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)

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.”

For most of my Christian life, now over 35 years, I have been called “legalistic” because I teach obedience to God and his laws. I have tried to “keep the commandment” according to my understanding. For all these years I have taught that God’s Law, the Old Testament law of Moses, is relevant and that we ought to obey it as Christians. But, I have also always made the distinction between the moral laws and the ceremonial laws. I did not write much before regarding the ceremonial laws because I knew of only a few Christians who taught that we ought to keep them and did not consider their teaching to be mainstream enough to deal with. In fact one of these, Rousas John Rushdoony, I respect very much, especially for his excellent treatise on the Law called “The Institutes of Biblical Law.”

Today, however, this has changed. Although the mainstream churches still tend toward lawlessness a new group of Bible teachers has emerged which now attempts to place Christians back under the Law. Yesterday I received a comment from a reader who identified quite a few of them. She said, “The Hebraic Roots movement with its high profile teachers, i.e., Bill Cloud, Jim Staley, Michael Rood, Brad Scott, 119 Ministries, etc. are poised to bring many that are disillusioned with the greasy grace of the new emergent churches who teach lawlessness to the other side of the pendulum under bondage to law keeping.” I am not familiar with everyone Emily mentions, but I have listened to the teachings of two ministries in this list and can verify her comment as dead-on accurate. But, in my attempts to expose these false ministries by teaching the truth I do not want anyone to think that I believe God’s Law to be irrelevant. The truth is quite the opposite. Therefore I will now provide this aspect of God’s truth, that God’s Law must be honored by his people.

{19} For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; {20} and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; {21} to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; {22} to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. {23} Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

When men use the word “justice,” we often think in terms of the lex talionis, the civil law of retaliation and the Biblical doctrine of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This also is the way that most Christians view God’s Law and God’s justice. Jesus taught, however, that the real heart of God’s Law is justice and mercy. He knew that God’s justice never comes to people without being mixed with His mercy, according to the Scriptures, “Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed,” (Psalm 85:10) and “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” (Mat. 23:23) Here Jesus calls “mercy” one of the “weightier” matters of the Law. In other words, mercy represents one key aspect of God’s Law. Ultimately this means that God will not deal with mankind according to the strict concept of the lex talionis, for if he did we would all be destroyed.

The Origin of the Law

God Himself declared the Law directly to Moses. The story of God’s declaration of the Law to man begins in Exodus 19 and continues throughout that book and the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. He declares the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. Recent years have witnessed increasing attacks upon God’s Law. Some say that Satan actually declared the Law. Others say that the Law equates to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Still others say that the God of the Old Testament is the Father, who is harsh and unloving, and that the God of the New Testament is Jesus Christ, who is merciful and loving. These teach that Jesus “put away” the Law. All of these assertions are blasphemous heresies.

Jesus Christ Himself is the One who appeared to and gave Moses the Law on the mountain in Exodus 19. We know this from several Scriptures. First, God revealed Himself to Moses as “Yahweh” in Exodus 6:2-3. This was a new revelation of God to man for He had revealed Himself before only as “El Shaddai” to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob according to Exodus 6:3. Later, God revealed to Moses His future name, Yashua, in Exodus 15:2. This verse literally reads, Yahweh is my strength and my song, and He has become my Yashua; This is my God; and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him. This verse prophesies God’s incarnate name, Yashua, which is typically translated “salvation” in this verse. The name Yashua, however, is usually translated Joshua in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament. Many of today’s teachers who want to put Christians back under the law seem to take great delight in pronouncing Jesus Yashua as if the “correct” pronunciation has some spiritual effect upon us. The point of Exodus 15:2, however, is that God (Yahweh) is Jesus (Yashua) our salvation.

The prophet Isaiah also prophetically proclaims the incarnation of God in Isaiah 12:2-3, which literally reads, Behold God is my Yashua, I will trust and not be afraid. For Yah Yahweh is my strength and song, and He has become my Yashua. Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of Yashua. Jesus alluded to this verse in John 7:37-38 which says, “On the last day, that great day of the feast [of Tabernacles], Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. {38} “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Jesus says that if any man thirsts for spiritual truth he should “draw water from the springs of Yashua.” The “Me” in John 7:37-38 is “Yashua” of Isaiah 12:3. Jesus thus reveals Himself here as the “salvation” prophesied in the Old Testament. He is God (Yahweh) who became Jesus (Yashua) in the flesh. He is Immanuel, God with us, God in the flesh. He is the One, therefore, who gave the Law to Moses. Johns speaks very clearly about this at the beginning of his gospel:

 {1} In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} He was with God in the beginning. {3} Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. {4} In him was life, and that life was the light of men. … {14} The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. … {17} For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:1-4, 14, 17 NIV)

 Concerning His relationship to the Law, Jesus proclaimed,

 {17} “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. {18} I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. {19} Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:17-19 NIV)

Has “everything” been “accomplished” yet? Jesus has not put all His enemies under His feet yet; nor has He given the Kingdom back to His Father according to 1 Corinthians 15:24-27. No, everything has not been accomplished. Not “the least stroke of a pen,” therefore, has disappeared from the Law. It remains relevant. This is exactly what Paul teaches his churches. And this is exactly where the confusion comes in. If we take Jesus’ last statement above,  ”Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” to mean that Christians ought to obey every jot and tittle of the Old Testament law, including sacrificing animals and wearing tassels on our clothing, then we have utterly misunderstood the Gospel. Why? Because then there is no Gospel, no New Covenant. We simply remain under the Old Covenant and its requirement to fully obey God’s Law in order to be justified before God.

If we interpret Jesus’ words without the the apostles’ explanations, then we should still be sacrificing animals in order to be accepted by God. But every Christian knows that we no longer must offer bloody sacrifices to God. The reason for this is that Christ’s death and resurrection brought about a change in the Law. The Law remains, but its forms and our relationship to it has changed. Now let us attempt to understand this change. (First begin by reading the three posts just prior to this one).

⁹How can^(A) a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
^10(B) With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not^(C) wander from your commandments!
¹¹I have^(D) stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
¹²Blessed are you, O LORD;
^(E) teach me your statutes!
¹³With my lips I^(F) declare
all the rules^[a] of your mouth.
¹⁴In the way of your testimonies I^(G) delight
as much as in all^(H) riches.
¹⁵I will^(I) meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your^(J) ways.
¹⁶I will^(K) delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word. (Psalm 119:9-16)

The second stanza of Psalm 119 answers one of mankind’s greatest needs. It tells us how to raise the coming generation in purity of thought and action. America’s parents and leaders knew this, yet in 1963 The Supreme Court hammered one nail into our coffin by outlawing the reading of the Bible and prayer in our public schools.  Christian parents put another nail into our coffin by not immediately removing all of their children from public schools. If they had, the new law would have been changed in a day. The Supreme Court foolishly or evilly, depending upon their intent, said in their opinion,

“Because of the prohibition of the First Amendment against the enactment by Congress of any law “respecting an establishment of religion,” which is made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, no state law or school board may require that passages from the Bible be read or that the Lord’s Prayer be recited in the public schools of a State at the beginning of each school day – even if individual students may be excused from attending or participating in such exercises upon written request of their parents.” (SCHOOL DISTRICT OF ABINGTON TOWNSHIP, PENNSYLVANIA, ET AL. v. SCHEMPP ET AL. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA. No. 142. Argued February 27-28, 1963. Decided June 17, 1963, Pp. 205-227)

The Court rendered this decision when I was attending third grade public school. I still remember singing, The Battle Hymn of the Republic in this particular school and I think it was this very year. Here are the words to that stirring song:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His day is marching on.

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal”;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel,
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Since God is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet;
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

Today there exists hardly a public school in America where you can hear this song. And if you did, some unbeliever who also heard it would likely file suit against them and prohibit it from ever happening again. But, this song was the “battle hymn” of this republic, America. Now any so-called hymn of our public school would deal more with vampires, satan, and pre-marital sex than anything of God.

Can anyone really wonder why judgment has come upon this once great land?

In my generation I have seen my country, that country which has been esteemed for many years as the preeminent “Christian” nation in earth, turn utterly and totally away from God’s Law. What was once illegal and considered vile is now legal  and often praiseworthy among the nations leaders, America’s judges, mass media, and teachers.

We now live in the time when men call evil “good” and good “evil.” Those who proclaim the truth will be blacklisted and oppressed in these evil days. I have personally seen it and have even been subjected to it. Because men have rebelled against God’s Law and now actively persecute his people, His judgment must now come. In fact that judgment has begun. Only one thing can stop it. Our nation must repent of its many sins and embrace God’s ways as its ways.

