Law. We are under grace. We are not required to obey the Law of Moses. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the Israelites while they inhabited the Lord’s land, the Promised Land.
There have been occasions where folks have taken exception to this teaching. Some of them are covenantalists, as contrasted with dispensationalists. We won’t spend words on defining these two positions, dear friends. It is not the subject for today’s study.
Suffice it to say that covenantalism holds to the tenet that God is always the same throughtout time and eternity, and so He always operates the same. This means that the way God interacted with Adam and Eve was the same way He interacted with Noah, with Abraham, and with the Church.
Dispensationalism, contrariwise, embraces the tenet that, yes, God is always the same. He never changes. However, mankind does, and God varies His approach at different times in order to effectively interact with man. For example, in Genesis 2 before man sinned, God came down to the Garden of Eden to spend time fellowshiping with man.
In Genesis 3 man sinned and God booted him out of the garden. It is obvious that God no longer related to man in the same way thereafter. Man was no longer in the garden! This fact precluded God from coming down to the garden to visit with man! Genesis 2 was one dispensation, one way in which God decided to interact with man. Genesis 3 was another dispensation entirely.
Some of the folks who’ve objected to me not teaching obedience to the Law were covenantalists. They believe God rejected Israel permanently and replaced Israel with the Church. God’s method of interacting with Israel, you see, now became God’s method of interacting with Christians. Christians, rather than Israel, are now obligated to keep the Law.
Belief in covenantalism does not in and of itself equate to not being a Christian. The two are not exclusive, the belief is just a wrong understanding of the Scriptures.
Some of the folks who took exception to me teaching that Christians are not obligated to obey the Law—well, they did so for other reasons. Some cults still insist on obedience to the Law.
A cult is a religious group which professes belief in the Bible and Jesus, but denies the Father and the Son (cf., 1 John). Or the group denies that Jesus has come in the flesh (cf., 1 John). They don’t accept that Jesus is literally God the Son, eternally and fully God. They don’t believe Jesus is the only way to be brought back to the Father. In one or more ways they reject the true, Biblical Jesus.
They are therefore not really Christians but wolves in sheep’s clothing, regardless of good intentions or anything else (cf., 1 John). Christianity is not a religious system or a set of doctrines. It is the Person and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The churches are full of folks who hold to a set of doctrines and practically never leave the church building. Alas, but they know not Jesus personally and, because of this, they are not Christians.
We must take our leave at this time. The day is far spent. The night falls fast. Let’s spend time with Jesus before we hit the pillow. He has much to teach us from our study.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Of Covenants and Dispensations – Part 2
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! [1 Corinthians 10:11-12]
Let’s continue with our study from yesterday. A dear woman and her husband in one of my churches fell under the spell of the Seventh Day Adventists, a cult. This group is entangled in obeying the Law in order to be a Christian. They go so far as to insist that Saturday is the only true day to hold church services and reject Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Hence their name.
Before leaving one of the churches I was pastored, this elderly lady commenced to quarreling with me during Bible study about Christians no longer being under the Law. She wanted to win converts to her brand of legalism, you see, and take them with her to the Adventist Church. She challenged, “Well, if we are no longer under the Law, why do we still bother to study it? Why not remove it from our Bibles and just study the New Testament?”
She felt pretty good about herself, and it showed all over her face. To her she was the man and I was confronted with irrefutable argumentation. In actuality her argument was mere sophistry. It had the appearance of logic and validity, but it was specious reasoning par excellence.
If she knew her Bible as well as she thought she did, she would have known that the Apostle Paul fought ferociously against the Judaizers. The Judaizers were Pharisees, Jewish legalists, who supposedly converted to Christ. However, they insisted on attaching the Law to belief in Jesus. It was necessary to believe in Jesus, yes, but it was also necessary to continue to obey the Law.
Paul rebuked them scathingly, declaring, “We are no longer under Law but under grace!” This same Paul, notwithstanding, still taught the Old Testament to his converts to Jesus. The tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is one such example. The Bible text we quoted to commence this study is Paul’s conclusion to his Old Testament teaching.
In the first ten verses of 1 Corinthians 10, Paul reiterated multiple situations which occurred with the Israelites in the wilderness under Moses’ leadership. Then Paul penned the words quoted at the start of this lesson. Those words tell us why we still study the Old Testament, even though we are no longer under the Law.
God preserved His Word, including all of the Old Testament, to furnish us with examples. These examples serve as a good source of instruction. We are to learn from the past history of God’s people how NOT to serve the Lord, as well as HOW to serve the Lord. If we learn from Israel’s mistakes, we will be better able to avoid them ourselves.
Think about it, dear friends. I am not obligated to obey the legal code of the Roman Empire, but I still studied Roman history and in the process gleaned a good deal of learning which has relevance today.
