2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
For the last five messages have dealt with God as Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness. He has led me to take us through an examination of citations that demonstrated the extent of mankind’s sinfulness which led to the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. His reasons for doing this are not only to teach us what is not His will, but to let us see that a lifestyle of sin always has negative consequences. That is only half of the picture He wants us to see. The other half is the depth of His love for His children and His desire to see them bought out of the market place of slavery to sin. The price for this purchase has been paid by His Son’s death on the cross [RO 6: 6].
If my own experience is any teacher, I am a first-hand witness to the fact that Jehovah Tsidkenu often takes us to a point of brokenness before we will be able to assimilate important lessons about righteousness that He has for us. He has the power to take remarkably stubborn people, and I was surely one of those, and bring them to faith. As I mentioned yesterday, it is not His will to make automatons out of us. Instead, He gave us each free will, so that we can make choices. He also equips us to make those choices. It is up to each of us as to whether or not we will do so. At the darkest hour, at that point of brokenness, Jehovah Tsidkenu reveals Himself. Three hundred years before Christ was born, Jeremiah was inspired by God to speak the words of JER 31: 31-34. These words are especially precious to me as a Jew privileged to know Who her Messiah really is. “The Lord says, ‘The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant. The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put My law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. None of them will have to teach his fellow countryman to know the Lord, because all will know Me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
The reason for the animal sacrifices of Judaism according to HE 10: 2 is the feeling of guilt that traditional Jews have with the continual reminders of their sin. That is totally gone when sin is expunged and there is faith in the new covenant promised. RO 10: 4 helps us to understand a crucial part of this new covenant. “For Christ has brought the Law to an end, so that everyone who believes is put right with God.” This makes Christ the fulfillment of the Law. This new covenant not only means that Christ’s death on the cross is a once and for all propitiation [satisfactory once-for-all sin sacrifice] for mankind’s sin, but it also means that believers in Him can live in the freedom of a grace economy rather than hindered by the limitations and ritual of a law economy. This freedom is not license to sin, but, instead, is freedom that comes from knowing the truth [JN 8: 31-32]. Imagine the freedom we felt as children when we could present our parents with a good report card-freedom from guilt, freedom from fear of punishment. That is some idea of the freedom that our acting righteously gives us. When Christ’s Kingdom is finally established, all its inhabitants will no longer need to be taught Jehovah Tsidkenu’s word, because they will know it. [Bible teachers like me won’t be out of a job, though. I firmly believe God will have something important for each of us to do J].
Jeremiah’s mention of the new covenant in this prophecy is by no means the only one. In a most salient and precious passage of Matthew, it is brought up again by Jesus Christ Himself. MT 26: 26-29, “While they [His disciples at the last supper] were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to His disciples. ‘Take and eat it,’ He said; ‘this is My body .’ Then He took a cup, gave thanks to God, and gave it to them. ‘Drink it, all of you,’ He said; ‘this is My blood, which seals God’s covenant [the new covenant], My blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink this wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in My Father’s Kingdom.’” The disciples didn’t understand the full impact of that statement, nor did they connect it to Jeremiah’s prophecy above until much later. But, we who believe understand it, and it is most critical to us. None of this promise of an end to sin as we know it or a statement like that made in 2 COR 4: 17 would give us hope, except for the fact that the Lord is our Righteousness. “And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble .”
PRAYER: O Lord, it is clear that You want us to see both sides to the picture about You being our Righteousness. Just as You want us to understand that sinful lifestyles lead to punishment and even death, You want is to know the love You have for us. You demonstrated that love when before the Creation, You made the decision to send Your Son to the cross for us [COL 1: 15-20; 1 PET 1: 20-21]. True to the righteous God that You are, You began fulfilling that promise when Christ died on the cross. That is the beginning of what You have promised to do. We can rest in the hope that Your Kingdom will eventually be established, sooner than we think, because we know You to never lie. The new covenant, which You commanded Jeremiah to prophecy is now in place. We who have repented and confessed our faith in Your Son, already have been granted Your most excellent grace. The promise that more people will come to faith is being fulfilled everyday, but our help is needed in this important work of the Holy Spirit. Today, we dedicate ourselves to being willing to help in that work, using the powerful tools of prayer and witness which You have given us. Our hearts are eager for Your direction and for further understanding which we can get from studying the Scriptures You have given us. You are a wise, righteous, and loving Deity. For that and so much more, we humbly offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, trust, obedience, honor, glory, praise and thanks. In Christ’s name, amen.
God has made it clear to me that He has more for us to learn about the new covenant and the gifts to those who love Him which further manifest His righteousness. These things will be the subjects of tomorrow’s message. The more we study His word together, the more hope He imparts to us that good will conquer evil and that we personally will be eternally blessed and protected by Him. That is how I can witness to the reality of His love for us every day that we must live on earth and in the hereafter for eternity. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn