God's Promise and the Law
As a means to establish Himself a people (taken out from all of His creations) God called Abraham and said:
“Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
Abraham did as he was told and ultimately from his direct posterity came the twelve tribes (also know as the Children of Israel) who were collectively (and temporarily) God’s elect people from among all his creations. To them, (through Moses) God gave the Law – beginning with ten commandments written in stone. This law served to help distinguish the Nation of Israel from the rest of God’s creations.
God’s law, while perfect, was never lived rightly by the Children of Israel and as a result they were constantly falling into sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and therefore away from the Living God. But one of the things God promised the Nation was that through one of their tribes He would send a Messiah, who would saved them from themselves and their ways.
Focus on Outward Distinctions
One of the results, however, of living under the Law, was the Children of Israel became extremely focused on the “outward distinctions” of the Law (what they ate, how they dressed, who they associated with, what they touched, Sabbath-days) which caused them to harshly judge and condemn from the rest of God’s creations.
By the time Jesus entered the world, these distinctions among the Nation of Israel had morphed to the point that they became laws unto themselves and no longer served the people the way God intended. Somehow the Nation (especially the leaders of the Nation) forgot that God’s promise to Abraham was that in him (in his posterity) “all families of the earth would be blessed.”
Jesus and the Fulfillment of the Promise
When the Messiah walked the earth He challenged the way the Law was lived and applied by His people in His day. In the end, He was accused of breaking the sabbath, of eating with unwashed hands, of sitting with sinners, of touching the unclean. Interestingly, He was perfectly obedient to the Law but was perceived by His own as being a scofflaw.
Jesus didn’t forget that through Abraham’s seed “all the families of the earth would be blessed,” to the point that He said:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” (John 12:32)
In a private conversation with Nicodemus Jesus said:
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17)
When Jesus walked the earth He came into the vicinity of Samaria, a place deemed unclean and filthy to His brethren. And He sat at Jacob’s well, a physical hearkening back to His people and all that they were about anciently. As He sat there we read:
“There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” (John 4:7-9)
We note that Jesus spoke to this woman. It surprised her to the point she replied, “why are you talking to me, the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Jesus was showing that He remembered that through Abraham “ALL the families of the earth would be blessed.” And He was paving the way for this to happen – even through the simple act of asking a woman deemed unclean and unwashed to give Him water from the well.
Jesus was rejected of His own – an event that caused His salvivic efforts to extend out into the world. Once the Holy Spirit fell upon His own on the Day of Pentecost, Peter the apostle was led to the home of a man named Cornelius, a man who was devout toward God but not a Jew. As a means to prepare Peter with the fact that he was to not only lead Cornelius and
Peter's Vision and Its Implications
His family to the truth of the Messiah but was to engage with them as he would with any person of the House of Israel, God presented Peter with a giant net of animals that were once considered unclean to a Jew and commanded Peter to, “Rise, kill and eat.” Peter was appalled and replied, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” (Acts 10:14) Peter’s response to God's command to eat would directly affect his views of other people. If he wouldn’t eat something deemed unclean, he certainly wouldn’t engage with unclean people. God was telling him, through the command to eat, that all people are acceptable now – and He used the food to break down these walls around Peter’s heart.
In the following chapter, Peter retells the story to the brethren in Judea and says, “But the voice answered me again from heaven (and said), “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” (Acts 11: This was in direct relation to Peter’s views of other human beings – like Cornelius – and not so much about the food. The food was just a type for all things, in the dispensation of grace, being made clean by and through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Here the door was swinging wide for “all the families of the earth to be blessed.”
See, the cleansing work of Christ has once and for all stripped away the sins from the souls of Man. Since He said, “it is finished,” it was finished, and the reconciliation of the fallen world to Loving God was complete. All have universally been reconciled to God by Christ – the sin has been washed from the earth. There are none that can or should be considered common or unclean for, “What God has cleansed we cannot call common.” In and through His Only Begotten Son, God can forever be known as “the God of all flesh” and “the God of the Spirits of all flesh.” (Jeremiah 32:27) and (Numbers 27:16)
The Mission Before and After Christ's Resurrection
Prior to His deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. and resurrection, Jesus sent His chosen and trained apostles into the land of Judea and told them to share Him and the Good News with all that would hear – Jew and Gentile alike. He told them that they would not get through all of Judea before He would return, but until that time they should share as a means to save all who would hear.
