Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "pedagogue"
Favorite Elementary School Teacher
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus [Galatians 3:24-26].
Do you remember who your favorite grade school teacher was? If you’ve put on the years like me, that is a tall order to fill. But I remember mine! No, I cannot recall his name, but I remember him. He was my fourth grade English teacher. He had somewhat of a resemblance to my father, same general size and build. Maybe that contributed to my embracing him.
But what I really liked the most about him was what he did. During English class he would read aloud to us a chapter at a time from the Hardy Boys mystery books. I used to love those books! This teacher did this in order to interest us in reading books on our own. He led by example, and it worked! Not just me, but many other students took to reading books because of this teacher. He left a lasting legacy.
In Galatians 3 the Apostle Paul recalled his own favorite school marm. He said the Law was his favorite school marm. No, I’m not making that up! Honest. Paul said that. Just read the verses in Galatians we quoted at the start of this post. Still don’t see it, huh? Okay, then let me explain it to you.
The NASB translation I employed in the quote twice uses the word tutor to depict the function of the Law. In the Greek original the word tutor is transliterated into English as our word pedagogue. If you go to an English dictionary and look up the word pedagogue, you will discover one of its meanings is “a teacher or school teacher”. See! Told you. The Law was Paul’s favorite school marm.
There is a reason I say the Law was a school marm or a grade school teacher, rather than a high school teacher or college professor. If you read Paul’s teaching in Galatians, he tells us that the Law was given to lead us to Christ. It served a purpose only until the fullness of the times had come, viz., until the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and then died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins and rose again for our justification. Now that Jesus has accomplished that part of His ministry, we Christians are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, not through obedience to the Law as under the Old Covenant.
The pedagogue of Paul’s day was a knowledgeable and educated Greek slave, whom a wealthy Roman father put in charge of his infant son. The pedagogue had to educate the boy about the duties and responsibilities of being a Roman leader in society. This required education in a broad field of studies. Once the boy reached the age when his father felt he was ready to step out into the world and serve as a citizen, then the boy became a man and the father’s heir. At that time the boy become a man was no longer under a pedagogue.
So it is, you see, that the pedagogue was a school marm who taught boys and not men. The importance of this for us Christians can be expressed by these questions:
• Are we maturing spiritually to the point that we don’t need to be governed by do’s and don’ts?
• Are we beyond the pedagogue stage?
• Do we instead learn by sitting alone at the feet of Jesus and allowing Him to teach us directly?
If not then we are still living as if under the Law, and that is not a good thing.
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...
Do you remember who your favorite grade school teacher was? If you’ve put on the years like me, that is a tall order to fill. But I remember mine! No, I cannot recall his name, but I remember him. He was my fourth grade English teacher. He had somewhat of a resemblance to my father, same general size and build. Maybe that contributed to my embracing him.
But what I really liked the most about him was what he did. During English class he would read aloud to us a chapter at a time from the Hardy Boys mystery books. I used to love those books! This teacher did this in order to interest us in reading books on our own. He led by example, and it worked! Not just me, but many other students took to reading books because of this teacher. He left a lasting legacy.
In Galatians 3 the Apostle Paul recalled his own favorite school marm. He said the Law was his favorite school marm. No, I’m not making that up! Honest. Paul said that. Just read the verses in Galatians we quoted at the start of this post. Still don’t see it, huh? Okay, then let me explain it to you.
The NASB translation I employed in the quote twice uses the word tutor to depict the function of the Law. In the Greek original the word tutor is transliterated into English as our word pedagogue. If you go to an English dictionary and look up the word pedagogue, you will discover one of its meanings is “a teacher or school teacher”. See! Told you. The Law was Paul’s favorite school marm.
There is a reason I say the Law was a school marm or a grade school teacher, rather than a high school teacher or college professor. If you read Paul’s teaching in Galatians, he tells us that the Law was given to lead us to Christ. It served a purpose only until the fullness of the times had come, viz., until the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and then died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins and rose again for our justification. Now that Jesus has accomplished that part of His ministry, we Christians are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, not through obedience to the Law as under the Old Covenant.
The pedagogue of Paul’s day was a knowledgeable and educated Greek slave, whom a wealthy Roman father put in charge of his infant son. The pedagogue had to educate the boy about the duties and responsibilities of being a Roman leader in society. This required education in a broad field of studies. Once the boy reached the age when his father felt he was ready to step out into the world and serve as a citizen, then the boy became a man and the father’s heir. At that time the boy become a man was no longer under a pedagogue.
So it is, you see, that the pedagogue was a school marm who taught boys and not men. The importance of this for us Christians can be expressed by these questions:
• Are we maturing spiritually to the point that we don’t need to be governed by do’s and don’ts?
• Are we beyond the pedagogue stage?
• Do we instead learn by sitting alone at the feet of Jesus and allowing Him to teach us directly?
If not then we are still living as if under the Law, and that is not a good thing.
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...
My Third Birthday – Part 1
For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you [Deuteronomy 11:22-23].
It was my third birthday. I remember it well. Dad and Mom were there, along with the several siblings. There was a pretty decorated cake with my name on it and three lit candles in the center. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of wrapping paper around a rectangular box. A decorative bow graced the top of the box.
My attention straightway went from the cake and siblings to Dad. He held the present, you see. My eyes were riveted on that box in wrapping paper and bow. Nothing else could compete. The world faded into the background, along with everything and everyone. All that existed in my mind was a rectangular box with wrapping paper and bow.
Alas for me, but Dad popped my bubble. The words he spoke went something like this:
Son, here is a list of your chores, itemized by hour and day. You are required to carry your weight, if you want to be a member of this family. Be sure you do every chore on this list and put a check mark next to the chore when you finish it.
