²³ And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. ²⁴ And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. ²⁵ And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” ²⁶ And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. ²⁷ And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:23-27)

I daresay that compared to the faith of Christ all of us now have “little faith,” but some have less and some have more faith than others. We live now in that time prophesied by Jesus when “men’s hearts will faint with fear from what is coming upon the earth.” The sons of Satan are now well upon their way upon destroying much of the beautiful earth God has created. He is busily destroying this world even now with his manifold nefarious schemes. And some of us do not now possess the faith we need to meet the disasters lurking around the next corner. My hope is that this little teaching will help us acquire the faith we need in order to prevail. Everything depends upon acknowledging and feeding the implanted word of God within us. Remember the word of James, brother of Jesus.

   Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation.

    [19] Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;  [20] for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.  [21] Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.  James 1:18-21 (ESV)

The book of James, like every other book of the Bible, speaks primarily about the salvation of the soul, not the spirit.  The reason for this is that Jesus’ death and resurrection effected spiritual salvation for every man, woman, and child who ever lived or will live and nothing we can do will add or subtract from that.  This is our spiritual salvation.  It is true that we need to learn about that and come to believe it so that we understand that we have now been reconciled to God through Jesus.  The next thing we must do, though, is to get up and walk out of our prison of sin, our bondage to sin.  This deals with the salvation of the soul and is accomplished through the implanted word. This is that which will empower us to prevail in the dark days.

One of Jesus’ most memorable parables concerns the implanted word.  He said,

“A sower went out to sow.  [4] And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.  [5] Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,  [6] but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.  [7] Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  [8] Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  [9] He who has ears, let him hear.”  Matthew 13:3-9 (ESV)

 No one, of course, could understand this parable so Jesus explained it, saying,

“Hear then the parable of the sower:  [19] When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path.  [20] As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,  [21] yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.  [22] As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.  [23] As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”  Matthew 13:18-23 (ESV)

Many people interpret this story to mean that only the last group of people achieve ultimate salvation while the rest fail to get saved and so spend eternity in hell.  That is wrong and false doctrine.  We are the soil, the earth upon which the seed is scattered.  Remember, God made man of the dust of the ground.  The seed is the word of God.  Each man, each piece and type of soil, hears the word of God in some form during his life.  That person, that soil, bears his own responsibility with respect to the word he hears.  Everyone hears the word of God through a variety of sources. The question is, what is each one going to do with that specific word God has given to him or her?

James says to to receive the word with meekness.  We each have hard hearts that want to go our own way.  We always think we are right, but we need to meekly admit and accept that only God is really right and that Jesus tells us through his word exactly what God says is right.  Consider the prophets:

The word “break up” here means to “to till the soil.”  We are the soil.  This phrase speaks of breaking up, or tilling, our hard unproductive ground, our hard hearts.  In order for the the word of God to take root in our soil, our individual lives, our land first needs to be tilled and broken up.  This is partly each man’s responsibility.  This is why the Bible teaches both God’s sovereignty and man’s duty.   God plants his word in us, but what have we done to prepare and keep the soil he has planted his word within?

Is your life characterized by impotence with respect to God’s word?  Do you find that the devil always snatches the word from you, leaving you unproductive in the sight of God?  Do you fret and worry about all things, failing to trust God for your provision?  Do you lust for ever more worldly goods?  Do you plow with wickedness instead of the word of God and, therefore, reap iniquity and eat the fruit of lies? Then break up your fallow ground!  Receive with meekness the implanted word!  Just begin to do the first thing that you know the word says to do.  Your ground is not destined to always remain hard and unproductive.  Shoulder your responsibility and get on with it.  Like a farmer, begin to turn your unproductive soil (life) into land that produces fruit.  Remember, God is making man into his image and your decision to become part of that process is integral to that plan.

This is how each of us must now prepare for the evil days we have entered. These days will grow harder and more evil. The devil is afoot, but greater is he who dwells within us. Now take this little teaching and grow in faith. Remember the word of God which you have and do it. This will begin to break up your fallow ground and will allow new seed (word of God) to sprout, which will in turn cause new and greater faith to arise in your heart.

But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:16-17)

I have known since I wrote the last post on the New Covenant that the theme of this post would be based upon Romans 10:17, the truth that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But it was not until this morning that it occurred to me that I really ought to examine the verse that Paul quotes from Isaiah before I wrote about it. So today I read Isaiah 53:1, the source of this Scripture. I did not just read that verse though. I began at Isaiah 52:13 and read through Isaiah 55:13. And once again I saw an amazing thing… how the Book of Isaiah so often sheds light upon truths revealed in the New Testament.

First, this passage from Isaiah prophesies and predicts the centuries later suffering and crucifixion of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is here where we first learn that God will send a particular servant who will be cruelly despised and tortured by men, a servant who will offer himself up as a living sacrifice and offering for the sins of all mankind. Yes, here resides the wonderful verse which reveals that all men have gone astray from their Creator, but that God laid mankind’s iniquity upon Jesus instead of the sinners themselves.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

And it is just before this where Isaiah says, “Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” the verse which Paul quotes in Romans 10. Now consider what Paul says next.  ”So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Interestingly, Isaiah talks about this very thing within the passage of Scripture from 52:13 to 55:13. Before considering the particular verses remember that in the Book of John Jesus calls him “the water of life” in chapter 4 and “the Bread of Life” in chapter 6. Also recall from many previous teachings on this site that the Biblical definition of “food” is God’s Word, or true doctrine. The following verses make this abundantly clear:

⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ⁹ Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. (Hebrews 13:8-10)

Amazingly, then, later in this passage under consideration in Isaiah, the prophet speaks directly about food. He says,

“Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
³ Incline your ear, and come to me;
    hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant (the NEW COVENANT!),
    my steadfast, sure love for David. (Isaiah 55:1-3)

And now we have come full circle.  Isaiah has given us the secret for obtaining faith from God. We have to come to Christ for food and water, that is, come to him for the truth of His Word. Then we have to “buy” that food (truth) from him.  But, we don’t buy it with the money of men like we do “for that which is not bread.” We spend our dollars, our silver, and our gold for the natural foods, wants, and pleasures our flesh desires. But that is not true bread, says Isaiah. Instead we need to buy Christ’s water, bread, wine, and milk. But, these are spiritual things and we “buy” them “without money and without price!” How?

