2015-07-03
Good Morning Dear Ones,
In the last several weeks, we have been looking at the differences between the Covenant of the Law and that of Grace, and we have seen how each works. I’m led to continue doing this, as we see how Christ has replaced Moses, the mediator of the old covenant [EX 3: 12], as the Mediator of the new covenant [2 COR 5: 21; HE 10: 14; RO 6: 22] and how His blood shed has confirmed it. God truly keeps His promises, and in this case, the promise is made as far back as GN 3: 21. You’ll remember that Adam and Eve were about to be cast out of the Garden of Eden for having committed the original sin. “The Lord God made garments out of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.” It would be easy for us to not pay attention to this short verse, but it has huge implications. For skin to be available, an animal’s blood had to be shed. This implies an important promise. For there to be forgiveness, blood is shed, as we see in LV 17: 11 and HE 9: 22, “The life is in the blood…it is blood that makes atonement for one’s sins…without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” This was God’s way of indicating that in His perfect time in the future, mankind would be given a way out of their sinfulness. It is much later that we find it is by the shedding of the blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25].
God had some important goals for us. The first, which was accomplished on Shavuot [the giving of the law-EX 24: 7-11] was to give us a way to know what is acceptable to Him and what isn’t, to supervise us. The second was for God to give us atonement for our sins, a way out from certain condemnation due to our sinfulness, and eternal forgiveness [1 JN 1: 9]. Other goals were to give us justification [RO 4: 3] and better access to Him [HE 9: 12-13], as well as [the giving of the Holy Spirit—accomplished on Pentecost –AC 2: 2-4]. What a ton of blessings this is! And to think, all we have to do is to repent of our sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ! While no one is justified by the law alone, righteous believing mankind lives by faith, just as the minor prophet, Habakkuk wrote in HB 2: 4. Genuine faith demands obedience [JN 14: 15, 21; RO 6: 16], but it also gives us tremendous freedom to approach God with confidence [EPH 3: 12]. We “will know the truth, and the truth shall make us free” [JN 8: 32].
The Abrahamic covenant promises were spoken to Abraham and “to his Seed” [GA 3: 16], and that Seed is Jesus Christ. Interestingly, the law was put in place to lead mankind to the Lord Jesus, so that we could be justified by faith. Now that faith has come to believers, we are no longer supervised by the law [GA 3: 24-25]. HE 9: 15, “For this reason [Christ’s Atonement], Christ is the Mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.” If you wonder why so much discussion of His Atonement and it’s ramifications is necessary, it is so that we might appreciate the fullness of this selfless sacrificial act on Christ’s part.
A look back at some history can focus on the huge implications of what has been done for us by our Covenant Partner can help. Back in GN 15: 13, we were told that the Jews would be strangers in a foreign land (Egypt) for slightly over 400 years; this was a prophecy of what eventually became their lives as slaves the Egyptians. Jacob and his family went to Egypt around 1876 BC toward the beginning of Egypt’s “Intermediate Period” (which lasted from 1800- 1570 BC). The exact dates of Egyptian slavery are not known, but they may have begun while Hyksos ( c.1670-1570 BC), Ahmose (c170-1545 BC), or Amenhotep (1545-1529 BC) was Pharaoh of Egypt. The date of the first Passover may have been about 1446 BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep II (1453-1426 BC). Shavuot was fifty days after the first Passover. God tells us, in EX 12: 40, that the time of Egyptian slavery lasted 430 years for the Jews. GN 46: 2-4 is where God appeared to Jacob and reiterated the promises of great increases in the Jewish population and that they will eventually return to the Promised Land.
The inheritance has to be either by faith or by works; it can’t be both, as some belief systems try to say. It would seem to me that believing it’s by works would indicate it is by man’s hands and controlled by him. I beg to differ with that, because this entire process of bringing mankind to where they can be saved, justified, and eternally forgiven is not only on God’s time clock but it is by His sovereign hand alone. That’s what grace is all about [EPH 2: 8-10]. Let’s look at GA 3: 17-18 to get some clarity. “What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in His grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.” Thus, this inheritance is an unconditional gift and not by works. What a great, unselfish, and graceful God we have!
PRAYER: O Lord, we are seeing before our very eyes how consistent Your teaching is, how much You want us to live righteously in a covenant relationship with You and under Your leadership. You want us to see how the events of the OT foreshadow those of the NT. For better understanding and gaining of wisdom, the Bible must be read as a whole, not accepted only in part from the OT, as traditional Judaism does. We also get a magnificent view into the love from Your heart. We can truly believe HO 14: 9, “The Lord says, ‘Bring My people back to Me. I will love them with all My heart; no longer am I angry with them.’” The precision that You have used in bringing Your plan for salvation to pass is something totally divine, as man is not capable of such a wide-ranging and righteous process. We can discern it’s ramifications only when we read the Bible, studying it carefully and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why You urged Paul to write, in 1 COR 2: 14, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” You knew enough about Your human creation with all our foibles, weaknesses, and imperfections to know that we needed the foundation the Covenant of the Law gave us first. Then, we would be able to benefit from the Covenant of Grace. You also knew the perfect time to send Your Son to earth and to command Him to allow the sacrifice of His physical life on the cross to maximize the number of people who would be willing to listen to the truth, repent of their sins, and believe in Him. How painful it must have been for You to see His physical life ended this way! How horrible for You to know that those Jews alive at the time didn’t recognize Who He is and hold Him precious! Dearest Father, we thank and praise You for all You did then and all You do now-- to bring as many of us as possible back to Your side for a blissful, heavenly eternity. We offer You our love, reverence, and awe in the holy/mighty name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I don’t know about you, but I’m finding this series of devotions as eye-openers to the heart of God and the profound implications of the Covenant of Grace. Our God is truly a Promise-keeper! Next week, I’m led by the Holy Spirit to continue writing about these aspects of God’s promise-keeping with a look back at Joseph’s time and how God remembered His covenant to watch over His chosen people. First, we see the relationship between sin and the law; then, we will learn more about the relationship between the Covenant of the Law and that of Grace. We also need to consider how this important reconnaissance applies to our modern society today. I remember in Romans Paul expressed great concern about what would happen to traditional Jews (his people and mine) [RO 2: 5; RO 10: 1-4; RO 11: 14]. One passage that should lead us to consider the way we live our own lives is RO 14: 7-8, “For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” An understanding of this leads to altered decision-making and ethical behavior.
Our Covenant Partner always keeps His promises to us, and that which He has promised is what really matters in our lives. Knowing and believing this, allows us to focus on the task of making every attempt to keep our end of the covenant. That is a day by day, hour by hour effort on our part. To ease our burden, we need to know the Lord’s will for us and Him better. If we read Scripture daily, taking time to meditate on His lessons for us in each reading, we will find encouragement and discover blessings we have that we never thought about. If we pray often, asking God for His help and remembering to rehearse our history with Him and to thank and praise Him for what He has already done, He will listen and will always be there for us. That is how our wonderful Covenant Partner shows us His love. May we thank and praise Him forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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