If you perform your responsibilities perfectly and don’t fail even one time, then you will remain a part of this family. You will earn this reward which is wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top. But should you fail even once, it’s curtains for you. You’ll have to hit the road and find someone else to put up with your failing ways.
Huh? I was only three. Was Dad kidding? Was he on drugs? What was wrong with that man?!
Okay. I confess. It didn’t really happen that way, not even close. But guess what. It did happen that way with the Israelites and the Lord. And no, the Lord wasn’t kidding…or on drugs either. The Israelites asked for it and the Lord accommodated them.
The Israelites were at their grand inauguration. They were to become the people of the Lord and represent Him to the world as His family. Trouble was, they were incompetent for the task at hand. Even worse, they didn’t know they were incapable of performing all their chores all the time without fail even once.
That was where the Law came in. Read the two Bible verses quoted at the start of this study. Do you see how the Lord laid a task on the Israelites, telling them that if they perfectly performed all their chores, then He would give them the rectangular box wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top? Er, I mean He promised to give them the Promised Land as their own country, where they could represent Him to the world as His family.
Oops! We are out of time today. We will continue this subject on the morrow. For today enjoy some time alone with Jesus for a spell.
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...
It was my third birthday. I remember it well. Dad and Mom were there, along with the several siblings. There was a pretty decorated cake with my name on it and three lit candles in the center. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of wrapping paper around a rectangular box. A decorative bow graced the top of the box.
My attention straightway went from the cake and siblings to Dad. He held the present, you see. My eyes were riveted on that box in wrapping paper and bow. Nothing else could compete. The world faded into the background, along with everything and everyone. All that existed in my mind was a rectangular box with wrapping paper and bow.
Alas for me, but Dad popped my bubble. The words he spoke went something like this:
Son, here is a list of your chores, itemized by hour and day. You are required to carry your weight, if you want to be a member of this family. Be sure you do every chore on this list and put a check mark next to the chore when you finish it.
If you perform your responsibilities perfectly and don’t fail even one time, then you will remain a part of this family. You will earn this reward which is wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top. But should you fail even once, it’s curtains for you. You’ll have to hit the road and find someone else to put up with your failing ways.
Huh? I was only three. Was Dad kidding? Was he on drugs? What was wrong with that man?!
Okay. I confess. It didn’t really happen that way, not even close. But guess what. It did happen that way with the Israelites and the Lord. And no, the Lord wasn’t kidding…or on drugs either. The Israelites asked for it and the Lord accommodated them.
The Israelites were at their grand inauguration. They were to become the people of the Lord and represent Him to the world as His family. Trouble was, they were incompetent for the task at hand. Even worse, they didn’t know they were incapable of performing all their chores all the time without fail even once.
That was where the Law came in. Read the two Bible verses quoted at the start of this study. Do you see how the Lord laid a task on the Israelites, telling them that if they perfectly performed all their chores, then He would give them the rectangular box wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top? Er, I mean He promised to give them the Promised Land as their own country, where they could represent Him to the world as His family.
Oops! We are out of time today. We will continue this subject on the morrow. For today enjoy some time alone with Jesus for a spell.
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...
My Third Birthday – Part 2
For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you [Deuteronomy 11:22-23].
The Lord wanted to give them the land unconditionally. That’s what He covenanted with Abraham to do. We know this as the “Abrahamic Covenant”. But the Israelites didn’t want to know the Lord or learn His ways, so they could accurately represent Him to the world. They were full-fledged whippersnappers, you see, regular teenage know-it-alls in their prime.
They told Moses to keep the Lord away from them. Let Moses go visit with the Lord and bring His Word back to them. Then they would do everything the Lord told them. See! They already knew it all and didn’t want the Lord to come near them. Let Moses the priest do the church work. They were busy fellows. They had important business to attend to.
So the Lord said, “They claim they will do everything I say, huh? Their words are good. Would that their hearts were too!” The Israelites, you see, needed to recognize they were not good enough to be like the Lord, not even close! They could not live like His family until they were mature enough to know their own limitations. To borrow Clint Eastwood’s line, “A man needs to know his limitations.”
How to teach the facts of life to the Israelites? That was the million dollar question. The Lord answered it by creating another covenant with them. No, He didn’t annul the Abrahamic Covenant. But He did add an additional covenant to the mix to teach the facts of life to the puerile Israelites.
The goal of this new covenant was to make them realize their limitations and depend on the Lord, not on themselves. So at Mount Sinai the Lord established the “Covenant of Law” with the Israelites (aka the “Law of Moses” or “Torah”).
Basically the Abrahamic Covenant presented the Israelites with the Promised Land, all wrapped with decorative paper inside a rectangular box, with a pretty bow on top. Alas, but the Israelites were too young, too immature, to treat the Promised Land with the respect it was due. They were unable to behave in a godly manner in accordance with membership in the family of God.
So the Lord withheld the rectangular box, telling them they first had to live up to their family responsibilities, and that perfectly. Only when they did so would they be accounted worthy of receiving the rectangular box based on their own performance.
Yikes! Time is up again. Wow! Time flies when we’re having fun! Let’s continue the fun in our next lesson. Sounds like a plan. The Lord Jesus requests our presence now. See you there.
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...
The Lord wanted to give them the land unconditionally. That’s what He covenanted with Abraham to do. We know this as the “Abrahamic Covenant”. But the Israelites didn’t want to know the Lord or learn His ways, so they could accurately represent Him to the world. They were full-fledged whippersnappers, you see, regular teenage know-it-alls in their prime.