We buy Christ’s food, Christ’s truth, by “listening diligently.” Do you really care about the things of God? Or do you pretend you are a “good Christian” because you regularly attend church, say your prayers, and retain friendships with a few other “Christians?” Paul says that “faith comes by hearing.” You can only hear, says Isaiah, if you come to Christ, incline your ear to him, listen diligently for what he has to say to you, and then eat (take to heart) that which he says. THIS IS what it means when Paul says that “hearing comes by the Word of God.”

And this is why Paul begins his statement concerning faith by referring us to Isaiah 53:1. To have faith means that we become obedient to that “word of faith” each of us individually receives. “But they have not all obeyed the gospel.” No, we Christians have not all obeyed the gospel, nor have we obeyed the individual words of instruction God has given us. Instead, many of us have turned the doctrine of faith into a gospel of “grace to sin.” Others of us turned the true gospel of grace into a set of laws that bar many from salvation. This is why Paul says that whatever we do which does not proceed from faith is sin (Romans 14:23) and is also why he says not to quarrel over many doctrinal opinions (Romans 14). As we diligently listen to Christ, then he will lead us into all truth, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

Moses was the grandson of Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob, whom God renamed Israel. Moses wrote the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt. God appointed his brother, Aaron, as the first high priest of Israel when he established the nation of Israel after freeing them from Pharaoh’s hand. From that time Aaron’s sons served as the priests of Israel. But Aaron’s sons were only part of only one of the eight clans of the Levite tribe.

¹⁴ And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵ “List the sons of Levi, by fathers’ houses and by clans; every male from a month old and upward you shall list.”¹⁶ So Moses listed them according to the word of the Lord, as he was commanded. ¹⁷ And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. ¹⁸ And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹ And the sons of Kohath by their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ²⁰ And the sons of Merari by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, by their fathers’ houses. (Numbers 3:14-20)

Aaron’s descendants formed only a small part of the Levite tribe and they were given a very special role in their service to God by being chosen as priests of the Most High. But, as we have seen, the rest of the Levites were not forgotten by God. He chose them to replace all of the firstborn sons of Israel and then consecrated them in order that they might serve him. As we saw in previous posts these Levites serve as a prophetic type of all overcomers who will one day comprise the Biblical “manchild” revealed in Revelation 12. Now we will consider another function of these overcomers in their very high position in the government of God.

⁴⁷ But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. ⁴⁸ For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁹ “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. ⁵⁰ But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it and shall camp around the tabernacle. ⁵¹ When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death. ⁵² The people of Israel shall pitch their tents by their companies, each man in his own camp and each man by his own standard. ⁵³ But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony.” ⁵⁴ Thus did the people of Israel; they did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. (Numbers 1:47-54, ESV)

Moses makes something very clear in this passage. He doesn’t just say the Levites shall be responsible for “the tabernacle.” Three times he uses the phrase “the tabernacle of the testimony.” Anyone can build a tent or a tabernacle, but only God can oversee the building, caring for, and protection of the “the tabernacle of the testimony.” What is this testimony?

Strong’s says that the word testimony is translated from the Hebrew word ”`eduwth” (ay-dooth’) and is translated as either testimony or witness in the King James Version. Further he says that the word comes from the Hebrew word “`ed” (ayd) and means, “concretely, a witness; abstractly, testimony; specifically, a recorder, i.e. prince.” Yet, the King James Version only translates this word as “witness.” The context within the verses where this word is used shows that it typically means “to be a witness for the truth” of some particular matter. If we think in terms of a court trial a witness gives testimony concerning the truth of some particular matter or matters.

The word translated “testimony” first occurs in Exodus 16:34 in the following passage:

³¹ Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. ³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” ³³ And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept. (Exodus 16:31-34)

Verse 34 looks forward to the time when Aaron actually placed the jar of manna next to the testimony within the “ark of the testimony,” for at this particular time in history God had not yet given the testimony to Moses.  The following passage first reveals God’s commands concerning this ark.

¹⁰ “They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits^[b] and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. ¹¹ You shall overlay it withpure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. ¹² You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. ¹³ You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. ¹⁵ The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. ¹⁶ And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

¹⁷ “You shall make a mercy seat^[c] of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. ¹⁸ And you shall make two cherubim of gold; ofhammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. ¹⁹ Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. ²⁰ The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. ²¹ And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. ²² There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. (Exodus 25:10-22)

God gave Moses the first writing of his “testimony” at the end of Moses’ first 40 day visitation with God on the Mountain of God. Scripture says,  “And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” (Ex. 31:18) It was during this time that Israel fell into idolatry with her golden calf because the nation did not know what had become of him. Moses was so outraged when he came down the mountain and saw their sin and idolatry that he threw down and broke the two tablets God had given him. After this ordeal God invited Moses up the mountain again. In the following passage Moses reveals the testimony which God gave him to put into the ark of the testimony which in turn was put in the tabernacle of the testimony.

The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to meon the top of the mountain. ³ No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” ⁴ So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.⁵ The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands,^[a] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” ⁸ And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. ⁹ And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

¹⁰ And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.

¹¹ “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ¹² Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become asnare in your midst. ¹³ You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim ¹⁴ (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), ¹⁵ lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when theywhore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, ¹⁶ and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

¹⁷ “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.

¹⁸ “You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt. ¹⁹ All that open the womb are mine, all your male^[b] livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. ²⁰ The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.

²¹ “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. ²² You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end. ²³ Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. ²⁴ For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

²⁵ “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning. ²⁶ The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” ²⁸ So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.^[c]

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. (Exodus 34:1-29)

Verse 28 above says that the writing on the tablets of the testimony was the “the Ten Commandments.” It is not clear whether the tablets of the testimony included only the Ten Commandments, which are recounted in Exodus 20, or if they included the other laws mentioned in Exodus 34 above or the many laws Moses wrote down in Exodus 21-24. One thing, however is clear, and that is that these tablets contained the very words of God which included commands for how Israel was to to live in consecration and holiness before him. They defined the standard of relationship he demanded from his people. These tablets, therefore, were the testimony to the covenant or relationship between God and man.

Thus we see that God specifically chose the Levites to guard and protect not only the physical structure of the tabernacle, but the literal testimony, or truth, of God’s covenant with Israel. This written testimony resided within the ark which itself stood in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle of testimony. And it is exactly this which defines the work of those currently called to overcome and become part of the manchild. They have come out of Babylon, the defiled mixture of Christian and all religion. They do not hold to Babylon’s doctrines and are thus cast out or shunned within churches where they dare to speak the truth they know. The very words of God have been and still are being written upon their hands, their minds, and their hearts. And like Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, grandson of Levi, who slew the fornicating idolators of Israel, they will not rest until all carnal flesh has been destroyed by God’s word. These are the ones who rule with a “rod of iron,” the very word of God.

The LORD introduces the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Exodus 12-13, especially in Exodus 13:3-16. First, in Exodus 13:6-7 he focuses on keeping the feast by eating only unleavened bread during those seven days. We now know that that rule means that God’s people are to keep themselves from the false doctrines of religion and from hypocrisy and the sins of the world. Just after giving this instruction God says that the keeping of this rule “shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt” (Ex. 13:9) God told Israel to obey his word and that such obedience would become literal memorials to them. In other words, the doing of God’s commands would affect what their hands did, what their minds thought, and what their mouths spoke!

Then, after giving the basic instructions for keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread the LORD again states that he is consecrating all of the firstborn males to himself. He is thus establishing this feast (along with Passover) as the feast of the manchild, the firstborn of creation. And, he summarizes his reservation of the firstborn to himself with this statement, “Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” (Ex. 13:15b-16) Not only will the doing of God’s commands affect all we do; now we see that God’s reservation of firstborn shall become signs and memorials to others. The reason for this has now become clear. At the time of the first Passover the LORD himself “by a strong hand” delivered his people “out of Egypt.” But on a coming day, a day which will fulfill “Second Passover,” God’s overcomers, the manchild, will deliver mankind out of an entire world’s tyranny and dominion. This is why they wield a rod of iron.

Now let’s consider another name which God calls these firstborn sons. These sons of God, named the manchild in Revelation 12:4-6, will also be called the firstfruits of creation. The very first of the firstfruits was, of course, Jesus himself who fulfilled the firstfruits offering which was part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The Feast of Unleavened Bread itself is the seven day feast which follows the day of Passover. The Passover lamb was killed on Nisan 14 and the actual passover of the death angel first occurred in Egypt on the night of Nisan 15, at midnight (soon after the changing of days from Nisan 14 to Nisan 15). The Feast of Unleavened Bread began at the beginning of Nisan 15 and continued to the end of Nisan 22. See Leviticus 23:4-8. Also, according to this section of Scripture the barley firstfruits offering occurred on the day after the regular Sabbath day during the Feast of Unleavened Bread which alway occurs on a Sunday. Moses wrote,

⁹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹ and he shall wave the sheaf before theLord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.¹² And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³ And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah^[b] of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma,and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.^[c] 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (Lev. 9-14)

Jesus rose again early Sunday morning, the day after the Sabbath after the Passover on which he was crucified. Before he could be touched by men he had to ascend into heaven to present himself as the fulfillment of the firstfruits offering which always occurred during the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Paul mentions this in the following verse:

²⁰ But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Cor. 15:20)

The rest of this passage concerns other human beings who will one day experience a similar resurrection from the dead.

²¹ For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For “God^[c] has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. ²⁸ When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:21-28)

I understand that verse 23 above makes it sound like there is only one group of Christians who will be resurrected, i.e. those who belong to Christ at his coming, but I am convinced from other Scriptures that at least two to four or more other groups will also be resurrected from the dead. First, I believe a group known as “Christ the firstfruits” will be resurrected. After that I think the Bride of Christ will experience the “rapture” she has always longed for.  ”Those who belong to Christ at his coming” in 1 Corinthians 15:23 evidently means the Bride of Christ who makes herself ready prior to his coming. And, as mentioned in the previous post, the manchild comes to maturity and fruition before the Bride. Also, a group of Christians which must have their part in the Lake of Fire and will not receive their glorified bodies until their souls have been purged of leaven appear to be resurrected into mortal bodies shortly after the Bride is glorified. Their glorification probably occurs at the end of the millennium at which time a fourth group enters into its time of judgment and purification. Revelation 20 mentions these things, but a further discussion of these four groups is beyond the scope of this article. Finally, then, let’s consider one more prophetic word concerning these firstfruits of creation.

Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. ² And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, ³ and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. ⁴ It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, ⁵ and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless. (Rev. 14:1-5)

These “144,000″ have now become totally identified with the Lamb (the real Passover Lamb) and his Father, so identified in fact that their spiritual names are “written on their foreheads.” This implies that their heads, their minds, their wills have become one with the Lamb’s and his Father’s minds and wills. Notice also that these redeemed from the earth are now perfect, just as Jesus taught them to be. This is because they have now been fully conformed to God’s image. Another way to think of this is to see them as the first people to have grown into full maturity according to God’s creative mandate he declared in the beginning.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man^[h] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

It is because the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 14 are the first to be fully conformed to God’s image that the he calls them the “firstfruits” of creation. This is the goal of creation; this is why God created man. God’s work on earth is nothing less than procreating himself. This explains all the marriage imagery in Scripture between God and his people and it also explains why God considers man so important that he would literally incarnate himself in human flesh and suffer humiliating death on the cross in order to ensure man’s salvation and ultimate completed creation.

A further application of the principle of applying the lamb’s blood at Passover is found in the Book of Deuteronomy.

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him. (Deuteronomy 11:18-22 KJV)

Notice that God commanded his people to write his words upon the door posts of their house, door posts which would have been smeared with the Passover lamb’s blood. John tells us that Jesus himself is the Word of God who was made flesh and dwelt among us. Paul calls Jesus our Passover, so of course, the lamb’s blood represents Jesus’ blood. Now recall Jesus’ testimony when he revealed that he was the bread of life. He said in part,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58, ESV)

Returning to the Feast of Passover now, first the people of Israel applied the lamb’s blood, representing Jesus, to the door posts of their houses. Later they wrote Jesus’ words upon their homes. These actions symbolically and prophetically represent spiritual salvation through the blood of Jesus, which reconciles us to God, and then soul salvation by eating Christ’s blood (applying Jesus’ words to our lives) which brings us into the full status of being a son of God.

Now recall what Peter says concerning us, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5 KJV) And consider what Hebrews says concerning this:

Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) (Hebrews 3:1-11 KJV)

The passages directly above thus show us that even the houses in ancient Israel prophetically pointed to each of us individual believers in God (Jesus Christ). We become believers when we believe that Jesus died for our sins and shed his blood for our reconciliation with God. We eat his blood (spiritually) when we eat his words, when we assimilate his words into our lives and make them part of us. This is a progressive salvation. It begins in our “most holy place,” our spirits, and moves outward to what is supposed to become our “holy place,” our souls. The final, or third salvation, is the salvation of our bodies which occurs at our glorification, our resurrection from the dead. This can only occur after we each achieve the second salvation (the one of which Paul says, “work out your salvation in fear and trembling”). Jesus Christ has already effected the first salvation, but most people remain in the prison of their unbelief and cannot begin to walk the path of “becoming” a son of God yet.

God guarantees all men the salvation of their spirits, although few have understood this presently. Consider the following verse which I believe irrefutably proves this. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22) Clearly it is the same “all” who die in Adam who shall be made alive in Christ. It makes no sense to say that this refers to two different groups of people or to say that Paul really meant to add the words “who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior” after the second use of the word. (What exactly was it that God said would happen to people who added to Scripture? Look it up if you can’t remember!)

Now look at a couple obscure verses from the Gospel of John. Just before Jesus’ betrayal he said, “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” (John 12:36) In the beginning of his book John said, “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.“ (John 1:12) Both Jesus and John make the point that believing in Jesus as Savior is only the beginning. That is the step that everyone must take before he can even begin to walk on the path to “becoming” a son of God.

So, if believing in Jesus as Savior (putting the lamb’s blood on our door posts) only gives us the initial right to become a son of God, what must we do make it a reality? We must also “drink” that blood… we must write his word on our door posts as well.

Now continuing with God’s specific purposes for giving Israel his Law,

3) Third, God gave men his law so that they would have an objective standard for discerning good and evil, for making good judgments. He established laws of morality which defined his character and which explained to the people the character he expected of them. These laws were designed to enable Israel to establish an ordered society that would not fall into chaos and depravity as we now witness in America who has forsaken them. Of course Israel itself fell into the same sorts of depravity and lawlessness. These laws were also designed to establish justice whereby men could live in peace and harmony in an ordered society.

This discernment of good and evil is what Hebrews calls “the teaching about righteousness.” Understanding it explains why God ever created the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to begin with.

 {6} So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. {7} Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. (Gen 3:6-7 NKJV)

Some things are hard to understand. For example, why did God create man if He knew that man would sin soon after his creation? And, why does God hold man accountable for that sin if He knew that man would sin? God also knew that man would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, didn’t He? He knows everything, the end from the beginning. God is sovereign and does as He pleases. He also knew the result of man’s eating of the tree, that he would “become like one of Us, to know good and evil” (Gen. 3:22).
Man’s eyes were “opened” as a result of eating that unlawful fruit. This doesn’t mean that he could see the natural world for the first time, for Eve “saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes” before she ate of it. (Gen. 3:6) This opening of man’s eyes related to the moral and the spiritual, not the physical and the natural. Adam and Eve became moral beings when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Immediately, “they knew that they were naked” and they knew that their nakedness had to be covered. (Gen. 3:7) They had seen that they were naked before, in Genesis 2:25, but then they were not ashamed.
In the New Testament we learn that the doctrine of discernment of good and evil concerns only the very mature. This becomes particularly interesting when we consider the fact that God initially told mankind not to eat of that tree. Why, for example, does God even esteem this type of discernment? The Hebrews’ writer could barely discuss this topic with his people. He said:

{11} [Melchizedek] of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. {12} For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. {13} For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. {14} But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Heb 5:11-14 NKJV)

The same is true today. One usually cannot even discuss the Biblical doctrine of discerning good and evil, i.e. of judgment, without being called legalistic, arrogant, unloving, proud, self-righteous, and on and on. Today, as in the days of Paul; almost all Christians remain unskilled in the word of righteousness, and thus, remain babes in Christ. Because they cannot understand they either turn to lawlessness or back to the Old Testament Law itself.

Let us determine to grow up now and redeem the time because the days are evil and the time is very short. Melchizedek, whose name means “King of Righteousness and Justice,” is first introduced in Genesis 14:18. The Book of Jashur identifies Melchizedek as Shem, son of Noah. Most Christians believe he is an earthly manifestation of the preincarnate Christ. Regardless of his actual identity, it is no coincidence that the King of Righteousness and Justice also appears here in the passage that speaks of discerning good and evil. Mature Christians should be able to eat the meat of the Word of God. Then, by constantly using the Word, their senses should be so exercised that they can discern both good and evil. This means that they should be able to righteously judge the issues of life, but rarely can we find a Godly man competent to do justice, i.e., to judge righteously. To do justice means to separate between the good and the evil with a righteous understanding that can only be provided by God.

The teaching about righteousness includes the doctrine that one will do the good instead of the evil when he becomes capable of discerning between the two. The ability to do good comes about by receiving a new heart from our heavenly Father. Our new heart is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews explains this when quoting Jeremiah: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Heb. 8:10) None of us have as yet received an entirely “new heart.” We still walk about in bodies of flesh that remain subject to and do sin. Now, though, is the time to bring our minds into agreement with God.

All of us still retain parts of our old hard heart of unforgiveness and bitterness, but we are exhorted by Christ in Romans 12:1-2 to renew our minds by adhering to His Word and by refusing conformity to this world. If we do not obey His commands we will forever remain hard-hearted. God would say to the hard-hearted: {3} “For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. {4} Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.” (Jer 4:3-4 NKJV) Jeremiah prophetically warns Christians in words similar to those we see in the book of Hebrews.

We find the major theme of Hebrews in verse 5:13. It is the “teaching (word) about righteousness” which is defined in verse 14 as the Christian ability to “discern between good and evil.” The Greek word translated “discern” here is the noun form of the verb diakrino. Vines says that diakrino signifies “to separate, discriminate” and “to learn by discriminating.” He goes on to say that the word means “trying oneself, `discerning’ one’s condition, and so judging any evil before the Lord.” He also states that “regarding oral testimony in a gathering of believers, it is used of `discerning’ what is of the Holy Spirit.” The noun form, diakrisis, is used here in verse 13 to speak “of those who are capable of discriminating between good and evil.” In Rom. 14:1 the word has its other sense of decision or judgment….” To discriminate means “to judge,” so this word literally speaks of judgment between good and evil.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, therefore, typologically points to the ministry of Melchizedek, which is the ministry of justice and righteousness. It also speaks of the judgment (separation) of good and evil. These are the defining characteristics of the Teaching about Righteousness discussed in Hebrews. Separation, then, also speaks of the mature ability to discern (judge) between good and evil. Hebrews teaches us that one must exercise his senses by constant use of the meat of the Word of God before he can so judge. Most people do not do this and this explains why judgment of sin in the church rarely occurs today. It also further explains the doctrine of separation, this time in terms of discernment and judgment. Even man’s judgment and separation from God for originally eating of this tree points typologically to this prophetic discernment and judgment.

4) Fourth, God established laws of separation which taught Israel to be a people separated from the ways of the world. In order to teach this lesson he established laws which in the natural, on an external, observable level, made Israel appear different than the other nations of the earth. This explains why he established so many laws for which most people see no good reason today, laws like wearing garments made of only one type of cloth, laws forbidding the eating of “unclean” animals and allowing one to eat “clean” animals, laws mandating the wearing of tassels on ones garments, and so on. These laws actually establish the doctrine of the carnal (natural) vs. the spiritual.

We see from Genesis 3:9-19 and 4:3-15 that God still spoke directly to man even after Adam ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is because there is still ground for relationship by virtue of the blood sacrifice for sin, which speaks of spiritual salvation. God Himself shed the first animal blood which was a type of the blood sacrifice of Jesus. Spiritual salvation, effected by the blood of Jesus, brings with it a “clear conscience.”

{13} For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, {14} how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Heb 9:13-14 NKJV)

God makes it clear to mankind, through Abel’s accepted sacrifice, that He must have a blood (animal) sacrifice in order to accept man into His presence. Cain, however, would have none of it. God was showing through His demand for a blood sacrifice that He requires a man’s true life (soul) to be separated from his physical existence. This is the meaning of the blood, the life (soul), being separated from the body. Rather than offering the sacrifice that God requires, which is a sacrifice that requires a separation of the life (blood) from the body, Cain killed his brother instead. This prophetically showed the separation among men, even saved men, which sin causes. This is a picture in the natural of the separation of the spiritual from the carnal believer. Here is Paul’s description of these two types of believers:

{13} These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. {14} But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. {15} But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. {16} For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. {2} I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; {3} for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (1 Cor 2:13-3:3 NKJV)

It is normal for a babe in Christ to be carnal. Such a one needs the milk of the Word in order to mature. But, it is abnormal and unhealthy when believers, after five, ten, twenty, or more years, still exhibit the carnal thoughts and attitudes of a babe in Christ. The picture of the carnal vs. the spiritual Christian is further illustrated by Jesus’ parable in Luke:

{42} And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? {43} “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. {44} “Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has. {45} “But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, {46} “the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. {47} “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. {48} “But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more. (Luke 12:42-48 NKJV)

Here we see the principle of the separation of Cain and Abel prophetically applied by Jesus in the teaching of the separation of the carnal from the spiritual Christian. The wicked servant in the parable above is a Christian. Just as Cain beat and killed Abel, so the carnal, wicked Christian “beats” the spiritual, faithful servant of God. How? By unwarranted criticisms and by social and business ostracism. The carnal Christian holds on to sin and justifies his doing so while the spiritual Christian repents of sin and relies upon the power of the Holy Spirit to enable him to forsake the sin totally. The carnal Christian refuses to separate himself from the world’s pleasures, sinful relationships and the allure of mammon. The spiritual Christian comes out from worldly ways and maintains a life of holy separation to God. This separation of the spiritual from the carnal in the book of Genesis looks all the way forward to the end of the Bible, to the culminating Scriptures regarding the Doctrine of Separation.

{14} Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? {15} And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? {16} And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” {17} Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” {18} “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.” (2 Cor 6:14-18 NKJV)

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

Paul and Jesus also teach us how we must ultimately relate to the Christian who refuses to grow up and continues doing the things of the world. Paul teaches us to separate ourselves from the “evil” Christian, saying,

 {10} Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. {11} But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; not even to eat with such a person. {12} For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? {13} But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.” (1 Cor 5:10-13 NKJV)

Jesus makes it clear that such a separation must even reach to one’s own family if necessary when He says,

{49} “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! {50} “But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! {51} “Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. {52} “For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. {53} “Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter- in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:49-53 NKJV)

Jesus says that this kind of separation will be necessary just before His second coming. This is why he tells the story of the faithful and wicked servants at the time of His second coming right before he says that He came to bring division (separation), not peace! Then He explains that His wicked servants should be able to discern the times, but that they cannot do so because of their hypocrisy:

 {54} Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. {55} “And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. {56} “Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? {57} “Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? (Luke 12:54-57 NKJV)

Finally, He warns those who refuse to repent of their sins and hypocrisy that not only will they be subject to separation in fellowship by His faithful servants, but also by Him when He judges them at His judgment seat:

{58} “When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. {59} “I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite.” (Luke 12:58-59 NKJV)

In this final parable of Luke chapter 12 the adversary is the faithful Christian who has been slandered, reviled, or otherwise wronged by the carnal (evil) Christian. The magistrate is the “first in rank and power,” i.e., Jesus Christ. As magistrate He is the Judge who delivers the evil Christian to His officer, who could be a powerful angel or, more likely, a glorified saint. The prison is the place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” that Jesus warns believers about in Matthew 24:51. This warning from Matthew 24:51 culminates a parable which is quite similar to that of Luke 12:42-48. All three pictures, the weeping and gnashing of teeth, the casting into prison, and the beating with many stripes describe Christ’s judgment and punishment of His own servants. The separation of the spiritual from the carnal is the Word of the Lord for all of his people RIGHT NOW. If we refuse to heed Christ’s word of separation, then we will be punished by Him.

The laws of Moses taught these things in the natural, but obeying them could not bring them into spiritual reality. Thus Jesus had to come in person to explain what he meant and to empower us to accomplish these things in reality, i.e., spiritually.

Conclusion

These four aspects of God’s one law explained above were meant to teach his people the principles of his kingdom, a kingdom founded upon righteousness and justice, grace and truth, mercy and law. But, as Jesus told them, they failed to understand and correctly apply the Old Covenant laws. Instead they made God’s good laws into traps for the unwary, preventing others from coming into the fruit of God’s kingdom, and never coming into the spiritual understanding of those truths themselves. Jesus finally rebuked them saying,

“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13)

“And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:7)

5) And finally, Jesus summed up all of the Old Covenant laws with exactly one law, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” He explained this one law like this, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.“ (Matthew 7:12 KJV)

I tread here today with much fear and trepidation, for if I am wrong then I will surely be called “least” in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said the following:

¹⁷ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

¹⁹ Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰ For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)

There are many today who claim that the bolded verses above prove that Christ’s life, work, crucifixion, and resurrection changed nothing concerning the Mosaic law (except perhaps the blood sacrifices). If we could take Christ’s words only at face value and only in the context of the first twenty verses of Matthew 5, and if we totally ignore all of Paul’s writings, the Book of Hebrews, and the rest of what Jesus says, then we could honestly come to that conclusion. But Matthew 5:1-20 does not comprise the entire New Testament, nor the whole Word of God. In order to understand Jesus’ words here, therefore, we must examine “these” other Scriptures.

When Jesus says, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,” what does “these” refer to? Does it refer to all of the Old Testament laws of Moses or does it refer to “these” commands which Jesus is about to expound? I believe that Jesus meant the commands he was about to teach for immediately after saying “these … commandments” Jesus himself begins to change some of the Mosaic laws.

Some will argue that he didn’t really change them, he just made their application more difficult and demanding. For example, under “these” new commands I become guilty of adultery even if I look at a woman with lust, which is much less of an action than if I actually have sex with her. Now I become liable to the judgment for murder if I become angry with a brother, again much less of an action than actually killing someone! And so I teach that we must not commit adultery and I also teach that we must not dress seductively, look lustfully upon seductively dressed women, and that we should not watch pornography. And I teach that we must not murder, that we must learn to overlook insults and not become angry with others, and that we must forgive others for their offenses to us. So, yes, I agree. Jesus did not actually change these laws; he deepened them and made them even more difficult to obey. But, in this next passage Jesus did in fact change the Old Testament law.

