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Christ’s Priestly Prayer – Part 1

John 17:1–5 (ESV): …he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Although Mt 6:9–13 and Lk 11:2–4 have become known popularly as the “Lord’s Prayer,” that prayer was actually a prayer taught to the disciples by Jesus as a pattern for their prayers. The prayer recorded here is truly the Lord’s Prayer, exhibiting the face to face communion the Son had with the Father.

Very little is recorded of the content of Jesus’ frequent prayers to the Father (Mt 14:23; Lk 5:16), so this prayer reveals some of the precious content of the Son’s communion and intercession with Him. John chapter 17 is a transitional chapter, marking the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry and the beginning of His intercessory ministry for believers (Heb 7:25).

In many respects, the prayer is a summary of John’s entire gospel. Its principal themes include: 1) Jesus’ obedience to His Father; 2) the glorification of His Father through His death and exaltation; 3) the revelation of God in Jesus Christ; 4) the choosing of the disciples out of the world; 5) their mission to the world; 6) their unity modeled on the unity of the Father and Son; and 7) the believer’s final destiny in the presence of the Father and Son.

The chapter divides into three parts: 1) Jesus’ prayer for Himself (John 17: 1–5); 2) Jesus’ prayer for the apostles (John 17: 6–19); and 3) Jesus’ prayer for all NT believers who will form the church (John 17: 20–26). 1

In John 17:1 the hour has come for the time of His death. (see John 12:23). The very event that would glorify the Son was His death. By it, He has received the adoration, worship, and love of millions whose sins He bore. He accepted this path to glory, knowing that by it He would be exalted to the Father. The goal is that the Father may be glorified for His redemptive plan in the Son. So He sought by His own glory the glory of His Father (John 13:31, 32).

In John 17:2 we note that Christ has authority over all flesh. (cf. John 5:27; Mt 28:18).  A reference to God’s choosing of those who will come to Christ is noted “to all whom You have given Him” (John 6:37, 44). The biblical doctrine of election or predestination is presented throughout the NT (John 15:16, 19; Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29–33; Ephesians 1:3–6; 2 Thess 2:13; Titus 1:1; 1 Pe 1:2).

In John 17:3 eternal life is brought into focus. (cf John 3:15, 16; 5:24; 1 Jn 5:20). In John 17:5 Jesus prays “glorify Me together with Yourself”. Having completed His work (John 17: 4), Jesus looked past the cross and asked to be returned to the glory that He shared with the Father before the world began (see John 1:1; 8:58; 12:41). The actual completion of bearing judgment wrath for sinners was declared by Christ in the cry, “It is finished” (John 19:30).

1 MacArthur Study Bible NASB

Understanding the Law and the Gospel

My interest in theology is Spirit-driven, believing that Christ leads us into all truth. I acknowledge Him mapping my itinerary in the Word, moving me to clearer doctrinal discernment, with respect for those teachers who have inspired me thus far.

Yet often, when one expands on the law of God in relation to the gospel, there is a fear exhibited by the brethren of Antinomianism (the displacement of the law with the gospel). For this reason, I want to clarify my beliefs once and for all. As a Sabbatarian, which honours the fourth commandment, it is paramount.

If a man cannot distinguish between the law and the gospel, he can never understand any penetration depth of divine truth. If we cannot appreciate the holy law as meant to convict us of sin, and guide us to believe Christ, we cannot have spiritual transformation discoverable in the gospel in the face of Christ. If our view of the gospel is wrong, it often is because the law of God is misunderstood.

That which the precept of the law requires as a duty, the promise of the gospel, offers hope to meet the duty. Whatever commands the place of duty occupies in the law, the place of privilege is experienced in obedience to the call of the gospel. Duties required in the law, call for the insight of grace as it widens faith, articulated in the language of the gospel.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (see Exodus 6:6; 20:2; 13:3; 15:13,16; 29:46) set the preface to the ten commandments as the rule of life to the faithful Israel of God, the children of Abraham, now offered to the true church among all nations. (Galatians 3:26, 29) The giving of the law at Sinai with this offering of Himself as redeemer is repeated many times in scripture!

According to the obedience of the redeemed of the Lord to the precepts of his law – the obedience is founded upon the recognition and respect of the articulator of the law, — Yahweh, Israel’s God, and redeemer.

In the laws of our redeeming God is the profound teaching in relation to his law, by which he would reform his people after many years of slavery. (Galatians 3:23-24) The offer to redeem his children and reform them in accord with his law was a type of his new covenant gospel, which he expressed and repeated to enforce our obedience to every commandment of his law as we enter and accept our duty bound to his privileged deliverance from sin in Christ.

Let us consider the law in the light of this privilege of the gospel’s offer of redemption in Christ, with help from my brother, the Puritan John Calhoun, as tightly edited herein to our current colloquium. Among my many studies on law and grace, John Calhoun excels. 1

The law is God’s curriculum that he uses to teach us the primary covenantal progressive guidance that the Holy Spirit still uses to convincingly lead us into the confession of sin and full redemptive atonement and reconciliation with Himself when we observe Christ’s righteousness as he forgives and covers us with His love witnessed in the gospel.

Every passage of scripture is divine revelation, either by administration of law or of the gospel — different in some respects but in agreement by their mutual use of leading and calling his children unto himself.

If our knowledge of the law and the gospel is superficial and indistinct, we will be in danger of mingling one with the other, potentially misunderstanding both legalism and libertarianism, both antithetical to God’s love. Luther, in his commentary on the epistle to the Galatians noted, such an indistinct understanding “doth more mischief than man’s reason can conceive”.

If we blend the law with the gospel, mixing our good works with our faith to earn unmerited salvation, we may miss the fact that we are redeemed from the condemnation of the law, which we are now freed to respect, especially in the understanding of justification.

In the adherence to a lifestyle hoping for sanctification, we must allow the Spirit to work his good pleasure within us, rejoicing in and not obscuring Christ’s glory of redeeming grace, and obtain the joy and peace of his deliverance to the freedom from fear and penalty of the law to the reverence of his moral ethics found in the same law. If you can praise God when you read the Decalogue in Exodus chapter 20 or rejoice when you read Psalm chapter 119, you will understand this peace.

The self-accusatory carnal mind may blind one to the inestimable value of believing in Christ’s substitutionary death in our stead. Without the righteousness of Christ understood as imputed to us by faith, we wear the blindfold of legalism, which retards our progress in the peace and joy of aiming forward to the responsible reformation of trusting his working holiness within, from which good works follow as led by him (Proverbs 3:6; Matthew 6:33).

Conversely, if we can distinguish clearly between the covenant of law and the new covenant of the gospel and yet comprehend both being of grace, we will then come under the illuminating influences of the great light of the Holy Spirit urging us to obey our glorious Lord in all things, even as obedience pertains to His commandments which reveals our sin and our constant need of our Sovereign Lord Christ.

The understanding that the moral law of God is necessary to discern the glory of the whole progressive covenantal scheme of redemptive grace, reconciling all passages of law and grace in scripture which to some may appear contrary to each other – the gospel calming our consciences inspiring us to advance in sanctification toward holiness, which is the opposite of transgression of law (1 John 3:4; Romans 5:20).

As stated in the Decalogue, the law is summarized in the two primary royal laws to love God and our neighbour (Exodus 26:33; Matthew 22:40) — shared by Moses and later in the gospel restated by Jesus. It helps to view Christ properly as our creator (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16), the lawgiver at Sinai, and future judge and articulator of law (1 Corinthians 10:3; Romans 14:10).

In the Trinitarian form of His son Jesus, our Saviour-Redeemer, Yahweh, saved Israel from Egypt and further us from the world (. He advocates the same divine law yet expands the more formally articulated moral laws of the Ten Commandments, understood by those led by the Spirit in mutual synchronicity with the gospel when we are freed from the law’s penalty when we submit to Christ as Lord. The scripture attests that our salvation preceded human life on earth: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1: 3-6 ESV)

The moral law signifies God’s declared will, directing and obliging humanity to do what pleases Him and to abstain from what displeases Him.

The harmony of the law and the gospel indicates their mutual subservience to one another for securing and advancing the honour of each other, in subordination to the glory of the triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as displayed in the person and work of Christ, our Redeemer.

The law was initially presented as a covenant of works, but now, without the rituals of sacrifice finalized in Christ, is an ethical rule of life, which demands of sinners only that which is offered and promised in the gospel within which everything is freely promised and offered to them, which the moral law, in any of its forms, requires.

The gospel presents to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who met every demand of the law in its old covenant form, amending it to the status of the new covenant by grace with his blood (Hebrews 8:22; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25; Romans 3:25; Galatians 2:16). Jesus magnified the law via the gospel making the law honourable, holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), while it offers and promises the infinite fullness of Christ, by whom Christians may be regenerated and sanctified by faith, enabled to yield obedience to the law as a rule of life as we progress in our relation to Christ in ongoing sanctification, being conformed to his image (Romans 8:29).

The gospel reveals and offers Christ’s righteousness to satisfy the law as a covenant; moreover, it promises and offers strength to obey the law as a rule. Via the Holy Spirit, written in all the divine promises of scripture, the gospel supplies the grace and strength necessary for the acceptable performance of every obedience that the law as a rule of life requires of believers (1 Peter 1:4).

Christ, as our sinless substitute, redeems a man or woman from the due penalty of disobeying God’s law, meeting the requirement of death in our stead, thereby presenting the good news of redemption, the assurance of our peace so that we may accept his substitute righteousness on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:25).

The righteousness which the law as a covenant demands, the gospel affords, being imputed to believers (Philippians 3:9), as the only merits for the offence, being death; offering a continuum in holiness of heart and life, which the law as a rule requires, which the gospel promises and having accepted Christ is obtained (Romans 8:4). Thus, it is clear that the law and the gospel agree together as they mutually serve each other even now as sinners come to realize their need of a Saviour.

How does the law, as a covenant of works agree with the gospel? We cannot cordially believe the gospel without apprehending the need for obedience to the law (Romans 3:23-24). Nor can we yield obedience to the law unless we, by believing the gospel, are equipped by the Holy Spirit and scripture to fathom obedience to the law as a progressive state in the gospel (Romans 8:4). Although entirely distinct from each other, law and grace have no separate agenda, no interfering partisan interest to serve (Romans 3:31).

The principles of the law and the promises of the gospel harmoniously reflect the highest honour in each covenantal period (Galatians 3:21).

The law requires from the sinner perfect human righteousness, which the gospel affords to it— a righteousness which is perfect because it is divine (Romans 10:4; 2 Peter 1;1; Galatians 2:21; Philippians 1:1; Romans 5:21; Romans 3:22; Philippians 3:9; Romans 8:10; 1 Corinthians 1:30).

The grace revealed and offered in the gospel supplies a powerful motive and new disposition to “remember and turn to the Lord.” While the law commands penitential sorrow, the gospel’s grace promised by the Spirit inspires heartfelt sorrow and repentance (John 16:8- 9).

The law directs our mind to acquire all the grace offered in the gospel, while the gospel offers the precious blood of Christ all the requirements of the law (Romans 8:4). The law requires perfect and perpetual obedience as the condition of eternal life; whereas the gospel admits and asserts the necessity of such obedience by affording it to the believing sinner via the great and precious promises engaged by the Spirit in obedience (1 Peter 1:16; 2 Peter 1:4; 1 Corinthians 10:13). The condemnation of the law with its terrors of judgment, under the illuminating grace of the Holy Spirit, serve, to show a convinced sinner his extreme need of the salvation which is presented to him in the gospel.

The law condemns all who reject the gospel, and the gospel, on the other, is antithetical to all who finally transgress the law (1 John 3:4). The terrors of the law frighten and impel convinced sinners to accept the offer of the atonement of Jesus Christ; with the redeeming love manifested in the gospel.

With its commanding and condemning power, the law is in harmony with the gospel as the law leads the sinner indirectly to Christ. The law is our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ so that we might be taught our absolute need of him; the gospel presents Christ as the end of the old covenant of works whereby man sought to keep the law, offering us accountability for an imputed righteousness, never achievable before Christ’s redemption (Galatians 2:21; Hebrews 7:19; Romans 10:4).