I am now going to begin a series of short articles which praise the virtues of God’s Law. I will base this upon Psalm 119. Psalm 119 is a Hebrew “acrostic” poem. Each stanza of eight verses begins with a Hebrew letter, each in order from the first letter of their alphabet to the last.  Here are the first eight verses.

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep your statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all your commandments. I will praise you with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned your righteous judgments. I will keep your statutes: O forsake me not utterly. (Psalms 119:1-8 KJ2000)

God promises blessings to the person or nation which walks in his ways. A curse, of course, is the alternative to those persons and nations who refuse to embrace truth and the way of righteousness. Only those who endeavor to keep his ways will be unashamed when Jesus comes to rule the earth. Only their praise shall be accepted by him. Let us each determine to walk in God’s way of truth, righteousness, and morality.

 Justice also will I make the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. (Isaiah 28:17 KJ2000)

Righteousness, says Isaiah is the plumbline; it defines perfect moral straightness and integrity with relationship to God. Justice, on the other hand says Isaiah, is the measuring line. It measures horizontally between man and man. To act with justice means to act in equity, integrity, and morality toward other men.

In the beginning God gave us his Law in written form in order to enlighten our understanding with respect to living righteously before him and with justice toward men. The first five commandments give broad directions for living righteously before God.  1) The first commands us to have no god besides Yahweh, the LORD; 2) the second commands to make and serve no idols, no representations of God; 3) the third commands us not the take the LORD’s name in vain (today millions take our LORD Christ’s name in vain by calling themselves Christians. They will be among those to whom Jesus says, “I never knew you!”); 4) the fourth command enjoins us to honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy; and 5) the fifth commands us to honor our parents (We must honor our parents for they stand in the place of God to us when we are young. God defines proper order through this and it relates to the “fear of the LORD). All five of these first of the Ten Commandments define a righteous relationship with God.

The second set of the Ten Commandments instead deal with our just relationships with our fellow men. 1) The first, command number six, says “you shall not kill;” 2) the second says, “you shall not commit adultery (all forms of fornication, including homosexual acts are included in this prohibition); 3) the third of the second set says, “You shall not steal;” 4) the fourth prohibits lying; and 5) the fifth prohibits coveting, or lusting after your neighbors’ possessions.  Notice how all five of these commands deal with person to person relationships.

Now consider that the Law defines God’s conception of “truth,” his exact requirements regarding our relationship to him and other men. We see specific examples of the application of this Law, however, which now affend our sensibilities, which now do not appear to be merciful. This includes the example of the man stoned for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. God began the revelation of his Word by giving us his Law before he revealed his great mercy. This is because mercy, unbridled by the Law of truth, is lawless. It allows anything, requires no accountability, and leads to the destruction of the world. We see the effects of unbridled mercy, called grace, in all the Western world today. Here sin and lawlessness reign as men exalt their vileness. But, God revealed truth in the form of law to inform those who would one day be qualified to rule this world.  These ones, these elohim, these overcomers, have been prepared from the beginning of the world.  They will wield God’s truth (God’s rod of iron) in mercy.  This is that which will sweep away men’s refuge of lies in which they dwell.

Continuing now with this thought that mercy and truth comprise God’s dialectic, let’s consider particular ideas expressed by the Bible. Righteousness and justice comprise the foundation of God’s throne according the following Scriptures:

Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore he made you king, to execute justice and righteousness. (1 Kings 10:9 KJ2000)

Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you to set you on his throne, to be king for the LORD your God: because your God loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore he made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness. (2 Chronicles 9:8 KJ2000)

Righteousness and justice are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face. (Psalms 89:14 KJ2000)

Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and justice are the habitation of his throne. (Psalms 97:2 KJ2000)

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:7 KJ2000)

And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking justice, and hastening righteousness. (Isaiah 16:5 KJ2000)

As you consider the verses above think of a railroad track. Railroad tracks consist of two distinct rails. Think of one as righteousness, the other as justice. Each rail differs from the other, but they are similar. Where one goes the other goes. Their destination is the same. Their purpose is the same. But, they are not the same. Similarly, consider a coin.  Every coin has two sides, heads I win, tails you lose! Each side of a coin differs from the other side, but they make up the same coin. Righteousness and justice are like both the railroad track and the coin. Each word conveys specific and individual ideas, but each ultimately gets us to the same place like a railroad track and its two rails. Or, as in the case of coin, the two sides are parts of the same thing. This analogy helps us to see the oneness of righteousness and justice. We can take this a step farther with the verse, “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” (Psalms 85:10 KJ2000) Remember what has been taught in the previous posts of this series, we could write the last part of this verse as “righteousness and justice have kissed each other.” Now consider this idea in terms of the marriage of a man and woman. Scripture tells us that not only do they kiss one another, they “become one.” Two separate, distinct beings become one! Thus is it with righteousness and justice, or mercy and truth. The two become one.