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic,^[h] let him have your cloak as well. ⁴¹ And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. (Matthew 5:38-42)

I believe that Jesus took this saying from the following passage:

¹⁹ If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. (Leviticus 24:19-20)

This passage from Leviticus says that if someone slaps you, then slap him back. In fact, if anyone injures you in any way, then this lex talionis mandates an equal injury be visited upon the first offending party. Jesus changed this law. He said, “Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Judaistic Hebraic Roots teachers and followers, did you hear this? Jesus changed the Law! Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, who said, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”

And yet what Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 5 teaches people already taught by the Holy Spirit nothing new. Joseph, husband of Mary, already knew this principle of law. Thus, when he thought that Mary had committed adultery and become pregnant the Scripture says, “And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.” (Matthew 1:19) Yet, the Law said

Paul’s Use of the Law in 1 Corinthians 9

Many of us view God’s Law as something harsh and terrible. Our minds have become blinded to the truth because we have listened to teachers who have not understood God’s Law. We ourselves have failed to correctly apprehend this doctrine from our own faithful study of God’s Word. Thus we became convinced that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ meant an end to all application of God’s Law. We, like so many others, have believed a lie. Thus Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit’s knowledge of this future heresy, presents us with doctrinal truth concerning God’s Law as a premier example of “food sacrificed to idols” (God’s truth sacrificed to the idols of our heart)

In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul applies specific Old Testament laws to particular New Testament circumstances. Be sure to review 1 Corinthians 9 again to see this. He applies the Law to New Testament doctrine. The Law clearly, then, does not end in Jesus. Rather, it reaches its goal, or fulfillment, in Jesus. Most of us have, for some reason, never realized nor understood this. Our minds have been blinded to the truth of what Paul does in this chapter because we have eaten food sacrificed to idols all of our lives. We have believed the doctrine of demons that says, “adherence to and/or application of God’s Law is legalism and to be avoided by the devout Christian,” or “the Law is symbolized by the Genesis Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and is, therefore, an evil thing that Christians should avoid at all costs.” Paul’s many writings, including his application of the Law here, conclusively prove the grievous error of such common views.

Here Paul takes two specific Old Testament laws and applies the principle of each to a New Testament matter. First he uses the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” to teach that ministers of the gospel should be paid in the natural for their spiritual work. (vss. 7-11) Second he shows that the law which provided food from sacrifices to the Levite priests establishes the principle that “those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” (vs. 13-14) These two examples alone conclusively prove that Old Testament laws still apply during New Testament times. We do, however, need to seek God’s wisdom concerning their applications because often we would be in error if we simply started doing them in some vain attempt to show God that we really love him.

In verses 19 to 22 Paul declares that he is even willing to live under Old Covenant ceremonial practices if it will help to win Jews to Christ. He also says that he is willing to live without any of these if it will help win the Gentile. He makes it clear, however, that although he may live as a Gentile “without the law,” he never lives as one “without law toward God,” but always lives “under law toward Christ.” (vs. 21) The meaning of this phrase has become another one of God’s many mysteries in these latter days.

Paul’s Advice to Timothy Concerning the Law

{1} Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, {2} To Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. {3} As I urged you when I went into Macedonia; remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, {4} nor give heed to fables and endless \genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. {5} Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, {6} from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, {7} desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. {8} But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, {9} knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, {10} for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, {11} according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. (1 Tim 1:1-11)

Paul begins his first letter to this true son, Timothy, with a command to teach “no other doctrine” than that explained to him by Paul himself. He begins his explanation of this doctrine with the purpose or goal of the gospel and the Law. The goal of the “commandment” or gospel is love. This Godly love proceeds from “a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” This corresponds to what we know to be the greatest commands given by Christ, (1) to love God and (2) to love men. Jesus tells us that all of the Law and the prophets are summed up in these two commands. (Mat. 22:37-40) Since these two commands “sum up” the Law, this means that the two commands are defined by the Law and the prophets. Otherwise the phrases “love God” and “love men” have no meaning. We simply could not know what “love” means without the instructions of the rest of the Bible.

In this passage Paul tells Timothy exactly who is under the Law. He lists fourteen specific sins and then adds the sin of “any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.” First, see that each of these listed sins constitutes what Paul calls “sound doctrine.” Thus he is defining sound doctrine as teaching that corresponds to the truth found in God’s Law. Paul tells Timothy that the Law is for every single person who commits any of the fourteen specific acts he mentions and for anything else a person does that is contrary to sound doctrine. Paul, therefore, teaches that if any Christian commits any of these fourteen acts or any other sin that is contrary to sound doctrine, then the Law is for that Christian. According to Galatians, the Law will then act as a tutor to lead one back to Christ and a Spirit-led life.

Understanding the Book of Galatians

 But, how can the Law still be relevant? Is it not true that Galatians says, “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:2-3)

Thus we see that the Law never does make us perfect. Why, then, is it still important? Galatians answers all these questions. First, we see that the Law “was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24) Proper teaching of God’s Law brings an unbeliever (including unbelieving Christians) into the knowledge that he has sinned by breaking God’s Law. This leads him to seek forgiveness by believing in the work of Christ which brings him justification by faith. This is the way that anyone becomes a Christian. The Holy Spirit in His grace convicts a man of sin and then gives him the faith to believe that Jesus atoned for that sin. See Ephesians 2:8.

The problem with most Christians, however, is that they do not perfectly hear the Holy Spirit after they first believe and, therefore, are not led by the Spirit. Paul tells us a little later in Galatians that “if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Gal. 5:18) This directly implies that if one is not led by the Spirit, then he comes back under the Law. We need simply look to our own lives and the sins that we have committed and then been convicted of by the Holy Spirit and we will see this is true. The working of the Law and the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the life of a sinning Christian brings personal conviction of sin. The Law itself defines sin according to Romans 7:7. No one could even identify particular sins if not for God’s Law. The Holy Spirit brings conviction of law-breaking according to John 16:8. The Holy Spirit’s Law-based conviction leads a Christian back to a healthy relationship with Christ through repentance and forgiveness. This is true so long as he does not harden his heart toward God. If a sinning Christian will at least read or hear some of God’s Word, then the written word, the Law, can still stir his heart and cause repentance and faith to spring up once again. Remember how the Levitical sacrifices themselves prophesy this truth. (See Part I of my book When We Awake for a full exposition of the Levitical sacrifices)