They told Moses to keep the Lord away from them. Let Moses go visit with the Lord and bring His Word back to them. Then they would do everything the Lord told them. See! They already knew it all and didn’t want the Lord to come near them. Let Moses the priest do the church work. They were busy fellows. They had important business to attend to.
So the Lord said, “They claim they will do everything I say, huh? Their words are good. Would that their hearts were too!” The Israelites, you see, needed to recognize they were not good enough to be like the Lord, not even close! They could not live like His family until they were mature enough to know their own limitations. To borrow Clint Eastwood’s line, “A man needs to know his limitations.”
How to teach the facts of life to the Israelites? That was the million dollar question. The Lord answered it by creating another covenant with them. No, He didn’t annul the Abrahamic Covenant. But He did add an additional covenant to the mix to teach the facts of life to the puerile Israelites.
The goal of this new covenant was to make them realize their limitations and depend on the Lord, not on themselves. So at Mount Sinai the Lord established the “Covenant of Law” with the Israelites (aka the “Law of Moses” or “Torah”).
Basically the Abrahamic Covenant presented the Israelites with the Promised Land, all wrapped with decorative paper inside a rectangular box, with a pretty bow on top. Alas, but the Israelites were too young, too immature, to treat the Promised Land with the respect it was due. They were unable to behave in a godly manner in accordance with membership in the family of God.
So the Lord withheld the rectangular box, telling them they first had to live up to their family responsibilities, and that perfectly. Only when they did so would they be accounted worthy of receiving the rectangular box based on their own performance.
Yikes! Time is up again. Wow! Time flies when we’re having fun! Let’s continue the fun in our next lesson. Sounds like a plan. The Lord Jesus requests our presence now. See you there.
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...
My Third Birthday – Part 3
For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you [Deuteronomy 11:22-23].
The bottom line is this, dear friends. The Israelites—as is true of every son of Adam the First—were and are incapable of being perfect, especially as perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect (cf., Matthew 5:48). This is because Father Adam disobeyed the Word of God in the garden and ate fruit from the kogae tree. This turned Father Adam into a sinner.
In keeping with God’s laws of creation, each species reproduces after its own kind. So an apple tree bears more apples, not bananas. A monkey gives birth to monkeys, not humans. And sinners give birth to sinners, not saints. So every last human being (past, present, and future) is born a sinner. It is a fact of life that sinners by nature sin, they don’t obey the Word of God perfectly.
Ergo, no man alive (Jesus Christ the God-Man excepted) can perfectly live a holy life and thus rightly represent the Lord to the world. Every last human being is in the same boat. All are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. This was the end result which the Covenant of Law was meant to demonstrate to the Israelites, and vicariously through them to the world.
This being the case every last human being is in need of a Savior, someone who can pay their penalty for sinning and then provide them with a new life which can perfectly represent the Lord to the world. Entrer the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!
The Law was given to Israel as their legal code while they inhabited the Promised Land. Their King was the Lord and He legislated the law of the land. The Law’s function was that of a pedagogue, a school marm to teach them that they were sinners and in need of a Savior.
As willful teenagers, the Israelites were intractable. They were problem children with disciplinary issues. They wouldn’t learn by means of polite and gentle words. They would rebel because they already knew it all! What they needed was precisely what the Lord gave them, i.e., the Law.
The Israelites brashly blurted out, “We will do everything the Lord tells us to do!” And they were sincere too. So the Lord gave them the Law, as if to say, “Put your money where your mouth is, O Israelites. Obey the Law perfectly 24/7/365 and prove you are good enough to represent me to the world in your own power.”
When they failed—and every last one surely did incessantly—then they could recognize their sinfulness and realize their need for a Savior. They could know not to depend on themselves and instead turn to the Lord in dependence on Him.
Such was the purpose of the Law. It was in effect until the fullness of the time arrived (cf., Galatians 4:4). That time did arrive when the eternal Son of God took upon real humanity, becoming one of us and dying for our sins. Then He rose from the dead in new life, which He freely bestows upon us who turn to Him in faith and request it.
So what will it be for you? Will you put yourself under the Law and depend on yourself? Or will you forsake the self-made man mentality and place your trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation? I trust you will choose the second option. Good. Welcome to the family of God. You are now an adopted son of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
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...
The bottom line is this, dear friends. The Israelites—as is true of every son of Adam the First—were and are incapable of being perfect, especially as perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect (cf., Matthew 5:48). This is because Father Adam disobeyed the Word of God in the garden and ate fruit from the kogae tree. This turned Father Adam into a sinner.
In keeping with God’s laws of creation, each species reproduces after its own kind. So an apple tree bears more apples, not bananas. A monkey gives birth to monkeys, not humans. And sinners give birth to sinners, not saints. So every last human being (past, present, and future) is born a sinner. It is a fact of life that sinners by nature sin, they don’t obey the Word of God perfectly.
Ergo, no man alive (Jesus Christ the God-Man excepted) can perfectly live a holy life and thus rightly represent the Lord to the world. Every last human being is in the same boat. All are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. This was the end result which the Covenant of Law was meant to demonstrate to the Israelites, and vicariously through them to the world.
This being the case every last human being is in need of a Savior, someone who can pay their penalty for sinning and then provide them with a new life which can perfectly represent the Lord to the world. Entrer the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!
The Law was given to Israel as their legal code while they inhabited the Promised Land. Their King was the Lord and He legislated the law of the land. The Law’s function was that of a pedagogue, a school marm to teach them that they were sinners and in need of a Savior.
