Tuesday 29 January 2019

Law

The word 'law' is used variously in the New Testament to refer to:

The entire collection of Old Testament Scriptures (the Tenakh); or


The books of Moses (the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Tenakh); or 

The full system of rituals, ceremonies, laws and customs which Moses commanded; or

The Ten Commandments specifically; or 

Jewish tradition; or

The law written in the hearts of Gentiles who didn't have the written law; or

An inner power or principle, whether good or bad; or

A 'new' commandment or system (as opposed to an 'old' outdated one); or

The reality that there is a Divine requirement - in general, without specifying

In order to grasp a point an Apostle was making, and to grasp the way he formed his argument for his point, if he used the word 'law' it would therefore be helpful to carefully notice what he was referring to when he used it.

Monday 28 January 2019

The Question of the Law

The issue which the Apostles had to deal with, in regard to the question of the Law, doesn't really exist anymore.
The question in their time was, Is Jesus enough - or must Gentiles also become Proselytes to Judaism.
Literally, that meant fully Torah-Observant Proselytes to Judaism, complete with circumcision and pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the Feasts and all that - or just Jesus.
It was an important question, so the Apostles had to deal with it - and deal with it they did.
So the same issue no longer exists for us today. Because it isn't possible anymore to be literally Torah-Observant - not even if we wished to be (ever since the old Levitical Order of priesthood ceased to exist).
But a kind of similar issue has arisen again today - because in the absence of Moses' system, quasi Torah systems were created in its place. Beginning with post-second Temple Rabbinical Judaism - and now all sorts of varieties of Judaisms.
None of those systems are really Moses' practices - yet in some people's minds it's somehow brought up the whole question of Moses' practices again.
But let me give an illustration of what that's like. My old High School buildings don't exist any more. They became old, long ago; and the location became a brand new supermarket.
While I was still a student, I didn't have to ask, "Do I have to go to school this year?" Of course I had to.
Once I graduated, I didn't have to go anymore. But if someone tried to tell me I still had to, it might have made me wonder - because the buildings were all still there, I could have gone back to school if I'd wanted to.
But today, the buildings don't even exist. So even if I wake up in a nightmare feeling like I'm late for school, I can't go - because the school doesn't exist. So I obviously don't have to. It was just a nightmare.
Instead, I now live the real life which my old school days prepared me for and always intended that I should be living at this phase of my life.
Since the Apostles decreed that JESUS was enough - that Gentiles didn't also need to become Proselytes (even when real Torah-Observance was still possible) - it certainly isn't necessary for us today to take-on one of the modern varieties of Judaism (which aren't the same thing as Moses' old practices anyway).
JESUS is still more than enough!
"...ye are complete in him..." (Colossians 2:10).

Israel/Jew

At one point the once-united nation of Israel got divided into the northern nation of Israel and the southern nation of Judah. 

But God promised to restore them from captivity as a single, no longer divided, nation. And that happened. 

So the terms Israel and the Jews became somewhat interchangeable. 

But all the way through the Bible, there was tension between merely being ethnically Jewish, and being truly Jewish in the sense of living-up to what God really had planned for and through the Jews. 

You see this in John the Baptist's warnings. And you see it in the way Jesus spoke to the Jewish leaders. Ethnicity alone wasn't going to cut it!

Actually even the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, scribes, lawyers, priests and the community at Qumran (Dead Sea) each felt that there was going to be some right requirement before a Jew could hope to be part of what God had planned. 

There were righteous, and there were the damned, both - even in Israel, at the time of Jesus. 

So a true 'Jew' - the true 'Israel' were, first of all, those Israelis who wholeheartedly embraced what God was saying and doing. And then many Gentiles came to participate in what God was doing and saying too.


In Old Covenant times, that meant Torah Observance; and it meant becoming Proselytes to Judaism. But once Jesus came, it meant believing in the One Whom God sent. First, the Jews - and also Gentiles. Believing in Jesus. 

At that point Gentiles who turned to God no longer needed to embrace the old thing that God had done with Israel - rather, they embraced the new thing God had done with them - not Judaism, but Jesus. 

So that's what we do today. We embrace JESUS. We love Him; love one another; renounce old pagan, fleshy behaviours - and since they didn't need to embrace the practices of Moses' Law even when it was still possible to do so, now that it isn't possible to we certainly don't need to embrace some modern form of Judaism.

Just Jesus and the gospel-life He intended for us. That's Israel's promises and prophecies in actualisation. 

What Love Looks Like

Loving God and your neighbour is enough to be pleasing to God; and loving God indeed means keeping His commandments.

But loving God and our neighbour - keeping God's commandments - looked very different in ancient Israel to how God expects it to look now this side of the cross.