We don’t study the Old Testament because we are under the Law. We study it because the Lord used visible physical realities to teach us invisible spiritual truths. I want to know all of these truths. I don’t want to miss any of them. That’s why I study the Old Testament.
Another reason is that I love the Lord and love to learn how He has related to man through the centuries and millennia. The Bible is the only source for learning this. And the Bible is the only book which contains no errors or lies.
So let’s not attempt to obey the Law in order to be saved or to stay saved. But let’s study the Law to know the Lord all the better. This is an excellent time for us to grab our Bibles and go be with Jesus. He loves to teach us His Word, if only we want to learn it and obey it.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Let’s continue with our study from yesterday. A dear woman and her husband in one of my churches fell under the spell of the Seventh Day Adventists, a cult. This group is entangled in obeying the Law in order to be a Christian. They go so far as to insist that Saturday is the only true day to hold church services and reject Sunday, the Lord’s Day. Hence their name.
Before leaving one of the churches I was pastored, this elderly lady commenced to quarreling with me during Bible study about Christians no longer being under the Law. She wanted to win converts to her brand of legalism, you see, and take them with her to the Adventist Church. She challenged, “Well, if we are no longer under the Law, why do we still bother to study it? Why not remove it from our Bibles and just study the New Testament?”
She felt pretty good about herself, and it showed all over her face. To her she was the man and I was confronted with irrefutable argumentation. In actuality her argument was mere sophistry. It had the appearance of logic and validity, but it was specious reasoning par excellence.
If she knew her Bible as well as she thought she did, she would have known that the Apostle Paul fought ferociously against the Judaizers. The Judaizers were Pharisees, Jewish legalists, who supposedly converted to Christ. However, they insisted on attaching the Law to belief in Jesus. It was necessary to believe in Jesus, yes, but it was also necessary to continue to obey the Law.
Paul rebuked them scathingly, declaring, “We are no longer under Law but under grace!” This same Paul, notwithstanding, still taught the Old Testament to his converts to Jesus. The tenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is one such example. The Bible text we quoted to commence this study is Paul’s conclusion to his Old Testament teaching.
In the first ten verses of 1 Corinthians 10, Paul reiterated multiple situations which occurred with the Israelites in the wilderness under Moses’ leadership. Then Paul penned the words quoted at the start of this lesson. Those words tell us why we still study the Old Testament, even though we are no longer under the Law.
God preserved His Word, including all of the Old Testament, to furnish us with examples. These examples serve as a good source of instruction. We are to learn from the past history of God’s people how NOT to serve the Lord, as well as HOW to serve the Lord. If we learn from Israel’s mistakes, we will be better able to avoid them ourselves.
Think about it, dear friends. I am not obligated to obey the legal code of the Roman Empire, but I still studied Roman history and in the process gleaned a good deal of learning which has relevance today.
We don’t study the Old Testament because we are under the Law. We study it because the Lord used visible physical realities to teach us invisible spiritual truths. I want to know all of these truths. I don’t want to miss any of them. That’s why I study the Old Testament.
Another reason is that I love the Lord and love to learn how He has related to man through the centuries and millennia. The Bible is the only source for learning this. And the Bible is the only book which contains no errors or lies.
So let’s not attempt to obey the Law in order to be saved or to stay saved. But let’s study the Law to know the Lord all the better. This is an excellent time for us to grab our Bibles and go be with Jesus. He loves to teach us His Word, if only we want to learn it and obey it.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
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Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes
The first nine verses of Deuteronomy 21 detail a procedure to be used, when murder was committed but the murderer was unknown. Imagine watching one of the CSI TV series or Bones. A corpse is discovered in some secluded location. There are no witnesses to the crime and the corpse isn’t talking either. What to do?
Well, on TV the scientific nerds and squints commence to gathering materials from the landscape around the corpse, and from the corpse too. Then they retreat to the laboratory and see what they can find out from their collection of materials. Finally, as more and more evidence is examined and new revelations come to light, a light bulb comes on over the head of one of the actors and he or she exclaims, “I know who did it!”
Well guess what? It doesn’t usually work like that in reality! It didn’t usually work like that in Old Testament Israel either. So much for Plan A. That left the Lord with Plan B, which He shared with the Israelites in Deuteronomy 21:1-9. Let’s spend our time today studying this plan. You may read the full account in Deuteronomy Book III.
Deuteronomy 5:3 might be a wee bit befuddling to some folks. At Mt. Sinai the older generation of Israelites received the Law. On the plains of Moab in our present text the younger generation of Israelites were about to receive the Law. How then did Moses assert that the Lord didn’t make His covenant with their fathers, but with them?
Hmm. I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s 1939 description of Soviet Russia. He referred to them as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”! They were a tough nut to crack. But not to lose heart, dear heart. Let us wade through the confusion and decipher the cipher.
Moses and all the Old Testament saints had an Oriental mindset. They didn’t fraternize with Aristotle much. Their way of reasoning and concomitant mode of expression did not jive with the Occidental mode, and vice versa too!
Moses was not claiming the Lord at Sinai did not make a covenant with the older generation. He stated that the Lord’s covenant was not SOLELY with the older generation. His covenant was with Israel, with all Israelites throughout ALL generations.
So did the Lord give the Law to the generation of Israelites who were at Mt. Sinai? No, He did not. Did He give the Law to all Israelites of all generations? Yes, that is precisely what He did. It is in this context we are to interpret Moses’ words in verse 3, brothers and sisters. You may read the full account in Deuteronomy Book I.
Well, on TV the scientific nerds and squints commence to gathering materials from the landscape around the corpse, and from the corpse too. Then they retreat to the laboratory and see what they can find out from their collection of materials. Finally, as more and more evidence is examined and new revelations come to light, a light bulb comes on over the head of one of the actors and he or she exclaims, “I know who did it!”
Well guess what? It doesn’t usually work like that in reality! It didn’t usually work like that in Old Testament Israel either. So much for Plan A. That left the Lord with Plan B, which He shared with the Israelites in Deuteronomy 21:1-9. Let’s spend our time today studying this plan. You may read the full account in Deuteronomy Book III.
Deuteronomy 5:3 might be a wee bit befuddling to some folks. At Mt. Sinai the older generation of Israelites received the Law. On the plains of Moab in our present text the younger generation of Israelites were about to receive the Law. How then did Moses assert that the Lord didn’t make His covenant with their fathers, but with them?
Hmm. I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s 1939 description of Soviet Russia. He referred to them as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”! They were a tough nut to crack. But not to lose heart, dear heart. Let us wade through the confusion and decipher the cipher.
Moses and all the Old Testament saints had an Oriental mindset. They didn’t fraternize with Aristotle much. Their way of reasoning and concomitant mode of expression did not jive with the Occidental mode, and vice versa too!
Moses was not claiming the Lord at Sinai did not make a covenant with the older generation. He stated that the Lord’s covenant was not SOLELY with the older generation. His covenant was with Israel, with all Israelites throughout ALL generations.
So did the Lord give the Law to the generation of Israelites who were at Mt. Sinai? No, He did not. Did He give the Law to all Israelites of all generations? Yes, that is precisely what He did. It is in this context we are to interpret Moses’ words in verse 3, brothers and sisters. You may read the full account in Deuteronomy Book I.
Deuteronomy: Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes
Did you know that my book on Deuteronomy includes the entire Book of Deuteronomy? That is correct. Because of space considerations, it was divided into four books. Books I-IV are available from Amazon CreateSpace Amazon Kindle. Get your copies today! My Heavenly Citizens series offers full-length analysis of entire books of the Bible. It not only teaches the Bible, but it also role models for the reader how to study the Bible. It not only provides the reader with a fish to eat, but it teaches the reader how to fish for himself.
Of Nerds & Squints & Other Assorted Characters
What do CSIs and Squints have to do with Deuteronomy 21? Hmm... That's a toughie. If you want to know the answer, purchase your copy of Deuteronomy: Book III, Volume 5 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. It's very interesting.
Where is the Cloud?
The Lord led the Israelites for forty years from Egypt to the east bank. To do so He appeared to them in visible form as the Shekinah cloud. This cloud was a massive pillar which rested atop the Ark of the Covenant and shot far up into the sky. In the sky it mushroomed into a sort of umbrella over the camp of Israel.
While the camp of Israel was on the move, the priests carried the Ark on their shoulders in front of the camp. The Shekinah, representing King YHWH, sat atop God's earthly throne, the Ark, going in front of the Israelites. The King, you see, led His people on their journeys and into battle.
Once the Israelites came to the Jordan to cross it and conquer Canaan, the Shekinah cloud no longer appeared. Did the King not lead His people any longer? How did the Israelites know where to go and when?
Ah, those are good questions! The answers are good as well. If you want to know them, get your copy of Volume 6: Joshua. The book will be available this spring, God willing.
While the camp of Israel was on the move, the priests carried the Ark on their shoulders in front of the camp. The Shekinah, representing King YHWH, sat atop God's earthly throne, the Ark, going in front of the Israelites. The King, you see, led His people on their journeys and into battle.
Once the Israelites came to the Jordan to cross it and conquer Canaan, the Shekinah cloud no longer appeared. Did the King not lead His people any longer? How did the Israelites know where to go and when?
Ah, those are good questions! The answers are good as well. If you want to know them, get your copy of Volume 6: Joshua. The book will be available this spring, God willing.
Water for Three, Please!
There are a lot of occasions in Scripture involving "three days". The typology involved is theologically astute! The axis of all history is the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He died and was in a tomb for three days.