As willful teenagers, the Israelites were intractable. They were problem children with disciplinary issues. They wouldn’t learn by means of polite and gentle words. They would rebel because they already knew it all! What they needed was precisely what the Lord gave them, i.e., the Law.
The Israelites brashly blurted out, “We will do everything the Lord tells us to do!” And they were sincere too. So the Lord gave them the Law, as if to say, “Put your money where your mouth is, O Israelites. Obey the Law perfectly 24/7/365 and prove you are good enough to represent me to the world in your own power.”
When they failed—and every last one surely did incessantly—then they could recognize their sinfulness and realize their need for a Savior. They could know not to depend on themselves and instead turn to the Lord in dependence on Him.
Such was the purpose of the Law. It was in effect until the fullness of the time arrived (cf., Galatians 4:4). That time did arrive when the eternal Son of God took upon real humanity, becoming one of us and dying for our sins. Then He rose from the dead in new life, which He freely bestows upon us who turn to Him in faith and request it.
So what will it be for you? Will you put yourself under the Law and depend on yourself? Or will you forsake the self-made man mentality and place your trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation? I trust you will choose the second option. Good. Welcome to the family of God. You are now an adopted son of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
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...
Favorite Elementary School Teacher
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus [Galatians 3:24-26].
Do you remember who your favorite grade school teacher was? If you’ve put on the years like me, that is a tall order to fill. But I remember mine! No, I cannot recall his name, but I remember him. He was my fourth grade English teacher. He had somewhat of a resemblance to my father, same general size and build. Maybe that contributed to my embracing him.
But what I really liked the most about him was what he did. During English class he would read aloud to us a chapter at a time from the Hardy Boys mystery books. I used to love those books! This teacher did this in order to interest us in reading books on our own. He led by example, and it worked! Not just me, but many other students took to reading books because of this teacher. He left a lasting legacy.
In Galatians 3 the Apostle Paul recalled his own favorite school marm. He said the Law was his favorite school marm. No, I’m not making that up! Honest. Paul said that. Just read the verses in Galatians we quoted at the start of this post. Still don’t see it, huh? Okay, then let me explain it to you.
The NASB translation I employed in the quote twice uses the word tutor to depict the function of the Law. In the Greek original the word tutor is transliterated into English as our word pedagogue. If you go to an English dictionary and look up the word pedagogue, you will discover one of its meanings is “a teacher or school teacher”. See! Told you. The Law was Paul’s favorite school marm.
There is a reason I say the Law was a school marm or a grade school teacher, rather than a high school teacher or college professor. If you read Paul’s teaching in Galatians, he tells us that the Law was given to lead us to Christ. It served a purpose only until the fullness of the times had come, viz., until the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and then died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins and rose again for our justification. Now that Jesus has accomplished that part of His ministry, we Christians are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, not through obedience to the Law as under the Old Covenant.
The pedagogue of Paul’s day was a knowledgeable and educated Greek slave, whom a wealthy Roman father put in charge of his infant son. The pedagogue had to educate the boy about the duties and responsibilities of being a Roman leader in society. This required education in a broad field of studies. Once the boy reached the age when his father felt he was ready to step out into the world and serve as a citizen, then the boy became a man and the father’s heir. At that time the boy become a man was no longer under a pedagogue.
So it is, you see, that the pedagogue was a school marm who taught boys and not men. The importance of this for us Christians can be expressed by these questions:
• Are we maturing spiritually to the point that we don’t need to be governed by do’s and don’ts?
• Are we beyond the pedagogue stage?
• Do we instead learn by sitting alone at the feet of Jesus and allowing Him to teach us directly?
If not then we are still living as if under the Law, and that is not a good thing.
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/Randy-Green/e/B...
Do you remember who your favorite grade school teacher was? If you’ve put on the years like me, that is a tall order to fill. But I remember mine! No, I cannot recall his name, but I remember him. He was my fourth grade English teacher. He had somewhat of a resemblance to my father, same general size and build. Maybe that contributed to my embracing him.
But what I really liked the most about him was what he did. During English class he would read aloud to us a chapter at a time from the Hardy Boys mystery books. I used to love those books! This teacher did this in order to interest us in reading books on our own. He led by example, and it worked! Not just me, but many other students took to reading books because of this teacher. He left a lasting legacy.
In Galatians 3 the Apostle Paul recalled his own favorite school marm. He said the Law was his favorite school marm. No, I’m not making that up! Honest. Paul said that. Just read the verses in Galatians we quoted at the start of this post. Still don’t see it, huh? Okay, then let me explain it to you.
The NASB translation I employed in the quote twice uses the word tutor to depict the function of the Law. In the Greek original the word tutor is transliterated into English as our word pedagogue. If you go to an English dictionary and look up the word pedagogue, you will discover one of its meanings is “a teacher or school teacher”. See! Told you. The Law was Paul’s favorite school marm.
There is a reason I say the Law was a school marm or a grade school teacher, rather than a high school teacher or college professor. If you read Paul’s teaching in Galatians, he tells us that the Law was given to lead us to Christ. It served a purpose only until the fullness of the times had come, viz., until the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and then died on the cross to pay the penalty of our sins and rose again for our justification. Now that Jesus has accomplished that part of His ministry, we Christians are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, not through obedience to the Law as under the Old Covenant.
The pedagogue of Paul’s day was a knowledgeable and educated Greek slave, whom a wealthy Roman father put in charge of his infant son. The pedagogue had to educate the boy about the duties and responsibilities of being a Roman leader in society. This required education in a broad field of studies. Once the boy reached the age when his father felt he was ready to step out into the world and serve as a citizen, then the boy became a man and the father’s heir. At that time the boy become a man was no longer under a pedagogue.