It's like, the way an adult expresses love will be quite different in practice to the way it looked when he was a child, even though it may be the same in principle.

So when the Gospel went out among the Gentiles, loving God and one's neighbour didn't involve Gentiles literally becoming Torah Observant Proselytes to Judaism - but neither would it have been condoned if they'd carried on treating one another in their old pagan, fleshly ways. 

Church

Many in the Hebrew Roots movement despise the word 'Church'. But the word just means assembly, congregation, gathering, group, a select group. 

Doing what God says to do, is of course the criteria for belonging. But throughout the Bible God hasn't always required precisely the same thing of everyone everywhere for all time. So the thing to do is find out what God now requires us to do this side of the cross.

Abraham BELIEVED something God promised him - then God reckoned Abraham's faith to him as RIGHTEOUSNESS - BEFORE Abraham was circumcised. And this of course was before Abraham's grandson Jacob (ISRAEL) was even born. 


So this was a precedent of being recognised as
 pleasing to God on the basis of FAITH, regardless of ISRAELI ETHNICITY, and without the deeds of the LAW.

Not One Jot Nor Tittle

Changing the priesthood was changing more than a jot or tittle! 

Evidently then, Jesus' 'jot and tittle' statement was never intended to mean that there wouldn't ever be major changes in the expected modus operandi. 


Jesus Himself spoke about some changes. For example, He said that the time had come when true worshipers would no longer be required to go to Jerusalem to worship - even though the Torah had demanded it. 

That was a change. A big change. More than a jot or tittle. Yet Jesus doesn't contradict Himself. See, we've got to find out what He meant by what He said - not impose our own intent on what He said. 

One way to correctly apply what He said, is find out how the Apostles applied Jesus' teachings - because they knew His intentions better than any of us. 

And what do we find? The Apostles didn't expect Gentile believers in Jesus to be circumcised, or to make the pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the Feasts, etc. So, they obviously understood Jesus' 'jot or tittle' statement in such a way that it didn't mean Gentiles had to literally become fully Torah Observant proselytes to Judaism! 

But neither did they condone Gentiles continuing in their old pagan behaviours. Becoming Proselytes versus lawlessness - those weren't the only two available options, the way the Apostles understood Jesus and the question of the law.

See, we ought to want to grasp the story the New Testament is telling us overall. Understanding the plot of any story is never as simple as just taking a paragraph out of one section and saying 'There you go - that's the story'.

Sunday 27 January 2019

Eternal Life



You were made for better than the way things are in this present world, and then just to die...

The garden of Eden was a paradise, a bit like Paradise in heaven. The Lord God even used to walk and talk with the man in the cool of the afternoon! Until the man and woman sinned and death entered the world.

So JESUS came and died for our sins, He was buried, and He was the first to rise from the dead! To bring us back to God.

When Jesus comes again, we're going to see the full rollout of the total recovery package which God achieved and started through His Son on the cross:

* Jesus is going to raise up the dead, like He was raised

* Death and decay is going to be abolished

* All right and wrong is going to get sorted

* There's going to be new heavens and a new earth, in which the righteous will live

* God is going to wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there's going to be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: all those things are going to be OVER!!

* And God shall live with them forever

That's what you were made for! You are destined for GLORY!

You weren't made for condemnation and death.

God's free gift to you is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's already been bought and paid for, by the cross of Jesus Christ.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

So, what to do?

Receive it!

"...if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LORD Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9).

I did, on the 16th of December 1979 at a little after 7:30pm.

God freely gave me the status of 'righteousness'. Undeserved - but He just give it to me!

Peace; and joy in the Holy Spirit - God's own Spirit to live in me.

And when I got immersed (baptised) in water in His Name as well, and came up out of the water - it was all like a powerful start to the new creation that's coming! I became a brand new person.

It'll happen to you, too. Make your claim. It'd be a pity not to, wouldn't it?

Say:

"Dear God in heaven: I repent of my sins. I confess with my mouth the LORD Jesus. I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. I receive your forgiveness and your salvation, right now. Thank you Lord! In Jesus' Name. Amen!"

You're welcome to Message when you do!

Welcome to the family!!