Realize that Jesus is the axis of all Scripture. Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, (Jesus) explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures [Luke 24:27]. Jesus takes center stage in ALL THE SCRIPTURES, from Genesis through Revelation.
This being the case, and considering that His death and resurrection (a three day event) forms the center of Jesus' ministry, is it too much of a stretch to consider that "three days" in Scripture should be given consideration as typifying in some fashion Jesus' death and resurrection?
Consider the Book of Joshua. In Joshua 1:11 Joshua announced that the Israelites would cross the Jordan in three days. In chapter 2 he sent two spies to survey Jericho before Israel attacked the city. The spies were gone for three days. In chapter 3 the Israelites crossed the Jordan after three days.
At the Red Sea the Israelites were baptized into Moses (1 Cor.10:2). Christian baptism typifies the Christian's death and resurrection in Christ (Rom.6:4). Christ accomplished this on our behalf in three days.
When the older generation of Israelites left Egypt under the Lord's auspices, they irrevocably left that life of worldliness to be the people of the Lord. In Christian terminology this is known as dying to self and rising to new life in Christ Jesus. Once they crossed the Red Sea and its waters returned, they were cut off from the life they had in Egypt. They in effect died to Egypt, the world power of the day and symbol of the world. Hence they were "baptized into Moses" at the Red Sea.
The same applied to the younger generation of Israelites some forty years later at the Jordan River. Once they crossed the Jordan to the west bank and the Jordan's waters returned, they were cut off from the life of wilderness wanderings in order to receive their spiritual inheritance—for a spiritual inheritance it was, even though it was also a physical inheritance. They in effect were "baptized" into Joshua at the Jordan River.
The name Joshua means "salvation of YHWH". In English the name is Jesus. Moses brought the Israelites out of the world (Egypt), and Moses represented the Law. But Moses failed to bring the Israelites into the Lord's inheritance, into the new life of resting in Him because the Law cannot achieve that. It took Joshua (aka Jesus) to do that.
So we see that Moses (the Law, the Old Covenant) and Joshua (Jesus, grace, the New Covenant) are symbolized by the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, their wilderness wanderings, and their new life in the Promised Land. But the Promised Land does NOT typify heaven. It typifies victorious Christian living which can only be the result of God's grace. The wilderness wanderings, contrariwise, typify defeated Christians who walk in the flesh. This results from living in one's own strength and power, which the Law typifies.
Realize that Jesus is the axis of all Scripture. Beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, (Jesus) explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures [Luke 24:27]. Jesus takes center stage in ALL THE SCRIPTURES, from Genesis through Revelation.
This being the case, and considering that His death and resurrection (a three day event) forms the center of Jesus' ministry, is it too much of a stretch to consider that "three days" in Scripture should be given consideration as typifying in some fashion Jesus' death and resurrection?
Consider the Book of Joshua. In Joshua 1:11 Joshua announced that the Israelites would cross the Jordan in three days. In chapter 2 he sent two spies to survey Jericho before Israel attacked the city. The spies were gone for three days. In chapter 3 the Israelites crossed the Jordan after three days.
At the Red Sea the Israelites were baptized into Moses (1 Cor.10:2). Christian baptism typifies the Christian's death and resurrection in Christ (Rom.6:4). Christ accomplished this on our behalf in three days.
When the older generation of Israelites left Egypt under the Lord's auspices, they irrevocably left that life of worldliness to be the people of the Lord. In Christian terminology this is known as dying to self and rising to new life in Christ Jesus. Once they crossed the Red Sea and its waters returned, they were cut off from the life they had in Egypt. They in effect died to Egypt, the world power of the day and symbol of the world. Hence they were "baptized into Moses" at the Red Sea.
The same applied to the younger generation of Israelites some forty years later at the Jordan River. Once they crossed the Jordan to the west bank and the Jordan's waters returned, they were cut off from the life of wilderness wanderings in order to receive their spiritual inheritance—for a spiritual inheritance it was, even though it was also a physical inheritance. They in effect were "baptized" into Joshua at the Jordan River.
The name Joshua means "salvation of YHWH". In English the name is Jesus. Moses brought the Israelites out of the world (Egypt), and Moses represented the Law. But Moses failed to bring the Israelites into the Lord's inheritance, into the new life of resting in Him because the Law cannot achieve that. It took Joshua (aka Jesus) to do that.
So we see that Moses (the Law, the Old Covenant) and Joshua (Jesus, grace, the New Covenant) are symbolized by the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, their wilderness wanderings, and their new life in the Promised Land. But the Promised Land does NOT typify heaven. It typifies victorious Christian living which can only be the result of God's grace. The wilderness wanderings, contrariwise, typify defeated Christians who walk in the flesh. This results from living in one's own strength and power, which the Law typifies.