So it is, you see, that the pedagogue was a school marm who taught boys and not men. The importance of this for us Christians can be expressed by these questions:
• Are we maturing spiritually to the point that we don’t need to be governed by do’s and don’ts?
• Are we beyond the pedagogue stage?
• Do we instead learn by sitting alone at the feet of Jesus and allowing Him to teach us directly?
If not then we are still living as if under the Law, and that is not a good thing.
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/Randy-Green/e/B...
My Third Birthday – Part 1
For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you [Deuteronomy 11:22-23].
It was my third birthday. I remember it well. Dad and Mom were there, along with the several siblings. There was a pretty decorated cake with my name on it and three lit candles in the center. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of wrapping paper around a rectangular box. A decorative bow graced the top of the box.
My attention straightway went from the cake and siblings to Dad. He held the present, you see. My eyes were riveted on that box in wrapping paper and bow. Nothing else could compete. The world faded into the background, along with everything and everyone. All that existed in my mind was a rectangular box with wrapping paper and bow.
Alas for me, but Dad popped my bubble. The words he spoke went something like this:
Son, here is a list of your chores, itemized by hour and day. You are required to carry your weight, if you want to be a member of this family. Be sure you do every chore on this list and put a check mark next to the chore when you finish it.
If you perform your responsibilities perfectly and don’t fail even one time, then you will remain a part of this family. You will earn this reward which is wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top. But should you fail even once, it’s curtains for you. You’ll have to hit the road and find someone else to put up with your failing ways.
Huh? I was only three. Was Dad kidding? Was he on drugs? What was wrong with that man?!
Okay. I confess. It didn’t really happen that way, not even close. But guess what. It did happen that way with the Israelites and the Lord. And no, the Lord wasn’t kidding…or on drugs either. The Israelites asked for it and the Lord accommodated them.
The Israelites were at their grand inauguration. They were to become the people of the Lord and represent Him to the world as His family. Trouble was, they were incompetent for the task at hand. Even worse, they didn’t know they were incapable of performing all their chores all the time without fail even once.
That was where the Law came in. Read the two Bible verses quoted at the start of this study. Do you see how the Lord laid a task on the Israelites, telling them that if they perfectly performed all their chores, then He would give them the rectangular box wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top? Er, I mean He promised to give them the Promised Land as their own country, where they could represent Him to the world as His family.
Oops! We are out of time today. We will continue this subject on the morrow. For today enjoy some time alone with Jesus for a spell.
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...
It was my third birthday. I remember it well. Dad and Mom were there, along with the several siblings. There was a pretty decorated cake with my name on it and three lit candles in the center. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of wrapping paper around a rectangular box. A decorative bow graced the top of the box.
My attention straightway went from the cake and siblings to Dad. He held the present, you see. My eyes were riveted on that box in wrapping paper and bow. Nothing else could compete. The world faded into the background, along with everything and everyone. All that existed in my mind was a rectangular box with wrapping paper and bow.
Alas for me, but Dad popped my bubble. The words he spoke went something like this:
Son, here is a list of your chores, itemized by hour and day. You are required to carry your weight, if you want to be a member of this family. Be sure you do every chore on this list and put a check mark next to the chore when you finish it.
If you perform your responsibilities perfectly and don’t fail even one time, then you will remain a part of this family. You will earn this reward which is wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top. But should you fail even once, it’s curtains for you. You’ll have to hit the road and find someone else to put up with your failing ways.
Huh? I was only three. Was Dad kidding? Was he on drugs? What was wrong with that man?!
Okay. I confess. It didn’t really happen that way, not even close. But guess what. It did happen that way with the Israelites and the Lord. And no, the Lord wasn’t kidding…or on drugs either. The Israelites asked for it and the Lord accommodated them.
The Israelites were at their grand inauguration. They were to become the people of the Lord and represent Him to the world as His family. Trouble was, they were incompetent for the task at hand. Even worse, they didn’t know they were incapable of performing all their chores all the time without fail even once.
That was where the Law came in. Read the two Bible verses quoted at the start of this study. Do you see how the Lord laid a task on the Israelites, telling them that if they perfectly performed all their chores, then He would give them the rectangular box wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top? Er, I mean He promised to give them the Promised Land as their own country, where they could represent Him to the world as His family.
Oops! We are out of time today. We will continue this subject on the morrow. For today enjoy some time alone with Jesus for a spell.
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...
My Third Birthday – Part 2
For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you [Deuteronomy 11:22-23].
The Lord wanted to give them the land unconditionally. That’s what He covenanted with Abraham to do. We know this as the “Abrahamic Covenant”. But the Israelites didn’t want to know the Lord or learn His ways, so they could accurately represent Him to the world. They were full-fledged whippersnappers, you see, regular teenage know-it-alls in their prime.
They told Moses to keep the Lord away from them. Let Moses go visit with the Lord and bring His Word back to them. Then they would do everything the Lord told them. See! They already knew it all and didn’t want the Lord to come near them. Let Moses the priest do the church work. They were busy fellows. They had important business to attend to.
So the Lord said, “They claim they will do everything I say, huh? Their words are good. Would that their hearts were too!” The Israelites, you see, needed to recognize they were not good enough to be like the Lord, not even close! They could not live like His family until they were mature enough to know their own limitations. To borrow Clint Eastwood’s line, “A man needs to know his limitations.”
How to teach the facts of life to the Israelites? That was the million dollar question. The Lord answered it by creating another covenant with them. No, He didn’t annul the Abrahamic Covenant. But He did add an additional covenant to the mix to teach the facts of life to the puerile Israelites.