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. 

Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. (Psalms 32:8-9 KJV)

The controversy ever and anon seems to be, “Will I approach God and be accepted by him based upon the works of my flesh, or upon his work for and in me?” The Old Testament teaches us that no one can perfectly obey the Law and thus “earn” his own salvation. Man, in his own power, simply can never be like God, as Israel’s history proved. Knowing this Jesus taught Israel’s leaders, “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” (Matthew 12:7 KJV) He said this when he justified David for committing a lawless act, that is, an act that was specifically prohibited by the Law which God gave Moses and Israel. David and his mighty men, being hungry, ate the Bread of Faces (showbread) which only Levitical priests could lawfully eat. Jesus reminded the Pharisees of this account because they were just then condemning him and his disciples for plucking and eating grain on the sabbath. This would have been considered ”working” on the Sabbath. 

Both David’s and Jesus’ acts were similar in that both were technical violations of God’s Law! Yes, we can say that Jesus violated God’s written Law, at least insofar as men understood it. Remember, Moses taught that one ought not even kindle a fire on the Sabbath; how much less ought one work on the Sabbath by harvesting food! Why didn’t Jesus just instruct his disciples to fast this particular seventh day? Certainly Jesus, a man who had fasted 40 days straight, could expect his own disciples to fast one day. But, he did not choose to fast and he did not want his disciples to fast either. He intended to teach us a lesson concerning God’s plan with mankind.

Remember the man caught by Israel collecting sticks on the Sabbath. They brought the man to Moses and asked him what the judgment should be. Moses inquired of God and God commanded, “Stone him to death.” So, all Israel then stoned the man to death. What is the difference between what this man did in collecting sticks, what David did by eating the showbread, and what Jesus did in harvesting grain on the sabbath? In the natural there exists no difference. All three acts violated God’s revealed law.

The difference between these three acts, therefore, may be a difference in the hearts of each man involved. The Scriptures do not reveal the heart of the man collecting sticks, but we do know the hearts of David and Jesus. Or, the difference may be, and this is what I believe, in the types that each man represents. The man caught collecting sticks represents man under the Old Covenant. He is man under the Law. He must do everything exactly right, according to the written instructions of God to Moses, or he becomes disqualified. He must die. This is the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, the difference between the natural and the spiritual. David and Jesus, on the other hand, obviously represent men under the New Covenant who are not obigated to perfectly keep God’s Law in order to be accepted by him. In the natural we all break the Law and we all die. In this age we all remain utterly incapable of keeping all of God’s Law so long as we remain bound in this carnal flesh. Even the most spiritual of the Old Testament, like Moses and David, could not perfectly keep God’s Law. Thus Moses died before he reached the promised land and David fell into the most heinous acts known to man, adultery and murder, and lost his kingdom for a time. Jesus, though, shed his blood that men could be reconciled to God without perfect obedience to God’s Law.

What, then, is the point of the Law? The Law acts for humans as the bit and bridle does for the horse. Like the bit for the horse, the Law keeps the man on the right path. But, says Paul, the goal or end of the Law is Christ for righteousness.  See Romans 10:4. And the Law is our tutor which leads us to Christ. See Galatians 3:24. Yet, it is not God’s purpose that mankind always be restrained by a rigid set of dos and don’ts. Saying this I do not intend to bring the Law to naught, for if we break God’s moral laws, then be assured that that law will once again discipline us as a rigid schoolmaster and drag us to Christ in repentance and for forgiveness.  But his goal is that that law be written upon our hearts. For then God’s very eye will be our eye, always leading us in righteousness, and thus will be fulfilled the saying, “I will guide thee with mine eye.” (Psalm 32:8)

Entering God’s Rest (10)

Now we have seen that, once we believe in Jesus, we can only enter God’s rest when we, mere dogs (Caleb) in relation to our Creator, Jesus (Joshua), willingly take his yoke upon us. Only then, according to the picture given in the 40 year Exodus journey, can we ever enter into the promised land, the Kingdom and rest of God. For we also saw in the very beginning of this study that every one of us still commits every single sin that Israel committed along its way. This shows that no one enters God’s rest by perfectly obeying God’s Law. We simply cannot do it.

Jesus taught us in his short earthly ministry and by his apostles that rest comes not by strict obedience to the Law (Torah), but by that Law instructing a conscience that has been tempered with grace, with mercy. Paul said, “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24), but the Law never loses its position or calling as our schoolmaster, even after it succeeds in drawing us to Christ. Just try to break any of the moral injunctions of the Law, like adultery, theft, or murder, and see whether or not the Law drags you back to Christ in repentance, shame, and dread. These moral laws, all the laws of the ten commandments and their corollary laws in the books of Moses, remain binding upon us. But, the ceremonial and sacrificial laws, according to Galatians and Hebrews, do not still bind us.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works by love. (Galatians 5:1-6 KJ2000)

Circumcision was the first and perhaps the most important of all ceremonial laws. It dated all the way back to Abraham, far before Moses. Circumcising a child on the 8th day of his life was so important that it could even be done on the Sabbath without breaking the Sabbath law of rest.  And with respect to other sacrificial and ceremonial laws Hebrews says,

Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering you desired not, but a body have you prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you desired not, neither had pleasure in them; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10 KJ2000)

What is the ‘first” Jesus takes away? It is the “sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin,” all of the sacrificial and ceremonial laws. And what is the “second” that he establishes? His will. It is the coming into agreement with Christ’s will which brings us rest.

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 KJ2000)

When we yoke ourselves to Jesus we have come to the place in our thinking where we can say that we agree with him and want to do his will. As our mind is renewed, our will is transformed. When our will has merged with his will, then we have come into his rest.

And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2 KJ2000)

Entering God’s Rest (8)

God gives us two witnesses to instruct us concerning entering his rest.  These two are typified by Moses and Elijah who appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.  But what do these two types actually represent?

Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn you from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. (2 Kings 17:13 KJ2000)

God originally gave the Law to Moses. Moses himself was the first prophet who revealed and explained the Law. After that God sent other prophets to help Israel understand and walk in God’s ways. The prophet Hosea gave perhaps the greatest and most succinct summary of God’s plan as follows:

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6 KJ2000)

Jesus himself quoted this verse in Matthew 12:7 when he rebuked the Pharisees for their legalism which perverted the true intent of the Law. This really is amazing. Think about what this comment actually means.  We could, for example, quote Hosea by saying, “I desired mercy instead of the sacrifices required by the Law,” or “I desired that you get to know me and my ways instead of strict obedience to the many sacrifices of my law.” When Jesus thus rebukes the Pharisees he reminds them of David and his men eating the bread of faces, the “showbread.” The Law specifically stated that only priests could eat this bread, yet Jesus justified David even though he “disobeyed” this law. This is because the heart of the Law is mercy and justice, not strict obedience to specific rules. David and his men needed that bread in order to be able to continue in God’s will.

This does not mean that we can sometimes freely disobey moral laws like adultery and fornication, or coveting and idolatry. In fact Jesus taught that the New Covenant rules concerning these issues were even more stringent than Moses’ laws.  He said, for example,

You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28 KJ2000)

You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:21-22 KJ2000)

On the other hand, Jesus implemented new laws which seem to make the Mosaic law less strict when he said,

You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That you resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. And whosoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two. (Matthew 5:38-41 KJ2000)

The fact is that Jesus does not implement a new law; he interprets God’s Law as he intended it to be understood and carried out. Most people view Old Testament law in terms of being a judgmental, harsh set of rules. They end up calling Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament,  (who is, in fact, Jesus, the God of the New Testament), a harsh legalistic God. Then they view Jesus as much gentler and loving. No, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus explained the Law in ways hitherto unknown. In Jesus the Scripture is fulfilled,

Mercy and truth are met together; justice and peace have kissed each other. (Psalms 85:10 KJ2000)

When truth and mercy meet they form the intersection of  law and grace, that is, justice and peace. The Law informs our reason as to truth and justice. Grace informs our conscience as to mercy and peace.  These are the two witnesses, then, mercy and truth. And they are explained by the prophet who understands the Law.

Part 1: Entering God’s Rest