The law magnifies the grace of the gospel by showing the sinner his need for justification and salvation by that grace, and the grace of the gospel establishes and magnifies the law. While the precepts and penalties of the law serve as a guard to the gospel, the doctrines, promises, and offers of the gospel serve to support the authority and honourable respect of the law (Romans 8:4).

The threatening of the law and the mercy revealed in the promises of the gospel meet and are bound together in Him. The righteousness manifested in the law and the peace proclaimed in the gospel, offering the righteousness of Christ, do in him embrace each other. “Mercy and judgment kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10).

While the law is an infallible witness, sinners acknowledge that they indeed have no righteousness of their own, under which the offers and calls of the gospel are addressed to them (John 14:6; 6:37). The gospel exhibits in the wonderful person and work of Christ, the highest proofs of the infinite authority, and perpetual stability of the law whose demands Christ met on the cross. (John 19:30).

The righteousness of Christ offered believers the fulfilment of the law: the glory of the gospel on behalf of sinners, offering a proprietary surety of righteousness commanded in the law (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10; Romans 3:25; Romans 8:4).

We are invited in the gospel to accept the gift of it and to present it by the hand of faith to be freed from the curse of the law, which is eternal death. In answer to its high demand, Christ’s infinite satisfaction for sin and His perfect obedience as the condition of eternal life is now presented to the Father as our righteousness, which he imputes (or covers us with). Thus, the law as it is the covenant of works is fulfilled in Christ in harmony with the gospel. Christ’s atonement on our behalf is advocated on our behalf before the Father. Christ, as our High Priest in heaven before God, ministers on our behalf (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 6:19; 7:25).

When the law as a covenant presses a man forward or shuts him up to the faith of the gospel, the gospel urges and draws him back to the law as a rule. The law is his schoolmaster to teach him his need for the gospel’s grace; this grace will have his heart and his life regulated by no rule but the law (Romans 7:7-13; 1 John 2:1).

If the law commands believers, the grace of the gospel gently teaches them to love and to practice universal holiness. What the law, as a rule of life, binds us to perform, the grace of the gospel constrains and enables us to do via the Spirit in obedience (1 Peter 1:3- 5).

The commands of the law reprove believers for going wrong (Hebrews 12:10), and the promises of the gospel, so far as they are embraced, secure their walking in the right way (Ephesians 4:13, 24). The former shows them the extreme folly of backsliding; the latter is the means of healing their backslidings and restoring their souls.

The gospel or word of Christ, dwells only in those who have the law of Christ, put into their minds, and written in their hearts (1 Corinthians 3:16; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16,19; Psalm 51:10). The law cannot be inscribed on the heart, without the gospel, nor the gospel, without the law. Just as they are found together in the same Divine revelation, they dwell together harmoniously in the same believing soul. So great is the harmony between them that they can reside nowhere separate from each other.

While the precepts of the law show the redeemed how very grateful and thankful they should be for redeeming grace, the grace of Christ in the gospel produces praise with adoring gratitude. The law enjoins and encourages believers to receive daily by faith more and more of the grace of the gospel, qualifying them for more spiritual and lively obedience to its principles. The gospel supplies them with every motive preparative to seek this assistance, encouragement unto obedience.

The law reveals the believer’s duty, while the gospel is the focus of duty. It is by the almighty influence of the gospel, in the hand of the Holy Spirit, that the law is inscribed on the hearts of believers, and it is in consequence of having the law written on their hearts that they desire and trust in Christ for the blessings promised in the gospel.

The law enjoins the habit and exercise of faith; the gospel presents Christ, the glorious object of faith.

The law requires believers to love God with all their hearts, but it is the gospel only that presents God in such a view as to become an object of love to a sinner, namely, as the Father is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.

The law enjoins mourning for sin: the gospel presents Christ as wounded for our transgressions, who, when believers view with the eye of faith, mourn for him as for an only son and are in bitterness for him as for a firstborn.

The law commands them to worship Yahweh – the Father- as their God; the gospel discloses to them both the object and the way of acceptable worship of Him through Christ.

The law is a transcript of all God’s moral perfections representative of His character, and so likewise is the gospel and the representative man, Jesus Christ, the express image of the Father. The law is the image of Yahweh’s holiness, justice, and mercy, as revealed by Christ in the gospel, and, as such, is “holy, just, and good.”

All who are renewed after Christ’s image, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, do evidence this renovation of heart by delighting in his law and by loving and admiring his gospel; by rejoicing greatly in the imputed righteousness, which, the demands of his law as a covenant are all answered, and in salvation by sovereign grace, in which, the promises of his gospel, are all performed.

If a man has attained a saving and experimental knowledge of the gospel, he will undoubtedly evidence it by obedience of heart and life to the law in the hand of Christ as a rule of duty. A man can never perform holy obedience to the law so long as he remains ignorant of the gospel, but when he begins spiritually to discern the truth of the doctrine of redeeming grace, he will then move to begin to perform spiritual and sincere obedience, to the law of Christ as a rule as led by the Spirit of Christ.

The legalist expects happiness for his duties, but the true believer enjoys it in them, and the less he expects for them, the more he enjoys in them. The more he believes the gospel with application and trusts cordially in the Lord Jesus for salvation, the more his “faith works by love,” and the more he appreciates communion with Christ.

Because the law and the gospel harmoniously agree, believers need to be cautious so that they do not set the two in hostile opposition to one another. The opposite is true; one believer ought not to accuse another of being an Antinomian (the displacement of the law with the gospel) simply because he expounds the grace of the gospel’s purpose to be elevated in the means of obeying the gospel via revealing the empowerment of the Holy Spirit’s application of loving God and his neighbour as a fine summary of the law, as revealed by Christ to Moses at Sinai and later to us.

Clear and just views, especially of the agreement between the law and the gospel, under the influences of the Spirit of truth, promote a holy and cheerful frame of mind. Under such a view, you will be able to guard against setting the law in opposition to the gospel.

1 Colquhoun, John. A Treatise on the Law and Gospel,1890.

The 7th-Day Sabbath Marked Off in Time at Creation

The following is taken from a theological study I concluded in 2013 primarily using scripture but never published. After reading it over with deep conviction, I decided to edit and present it here in Grace Proclaimed. God led my wife to my old articles as she cleaned our office cabinets and plopped them on my desk for perusal.

While contemplating Genesis 1, we encounter references to God’s method of marking time in the context of the sixth literal day of the creation period and the literal 7th-day Sabbath rest.

The first chapter of Genesis immediately engages our minds to perceive that the prophet Moses was given the account of creation: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” and “the Spirit of God was hovering over” the process of this Creation. (see Genesis 1:1-2 NIV)

Please note that the same Spirit who informed Moses achieved the Creation “In the Beginning” and reported that process to be recorded prophetically for the human race. The same Spirit who informed Moses of Creation, peripheral and after the time when God, who referred to Himself as “I am” and further “Yahweh,” called him to deliver His Israelite people from Egyptian slavery (when Moses was attracted to the burning bush), also presented during the span of his prophetic writings, both the record of the 7th-day Sabbath being blessed at Creation and command to remember the same 7th-day Sabbath as a holy and blessed day of worship when the Decalogue was later presented at Sinai. It is noteworthy that Moses presented the same Sabbath in the time-context of his major prophetic writings from when he lived with his father-in-law Jethro, on or before age 80, to his death at age 120.

It is also essential to understand that salvation for the entire world—not just the Jews—was also established at Creation, which Jesus makes very clear: Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. (Matthew 25:34 NIV)

Jesus Christ’s Sovereignty Over Creating the Sabbath

Jesus Christ, as our Creator, also established the 7th-day Sabbath at Creation. He said: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27 ESV) Since Jesus instituted the potentiation of redemption at Creation for all mankind, it is only logical to take the same view about His instituting the 7th-day Sabbath for all mankind even though Moses was only speaking in the wilderness of Sinai to the Israelites when he said: Yahweh has given you the Sabbath. (Exodus 16:29 ESV/Hebrew re Yahweh)

The Sabbath was instituted at creation time, much like marriage. It was written in the commandments as a forever reminder of creation and furthermore was reinforced by Jesus as a day for healing and doing good deeds. I think the 7th-day Sabbath is a vital part of salvation and that’s why Satan fights so hard to get Christian’s not to keep it properly.

The 7th-day Sabbath was instituted at creation time, much like marriage. It was written in the commandments as a forever reminder of creation and furthermore was reinforced by Jesus. I think the sabbath is a vital part of salvation and that’s why Satan fights so hard to get Christian’s not to keep it property.

Jesus Christ, as Creator, uniquely instituted and governs the method of marking time. The Sovereign Authority of Jesus Christ is noted in Colossians 1. We are told that our Lord Jesus created the world with the Father as the primary architect of His Creation. He who the Apostle Paul notes, as currently “head of the body, the church” (verse 18), in the beginning of time’s continuum with mankind, is depicted by the Spirit through the prophet Moses, as our Creator, later articulated by Paul: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together… and he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Colossians 1:15-18 NIV)

In Colossians, the Apostle Paul taught that the inexorable authority of Jesus Christ is notably manifest in Genesis as the One spoken of as the Creator: “in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” Hence the first marking off of time in the Creation week was allocated by Jesus Christ as Creator; and as His Sovereignty continues, in His headship of the church in verse 18: he is the head of the body, the church.

The Deity of Christ at His first advent is confirmed by the Apostle John who declared His authority as Creator, which goes back to the Creation week: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. (John 1:1-4 NASV)

Jesus Christ, our Creator, through His Spirit, revealed via Moses, denoted His literal marking of time as follows: And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day”. (Genesis 1:1-5 NIV in context)

The first thing achieved during Creation was to create the “Day” marked off by “Time”. By so doing, the rest of the Creation week is mathematically separated, marked, and divided into six distinct units for our understanding. The first day-unit of the Creation week had two sectors—which God made very clear as he informed us: “there was evening and there was morning, one day” of which: “God called the light day, and the darkness He called night”. (Genesis 1:5 NASV)

Using the light of day, and the darkness of night, God separated components of time into 24 hour days (current time as expressed in hours) on the very “first day”. This division of time was also designed to mark off all time, using both the light of the sun (and the moon) as the measure of an increment of time: And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. (Genesis 1: 14-16 NIV)

Please note that our Lord’s Spirit taught us in the first chapter of Genesis a very important time-marking principle that He repeated 6 times over during creation:

“God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (verse 5)

“And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day”. (verse 8)

“And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day”. (verse 13)

“And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day”. (verse 19)

“And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day”. (verse 23)

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day”. (verse 31)

This same time division applied to the 7th-day Sabbath at Creation

Using the same division of time—the daylight of the sun (and the moon) as day markers—we see the seventh day come into perspective as God’s Spirit revealed this to the prophet Moses, in the context of having just completed the six literal-day summary of Creation: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens”. (Genesis 2:1-4 NIV)

We note clearly that the account is reckoned as completed in the counted off, six literal days using the day marker of the sun (and moon): “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:1-2 NASV)

The Sabbath is also reckoned by the Spirit as one day after and conclusive to these marked-off six literal days: “By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done” (Genesis 2:2 NASV)

The Sacred Peculiarity of the 7th-Day Sabbath

It is noted that God “rested” or ceased His creative activity, regarding His Magna Opus—His work of creating the entire panorama of the heavens and earth and all the species, including man: “…and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:2-3 NASV)

The principal teaching of the Spirit regarding the Sabbath is not that God stopped creating. We are told in Colossians that one of the glorious features of Christ’s supremacy over all Creation is that He also sustains His own Creation, which means He continues to create and maintain life on earth, through seeds creating their own kind as plants flourish; and the multiplication of the human species through regeneration: “all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17 NASV)

Though He ceased creating the plethora of creation, His omnipotent powers and omniscient mind continue to oversee and sustain all things established by Him.

Having noted the cessation from the primary magnificence of creation, we are told by the Spirit that, it was only then—in the context of coming after six literal days of creating, that: “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Genesis 2:3 NASV)

In the New Testament Jesus pointed out two things: 1) that the Sabbath was made and presented for man, and 2) that Jesus, as Creator, is Lord of the 7th-day Sabbath: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2: 27-28 NIV)

Thus, we see that the 7th literal day, marked off by the sun (and the moon) via evening and morning, was created by the eternal Spirit of Jesus Christ for man. It was not created particularly for His own use, to rest retrospectively pleased (as a lawyer contemplates winning a case) after His Creation works, as others erroneously teach.