Thursday 24 January 2019

First Things First

1. God planned before the foundation of the world that Messiah would be crucified; that He would redeem humanity and creation, in Him; and that they (all the redeemed) would be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God
2. Then God created the world; and mankind fell
3. Then God informed Abraham of the above plan. Abraham's Seed (Messiah) would bless (save) all nations of the earth.
This promise was stated before Jacob (Israel) was even born; before Moses ever gave the Law. It was always going to be about the Seed (Jesus) and all nations (of believers), as God planned before the world began.
4. Some generations after that, God constituted the nation of Israel (Jacob, and his twelve sons, the Tribes). Their nation were the custodians of the above promise.
In the interim, Moses gave them a temporary Law. Proselytes to Judaism could also have some participation in it, while it applied.
The law was to school them for what was to come. It was a shadow of the reality that was to come.
5. Then in the fulness of time Messiah came - the Son of God - son of David, son of Abraham - One greater than Moses - One before Abraham - the Holy One of Israel - the Servant - God with us - the Saviour - Mighty God - the only Israeli (in fact the only human) who qualifies to fulfil Israel's (mankind's original) vocation. He was crucified as our substitute, was buried and rose again, inaugurating resurrection and redemption - new creation - and took out a people for His Name.
Just as the Prophets foretold; just as the Law foreshadowed; just as Abraham had been promised; just as God had planned before the foundation of the world.
JESUS. Through His cross and resurrection. God has taken sin away. Death was abolished. Resurrection is inaugurated. New creation is inaugurated. God's forever plan has been inaugurated.
The announcement of this accomplishment is called the GOSPEL. Good news.
The first thing - the REAL THING - has come.

Friday 18 January 2019

Seeing Visions

When I was young, I earnestly desired to SEE VISIONS, and I asked for it.
I said, "God! You promised '...your young men shall see visions...' I'm a young man - therefore I ask to see a vision!"
And it didn't take very long before God started answering my prayers.
Believers all over the world are seeing visions. (I've already Posted about some of the visions I and others have seen.)
But you too can earnestly desire, covet, be zealous for, ask for, seek to excel in and not to come behind in seeing VISIONS.
The ancient Jewish prophet Joel foretold:
"...it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men SHALL SEE VISIONS: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit" (Joel 2:28,29).
In Israel's Old Covenant times, it was mainly only prophets who saw visions. But God's promise was that a day was coming when God would pour out His Spirit upon EVERYONE. That was something the Jews were looking forward to.
Then on the day of Pentecost, when there APPEARED UNTO THEM cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, Peter stood and said:
"...this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16).
The time had come - God had fulfilled His Promise! And all in connection with JESUS of Nazareth who had been crucified and who was risen from the dead and ascended to heaven and seated at the Father's right hand and who had poured out what they were now seeing and hearing from the streets outside that upper room in Jerusalem.



FOR HOW LONG SHALL BELIEVERS SEE VISIONS?


Joel had foreseen that seeing visions, and other signs, would happen "before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come" (verse 31).
We haven't seen the 'last day' yet have we. Therefore God is still pouring out His Spirit!
"And it shall come to pass," Joel continued, "that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call" (verse 32).
People are still calling on the name of the Lord for salvation today, aren't they. So we're still in the period foreseen by Joel when God is pouring out His Spirit, just like they experienced on the day of Pentecost!
Peter also set the same timespan of the promise:
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things..." (Acts 3:18-21).
The times of refreshing are to continue until the return of Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ hasn't returned yet, has He. That means this refreshing is still available now, today.


FOR WHOM IS THE PROMISE?


"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call", said Peter unto them (Acts 2:38,39).
Not only is the timeframe for the promise set as long as can be, but the scope for whom the promise applies also is wide as can be. The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all, to as many as the Lord our God shall call. That includes you, doesn't it! You can start to desire and ASK to SEE VISIONS.
Pray something like this:
"Father, You promised 'I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy; and your young men shall see visions.' Pour out your Spirit upon me. Let me see visions. In Jesus' Name. Amen!"
And expect it!

Is your life like dry and parched land? Press in to know the Lord. Repent of any sins. Be baptised in Jesus' Name. And you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. He'll come to you like gentle rain after a long dry patch.

When God visits to refresh a dry and parched generation, part of what He graciously gives, along with His Spirit, is VISIONS. Seeing visions is part of God drawing close to give this generation a restoring hug. His love is for you too.
"Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field" (Zechariah 10:1).
"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth" (Hosea 6:3).
Beautiful, isn't it!
"I...Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (Ephesians 1:15-18).

Tuesday 15 January 2019

Israelology Questions

Is it okay for Jews to marry anyone 'in the Lord'? or does God still command Jews to marry only another Jew.

If God still commands Jews to perpetuate their ethnic distinction, does becoming a believer in Messiah excuse a Jew from that obligation?

If becoming a believer excuses a Jew from that obligation, wouldn't that mean Messiah's provisions could potentially interfere with God's program for Jews?

But the New Testament portrays Jesus not as a disruption to God's promises to Jews, but the fulfilment of it. 