The Intended Salvation
To save them how? From the destruction that was headed their way (which He promised would come, which the apostles were saying was coming, and from what Revelation describes as coming quickly upon them.) All who heard, and endured through the trials and tribulations surrounding them, would be saved by Jesus at His coming (as promised) and taken up from the eminent destruction.
Most people read being saved in the New Testament as being saved from hell – and to a certain extent this was true. Those who believed on Jesus and died prior to His death and resurrection would have gone to the paradise part of hell instead of prison. But God promised to save all of Israel from hell and so the real saving that Jesus and the apostles were trying to give the Nation was from the death and destruction that would come at the hands of the Romans who would come upon them and wipe out the City of David, its temple, genealogies, priesthood and covenantal people – the Jews – in one fell swoop. “Believe and receive Jesus,” the apostolic message was, “and you will escape the coming destruction that would occur at His coming. You will be taken up, rescued, and saved as the bride and body of Christ.”
But spiritually, all of Israel would, according to God’s promises, be saved to God after this life. There is now no difference between Jew and Gentile, bond or free, male or female, in Christ.
Questions on Redemption and Faith
And so we must now ask, “if His work among the Children of Israel is complete, and if He returned as promised and saved His bride/church/body from eminent physical destruction by taking them up at His coming, is everything done? Over? Has all the world been redeemed by Jesus' finished work and will all of us simply go to God after their mortal lives because of it?
What about faith in Him? Is faith necessary to go to God after this life?
Understanding Repentance and Salvation
What about repentance? Is it required for people to live with God? What about sin, good works, evil deeds, selfish living, etc? Does the Law of the Harvest still apply to individuals? Do people reap what they sow in life or has the playing field been leveled and all people, no matter how they live or what they choose to do, will enter heaven once this life is over?
Considerations on Biblical Relevance
WHAT WE CANNOT SAY
We cannot say that the contents of the Bible applies to us today nor can we say it was written to us today. We can believe it, and teach it, and use it as a guide, supposing it was written to believers living after the age when it was written, but we cannot prove this as there is nothing in the scripture that tells us that the New Testament contents were written to us. We cannot say that the material directions in the Bible apply to us today because:
There is nothing that tells us so. Peter said that the End of All things was at hand (in his day). Paul talks about the end in 1st Corinthians 15 as coming when Christ has had the victory. The Bible wasn’t even available to believers for 280 plus years until after Christ. The Bible wasn’t even agreed upon in terms on content for many years thereafter. And then it wasn’t even reproducible until the 16th Century.
Insights into Biblical Teachings
WHAT WE CAN SAY
The early church was led by parts of the Bible and the Spirit. Believers have existed over the ages – with and without the Bible. That there would be a shaking and the only things that would REMAIN would be that which could not be shaken. That God would write His laws upon hearts and minds after the age of Law ended.
WHAT WE ONLY ASSUME
That the principles of faith and love continue to have application to people today. That no principles of faith or love have application at all to anyone today. That there is NOTHING in the Bible that is applicable to believers today. That there are some things in the Bible that remain applicable (like faith and love). That people still need to receive Jesus as Lord to be saved. What being saved means. That the Bible has application to all people spiritually in the principles it provides. Therefore that people will reap what they sow.
Consequences of Reaping and Sowing
IF PEOPLE DO NOT REAP WHAT THEY SOW:
Then Jesus does not have an overt reason or place in the lives of people today. There is no reason to share Him. There is not reason to encourage people to abide in Him.
IF PEOPLE DO REAP WHAT THEY SOW:
Then Jesus is still vitally important. There is a reason to share Him. There is a reason to encourage people to abide in Him.