I want to point out that all mankind, from the beginning of Adam and unto his progeny, had the Sabbath marked off. The unbiblical idea is that the all-knowing, omnipotent God needed to rest alone during the first 7th-day Sabbath to contemplate Creation’s achievement privately. That argument used to discount God’s specific method of denoting time disagrees with scripture. Jesus told us it was created and marked off for man, not for God’s private rest.

And for man, it is also noted by the Spirit as a period assigned with two things: 1) a blessing and 2) setting a period of time apart as sacred: “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Genesis 2:3 NASV)

Sacred time is marked off as a blessed period of a 7th-day week-day, not alone for God to review His achievements: “And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.” (Genesis 2:14-15 NIV) 

The Continuum of Time-Marking is given to Israel

The 7th-day Sabbath was marked off after man was formed on the sixth day before the fall of man: “the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7 NIV)

Man’s body and mind are created as the temple of the Spirit which is taught in the New Testament: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?” (I Corinthians 6:19 NIV) Man’s entire body and mind from Creation is designed as the temple of the Holy Spirit. On the 7th-day Sabbath — insofar as it was allocated as blessed and marked off as a literal day-unit of time in Creation week — man is designed, enabled and responsibly capable as a created being (man was given the powers of dominion over all Creation), to engage in a sacred sanctification of time in which He can glorify His Creator, in the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in mind and body. Here is where time was given to mankind to worship their Creator.

Further, the 7th-day time, marked off as a literal sacred day of holiness, with man at Creation, unified with the Spirit, is marked off again, much later, to the Israelites after Moses brought them out of Egypt: “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:11 NASV) Moses linked the law of God given to Israel right back to the time-marked period of Creation week (co-created by Christ within the Trinity): “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.”

Moses (a prophet of God) viewed the Israelites as one of the races of mankind in a continuum from the Creation of man, which he outlined in Genesis. Moreover, he viewed the Israelites as a race fathered by Abraham, selected by God to bear His name. The Israelites were also set apart as holy (Jesus, as the “I am,” spoke to Moses from the burning bush in Sinai, commanding him to lead His [Israelite] children out of Egyptian slavery). Set in the Decalogue, the Sabbath is seen as a determining feature of time-marking when Moses gave the Decalogue, which stated: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days, you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”. (Exodus 20:8-11 NASV)

Bear in mind that the Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years and had become slaves to the Egyptians. They would have lost sight of the Sabbath due to cultural differences or being tyrannically engaged in forced labour.  They were a people who were to have the Spirit of God present among them in His Mosaic Temple — as Israel began their Exodus in Sinai, out of Egypt — which temple was established through Moses, then only symbolic of the temple of the Spirit-led minds of men and women dedicated to Christ, which is now the true temple of the kingdom of God’s people – the church.

Even before the giving of the Decalogue—10 Commandment Law, when Moses was teaching how to gather the manna: “He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’” (Exodus 16:23 NIV)

Though we will not develop this line of reasoning here, it is noteworthy for Bible students to understand that God commanded Moses to re-institute not only the 7th-day Sabbath — but also circumcision and the sacrificial services. Of these laws, only the 7th-day Sabbath was given at Creation.

The Sabbath was inset among the eternal moral laws of God, which are supported by love to God first and love to mankind second.

The 7th-day Sabbath was not just for Israel.

The followers of Christ are depicted as spiritual Israelites. In the New Testament, Jesus depicts the Christian as a spiritual extension or anti-typical version of an Israelite in relation to a spiritual new Jerusalem, the place of His church’s temple: “Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name”. (Revelation 3:12 NIV)

The Apostle Paul similarly notes the Christian as a spiritual Israelite by connecting him to Abraham: “Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:7 NIV)

The bottom line is that only those filled with the Holy Spirit are enabled, whether at creation in Adam; or when Christ walked upon the earth and taught Nicodemus that His Spirit must abide in him in order to enter heaven; or at the time of the Apostles, when the Spirit abiding in Paul, clarified and forged the Gospel message; or at the Exodus when the Spirit prophesied via Moses; or prior to the last day, when the Spirit now abides in men and women in union with Christ — only these people are true sons of God: “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”. (Romans 8:14 NASV)

Paul makes it clear that it is only on our basis of faith in Christ, whether Israelite (referenced by the cultivated olive tree) or non-Israelite, that we are included in His salvation: “And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?” (Romans 11:22-24 NASV)

The covenants between God and the first Jews (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s progeny); and today’s Christians are similar as regards the indwelling of the Holy Spirit by faith. They are dissimilar by virtue of Christ’s expansion of the Gospel outside of the Israelite race who rejected Him and the prophetic directives of the Holy Spirit concerning the Messiah, even though the sacrificial typology of the slaying of the Lamb of God once bound them. Scripture makes it clear that the sacrificial types of Christ have become defunct in the anti-typical fulfillment of His final atonement on the Cross.

The Apostle Paul acknowledges circumcision to mean purification from sin: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him, you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ…through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead”. (Colossians 2:9-12 NIV)

There has been no disjoining of the Spirit-led creation of the time-marked literal 7th-day Sabbath from the spiritual Israelites by direct command of the Lord in scripture regarding a specific day made to be a holy time of worship.

The literal Sabbath is used as an analogy for being born of the Spirit.

We must carefully note that in Hebrews chapter 4, we can see that the spiritual rest of abiding in Christ is symbolized by remaining in the sacredness of the Spirit abiding within us, as a symbol of the blessed time of ongoing redemption: “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9 NASV)

The development of the passage in Hebrews 4 makes it clear that the Sabbath is an analogy of entering this time, when historically the Hebrews were being called by their Messiah and His Apostles to enter into faith in Christ: “Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest” (Hebrews 4: 1-3 NASV)

It is an oversimplification to place the Sabbath as only a symbol of Christ’s rest of faith. Instead, the Sabbath was used as an analogy in a positive sense of entering a blessed rest and abiding in the Spirit as commanded by God. The Sabbath analogy of a rest commanded by God was perfectly suited to teach the Hebrews the importance of entering into the relationship of rest in the Messiah’s kingdom. Consider that if the writer to the Hebrews was teaching them to replace their Sabbath period of worshipping God, prior to even entering a relationship with Christ, it would have been entirely rejected, because the institution of the 7th-day Sabbath was universal among Jews as a loving family time that the godly among them cherished. A rejection of the 7th-day Sabbath would not be a friendly way to woo the Hebrew mind to accept Christ by faith.

Conversely, in the same context and in a negative sense, a reverse analogy is used since Joshua’s entrance into Canaan can be depicted as not achieving true spiritual rest: “For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.” (Hebrews 4:8 NASV) In the same analogous context, the Sabbath presents the positive symbol of sanctified rest in Christ by faith. The Sabbath is used not to denounce the time-marked day of the Sabbath when all Jews worshiped (as did Jesus). Rather, it is used to present the importance of similarly entering the relationship to Christ by faith as a command of God. There are no allusions to cancelling the 7th day as the Sabbath, as it is a period set aside as holy in Creation and re-established by Moses during the Exodus.

Yet we must confirm that Jesus Christ made it clear that spiritual rest must first be acknowledged as a gift that only He can provide for the soul, which is to be enjoyed daily: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:20 NIV) and: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NIV)

Weak arguments used to discount the 7th-Day Sabbath

The Sabbath was only for the Jews’ argument. Some go so far as to conclude that Christ is our Sabbath based on Hebrews 4. They concomitantly tweak an analysis of Exodus 20 to ratify this view, seeking to hold that the Sabbath was only for the Israelites, being inset in a legal covenantal agreement while coming out of Egypt. That is dangerous semantic juggling, designed to discount the well-marked Creation Sabbath instituted by Jesus Christ as Creator with Yahweh and who Himself confirmed His Lordship over that day: “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28 NIV)

The Resurrection was on the 1st day of the week argument. Scriptures also do not support a transference theology that the Sabbath of Creation was transferred to the 1st day of the week, based on the day of the occurrence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ or that a meeting was recorded on the 1st day of the week to see Paul off on his journey.

The Roman Catholic Church changed the day to Sunday argument. Neither does scripture support Constantine’s political shifting of the 7th-day Sabbath, who historically selected Sunday as the day of worship for the newly forming Roman Catholic Church. From this day forward, an analysis of the Christian creeds has been skewed by both transference theology and such political influence on theology. Yet here in the Westminster Larger catechism we read a mention of the 7th-day Sabbath section 7.130:

Question 20. What was the providence of God toward man in the estate in which he was created?

Answer. The providence of God toward man in the estate in which he was created, was the placing him in paradise, appointing him to dress it, giving him liberty to eat of the fruit of the earth; putting the creatures under his dominion, and ordaining marriage for his help; affording him communion with himself; instituting the Sabbath; entering into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience, of which the tree of life was a pledge; and forbidding to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon the pain of death.

“Any day is okay” for Sabbath worship argument. Nor does the following argument of Paul, designed to stop the legalistic Jew from pushing Christians back into the old ways of keeping all the old feast days, such as the annual Passover, which was kept historically as part of the Mosaic sacrificial calendar as a day typifying the final slaying of the Lamb of God (as John the Baptist referred to Him). Conclusively, Jesus Christ fulfilled this shadow/symbol of slaying animals in the Jewish system when He was crucified on the Cross (as He died as our substitutionary ransom for the penalty reckoned for sin).

Paul taught not to judge anyone weak in the Christian faith despite these differences of opinion in the early church, which were bound to emerge: “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions…One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord” (Romans 14: 1, 5-6 NASV) The word “alike” is in italics in the NASV because it is not there. It reads “another esteems every day” (New Greek English Interlinear New Testament). Thus some regarded “every day” including the Jewish feast days, as do the Messianic Jews today.

Paul did not mean that every day “alike” is relevant for worship, such as Monday or Tuesday or Sunday, etc. He was teaching maximal forbearance toward one another’s beliefs at a critical time in history when God fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies pointing to the Jewish Messiah.

Jesus taught that all these old prophecies spoke of his sacrifice of Atonement for his beloved who would accept God’s method of redemption—prophecies such as: “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all”. (Isaiah 52:3-6 NLT) 

The Repetitious Erroneous Logic of the Un-Reformed Creeds of Christendom

Before and after the Reformation, a study of the significant Creeds of Christendom has repeatedly missed or side-stepped the truth of the 7th-day Sabbath while transcribing the same erroneous weak argumentation to the degree it sounds identically stated. Among reformers, from Luther on down the line, there never was a proper Sabbath reformation outlined in the major Creeds such as the Westminster Confession of Faith. The primary unbiblical argument used among the older Creeds is: “The Resurrection was on the 1st day of the week argument,” which can be traced back to the early Roman Catholic Church.

The 7th-day Sabbath was never re-articulated Biblically during the great Reformation of the Christian church. However, it has been upheld by many over the years, such as the Messianic Jews, Anabaptists, 7th-day Adventists, and 7th-day Baptists, to name a few.

The Reformers Restating the Roman Catholic View

Comparing Luther’s Small Catechism reveals his view: “Q51. Which day is the day of rest among Christians? A51. Sunday, the first day of the week, on which Christ arose from the dead”.

Further in the Westminster Small Catechism influencing the English-speaking world, we see Luther echoed in his Small Catechism: “Q59: “Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath? A59: From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath”.

The Reformed Churches look to the Canons of Dort which state: “The worship of God in Christ’s church happens on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week”.

Where do these views originate? From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read: “By a tradition handed down from the Apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ’s Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the Lord’s Day or Sunday.”

Viewpoints written by Sunday-keepers acknowledge the 7th-day Sabbath. 1

Many respected preachers, theologians, reformers, and expositors of scripture have noted the validity of the 7th-day Sabbath.

John Wesley On the perpetuity of the Sabbath command, Wesley declared, “’Six days shalt thou do all manner of work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’ It is not thine, but God’s day.  He claims it for his own.  He always did claim it for his own, even from the beginning of the world.  ‘In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and rested the seventh day.  Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it.’ He hallowed it; that is, he made it holy; he reserved it for his own service.  He appointed that as long as the sun or the moon, the heavens and the earth, should endure, the children of men should spend this day in the worship of him who ‘gave them life and breath and all things.’ “—John Wesley, “A word to a Sabbath-Breaker,” in Works, Vol. 11 (1830 ed.), pp.-166.