Every Christian needs to come to an understanding that it is Christ in him, i.e. the Holy Spirit in him, that will first convict him of sin and then empower and enable him to keep God’s commandments. Yet, this occurs only if we develop a desire to keep Christ’s commands. God’s Word, so long as we attempt to hear it, continues to convict us of certain areas in our lives that do not line up with Christ’s life. This is the “fiery law” of Deuteronomy 33:2 that burns our flesh, our sinful nature. The Law through the convicting and changing power of God’s Spirit purges our dross, and conforms us to Christ’s image. For our part, we must never make the mistake that we, in our own power, conform ourselves into the image of God. God works through His Law and Holy Spirit to convict us of sin and lead us to Christ. With broken, mournful hearts we fall before God and beseech Him to change our hearts, to write His laws on them, so that we may do His will from our hearts and not our heads. Our hearts (souls) must change. The Law helps us to understand that and the Holy Spirit prosecutes and persecutes us until we either do change by God’s power, or utterly rebel against God.

Thus, when Paul asks, “Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” we answer, “No. We will not become circumcised in our flesh in order to be justified before God to have fellowship with Him. Neither will we, by the power of our flesh, perfectly obey God’s commands so that we become sanctified, holy and have fellowship with Him. Rather, we will believe Jesus and enjoy fellowship with Him. We will then learn to honor and love God’s Law. We will allow Him to write that Law on our hearts so that we can obey Him by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us.”

Very little Scripture (the Bible) has to do with getting one to believe in Jesus Christ in order to “be saved.” Rather, the majority of holy writ concerns preparing ourselves to one day see God face to face. David believed, “As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” (Ps. 17:15) Does this same faith and hope to one day awake in Christ’s likeness dwell within each one of us? This present series of writings will focus on this idea in depth.

You may believe that the idea or doctrine of one day awakening in God’s likeness is simple and expected for all Christians, but stop and think about it. God used sixty-six different books to convey this message and he primarily used prophetic stories called parables as his mode for presenting this truth. The New Testament says that Jesus never taught anything unless he spoke in parables. So, consider, did his method differ with the Israelites in the previous age? I don’t think so. I believe God’s method of presenting truth remained consistent from age to age. Just as Jesus expressed God’s ways through his many stories that we call parables so I believe that the historical accounts of the Old and New Testaments, although factually true, were his sovereignly orchestrated parables designed by him in order to teach prophetic, or spiritual, truth.

Parables themselves represent God’s application of the theological principle known as “first the natural, then the spiritual.” Paul states this concept three different ways to the Corinthians.

1. 1 Corinthians 2:14
   The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
2. 1 Corinthians 15:44
   It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
3. 1 Corinthians 15:46
   But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual.

The Old Testament,  except for the prophetic writings, basically conveys natural, historical events. Rarely in ancient Israel do we come into contact with men filled with God’s Holy Spirit. The natural thus appears as the norm in Old Testament writings, not the spiritual. The New Testament, however, differs radically from the Old Testament in that most of the writings concern spiritual doctrine rather than historical facts. This does not mean that the Old Testament writings are not spiritual, far from it. God simply hid the spiritual from us by couching it in natural language and historical facts. 

Why do you think that Jesus used parables in order to teach? Do you think that he used the vehicle of a story in order to make his meaning more clear? No, I tell you that he used parables in order to hide the truth, so that he might fulfill the word of Isaiah,

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see you indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people dull, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return, and be healed. (Isaiah 6:8-10 KJ2000)

Isn’t this interesting? God sends his preacher, Isaiah, to go tell his people that they will hear but will not understand God’s word. And isn’t that the way history has unfolded? We could fill countless libraries with all the books which have been written trying to explain the Bible. And most of those books would be filled with false doctrine because men have heard God’s words, but have not understood them.

Why, then, did Jesus use mysterious stories most people could not understand to teach his truth? Because truth is costly and it is his truth which ultimately qualifies us to partake of the greatest prize of all, oneness with God, or as David says, awakening in God’s likeness. Consider his admonition to the Laodiceans.

Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white clothing, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. (Revelation 3:17-18 KJ2000)

Laodicea describes much of Christianity in this present time. Most Christians believe they are rich in terms of their spiritual possessions. But Jesus says they “are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” They hear the Bible, but they do not understand it. Their teachers teach it, but even their teachers do not understand it. And why? Because they have not obeyed their Savior’s command to “buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white clothing, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.”

“But I thought salvation was free!” you say. Yes, your spiritual salvation is free, but this talks about your soul’s salvation.” And you reply, “I thought the salvation of my soul was by faith and was free too!” Yes, it is. We “buy” from Jesus by asking him in faith for that which we need as Isaiah explains,

Ho, everyone that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. (Isaiah 55:1-3 KJ2000)

God began to teach us the way to become like him long ago in the books of Moses. He laid down the Law for Israel and commanded they obey it.  This law, though, was natural, or “carnal” as the writer of Hebrews describes it in Hebrews 7:16. Because it was carnal it could “make nothing perfect.” (Hebrews 7:19)  It is now, though, through the Holy Spirit that we can re-examine God’s Law and all the Old Testament and discern that the natural laws and history presented there were actually parables which tell a prophetic story. The natural parables, then, point to a spiritual reality. It is this spiritual reality which God now wants his people to understand.

Scripture itself is as a seamless garment. Once we understand this we learn to affirm with the Hebrews’ writer that the “gospel [was] preached … [to Israel], but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” (Hebrews 4:2) The way for us now, then, is not to return to the natural laws of do’s and don’t's prescribed for ancient Israel (I except here the moral laws which the New Testament constantly reaffirms), but to seek to understand the spiritual implications of those manifold laws, to learn to interpret the parabolic importance of each law and each story, for the laws and stories all foretell the same thing… man awakening in God’s likeness!

A Song of Ascents, of Solomon.