 |
|
In the first church times, the gospel of Jesus Christ was good news. This good news brought to believers something very good, something the remnant of Israel was truly wanting, but could never attain until after Christ's work was done.
What is this good news? What didn't they have that now all true believers have available to them? To help answer this, let us look at what the Old Testament believers had and then we can pick out what was missing.
We understand that every person is born with an indwelling sin nature because of the fall of the first Adam, which causes a separation of man from God, so God set up a sacrifice system. In the shedding of an innocent animal's blood, the personal sins of each man could be paid for, in that way God created a way for man to still be forgiven for their personal sins, which allowed God to walk again with man and show His love and enable His leading of His chosen people. Even though Israel was His chosen people, people from other origins could enter into the Israel nation as long as they followed God's commandments and ways that He dictated for His people.
It was through this animal/blood sacrificing, through the priesthood system that God had dictated and setup that God was able to stay in communication with His people. We should understand that the animal blood did pay for the personal professed sins of the people, but it could not take the place of paying for the original sin of the first Adam, only the 2nd Adam (Christ s blood) could do that. It was through this sacrificing system that the shedding of blood paid for the personal sins of God's people until Christ came and made the final and everlasting sacrifice for all sins - including the inbred sin, the original sin of Adam.
Under the old covenant that God provided, people could have a relationship with God and learn to love God and His ways through the relationship provided by God. This is what would be considered the WAY that God made for His people. Under the new covenant, God provided Christ's sacrifice as the WAY. In both the Old and the new covenants God provided a WAY to stay connected to Him. The old way had to be repeated sacrifices and the new way was a one time sacrifice for all times. So, since God provided a way under both covenants - then we can know that it wasn't the way to stay connected to God that was missing, even though the way provided by Christ is a more superior one to the old covenant way.
Christ said He is "The Way, Truth, and Life". We already know that the WAY was provided for people in both the Old and New Testament, so let us look to see if the TRUTH was missing in the Old Testament.
The amount of scriptures in the Old Testament is much more than the scriptures in the New Testament. The Ten Commandments were given very early in the writings of God's word. There were extensive amounts of commandments/laws given in the Old Testament to bring to light every detail of how God wanted His people to live. Even the two main commandments that Jesus said to follow were given in the Old Testament for people to follow.
Deut 11:13 - And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ... KJV
Lev 19:18 - Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. NIV
If the Old Testament people followed these commandments, by the power of loving God, they would be considered righteous. Everything God wanted and enabled His people to be could be accomplished by loving the TRUTH that He had given them. Love has always been the power to overcome evil. If we truly choose to love God, love pure goodness, then we will learn and grow into His goodness. That pure love for God will always overcome all the forms of evil. So how does an Old or New Testament person overcome all evil in their life? It is by the power of this love we choose to have for God. It could be said that it is by the power to love goodness (God) over evil - that has always been the power for any of God's people to be righteous.
How do we get this love for God, or to say it another way, how do we get this love for Good? It is by believing the TRUTH that God has provided for us. This TRUTH was made available to us in both the New and the Old Testament. So anyone that lived by the TRUTH would end up living a righteous life, because they loved goodness, which the TRUTH provided the knowledge of. Anyone that learned and loved the TRUTH would also live in love, because TRUTH in action is LOVE, which is pure goodness.
Living by the TRUTH while in the WAY of the sacrifice system God had set up, provided the way for people to live a righteous life before God. This is the same for the people in the New Testament as well, except that the WAY and TRUTH are in Christ now, instead of just the written word. The WAY in the Old Testament times was through the priesthood of the Temple. The WAY in the New Testament times is through the High Priesthood of Christ and He makes us the temple. The TRUTH was given to the Old Testament people through words, but the TRUTH given to the New Testament people are given by word and Spirit. Either way, both Old and New Testament people had both the WAY and the TRUTH to live by. In either time periods, God's people could live righteously before Him by loving Him and His Truth and His goodness with all their heart and soul. Out of this love for God, in both the Old and New Testament, people could then love others as themselves, because God provided a way for them to accomplish His commandments.