J. Taylor Before the giving of the law from Sinai, the obligation of the Sabbath was understood.”—J.J. Taylor, (Baptist), The Sabbatic Question (Revell, 1914 ed.), pp, 20-24.

Dwight L. Moody [Regarding the perpetuity of the 7th-day Sabbath Commandment] I honestly believe that this commandment is just as binding to-day as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it.  When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place.  ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.’  It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was—in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age. The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word ‘remember’, showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote this law on the tables of stone at Sinai.  How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine are still binding?”—D. L. Moody, Weighted and Wanting (1898 ed.), pp. 46, 47.

John Peter Lange If we had no other passage than this of Genesis 2:3, there would be no difficulty in deducing from it a precept for the universal observance of a Sabbath, or seventh day, to be devoted to God as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were specially prepared. The first men must have known it.  The words ‘He hallowed it’ can have no meaning otherwise…unless in reference to some who were required to keep it holy.”—John Peter Lange, A commentary on the Holy Scripture, on Genesis 2:3, Vol 1 p. 197.

Martin Luther says, on Exodus 16:4 22-30: “Hence you can see that the Sabbath was before the law of Moses came, and has existed from the beginning of the world. Especially have the devout, who have preserved the true faith, met together and called upon God on this day.”—Translated from Auslegung des Alten Testaments (Commentary on the Old Testament), in Summtliche Schriften (Collected Writings), edited by J. G. Walch, Vol. 3 col. 950.

Amos Binney and Daniel Steele The Sabbath is indispensable to man, being promotive of his highest good, physically, intellectually, socially, spiritually, and eternally. Hence, its observance is connected with the best of promises and its violation with the severest penalties.  Xxiii, 12; xxi, 12-18; Neh xii, 15-22; Isa. Ivi, 2-7; lvii, 13-14; Jer xvii, 21-27; Ezek. Xx, 12, 13; xxii, 26-31.  Its sanctity was very distinctly marked in the gathering of the manna.  Exod. Xvi, 22-30.The original law of the Sabbath was renewed and made a prominent part of the moral law, or ten commandments, given through Moses at Sinai, Exod. Xx, 8-11.”—Amos Binney and Daniel Steele, Binney’s Theological Compendia Improved (1902ed), p. 170.

O. Carver As presented to us in the scripture the Sabbath was not the invention of any religious founder. It was not at first part of any system of religion, but an entirely independent institution.  Very definitely it is presented in Genesis as the very first institution, inaugurated by the Creator himself.  It was purely religious, wholly moral, wholly spiritual.  It had no prescribed ceremonies, no sacramentarian significance.  It required no priest, no liturgy.  It was for man as God’s creature, steward and friend.”—W. O. Carver, Sabbath Observance, p 41, Copyright, 1940, by the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.  (Used by permission)

1 Material excerpted from: Bible Readings for the Home

The Law of the Harvest – You reap what you sow in life.

God gave to sinful man some of the most essential truths in the Ten Commandments through Moses whilst coming down to him on the mountain of Sinai.

We may view these as outdated laws. However, God gave mankind the fundamental secrets of the universe — a blueprint for living.

The primary secret of the universe is that the entire universe is run by law, some proven and equated by physicists, others by chemists, and still others by mathematicians — all atomically generated, created and managed by a loving God — not by presumption or circumstance.

On the spiritual plane, it makes sense that the person who moves and lives and has their being in unison with God’s relational laws of mind, of love, and compassion will survive as long as his universe survives. On this basis, Jesus taught in John 8:51 NLT: I tell you the truth, anyone who obeys my teaching will never {spiritually] die!

Jesus knows all about the importance of these universal laws because he co-created the universe with his Father in the Spirit as taught by the apostle Paul: Colossians 1:16-17 NKJV: For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

The apostle John wrote this concerning Jesus: John 1: 1-2 ESV: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Christ revealed that the person who obeys his laws will endure for as long as the universe endures.

This is the apex of the teaching of Jesus Christ while on earth. The whole universe is run by law, not atheistic chance. He enlightened man to realize that law has nothing to do with chance. Life is not random — not casual — it’s causal. Each of us can review our life, myself included, to find our condition today and tomorrow is related to our obedience or disobedience to both natural and spiritual law.

This cause-and-effect relationship in life is referred to as the law of the harvest: to a sowing and a reaping consequence, and happiness depends on obedience to God’s laws. Spiritual pain and sorrow come through transgressing the blessed divine law, whether we yet know the law or not.

When the Apostle Paul says: Galatians 6:7-9 KJV: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

This means that life is run by law. Look at a few examples from scripture:

The Egyptian Pharaoh caused the boys among the Israelites to be drowned. Later when Moses led the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt, Pharaoh chased them into the parted Red Sea, and he drowned when the Red Sea rolled back on those chariots pursuing the Israelites. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. Exodus 14:28 (see context Exodus 14:21-29)

Jacob deceived his father about his father’s favourite son. As years rolled by, Jacob was deceived about his favourite son Joseph by his boys. Further, Jacob showed a deceptive spirit when he conspired to get the birthright, but in time his deceptive uncle Laban pulled the wool over his eyes – giving him Leah, not Rachel to initially marry. How did Jacob deceive his father? By putting on the skins of a goat; he, in turn, was deceived by his boys, who took the coat of his son Joseph, and dipped it in the blood of a goat.  (story in Genesis chapters 25 to 29)

In the story of Ester, Haman prepared a gallows for Mordecai, but he swung from it himself. Esther 7:9-10: And the king said, “Hang him on that.”So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated. So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided.

King Asa put the prophet Hanani in stocks, but Asa died of a disease in his feet. Sowing and reaping, cause and effect — listen, the breaking of the law brings a reaction in our lives.  (see 2 Chronicles 16: 10; 12-13: Asa became so angry with Hanani for saying this that he threw him into prison and put him in stocks. …In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors.

This is the teaching of Scripture revealed in life. It is such a universal law of God that many simply refer to this as Karma — what goes around comes around. When this dawns on a man or woman of reason, it becomes evident that everyone ought to be concerned about two things: (1) to find out the laws of God, and (2) to obey them and to be happy for time and eternity..

The Ten Commandments as given to Moses on Sinai

Exodus 20: 1-17 NIV:  And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

What did He say first at Sinai: “I am the Lord your God.” What commandments did He give first? The ones that pertain to Him. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.”

““Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God.” What did God put first? Worship–relationship to Himself.

The Bible begins with God: “In the beginning God.” The Lord’s Prayer begins this way: “Our Father.” God is trying to teach us to put first first–not first things first, but to put God first. He comes before things. Most people turn the tables around. They put things first, and then if there is a little time left over, that is for God.

And Jesus taught the same thing — put God’s kingdom first. Matthew 6:33 NIV: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Honest Bible teachers do not evade the Truth

“Make them holy by your truth; teach them your Word, which is truth” (John 17:17 NLT)

Jesus is referred to as the express character of God, revealing His father’s love and His maxims expressed in His Word to mankind. He said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NIV) He came to reveal a new way of thinking about love, about grace, mercy, and forgiveness – a way of freedom from guilt and the eternal consequences of sin. Apostle John says that the Word of God is truth and is a standard to rely on.

Jesus also told His disciples to adhere to and seek truth from the Holy Spirit: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:3 NIV) The Bible’s view of the truth of our Lord, in our focal verse is to make men holy, separate from the world, aside from those knowingly contradicting or evading truth made intelligible via scripture alone.

Jesus quoted Jeremiah when He taught that many have ears but cannot hear, many have eyes, but they cannot see (Jeremiah 5:21). He sought to teach the blind who were misled by the blind guides — the leaders of Israel — who did not follow scripture accurately but rather twisted it for their own ends.

I have thought a great deal about why a man or a woman might not align with any truth when clearly presented, whether in life or scriptural discretion. I get that atheists could care less as they live by a determined ungodly philosophy. Christians, on the other hand, seeking to be more like Christ, to my mind, should desire truth. To evade truth revealed in scripture, they would need to go against conscience, and evade the facts of “it is written” clearly presented.

Why church leadership is culpable where biblical error persists Generally, church goers are passive concerning theologically based scriptural study. Most congregations rely on their pastoral leadership. There is a distinction between dependence and dishonesty. A Christian who has accepted Christ’s work on the cross and is fully justified by faith may be passive regarding weighing scriptural evidence concerning truth versus blatant error. Believing something he or she has merely gone along with in a denomination — the social consensus of accepting a prevalent view – though it is not academically admirable, it is not necessarily dishonest, nor does it necessarily involve deliberate evasion of truth to sustain a specific misunderstood view. Even pastors who focus on preaching Christ crucified, and express the love and mercy of God, might prefer a slogan to avoid controversy in their tenure such as “I don’t get into theology”.

Sadly, many scriptural errors can be found promulgated in many active churches that do preach Christ crucified. Let me illustrate. Say a leader in the limelight taught something wacko, and all the pastoral leaders that you know agreed. What if an acclaimed regional or national leader stood up and taught the laity that the plan of salvation was made after the fall of man as follows: “The kingdom of grace was instituted immediately after the fall of man when a plan was devised for the redemption of the guilty race”? And let’s say that you know this can’t be true because the Bible is decisive on this point – it says the opposite about God’s foreknowledge about Yahweh’s son working with Him to reconcile mankind: “who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus”. (2 Timothy 1:9-10 ESV) And collectively, what if you found over fifty such scriptural errors published and distributed worldwide as an ongoing commentary to “enlighten the Word of God” in your own church?

The key to knowing if a leading elder or pastor is evading the truth If a man of God, as a senior leader called to teach the Word accurately, sees the need to think about an issue which contradicts scripture, and has some idea of how to go about dealing with it, and then fails to do independent and interdependent query, fails to study or assess the concern, and fails to demand an open forum — if he fails to lead his flock into the solid ground of scriptural truth — then he’s dishonest, because he’s evading biblical facts that he discerns oppose a false reality. Regardless if it’s a motive of laziness, parasitism, or he’s afraid he’ll be defrocked or lose his pension, or he just wants to be popular or desires more power — he just shuts his mind down to the Spirit’s leading and goes along with the error.

This is individually immoral before the Lord, especially regarding the man who has a high degree of reasoning powers in the sense that he’s deliberately rejecting his conscience – the Spirit’s revelation to his mind to now correctively share with his laity. Doing that requires sustained blindness to a call to review truth, terrifying evasion, ongoing evil, side-stepping reformative action, and therefore it is degradingly dishonest before the judgement seat of God. It is a moral tragedy within the church body when a leader inflicts self-deception. It is reverse mutiny turned on his flock. Leaders are often politically fearful of crossing sword points with the brethren. Yet their cowardly conduct is observed in heaven by the higher counsel, by the 24 elders who hear the prayers of God’s elect (see Revelation 5:8).

Ask, is the flock led astray? Laity often goes along with others for a different kind of reason — through helplessness — the flock without a true shepherd is spiritually harmed in the sight of our Lord. And that’s particularly true regarding the need to exposit scriptural truth. Not everyone has the capability to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Most people absorb doctrine from others, without considering that they might be absorbing controversial error, or that any alternative interpretation is supported by scripture.

They may have a view that doctrine is a subject that can’t be dealt with, it’s all a matter of opinion, or decreed by pre-established authority figures, or there are no answers, it’s irrelevant to church life — none of which you can blame them for having, given the way its advocates present the subject often through repeated indoctrination, church culture or lingo, or demonization for facing the truth of scripture.

Some people within a denomination’s laity may accept that a doctrinal subject is important, yet have no theological method to go about comparing scripture or weighing the evidence presented in the Bible. Without the cognitive capacity to unpack or compare a viewpoint, they cannot think about it and defer to their leadership. In this context when leadership chooses to evade scriptural truth revealing contradicting error, that leadership is culpable for hiding revealed truth.

Does God not refer to shepherding the flock as a holy responsibility? It is not a sin for the laity to end up conforming, accepting what they’re taught, fitting in, not so much out of laziness or fear or non-partisanship as out of ignorance, helplessness, and not even knowing that there is a real issue to think about or how to begin the process, because it is hidden from them! They’re caught in the position of officially being influenced to believe or half-believe that these issues of truth are insignificant — or of zero consequence before the Lord. The “helpless dependent” may be a good man who is baffled – albeit purposely stupified by the irresponsible leadership.

The responsibility of the intelligent laity with theological insight Now laity does include individuals who are intelligent and have a high capacity to reason. Some can teach, some can preach, some administer as elders or deacons. Some are intelligent fanatics who flaunt error to acquire a following. Insofar as they are dishonest conformists these leaders align with the evaders of truth.

All intelligent leadership is then responsible if their decided collaborate evasion creates inner chaos and confusion for any people within a congregation honestly seeking God’s truth. Such active, deliberate dishonesty would deny the Holy Spirit’s guidance into all truth as Jesus indicated He would relay to His disciples: “He will take of mine and reveal it to you” (see John 16:13-15)

Balanced compassion is a must How do you socially treat your comrades in the church despite doctrinal errors? In the case where the laity is innocent of promulgating deception, the proper policy regarding the weak dependents is to delimit your advocacy for specific truth or pedagogical efforts of teaching them directly about evasions that may affect your role as a thought leader in the church. You must deal with them in the realms where they’re innocent — praising the Lord together as mutually forgiven Christians. The difficult balance is found if you try to lead those who feel that they are already well-led into all truth. I believe that rocking their faith-boat may cause it to capsize. You do not want to fracture otherwise honest, beloved relationships whom you can guide in union with Jesus.

The weak dependent may be much like the misled flock when Jesus metaphorically taught them that you cannot put new wine into old wineskins, or you ruin the skins, i.e. the prominent religious view; and spill the wine — meaning, that hearers would lose the value of the truthful doctrine. Though the misled laity may be wrong, they are not Luther-like heroes of independent thought. Like Jesus you must have compassion – you cannot say the innocent laity is dishonest.

However, like Jesus, beware of the dishonest advocate, the deceptively misleading intelligent believer, the legalist, the populist, the religious politician, the puppet who is not just going along with others but is actively evading and ganging up —  going about-face in the back room to backstab truth, to choke it, to pull it down — working to sustain erroneous unreformed doctrine. He or she is essentially wicked, corrupt down to the roots. This distinction is important.

Ethical Summary Again, the typical leaders, the instigators, the theologians who are out promoting blatant scriptural error, those who decry honest eldership and theologians, yet tell their converts that they believe sola scriptura are downright two-faced — they are demonstrably dishonest and unfit for eldership. But as far as the laity are followers, and not leaders, on the whole, I won’t make that judgement. The distinction is that the followers go along with what they’re told, and they may indiscriminately veto their own mind to avow 13, or 24 doctrines come hell or high water — many relinquish scriptural management to their church leadership — they don’t dig for answers or cannot cognitively understand even if they did study the facts. Many who are loyal to a traditional view may be confounded by media-driven liars who continue to teach error and breed confusion.

Scriptural doctrinal errors can only be allowed to persist by culpable leadership, more so if in high places, which if their consciences perceive allowed error, are dishonest or cowardly if silent. It is wickedness — an evil affront to the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If our consciences are not yet affected by grace, let us defer to scripture: “we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”. (Ephesians 4:14-15 NIV)

Christ: Our High Priest of a New Covenant

Updated Theological Paper: Christ: High Priest of a New Covenant

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. (Hebrews 4:14 NASB)

This study will bring to light the importance of understanding that the new covenant is not simply an addendum to or a continuum of, the old covenant. We will look at the priesthood of Christ to help us determine the differences, as Yahweh was moving Israel out of a works-based law-keeping, view of life. The previous covenant was strongly bent towards the personal disciplined use of willpower alone. God used the old covenant system, with its sacrificial typology, led by the Mosaic written law, outwardly policed by the managing Levites, as a teaching tool to constrain his people as time progressed towards the first advent of the Messiah. My aim is to help nurture the paradigm shift based on scripture. There are many Christians who do not understand the huge shift in the covenantal progression that occurred at the cross when the law was written on the hearts of believers in Jesus Christ, encouraging Spirit-led motivation unto obedience now based on love for Him; concomitant to having love for others in His church.

Without an awareness of the distinctions of the two uniquely different covenants, many of the important doctrines of the church can be terribly misunderstood, namely: Christ’s Ascension, Christ’s Atonement, Responsible Sanctification, The Call of the Elect, and the Leading of the Teaching Spirit.

The Importance of the Truth of Christ’s High Priesthood

Our enemy, Satan attacks especially the doctrine of the High Priestly ministry of Christ because it is central to Christ’s atoning work on the cross to save mankind by faith, warping it into man-made myths. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, emphasized the importance of adhering to Biblical Truth, doctrines in accord with scripture alone:

We need to bind the girdle of truth more and more tightly around our loins. It is a golden girdle, and so will be our richest ornament, and we greatly need it, for a heart that is not well braced up with the truth as it is in Jesus, and with the fidelity which is wrought of the Spirit, will be easily entangled with the things of this life, and tripped up by the snares of temptation. It is in vain that we possess the Scriptures unless we bind them around us like a girdle, surrounding our entire nature, keeping each part of our character in order, and giving compactness to our whole man. If in heaven Jesus unbinds not the girdle, much less may we upon the earth. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. (also see Ephesians 6:14, Isaiah 11:5, Revelation 1:13-14)

The Holy Spirit of Christ must give us Spiritual Eyesight to See

Hebrews 8:1–13 defines Christ’s High Priesthood on an entirely different spiritual plane, a new dimension never understood before the Messiah came to Israel. This occurred in the context of a wholly new, altogether different covenant: “in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13; 10:1).

As we study this with regard to Christ’s sacrifice which opened up a new and living way, we must seek to allow the Spirit to free our perception if it is bound to mirror the old covenant antitype of the initial priesthood of the earthly tabernacle in continuum right into heaven, moreover if it disallows the contradistinction of a new heavenly reality of the new covenant paradigm (Luke 22:20; Matt 26:28; 1 Corinthians 11:25).

If we place Christ as carrying on a similar old covenant priesthood in heaven, bear in mind that he could not be a priest according to the old law’s metaphorical methodology as Jesus was not of the Levitical tribe. The divine strategy to move out of the old covenant symbology into the realized actual spiritual sphere of the Holy Spirit working within the hearts of men and women encompassing the church on earth must operate in a non-symbolic new way.

Now, after the sacrifice on Calvary — a singular and final sacrifice once and for all, Jesus must be recognized as the giver of the Holy Spirit whom he breathed on, imparting the gift of the Spirit to the disciples before his ascension (John 20:22); and the church was blessed with the same receipt of the Holy Spirit after Jesus was glorified at the ascension when He sat down with His Father in heaven (John 7:39). Now we view Jesus as our “God, the Judge of all” and as we pray to him we are to know that, we are coming “to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant” (see Hebrews 12:23-24). And the Holy Spirit became the actualizing agent of the church of all the believers. (Galatians 3:2, 14; Acts 1:8; 2:38; 9:17; 19:2;10:47; John 14:17)

Hebrews, chapter 8, addresses the relationship between the sanctuary (or sphere of high priestly ministry) and the sacrifice. Since Christ now exercises His superior High Priesthood in the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:1–2) which the Lord set up.  His sacrifice differs from and surpasses Old Testament sacrifices which previously dealt with sin, and which priests offered routinely  in the earthly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:3–6).

Hebrews 8:1 introduces this detailed argument of Hebrews 8:1–10:18. The author’s main point is that we do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. Psalm 110:1 and Hebrews 4:14-16 support this assertion. Psalm 110:4 assures us that our High Priest replaces the Aaronic high priest. Psalm 110:1 assures us that this superior High Priest has sat down at the right hand of the Father. The rest of Hebrews 8:1 through to Hebrews 10:18 shows the significance of His being at the right hand and the adequacy of the sacrifice which enables Him to be there.1

These chapters demonstrate that, because of His sacrifice and heavenly position, He administers a covenant far superior to the old covenant priesthood which was entirely symbolic. Jesus was not a Levite so he could not enter history classified as one of the Aaronic priesthood who’d carry on the system established by Moses (Hebrews 8:4) installed as a system of law to lead Yahweh’s people through the use of symbols and recurring constraints, to lead them to Christ (Gal 3:24-25).

Carefully note the words, “Since then we do have” an active Lord Jesus Christ as our High Priest in the Presence of the Father in heaven, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (see Hebrews 4:14–16). The epistle describes the greatness of the High Priest that Christians have so that we understand that we are free to enter into the privileges of the kingdom. From Hebrews 8:1 running through Hebrews 10:18, we sharply focus on Christ’s sacrifice. Why dial in on Christ’s sacrifice? Because through it Christ has become the effective High Priest because His past sacrifice enables Him to help us via His advocacy with the Father today.

Hebrews 8:1–2 emphasizes the “location” or magisterial sphere and the authoritative governance that Christ’s High Priestly ministry holds. Predetermined according to Psalm 110:1, God invited Him to sit at His right hand first alluded to in Hebrews 1:3 describing God’s right hand as “the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

The description in Hebrews 8:1 is even stronger: the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. With these additional words, the author of Hebrews emphasizes even more strongly the significance of this place of Christ’s ministry. He underlines the sovereign authority and glory of God the Father in whose presence Christ ministers! Can there be any doubt that this is the sanctuary, and the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, absolutely not by man?

Most good English translations follow the Greek text conjoining the word sanctuary and the true tabernacle, for example, “a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent”. I particularly like the NASB’s correct use of “and” (Hebrews 8:2 NIV; Hebrews 8:2 RSV; Hebrews 8:2 NASB; Hebrews 8:2 ESV).

Where some interpreters get lost

An old school of interpreters believed the writer of Hebrews thought that heaven, where Christ entered, has two parts of which the two parts of the earthly Tabernacle are a copy. The analogical use of language proper to the earthly sanctuary might give the impression that the heavenly sanctuary itself is envisaged as a locality, but we need not suppose that our author thought of it absolutely in local terms.

 1, 2

The outer section of the earthly Tabernacle which Moses constructed was the Holy Place where the priests customarily ministered daily. A second or inner section of this Tabernacle was the Most Holy Place where in some sense God’s Presence dwelt (see Hebrews 9:1–10).

If the writer of Hebrews believed in a two-part heavenly tabernacle, then the sanctuary of this verse must designate the inner of those two parts, the heavenly most holy place where Yahweh God dwells. And if two-part, then it might be reasonable to hold the view that the true tabernacle could be the outer of those two parts — the heavenly holy place through which one must pass to enter the holiest place to be in the presence of Yahweh. Or perhaps consider that the true tabernacle could be a reference to the entire heavenly tabernacle, encompassing both holy place and most holy place. 3  Regardless of how the various schools of thought had viewed the sanctuary: When Christ sat down at the Father’s right hand He entered “heaven itself” to appear in the presence of God (Hebrews 9:24). Therefore it is only logical, that we must see the sanctuary, the true tabernacle as one single reality because Christ immediately ascended into the presence of His Father! Heaven in this view does not have two compartments.

The earthly tabernacle had two compartments indicating symbolically that access to God was not open under the old covenant (see Hebrews 9:6–10). None but the high priest could ever go beyond the first compartment. But now, Christ has opened the way for all to unify with the Father as one (John 17:20-21) through Christ (John 14:6).

The Most Holy Place in relation to The Holy Place

When we look back to the writing of Moses in (Exodus 25:10-22; 26:33–35;37:1-9) we see that only the Most Holy Place contained the ark of the testimony and the mercy seat. The Most Holy Place was separated by a veil from the Holy Place which included the altar of incense (see Exodus 30:1–10) in addition to the lampstand and table (see Exodus 25:23–40). Exodus 26:33 depicts the curtain separated access to all, except the specially qualified high priest (see Leviticus 16: 29-34;14-15), prefiguring that only Christ can open the way to the Presence of God (Hebrews 9:7–14; 10:20).

The Ark of the Testimony/Covenant and the Mercy Seat which is the traditional term for the gold lid on the Ark of the Covenant. Shutterstock sample.

The Most Holy place along with the ark included the mercy seat which symbolized the redemption of Christ. Exodus 25:18–21 revealed that the high priest sprinkled the blood of a sacrificial bull onto the mercy seat as an atonement for the sins of the people of Israel. Today every Christian knows that Jesus Christ is the antitype of the High Priest typified in the old testament’s sacrifices for sin, that His death on the cross was the fulfilment of the most solemn of typified sacrifices on the annual Day of Atonement, for all Israel, extending to all the faithful believers who see this clearly in the Word or God, clearly incontestable when scripture frames this doctrine. Thus when he ascended to heaven Christ Jesus rightly went immediately into the presence of Yahweh, Father God, in the antitypical Most Holy Place as our anchor within the veil.