Sunday 13 January 2019

Link: The Three-Wave Theory of Australian Aboriginal History

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/history-wars/2002/06/the-extinction-of-the-australian-pygmies/?fbclid=IwAR2GjIkvHwxk0o2rcXiIHxu_CNOiRHdrP1NM9Ci2gXe10czMqSjRFacwyCQ

Sunday 6 January 2019

Point of View

While I was driving along the road on the weekend, I thought to myself that it isn't really possible for anyone to convey a meaning he wants, about anything, and to make sure it can't be taken the wrong way, just by picking the right words.
Nearly always, a particular point of view on the words is needed too, in order for their intent to be grasped. Otherwise, without the right point of view on the words, someone can easily mistake what's meant.
That's nearly always the case - it's just how language works! How much more when it's an ancient manuscript we're considering, such as the Bible.
The thing is: even when we think we're not reading with a point of view, we are. A Lutheran person once protested to me that it's unnecessary to seek to understand Paul's writings in light of any particular worldview or backstory Paul may have had - because Paul's inspired words stand on their own right. And yet by not taking Paul's point of view into consideration he unknowingly was actually imposing another point of view, his own, onto it!
Reading words without a point of view, is unavoidable. What's important then, is to read them with the right point of view - the point of view of the writer!
I decided to put my idea to the test, on some of the most fundamental statements in the Bible, that:
"...Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3,4).
All sounds simple enough - yet without the right point of view even that can be (and has been) misconstrued.
For example, there are different points of view on the word 'death', some saying Jesus not only died physically, but also spiritually; while others insist He only died physically, but not spiritually.
Or some have the point of view that 'resurrection' is just a pretty way of talking about the existence of the soul after death; while others insist it meant the resurrection of the body.
Even if words were added to the statements in order to ensure a particular conclusion to those questions, it still might leave other questions unanswered.
Point of view matters - because whole systematic theologies have been read into the Bible either way!
That's why, in the verses above, Paul said twice:
"...according to the scriptures..." (verse 3);
"...according to the scriptures" (verse 4).
It helped set the point of view! It provided the backstory. The worldview in which the statements were to be understood.
Doing this discipline is particularly important for us when considering the topic of 'election' in the Bible, particularly in Romans 9-11.
Unless we seek to understand it in light of its place in the overall flow of the Epistle; and in light of the story in which Paul himself lived; his mindset, point of view and worldview, it's possible to (and has been!) mildly to severely misconstrued.
Very often the passage is approached with the mindset that existed in the Synod of Dort in the early 1600s where Calvinists summoned Arminians over specific questions - looking for statements which might be about those same questions. That's a 'point of view' - and it can affect how we understand the passage.
But in writing it, Paul had his own point of view!
He used definitions of terms which were well-known in his own time but which may or may not have had the same connotations in later centuries;
He was answering specific sets of questions, which incidentally weren't the same as the questions being debated at Dort;
He was dealing with stated issues, first century issues, not 17th century ones;
He was going somewhere, at this point in his Epistle;
And all of it fit neatly in his own life and career-objectives.
So when Paul spoke about 'election', I don't think he was making some standalone point about why some individuals get saved while others don't. I think he was doing something quite different.
I think he was celebrating the essential unity which the gospel achieved for Gentiles and Jews;
He was addressing specific first-century misconceptions about the gospel which could have undermined that unity;
He gave the theological basis for that unity;
And after it was all said and done, the passage ends-up with Paul inviting Gentiles and Jews to join him in praising God - not for some strange Sovereign characteristic which predestines most people to damnation - but for God's GOODNESS, as it unfolded in the cross of JESUS Christ!

Thursday 3 January 2019

David's Tabernacle

With regard to the question of whether or not Gentiles who were turning to the Lord should become proselytes to Judaism, the point in James quoting the prophecy about the restoration of David's fallen tabernacle and 'Edom' or mankind seeking the Lord, wasn't to quote some prophecy about God restoring a non-Law grace-mode for Israel as if that's what David's tabernacle had represented, and about God then including Gentiles in the scheme. No.

In the first place, David's 'tabernacle', in the prophecy James quoted, didn't mean the tent which David had erected for the ark - it meant David's household; his dynasty; his royal kingdom. God was going to restore it. And He did, through Messiah, the Son of David.

Secondly, the tent which David once erected for the ark, wasn't a case of overriding Moses' commandments as if under 'grace' - no, it was David's best attempt at implementing Moses' commandments in the Law!

The point in James quoting the prophecy, was that according to the prophecy, mankind (Gentiles) would be included in a special way in God's sovereign purposes, at the same time that God would have started restoring David's fallen tabernacles. James was legitimising the fact that Gentiles were coming to the Lord - as Gentiles, without them needing to become proselytes to Judaism in the process.