Now, we understand that God provided the WAY and the TRUTH in the Old and New Testament, and this allowed them to live a righteous life before God. Even so, we know that something was still missing or not complete under the old covenant. There was still something lacking in the spirit of men that haunted even the righteous. It was the constant war within themselves. This war between good and evil was constantly present in their innermost being. Some were living a righteous life, but never being totally free of the evil within them - a state of the sin nature not being dead. This was always true in the Old Testament people and is also true for many of the people that call themselves Christians today.
Christ says "He is the WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE". The good news is that under the New Covenant of God, we can now have LIFE. Old Covenant people could not receive LIFE until after they physically died. They had to wait in Abraham s bosom until Christ was crucified and paid for the original sin. LIFE is the indwelling of the fullness of the Holy Spirit which is provided to the obedient and righteous. LIFE is now made available to all that choose to become righteous and holy while in the WAY and TRUTH given by God. Who ever chooses to love God with all their heart and soul, with everything they are, will enter into LIFE. This LIFE is now available to the righteous in this earthly life and the eternal life to come. Who ever receives LIFE will no longer be plagued with the inner war between good and evil, because the fullness of the Holy Spirit has conquered all sinful nature in them by the pure power of the love of God. For the ones that have LIFE, they are truly free of all inbred evil, from the sinful nature that was previously still alive in them. No longer will they have any bad or evil fruit come from them, because now they have been made a slave to righteousness and goodness only. The ones that have received LIFE have entered the rest that the scriptures have told us about.
Matt 11:28-30 - Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. NIV
Heb 4:11 - Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. NIV
If a person has LIFE, then they are also in that perfect rest of not having that constant internal spiritual war going on inside them. The inbred sin (selfish nature) is dead and considered gone. Only the perfect love of God remains.
Now we know the main "good news" of the Gospel is not that Christ has paid for our sins, even though Christ s crucifixion was required to pay for the original sin, so everyone could have a chance of receiving LIFE. The "good news" is not so we can think we can go to heaven even though we are still sinners, believing Christ paid for our sins, because we still need to become righteous through the WAY and the love of the TRUTH to receive LIFE. The "good news" is that we can finally have LIFE and be free from all our sinful nature - where there is no more spiritual war inside us anymore. Jesus said:
John 8:34-37 - Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. NIV
There are a few that have believed and sought out this good news and as a result have been totally freed of any inbred sin. No longer do they have to fight with the evil inside them, but now fight the good fight of fighting the evil that is outside of themselves for the glory of God and to bring others into this peace that passes all understanding.
So why is "the good news" not the good news for many people today? There are several reasons, but I will only list a few.
First, many people can't or won't believe death of the sinful nature as a possibility. They have been taught that we are like the Old Testament people and will always have our sinful nature. It is for this reason people easily relate to the people in the Old Testament, because most people of today have the same experience of never being rid of their sinful nature, just like the Old Testament people. They want to believe that they are just fine the way they currently are and so refuse to believe there is anything more. The very thought of thinking they have to submit fully to God to have eternal life scares them to much.
Another reason might be that people have been taught that Christ did all that needs to be done at the cross and all they need to have is their sins forgiven by God through Christ. This is another lie of the devil that people want to believe. Forgiveness is part of the sanctification process, but nowhere in God's word does it indicate that anyone has eternal life just because they are forgiven. God's word says a person must be pure and righteous through and through to enter eternal life. God's word says that eternal life is reserved for the righteous, the over comers, and the ones that do His will.
A third reason people might not want to believe the good news is because they just don't want all of God's goodness in their life, because they still receive enjoyment in the evil things of this world. It seems that most people just don't think God's goodness is worth the sacrifice it takes to have it, because they still love evil to much.
What ever the reasons, there will only be the few that fight their selfishness and kill it completely (by the power of God's love (grace)) to have all of God's goodness. If they fight against the evil inside themselves and finish the race, then they will be righteous and enter into God's eternal LIFE LIFE now and forevermore. The rest will not have loved God's TRUTH and goodness enough - they will be cast away from Him forever.
Matt 8:12 - But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. KJV
It is every person's choice of who they will love and have lord (master) of their life. No one will have anyone else to blame but themselves for their own decisions.
|
View Profile 
My Blogs 
My Blog Series 
My Comments 
My Wall 
My Friends 
My RSS Feed