We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:19-20)

Jesus while praying for the unity of his disciples to be one with Him, as He was one with the Father, it was evident that this would soon occur because He stated: “I am coming to you now” (John 17:13) Jesus taught that He ascended to His Father’s presence, “to my Father”… My God…Your God”! (John 20: 17) I cannot imagine Jesus being relegated to an antechamber awaiting entrance to the presence of Yahweh God! Lenski, a theologian with a brilliant mind, excelling in the Greek language, destroys this viewpoint referencing scripture: By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). (Hebrews 9:8)

We decline to follow them. In Hebrews 9: 8 the very fact that in the earthly Tabernacle the Holy Place still has its position before the Holy of Holies is pointed out as evidence that the way into the heavenly Holy of Holies has not yet been made manifest. Are we now to believe that such an anteroom still has its position, an eternal position, in front of the Holy of Holies of heaven, and that despite this fact realized post-Calvary, that this anteroom is now not the evidence that it is in v. 8 of Hebrews 9, but rather the opposite, it is the evidence that the way into the heavenly Sanctuary has been made manifest? This anteroom logic surely cannot be the case. If there is an anteroom in heaven as there was in Moses’ Tabernacle, the two antechambers cannot have an opposite significance, to say nothing of this division of heaven apart from any significance regarding the way to the heavenly Holy of Holies. 3 (for cited context)

Who goes to His Father at Christmas, or Thanksgiving, or a long-awaited home visit, and doesn’t aim directly to see him face to face in His presence? Similarly, doesn’t every “good father” long to see His son and embrace him? Even David disconnected from his rebellious son Absalom desperately asked “how is it with young Absolom” and soon wept over the decease of his son: O Absalom my son, my son! (2 Samuel 18:33) And did Yahweh-Father not work united as One with Christ, as the Father, with the Son, via His Spirit, evident in the prayer of Christ for his disciples that the same unity would be allowed for them — to abide in the presence of both the Father and Son together via the Holy Spirit as the portrayal of a church family.

There would be no point in an “outer compartment” in heaven before, at or after Christ’s Ascension after-which He is glorified with the Father for his Atonement work on  the cross. This heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 8:2) is the place where God dwells, the reality pictured by the Most Holy Place of the earthly Tabernacle. The earthly Tabernacle was only a copy which is why the writer never calls it the true tabernacle. Any antechamber concept destroys the beauty of the anti-type realized now, as it was known doctrinally in Paul’s day and confirmed by the apostles reasoning, especially in the High Priestly prayer of Christ in John 17.

Again, the heavenly sanctuary is the place where God indeed dwells. Its reality clarifies the fact that it was set up by the Lord himself without the agency of man. It is, indeed, equivalent to the God-established permanent city (see Hebrews 11:9–10) or heavenly homeland (Hebrews 11:13–16; 12:22–24). There, God’s people finally find an eternal “rest” in His presence (Hebrews 4:1–11). Christ’s sacrifice belongs to a different dimension, to the realm of the eternal not the temporal. 4

The Corruption of the Anteroom Thesis: In Exodus 27:21 in the old testament period, we see the Lamp inside the veil signifying the presence of Yahweh’s Spirit. When Jesus died the rent curtain signified new access in the New Covenant period from a typical, symbolic presence, obtainable via a corrupt High Priesthood, now directly accessible via the living waters aka living Spirit soon to be reckoned at Pentecost.  Moreover, the Sovereign Father, in union with Christ ascended, would not allow the continuation of the corrupt High Priesthood that crucified Jesus, work out the continuance of the Atonement for him on earth, once ascended. Thus any idea of an anteroom preceding the Most Holy Place continues the corruption that crucified him, doing despite unto the Spirit of Grace.

Christ and His unique Sacrifice (Hebrews 8:3–6)

Hebrews 8:3–5 begins to establish the fact of Christ’s High Priestly ministry in this heavenly sanctuary, especially defining His sacrifice.
If a person is a high priest at all, he has been appointed by God to offer both gifts and sacrifices. The phrase gifts and sacrifices is a comprehensive term that includes the various kinds of Old Testament sacrifices. Offering sacrifice describes, by definition, what it means to be a high priest (see Hebrews 5:1). Christ ministers in the heavenly sanctuary or sphere. If He is a High Priest, and He is, then it is logically necessary for Him, too, to offer something (Hebrews 8:3; 9:12–15; 10:5–10).

The writer of Hebrews clarified that this “something” Christ offers is not the same kind of sacrifice that the Aaronic priests offered! This truth is implied by Hebrews 8:4: If he were on earth, instead of in heaven, he would not be a priest of the Aaronic order at all, much less a high priest, for there are already those who offer the gifts prescribed by the Mosaic law. Christ’s kind of High Priesthood has a sacrifice, but it is a very different kind of sacrifice from that of the Aaronic high priest in the earthly sanctuary.

The necessary difference between their sacrifice and His becomes clearer when we look at the place where the earthly priests serve and its relationship to the heavenly sanctuary of Christ’s service. (Hebrews 8:5) teaches: They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven. The New International Version has added the word sanctuary for clarity, but the Greek text is more accurately rendered by the New American Standard Bible: “who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” 5

Note carefully this distinction: The writer did not even call their location a “sanctuary” at all but only a “copy and shadow.” The scriptures do not imply that every piece of furniture and every detail of the earthly Tabernacle was a copy of something in heaven. He is not affirming exact correspondence between the two, but the inferiority of the earthly. The earthly Tabernacle Moses established mirrored the true approach to God in heaven but only in a shadowy way. It was only a symbolic copy.

We must be hearers of the gospel, to have eyes to see that Christ’s sacrifice must be something of a vastly different quality than the sacrifices appropriate for this “copy and shadow.” 6

We are called to the sanctity of our conscience

In the earthly sanctuary, sacrifices were indeed offered, but their efficacy was sadly restricted; they could not bring “perfection” to the worshiper because they did not affect his conscience. Now we see what our author wishes to teach his readers. The really effective barrier to a man or woman’s free access to God is an inward and not a material one; it exists in the conscience. It is only when the conscience is purified by Christ’s love and offering of His life for us that one is set free to approach God without reservation and offer him acceptable service and worship (Hebrews 10:19–25). We transit from the useless sacrificial blood of bulls and goats — useless in this regard. Animal sacrifice and other material ordinances which accompanied it could affect at best a ceremonial and symbolical removal of pollution. 7

For our author, as for Paul, these things were but “a shadow of the things to come” (Colossians 2:17). As regards the “various ablutions,” not only had the high priest to “bathe his body in water” after performing the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:24), similar purifications were prescribed for a great variety of actual or ceremonial defilements. Now, however, we are created anew within our hearts to serve the living God in holiness and righteousness, this righteousness imputed to us when we confess our sins, and accept Jesus as Lord (1 John 1:9; Ephesians 4:24; Romans 4:8,24; 2 Corinthians 5:21) We now have confidence that we have salvation, motivating us to come to the Lord (1 John 5:14; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 10:19). The good news of Christ activates our consciences (Acts 2:37, 23:1, 24:16; Rom 9:1, 14:22). Our conscience is led by the Spirit (Rom 8: 14) and the understanding of what His atoning blood has done on our behalf gives us the confidence to live for Christ with a clear, purified conscience as testified to us via the Holy Spirit (Gal 4:6; Hebrews 9:14; 10:9-10, 22; 13:18; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Tim 1:9, 3:9; 1 Peter 3:16, 21; 2 Pet 2:19; 1 John 3:21). This is our ministry to live in a clear conscience before the world (2 Corinthians 4:2, 5:11).

In 2 Corinthians 5:21, we learn about Christ’s propitiation on our behalf, and imputation of righteousness, when we are accounted as righteous because God the Father looks to Christ who covers us with His atoning work, having died in our stead:

“He [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Here we have a double imputation. God imputed our sins to Christ who knew no sin. And God imputed his righteousness to us who had no righteousness of our own. The key phrases for us are “the righteousness of God” and “in Him.” It’s not our righteousness that we get here. It is God’s righteousness. And we get it not because our faith is righteous, but because we are “in Christ.” Faith unites us to Christ. And in Christ, we have an alien righteousness. It is God’s righteousness in Christ. Or you can say it is Christ’s righteousness. He takes our sin. We take his righteousness. 8

We must see that the Old Covenant as symbols for the times past

These purifications undoubtedly had great hygienic value, but when they were given religious value there was always the danger that those who practised them might be tempted to think of religious duty exclusively, or at least excessively, regarding externalities. But all these things were “outward ordinances” (NEB), “regulations for the body” (RSV), not for the conscience, with a temporary and limited validity until the “time of reformation.” By the rendering “reformation” we might understand “reformation” in the sense of “reconstruction”; the coming of Christ involved a complete reshaping of the structure of Israel’s religion. The old covenant was now to give way to the new, the shadow to the substance, the outward and earthly copy to the inward and heavenly reality. 9

The New Covenant Reality: the Living Way in Christ, our High Priest

“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” (Hebrews 10:19-22 NASB). Dr. Keil of the renowned Hebrew Commentary Keil–Delitzsch sees the new Holy of Holies of Daniel 9 in the new covenant period after the ascension, to mean the Most Holy Place as the church where Christ is ministering to sanctify His people and make them holy by the indwelling Holy Spirit empowering them to have a clear conscience — to have “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience”. :

We must refer this sixth statement (to anoint the Most Holy) also to that time of the consummation, and understand it of the establishment of the new Holy of Holies which was shown to the holy seer on Patmos as “the tabernacle of God with men,” in which God will dwell with them, and they shall become His people, and He shall be their God with them (Rev 21:1-3). In this holy city, there is its temple, and the glory of God will lighten it (Rev 21: 22-23). Into it nothing shall enter that defileth or worketh abomination (Rev 21:27), for sin shall then be closed and sealed up; there shall righteousness dwell (2 Pet. 3:13). 10

Our High Priest and our Royal Priesthood

By cooperating responsibly, motivated by grace (2 Peter 3:31), with the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying work in the church which begins when we first believe (John 15:3; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30, 6:11; 1 John 3:3), we are purified from the sins of the world by the indwelling Spirit (John 17:19; Ephesians 5:26; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Timothy 2:19; James 4:8; 1 Peter 1:15). Our unity with Christ our High Priest, working within our hearts both individually, and collectively together in the church will be our hope until the Lord returns in glory (John 15:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).

As Paul noted, our sanctification will be the work of a lifetime of obedience, as we currently engage in spiritual warfare in our life now and progressively onward in our life- journey, as the Lord leads via His Spirit until we meet Him face to face. (1 John 3: 1-3; Philippians 3:13-15). In this way we also as a church can effectively minister to others the sanctifying Word of our Lord in the new covenant order of Melchizedek 11 (Hebrews 5:9-19, 6:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9).

Corroborating study 1: Melchizedek: Divine Priest of Abraham

Corroborating study 2: The Old and New Covenant Distinctions 

1 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Commentary on the New Testament)

2 Christ’ High Priesthood at His ascension noted in Hebrews 9:11, arks the symbolism of the curtain which was rent in two upon Christ’s decease (Matt 27.51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45), the curtain symbolizing being his rent body, a way confirmed by the Spirit (Rom 7:6; Hebrews 10:20)!

Lenski, R. C. H. (1938). The interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews and of the Epistle of James (pp. 290–291). Columbus, OH: Lutheran Book Concern, notes: They suppose that Christ went into the Holy of Holies in heaven (εἰς τὰ ἅγια, v. 12) by first going through something that corresponds to the Holy of the earthly Tabernacle of Moses. This anteroom they find in “the greater and more complete σκηνή or Tabernacle, not handmade, that is, not of this creation.”