The goal of this new covenant was to make them realize their limitations and depend on the Lord, not on themselves. So at Mount Sinai the Lord established the “Covenant of Law” with the Israelites (aka the “Law of Moses” or “Torah”).
Basically the Abrahamic Covenant presented the Israelites with the Promised Land, all wrapped with decorative paper inside a rectangular box, with a pretty bow on top. Alas, but the Israelites were too young, too immature, to treat the Promised Land with the respect it was due. They were unable to behave in a godly manner in accordance with membership in the family of God.
So the Lord withheld the rectangular box, telling them they first had to live up to their family responsibilities, and that perfectly. Only when they did so would they be accounted worthy of receiving the rectangular box based on their own performance.
Yikes! Time is up again. Wow! Time flies when we’re having fun! Let’s continue the fun in our next lesson. Sounds like a plan. The Lord Jesus requests our presence now. See you there.
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...
The Lord wanted to give them the land unconditionally. That’s what He covenanted with Abraham to do. We know this as the “Abrahamic Covenant”. But the Israelites didn’t want to know the Lord or learn His ways, so they could accurately represent Him to the world. They were full-fledged whippersnappers, you see, regular teenage know-it-alls in their prime.
They told Moses to keep the Lord away from them. Let Moses go visit with the Lord and bring His Word back to them. Then they would do everything the Lord told them. See! They already knew it all and didn’t want the Lord to come near them. Let Moses the priest do the church work. They were busy fellows. They had important business to attend to.
So the Lord said, “They claim they will do everything I say, huh? Their words are good. Would that their hearts were too!” The Israelites, you see, needed to recognize they were not good enough to be like the Lord, not even close! They could not live like His family until they were mature enough to know their own limitations. To borrow Clint Eastwood’s line, “A man needs to know his limitations.”
How to teach the facts of life to the Israelites? That was the million dollar question. The Lord answered it by creating another covenant with them. No, He didn’t annul the Abrahamic Covenant. But He did add an additional covenant to the mix to teach the facts of life to the puerile Israelites.
The goal of this new covenant was to make them realize their limitations and depend on the Lord, not on themselves. So at Mount Sinai the Lord established the “Covenant of Law” with the Israelites (aka the “Law of Moses” or “Torah”).
Basically the Abrahamic Covenant presented the Israelites with the Promised Land, all wrapped with decorative paper inside a rectangular box, with a pretty bow on top. Alas, but the Israelites were too young, too immature, to treat the Promised Land with the respect it was due. They were unable to behave in a godly manner in accordance with membership in the family of God.
So the Lord withheld the rectangular box, telling them they first had to live up to their family responsibilities, and that perfectly. Only when they did so would they be accounted worthy of receiving the rectangular box based on their own performance.
Yikes! Time is up again. Wow! Time flies when we’re having fun! Let’s continue the fun in our next lesson. Sounds like a plan. The Lord Jesus requests our presence now. See you there.
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...
My Third Birthday – Part 3
For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you [Deuteronomy 11:22-23].
The bottom line is this, dear friends. The Israelites—as is true of every son of Adam the First—were and are incapable of being perfect, especially as perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect (cf., Matthew 5:48). This is because Father Adam disobeyed the Word of God in the garden and ate fruit from the kogae tree. This turned Father Adam into a sinner.
In keeping with God’s laws of creation, each species reproduces after its own kind. So an apple tree bears more apples, not bananas. A monkey gives birth to monkeys, not humans. And sinners give birth to sinners, not saints. So every last human being (past, present, and future) is born a sinner. It is a fact of life that sinners by nature sin, they don’t obey the Word of God perfectly.
Ergo, no man alive (Jesus Christ the God-Man excepted) can perfectly live a holy life and thus rightly represent the Lord to the world. Every last human being is in the same boat. All are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. This was the end result which the Covenant of Law was meant to demonstrate to the Israelites, and vicariously through them to the world.
That being the case, every last human being is in need of a Savior, someone who can pay his penalty for sinning and then provide him with a new life which can perfectly represent the Lord to the world. Entrer the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!
The Law was given to Israel as their legal code while they inhabited the Promised Land. Their King was the Lord and He legislated the law of the land. The Law’s function was that of a pedagogue, a school marm to teach them that they were sinners and in need of a Savior.
As willful teenagers, the Israelites were intractable. They were problem children with disciplinary issues. They wouldn’t learn by means of polite and gentle words. They would rebel because they already knew it all! What they needed was precisely what the Lord gave them, i.e., the Law.
The Israelites brashly blurted out, “We will do everything the Lord tells us to do!” And they were sincere too. So the Lord gave them the Law, as if to say, “Put your money where your mouth is, O Israelites. Obey the Law perfectly 24/7/365 and prove you are good enough to represent me to the world in your own power.”
When they failed—and every last one surely did incessantly—then they could recognize their sinfulness and realize their need for a Savior. They could know not to depend on themselves and instead turn to the Lord in dependence on Him.
Such was the purpose of the Law. It was in effect until the fullness of the time arrived (cf., Galatians 4:4). That time did arrive when the eternal Son of God took upon real humanity, becoming one of us and dying for our sins. Then He rose out of death in new life, which He freely bestows upon us who turn to Him in faith and request it.
So what will it be for you? Will you put yourself under the Law and depend on yourself? Or will you forsake the self-made man mentality and place your trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation? I trust you will choose the second option. Good. Welcome to the family of God. You are now an adopted son of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
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...
The bottom line is this, dear friends. The Israelites—as is true of every son of Adam the First—were and are incapable of being perfect, especially as perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect (cf., Matthew 5:48). This is because Father Adam disobeyed the Word of God in the garden and ate fruit from the kogae tree. This turned Father Adam into a sinner.
In keeping with God’s laws of creation, each species reproduces after its own kind. So an apple tree bears more apples, not bananas. A monkey gives birth to monkeys, not humans. And sinners give birth to sinners, not saints. So every last human being (past, present, and future) is born a sinner. It is a fact of life that sinners by nature sin, they don’t obey the Word of God perfectly.
Ergo, no man alive (Jesus Christ the God-Man excepted) can perfectly live a holy life and thus rightly represent the Lord to the world. Every last human being is in the same boat. All are sinners and fall short of the glory of God. This was the end result which the Covenant of Law was meant to demonstrate to the Israelites, and vicariously through them to the world.
That being the case, every last human being is in need of a Savior, someone who can pay his penalty for sinning and then provide him with a new life which can perfectly represent the Lord to the world. Entrer the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!
The Law was given to Israel as their legal code while they inhabited the Promised Land. Their King was the Lord and He legislated the law of the land. The Law’s function was that of a pedagogue, a school marm to teach them that they were sinners and in need of a Savior.
As willful teenagers, the Israelites were intractable. They were problem children with disciplinary issues. They wouldn’t learn by means of polite and gentle words. They would rebel because they already knew it all! What they needed was precisely what the Lord gave them, i.e., the Law.
The Israelites brashly blurted out, “We will do everything the Lord tells us to do!” And they were sincere too. So the Lord gave them the Law, as if to say, “Put your money where your mouth is, O Israelites. Obey the Law perfectly 24/7/365 and prove you are good enough to represent me to the world in your own power.”
When they failed—and every last one surely did incessantly—then they could recognize their sinfulness and realize their need for a Savior. They could know not to depend on themselves and instead turn to the Lord in dependence on Him.
Such was the purpose of the Law. It was in effect until the fullness of the time arrived (cf., Galatians 4:4). That time did arrive when the eternal Son of God took upon real humanity, becoming one of us and dying for our sins. Then He rose out of death in new life, which He freely bestows upon us who turn to Him in faith and request it.
So what will it be for you? Will you put yourself under the Law and depend on yourself? Or will you forsake the self-made man mentality and place your trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation? I trust you will choose the second option. Good. Welcome to the family of God. You are now an adopted son of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
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...
Favorite Elementary School Teacher
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus [Galatians 3:24-26].
Do you remember who your favorite grade school teacher was? If you’ve put on the years like me, that is a tall order to fill. But I remember mine! No, I cannot recall his name, but I remember him. He was my fourth grade English teacher. He had somewhat of a resemblance to my father, same general size and build. Maybe that contributed to my embracing him.
But what I really liked the most about him was what he did. During English class he would read aloud to us a chapter at a time from the Hardy Boys mystery books. I used to love those books! This teacher did it in order to interest us in reading books on our own. He led by example, and it worked! Not just me, but many other students took to reading books because of this teacher. He left a lasting legacy.
In Galatians 3 the Apostle Paul recalled his own favorite school marm. He said the Law was his favorite school marm. No, I’m not making that up! Honest. Paul said it. For real. Just read the verses in Galatians we quoted at the start of this post. Still don’t see it, huh? Okay, then let me explain it to you.
The NASB translation I employed in the quote twice uses the word tutor to depict the function of the Law. The original Greek word for tutor is transliterated into English as our word pedagogue. If you go to an English dictionary and look up the word pedagogue, you will discover one of its meanings is “a teacher or school teacher”. See! Told you. The Law was Paul’s favorite school marm.
There is a reason I say the Law was a school marm or a grade school teacher, rather than a high school teacher or college professor. If you read Paul’s teaching in Galatians, he tells us that the Law was given to lead us to Christ. It served a purpose only until the fullness of the times had come, viz., until the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and rose again for our justification. Now that Jesus has accomplished that part of His ministry, we Christians are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, not through obedience to the Law as under the Old Covenant.
The pedagogue of Paul’s day was a knowledgeable and educated Greek slave, whom a wealthy Roman father put in charge of his infant son. The pedagogue had to educate the boy about the duties and responsibilities of being a Roman leader in society. This required education in a broad field of studies. Once the boy reached the age when his father felt he was ready to step out into the world and serve as a citizen, then the boy became a man and the father’s heir. At that moment when the boy become a man, he was no longer under a pedagogue.
So it is, you see, that the pedagogue was a school marm who taught boys and not men. The importance of this for us Christians can be expressed by these questions:
• Are we maturing spiritually to the point that we don’t need to be governed by do’s and don’ts?
• Are we beyond the pedagogue stage?
• Do we instead learn by sitting alone at the feet of Jesus and allowing Him to teach us directly?
If not then we are still living as if under the Law, and that is not a good thing.
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/Randy-Green/e/B...
Do you remember who your favorite grade school teacher was? If you’ve put on the years like me, that is a tall order to fill. But I remember mine! No, I cannot recall his name, but I remember him. He was my fourth grade English teacher. He had somewhat of a resemblance to my father, same general size and build. Maybe that contributed to my embracing him.
But what I really liked the most about him was what he did. During English class he would read aloud to us a chapter at a time from the Hardy Boys mystery books. I used to love those books! This teacher did it in order to interest us in reading books on our own. He led by example, and it worked! Not just me, but many other students took to reading books because of this teacher. He left a lasting legacy.
In Galatians 3 the Apostle Paul recalled his own favorite school marm. He said the Law was his favorite school marm. No, I’m not making that up! Honest. Paul said it. For real. Just read the verses in Galatians we quoted at the start of this post. Still don’t see it, huh? Okay, then let me explain it to you.