But what can this anteroom be? The idea that it is the body or the human nature of Christ is now commonly rejected and certainly has no support in 10:20. Since this σκηνή is “not of this creation” as the writer himself says, the created heavens cannot be referred to as they are referred to in 4:14: “having passed through the (created) heavens” in his ascension. So these commentators think that heaven itself, the uncreated place where God dwells, is divided into two parts that correspond to the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle of the wilderness. They think that the writer is exalting this heavenly anteroom “through” which Jesus passed in order to reach the heavenly Holy of Holies that was above the anteroom of Moses’ Tabernacle.

We decline to follow them. In Hebrews 9: 8 the very fact that in the earthly Tabernacle the Holy Place still has its position before the Holy of Holies is pointed out as evidence that the way into the heavenly Holy of Holies has not yet been made manifest. Are we now to believe that such an anteroom still has its position, an eternal position, in front of the Holy of Holies of heaven, and that despite this fact this anteroom is now not the evidence that it is in v. 8 but rather the opposite, evidence that the way into the heavenly Sanctuary has been made manifest? This surely cannot be the case. If there is an anteroom in heaven as there is in Moses’ Tabernacle, the two antechambers cannot have an opposite significance, to say nothing of this division of heaven apart from any significance regarding the way to the heavenly Holy of Holies.

4 Cockerill, G. L. (1998). Hebrews: a Bible commentary in the Wesleyan tradition (p. 167). Indianapolis, IN Wesleyan Publishing House.

5 Ibid

6 Ibid

7 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Commentary on the New Testament)

8 John Piper, Desiring God

9 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (New International Commentary on the New Testament

10 Commentaries on the Book of Daniel, Vol II, trans. by Thomas Myers (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1948 [reprint]), p 349

11 The order of Melchizedek was symbolic of the new covenant order that Jesus would institute. The mystery of the gospel relates so well to the life of Abraham, a man of faith who trusted God’s Word to lead him (and view Melchizedek as a High Priest who entered into his life in his time of duress).

 

 

 

 

Lessons on suffering from the Book of Job

Actually, the mystery of human suffering is not fully explained. As Wesley Baker puts it: When the end of the book of Job comes, there is no answer written out. There is nothing there that would satisfy the logical mind! However, we can be sure of these two facts: First of all, Job’s suffering was not a direct result of his personal sin. God testified that he was a perfect and upright man; moreover, He called Job His servant: And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8)

Also, God said that the reasoning of Job’s three friends—that God was punishing him because of his sins—was not right (Job 42:8). Secondly, although Job was not suffering because he had sinned, yet his trials did reveal pride, self-justification, and animosity in his heart. He was not delivered until he had a vision of his own nothingness — his primary lesson was to reveal his need of humility in contradistinction to God’s greatness (Job 42:1–6); and bore the fruit of the lesson, revealed by Job’s exercise   of a forgiving, humble sprit as he prayed for his friends, he had referred to as miserable comforters. (Job 42:10). Some of the lessons we learn about suffering from the book of Job are:

1. The righteous are not exempt from suffering.

2. Suffering is not necessarily a result of sin.

3. God has set a protective hedge around the righteous.

4. God does not send sickness or suffering. It comes from Satan (Luke 13:16; 2 Cor. 12:7).

5. Satan has some control in the realm of wicked men (the Sabeans and Chaldeans), supernatural disasters (fire from heaven), weather (a great wind), sickness (the boils on Job), and death.

6. Satan can bring these things on a believer only by God’s permission.

7. What God permits, He often is said to do. “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”

8. We should view things as coming from the Lord, by His permission, and not from Satan. “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.” From this perspective we can appreciate that regardless of how blameless, upright and god-fearing we are, there may yet be an un-sanctified aspect of our life, perhaps a self-righteousness, unbiblical doctrine overlooked, or an unknown sin;  we all have an overlooked blind spot, as we are all  fallen from the intended image of God.

9. God does not always explain the reason for our suffering.

10. Suffering develops endurance.

11. In visiting suffering saints, we should not be judgmental.

12. We should make our visits brief.

13. Human reasonings aren’t helpful. Only God can comfort perfectly.

14. At the end of the book of Job we see that “the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (Jas. 5:11). We also learn that sometimes, at least, wrongs are made right in this life.

15. Job’s patience in suffering vindicated God.

16. Job’s patience proved Satan to be a false accuser and liar.

17. “A man is greater than the things that surround him and, whatever may befall his possessions or his family, God is just as truly to be praised and trusted as before.”

18. We should be careful about making blanket statements that do not allow for exceptions.

19. Satan is neither omnipresent, omnipotent, nor omniscient.

In spite of God’s allowing unmerited suffering, He is still just and good. From other parts of the Bible, we get further light on some of the reasons why God allows His saints to suffer:

1. Sometimes it is a result of unjudged sin in the life (1 Cor. 11:32).

2. It is a means by which God develops spiritual graces, such as patience, longsuffering, humility (Rom. 5:3, 4; John 15:2).

3. It purges dross or impurities from the believer’s life so that the Lord can see His image reflected more perfectly (Isa. 1:25).

4. It enables the child of God to comfort others with the same type of comfort with which God comforted him or her (2 Cor. 1:4).

5. It enables the saint to share in the non-atoning sufferings of the Savior and thus to be more grateful to Him (Phil. 3:10).

6. It is an object lesson to beings in heaven and on earth (2 Thess. 1:4–6). It shows them that God can be loved for Himself alone, and not just because of the favors He bestows.

7. It is an assurance of sonship since God only chastens those whom He loves (Heb. 12:7–11).

8. It causes saints to trust in God alone and not in their own strength (2 Cor. 1:9).

9. It keeps God’s people close to Himself (Ps. 119:67).

10. It is a pledge of future glory (Rom. 8:17, 18).

11. God never allows us to be tempted above what we are able to bear (1 Cor. 10:13). “You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (Jas. 5:11b).

Why Do Christians Die?

Why Do Christians Die? Our treatment of the application of redemption must include a consideration of death and the question of how Christians should view their own death and the death of others. We also must ask what happens to us between the time that we die and the time that Christ returns to give us new resurrection bodies.

1. Death Is Not a Punishment for Christians. Paul tells us clearly that there is “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). All the penalty for our sins has been paid. Therefore, even though we know that Christians die, we should not view the death of Christians as a punishment from God or in any way a result of a penalty due to us for our sins. It is true that the penalty for sin is death, but that penalty no longer applies to us—not in terms of physical death, and not in terms of spiritual death or separation from God. All of that has been paid for by Christ. Therefore there must be another reason than punishment for our sins if we are to understand why Christians die.

2. Death Is the Final Outcome of Living in a Fallen World. In his great wisdom, God decided that he would not apply to us the benefits of Christ’s redemptive work all at once. Rather, he has chosen to apply the benefits of salvation to us gradually over time (as we have seen in chapters 33–40). Similarly, he has not chosen to remove all evil from the world immediately, but to wait until the final judgment and the establishment of the new heaven and new earth (see chapters 56 and 57). In short, we still live in a fallen world and our experience of salvation is still incomplete.

The last aspect of the fallen world to be removed will be death. Paul says:

Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Cor. 15:26)

When Christ returns, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:54–55)

But until that time death remains a reality even in the lives of Christians. Although death does not come to us as a penalty for our individual sins (for that has been paid by Christ), it does come to us as a result of living in a fallen world, where the effects of sin have not all been removed. Related to the experience of death are other results of the fall that harm our physical bodies and signal the presence of death in the world—Christians as well as non-Christians experience aging, illnesses, injuries, and natural disasters (such as floods, violent storms, and earthquakes). Although God often answers prayers to deliver Christians (and also non-Christians) from some of these effects of the fall for a time (and thereby indicates the nature of his coming kingdom), nevertheless, Christians eventually experience all of these things to some measure, and, until Christ returns, all of us will grow old and die. The “last enemy” has not yet been destroyed. And God has chosen to allow us to experience death before we gain all the benefits of salvation that have been earned for us.

3. God Uses the Experience of Death to Complete Our Sanctification. Throughout our Christian lives we know that we never have to pay any penalty for sin, for that has all been taken by Christ (Rom. 8:1). Therefore, when we do experience pain and suffering in this life, we should never think it is because God is punishing us (for our harm). Sometimes suffering is simply a result of living in a sinful, fallen world, and sometimes it is because God is disciplining us (for our good), but in all cases we are assured by Romans 8:28 that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (NASB).

The positive purpose for God’s discipline is clear in Hebrews 12, where we read:

The Lord disciplines him whom he loves … He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:6, 10–11)

Not all discipline is in order to correct us from sins that we have committed; it can also be allowed by God to strengthen us in order that we may gain greater ability to trust God and resist sin in the challenging path of obedience. We see this clearly in the life of Jesus, who, though he was without sin, yet “learned obedience through what he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). He was made perfect “through suffering” (Heb. 2:10). Therefore we should see all the hardship and suffering that comes to us in life as something that God brings to us to do us good strengthening our trust in him and our obedience, and ultimately increasing our ability to glorify him.

Consequently, we should view the aging and weakness and sometimes sickness leading up to death as another kind of discipline that God allows us to go through in order that through this process our sanctification might be furthered and ultimately completed when we go to be in the Lord’s presence.

Consider that when we accept Christ and believe in Him and are led by the Holy Spirit, we have this comforting scripture — to abide with Him whilst he is our High Priest in heaven: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”  —  Ephesians 2:4-8 KJV

The challenge that Jesus gives to the church in Smyrna could really be given to every believer: “Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). Paul says his goal in life is that he may become like Christ: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Phil. 3:10). Paul thought about the way in which Jesus died, and made it his goal to exemplify the same characteristics in his life when it came time for him to die—that in whatever circumstances he found himself, he, like Christ, would continue obeying God, trusting God, forgiving others, and caring for the needs of those around him, thus in every way bringing glory to God even in his death. Therefore when in prison, without knowing whether he would die there or come out alive, he could still say, “it is my eager expectation and hope that I shall not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death” (Phil. 1:20). The understanding that death is not in any way a punishment for sin, but simply something God brings us through in order to make us more like Christ, should be a great encouragement to us. It should take away from us the fear of death that haunts the minds of unbelievers (cf. Heb. 2:15). Nevertheless, although God will bring good to us through the process of death, we must still remember that death is not natural; it is not right; and in a world created by God it is something that ought not to be. It is an enemy, something that Christ will finally destroy (1 Cor. 15:26).

4. Our Experience of Death Completes Our Union With Christ. Another reason why God allows us to experience death, rather than taking us immediately to heaven when we become Christians, is that through death we imitate Christ in what he did and thereby experience closer union with him. Paul can say that we are fellow heirs with Christ “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:17). And Peter tells his readers not to be surprised at the fiery testing that comes on them, but encourages them, “rejoice in so far as you share Christ’s sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13). As we noted above, such union with Christ in suffering includes union with him in death as well (see Phil. 3:10). Jesus is the “pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2), and we follow after him as we run the race of life. Peter writes, “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

5. Our Obedience to God Is More Important Than Preserving Our Own Lives. If God uses the experience of death to deepen our trust in him and to strengthen our obedience to him, then it is important that we remember that the world’s goal of preserving one’s own physical life at all costs is not the highest goal for a Christian: obedience to God and faithfulness to him in every circumstance is far more important. This is why Paul could say, “I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13; cf. 25:11). He told the Ephesian elders, “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). It was this conviction—that obedience to God is far more important than the preservation of life—that gave Paul courage to go back into the city of Lystra after he had just been stoned and left for dead (Acts 14:20), and then return there again shortly thereafter (Acts 14:21–22). He endured many sufferings and dangers (2 Cor. 11:23–27), often risking his life, in order to obey Christ fully. Therefore he could say at the end of his life, with a note of great triumph, “The time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:6–7). This same conviction empowered Old Testament saints to accept martyrdom rather than sin: “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life” (literally, “that they might obtain a better resurrection,” Heb. 11:35). This conviction also gave Peter and the other apostles courage, when facing the threat of death, to say, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Certainly this was the point of Jesus’ command to the church at Smyrna, “Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). We also read that there will be rejoicing in heaven when the faithful saints have conquered the devil “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Rev. 12:11). The persuasion that we may honor the Lord even in our death, and that faithfulness to him is far more important than preserving our lives, has given courage and motivation to martyrs throughout the history of the church. When faced with a choice of preserving their own lives and sinning, or giving up their own lives and being faithful, they chose to give up their own lives—“they loved not their lives even unto death” (Rev. 12:11). Even in times where there is little persecution and little likelihood of martyrdom, it would be good for us to fix this truth in our minds once for all, for if we are willing to give up even our lives for faithfulness to God, we shall find it much easier to give up everything else for the sake of Christ as well.

B. How Should We Think of Our Own Death and the Death of Others?

1. Our Own Death. The New Testament encourages us to view our own death not with fear but with joy at the prospect of going to be with Christ. Paul says, “We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8). When he is in prison, not knowing whether he will be executed or released, he can say: For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ for that is far better. (Phil. 1:21–23) We also read John’s word in Revelation, “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!’ ” (Rev. 14:13). Believers need have no fear of death, therefore, for Scripture reassures us that not even “death” will “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39; cf. Ps. 23:4).

In fact, Jesus died in order that he might “deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage” (Heb. 2:15). This verse reminds us that a clear testimony to our lack of fear of death will provide a strong witness for Christians in an age that tries to avoid talking about death and has no answer for it.

2. The Death of Christian Friends and Relatives. While we can look forward to our own death with a joyful expectation of being in Christ’s presence, our attitude will be somewhat different when we experience the death of Christian friends and relatives. In these cases we will experience genuine sorrow—but mixed with joy that they have gone to be with the Lord. It is not wrong to express real sorrow at the loss of fellowship with loved ones who have died, and sorrow also for the suffering and hardship that they may have gone through prior to death. Sometimes Christians think it shows lack of faith if they mourn deeply for a brother or sister Christian who has died. But Scripture does not support that view, because when Stephen was stoned, we read that “Devout men buried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him” (Acts 8:2). If there ever was certainty that someone went to be with the Lord, it occurred in the case of Stephen. As he died, he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Then when he was dying, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:59–60). And this occurred in Jerusalem, with all the apostles still present, those apostles who had seen Jesus himself after he had been raised from the dead. There was no lack of faith on anyone’s part that Stephen was in heaven experiencing great joy in the presence of the Lord. Yet in spite of this, “Devout men buried Stephen, and made great lamentation over him” (Acts 8:2). Their sorrow showed the genuine grief that they felt at the loss of fellowship with someone whom they loved, and it was not wrong to express this sorrow—it was right. Even Jesus, at the tomb of Lazarus, “wept” (John 11:35), experiencing sorrow at the fact that Lazarus had died, that his sisters and others were experiencing such grief, and also, no doubt, at the fact that there was death in the world at all, for ultimately it is unnatural and ought not to be in a world created by God. The Ephesian elders, whom Paul had taught personally for three years, later “wept and embraced Paul and kissed him, sorrowing most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they should see his face no more” (Acts 20:37–38). And Paul himself, in the same letter in which he expressed such a desire to depart from this life and be with Christ, said that if Epaphroditus had died, he himself would have had “sorrow upon sorrow” (Phil. 2:27). Moreover, King David, the man after God’s own heart, the man who in his psalms frequently spoke of living forever with God, nonetheless had great sorrow when he learned that Saul and Jonathan had died (2 Sam. 1:11–27). Nevertheless, the sorrow that we feel is clearly mingled with hope and joy. Paul does not tell the Thessalonians that they should not grieve at all concerning their loved ones who have died, but he writes, “that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13)—they should not grieve in the same way, with the same bitter despair, that unbelievers have. But certainly they should grieve. He assures them that Christ “died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him” (1 Thess. 5:10), and thereby encourages them that those who have died have gone to be with the Lord. That is why Scripture can say, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth … that they may rest from their labors” (Rev. 14:13). In fact, Scripture even tells us, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Ps. 116:15). Therefore, though we have genuine sorrow when Christian friends and relatives die, we also can say with Scripture, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?… Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55–57). Though we mourn, our mourning should be mixed with worship of God and thanksgiving for the life of the loved one who has died. Worship is especially important at this time, as we see in the examples of David and of Job. When David’s child died, he stopped praying for the child’s health, and worshiped God: “Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord, and worshiped” (2 Sam. 12:20). Similarly, when Job heard of the death of his ten children, Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:20–21)

Engaging with Christ’s Revelation to the Church

As you read, you can hover over the scriptural texts to see them in full.

The claim to revelation is not anchored in circumstances or style but in the kind of person God is (Rev 1:1; 10:7). This view finds strong support in the OT texts echoing in the first verses. Christ is revealing in his revelation that God’s reputation, marred by Satan’s influenced ideology that He is an angry, vengeful, unjust God, is vindicated –restored and intact, as the creator and redeemer of mankind, through the redemption we have in Him.

We are blessed if we read and expound aloud this revelation of Jesus Christ to others. (Rev 1:1-3)

God’s intent to “make known” links Revelation to Daniel (Rev. 1:1; Dan. 2:28–30, 45). G. K. Beale (1999, 50) emphasizes the common theme of “making known” in these books. Revelation’s contention that God “made it known” (esēmanen) depends on a Greek word that means “make known,” “report,” “communicate,” “foretell,” or “signify.” “The clauses ‘revelation … God showed … what must come to pass … and he made known (sēmainō)’ occur together only in Daniel 2 and Revelation 1:1,” says Beale (1999, 50). When we consider the context in Daniel, we have not only a fascinating word study but also a case report for how a message claiming to be a revelation compares to other sources of knowledge. When crunch time comes, Daniel says to King Nebuchadnezzar that “there is a God in heaven who reveals [anakalyptōn] mysteries, … and he has disclosed … to you what is to be [ha dei genesthai] … in order that the interpretation may be known [esēmanthē]” (Dan. 2:28–30).

As God showed up to redeem his people from Egyptian slavery (Ex 3:14), he shows up — is present — to conclude the redemption of his elect followers. (Rev 1:4-6) In contradistinction Satan’s presence ‘was and is not’, is not supportive of the unsaved (Rev 17:8).

The theme of the book of Revelation is the victory of Christ and of His Church over the dragon (Satan) and his helpers. The Apocalypse is meant to show us that things are not what they seem. The thematic importance of this book is stated most gloriously and completely in these words revealing that Satan and his demons warring agains Christ and His church will face absolute defeat: ‘These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall conquer them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall conquer that are with him called and chosen and faithful’  Rev 17:14

The purpose of the book of Revelation is to comfort the militant Church in its struggle against the forces of evil. It is full of help and comfort for persecuted and suffering Christians. To them is given the assurance that God sees their tears (Rev 7:17; 21:4); their prayers are influential in world affairs (Rev 8:3, 4) and their death is precious in His sight. Their final victory is assured (Rev 15:2); their blood will be avenged (Rev 19:2); their Christ lives and reigns for ever and for ever. He governs the world in the interest of His Church (Rev 5:7, 8). He is coming again to take His people to Himself in ‘the marriage supper of the Lamb’ and to live with them for ever in a rejuvenated universe (Rev 21:22).”

The epistles describe conditions which occur not in one particular age of Church history, but again and again.

Throughout the prophecies of this wonderful book Christ is pictured as the Victor, the Conqueror (Rev 1:18; 2:8; 5:9; 6:2; 11:15; 12:9; 14:1, 14; 15:2; 19:16; 20:4; 22:3). He conquers death, Hades, the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, and the men who worship the beast. He is victorious; as a result, so are we, even when we seem to be hopelessly defeated.

Christ is our great restorer of health, mentally physically, and spiritually — our healer from our maladies of sin which  Satan instigated beginning at the fall and curse of man. (Rev 21:4; 22:3)

I herein testify that Jesus Christ is alive, Sovereign and ready to save you if you will repent and follow him.

1 Sigve K. Tonstad

2 William Hendriksen

3 Ibid

4 Sigve K. Tonstad

Teach your children to be aware of the dark side

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols… nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. – Revelation 9:20

Transgender rights ideology has pivoted from gay liberation. Note: I do not agree with or condone any of these alternate sexuality cultic ideologies herein discussed.

I am a conservative Christian, adhering to the Biblical creation story. God made man in His own image, male and female. I believe we need to think about this growing ideology that has merged with a leftist political view, affected university campuses, and is infiltrating non-Christians’ collective consciousness at a very fast pace. A prophecy in the book of Revelation points to  a time when people will not repent — they have entered the wide gate of destruction before the judgement when Christ returns. What is the key issue: sexual immorality and sorcery or witchcraft, which is actually demonic possession. The leaders of the world are also seduced and support their sexual cults. This will become full blown to the degree that the majority of the world will revel in wickedness. (Matthew 7:13; Revelation 21:8; 17:2)

Aspects of the gay rights movement placed no real burdens on straight North Americans. They asked for basic protections—not to be prosecuted or harassed, or fired from their jobs for who they are, to be allowed to marry the person they love—that already covered all other citizens of the nation. These past adjustments in the gay laws allowed the current pivot to the darkest politicization of the anti-biblical transgender rights movement.

Transgenderism is a far creepier perversion, demanding something different: their ideology about gender and identity is designed to totally displace traditional, binary, and scientifically accepted conceptions of sex and gender. Moreover, these demands come with an implicit threat: If you don’t get with the program, we’ll label you a transphobe and do our best to make you persona non-grata. Or try to have you arrested for misgendering someone! Behind the blame game of victimization is a push for laws that aim to suppress, especially the Christian viewpoint.

This is a political move, not a call for respect. It’s a power grab intended to silence even those with honest questions about trans identity and to crowd such people out of the public discourse. It’s predominantly a losing battle. It may be best not to share your pearls with the swine nor sniff in the garbage bucket of the depraved.

The serious downside is the complete erosion of morality. Education systems will want to reach and teach your kids with this knowledge about gender swaps. Medical systems will offer their Faustian Bargain—knives to do Frankenstein-like irreversible plastic surgery! Pharmaceutical firms will offer hormone drugs to destroy the manhood and womanhood of children incapable of making such ludicrous decisions without brainwashed coercion! Capitalism is quickly jumping on the bandwagon.

If a man wants to become a woman, some propose that psychologically may be an inherent desire for feminized homosexuality (drag queen syndrome — often a gay exaggeration of female gender signifiers). Alternatively, if a woman wants to become a man, that would be akin to masculinized lesbianism (butch syndrome — a lesbian whose appearance and behaviour are seen as traditionally masculine), each with a latent desire to allure the same sex. This argument acknowledges the evolution of the gay movement that preceded transgenderism. Thus they all view themselves as part of this broken “community.”

God help us to circumvent this twisted, ungodly narrative. This is one sure sign that we’re in the last days. And the dark side laughs sardonically as they veer down their wide gate, hellishly demonic path. We live in a very broken and very sad world. Since the moment at creation when God said, ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed’, Satan has been hard at work breaking down the institutions God put in place in paradise – the institutions made to benefit us and glorify the Creator – the most beautiful one being marriage. Marriage was established by God for loving companionship and to procreate – to go forth and multiply.

Transgenderism is just one ploy, one devastating plot with heartbreaking consequences — to destroy sexuality in the confines of marriage by exposing children at incredibly young ages to ideas and images they were never intended to grasp and carry. They are being told to go against every instinct in their biological being — in their own human nature, to become who they are not. They are and will be ongoingly confused, vulnerable, and preyed upon by perverted predators – hiding their devilish motives that they will never admit to. Important Video: Miriam Grossman

This knowledge is very dark — taboo dark — so children should be able to trust their parents and institutions paid for by our taxes to shield children from this propaganda – to stop flooding society with this perverted cultic sexual ideology. Children were never intended to be exposed to such wicked knowledge – let alone sexual gender transference, at a very young age (at any age) and with such an impressionable mind. Yet here we are – young children manipulated by our educational institutions to think of these sordid ungodly ideologies.

Exploring the world of sexuality in the cultic dictum of those who wish to tear down every traditional institution given in the Garden of Eden and to whitewash every historically cultural viewpoint since, aiming to advertise themselves as being on the right side of history. If you are Caucasian, they’ll compare you — today’s white people to slave owners of yesterday, shifting the concept of past bigotry forward to those exposing their anti-Christian values.

We must stand up in the churches to make God’s people aware of this war on our children at every level. For parents unaware of what is infiltrating their children’s schools, begin to educate yourselves on the culture war we are already in the midst of. The documentary “What is a Woman” can begin to reveal how this cult has a strong grip on society at many levels.

Teach your children well: Happiness comes not from making the world affirm “who we are,” but by becoming who we were created to be. Important Video: Miriam Grossman