The NASB translation I employed in the quote twice uses the word tutor to depict the function of the Law. The original Greek word for tutor is transliterated into English as our word pedagogue. If you go to an English dictionary and look up the word pedagogue, you will discover one of its meanings is “a teacher or school teacher”. See! Told you. The Law was Paul’s favorite school marm.
There is a reason I say the Law was a school marm or a grade school teacher, rather than a high school teacher or college professor. If you read Paul’s teaching in Galatians, he tells us that the Law was given to lead us to Christ. It served a purpose only until the fullness of the times had come, viz., until the Lord Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and rose again for our justification. Now that Jesus has accomplished that part of His ministry, we Christians are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, not through obedience to the Law as under the Old Covenant.
The pedagogue of Paul’s day was a knowledgeable and educated Greek slave, whom a wealthy Roman father put in charge of his infant son. The pedagogue had to educate the boy about the duties and responsibilities of being a Roman leader in society. This required education in a broad field of studies. Once the boy reached the age when his father felt he was ready to step out into the world and serve as a citizen, then the boy became a man and the father’s heir. At that moment when the boy become a man, he was no longer under a pedagogue.
So it is, you see, that the pedagogue was a school marm who taught boys and not men. The importance of this for us Christians can be expressed by these questions:
• Are we maturing spiritually to the point that we don’t need to be governed by do’s and don’ts?
• Are we beyond the pedagogue stage?
• Do we instead learn by sitting alone at the feet of Jesus and allowing Him to teach us directly?
If not then we are still living as if under the Law, and that is not a good thing.
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/Randy-Green/e/B...
My Third Birthday – Part 1
For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you [Deuteronomy 11:22-23].
It was my third birthday. I remember it well. Dad and Mom were there, along with the several siblings. There was a pretty decorated cake with my name on it and three lit candles in the center. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of wrapping paper around a rectangular box. A decorative bow graced the top of the box.
My attention straightway went from the cake and siblings to Dad. He held the present, you see. My eyes were riveted on that box in wrapping paper and bow. Nothing else could compete. The world faded into the background, along with everything and everyone. All that existed in my mind was a rectangular box with wrapping paper and bow.
Alas for me, but Dad popped my bubble. The words he spoke went something like this:
Son, here is a list of your chores, itemized by hour and day. You are required to carry your weight, if you want to be a member of this family. Be sure you do every chore on this list and put a check mark next to the chore when you finish it.
If you perform your responsibilities perfectly and don’t fail even one time, then you will remain a part of this family. You will earn this reward which is wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top. But should you fail even once, it’s curtains for you. You’ll have to hit the road and find someone else to put up with your failing ways.
Huh? I was only three. Was Dad kidding? Was he on drugs? What was wrong with that man?!
Okay. I confess. It didn’t really happen that way, not even close. But guess what. It did happen that way with the Israelites and the Lord. And no, the Lord wasn’t kidding…or on drugs either. The Israelites asked for it and the Lord accommodated them.
The Israelites were at their grand inauguration. They were to become the people of the Lord and represent Him to the world as His family. Trouble was, they were incompetent for the task at hand. Even worse, they didn’t know they were incapable of performing all their chores all the time without fail even once.
That was where the Law came in. Read the two Bible verses quoted at the start of this study. Do you see how the Lord laid a task on the Israelites, telling them that if they perfectly performed all their chores, then He would give them the rectangular box wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top? Er, I mean He promised to give them the Promised Land as their own country, where they could represent Him to the world as His family.
Oops! We are out of time today. We will continue this subject on the morrow. For today enjoy some time alone with Jesus for a spell.
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...
It was my third birthday. I remember it well. Dad and Mom were there, along with the several siblings. There was a pretty decorated cake with my name on it and three lit candles in the center. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of wrapping paper around a rectangular box. A decorative bow graced the top of the box.
My attention straightway went from the cake and siblings to Dad. He held the present, you see. My eyes were riveted on that box in wrapping paper and bow. Nothing else could compete. The world faded into the background, along with everything and everyone. All that existed in my mind was a rectangular box with wrapping paper and bow.
Alas for me, but Dad popped my bubble. The words he spoke went something like this:
Son, here is a list of your chores, itemized by hour and day. You are required to carry your weight, if you want to be a member of this family. Be sure you do every chore on this list and put a check mark next to the chore when you finish it.
If you perform your responsibilities perfectly and don’t fail even one time, then you will remain a part of this family. You will earn this reward which is wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top. But should you fail even once, it’s curtains for you. You’ll have to hit the road and find someone else to put up with your failing ways.
Huh? I was only three. Was Dad kidding? Was he on drugs? What was wrong with that man?!
Okay. I confess. It didn’t really happen that way, not even close. But guess what. It did happen that way with the Israelites and the Lord. And no, the Lord wasn’t kidding…or on drugs either. The Israelites asked for it and the Lord accommodated them.
The Israelites were at their grand inauguration. They were to become the people of the Lord and represent Him to the world as His family. Trouble was, they were incompetent for the task at hand. Even worse, they didn’t know they were incapable of performing all their chores all the time without fail even once.
That was where the Law came in. Read the two Bible verses quoted at the start of this study. Do you see how the Lord laid a task on the Israelites, telling them that if they perfectly performed all their chores, then He would give them the rectangular box wrapped in decorative paper with a bow on top? Er, I mean He promised to give them the Promised Land as their own country, where they could represent Him to the world as His family.
Oops! We are out of time today. We will continue this subject on the morrow. For today enjoy some time alone with Jesus for a spell.
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...
