What if the Old Covenant was God’s final word to man?
What if the Ten Commandments were the only means available to us to gain entry into heaven, or to earn God’s love and acceptance?
Where would this leave us?
What would our eternal fate be?
How would this affect our lives here and now?
The Old Covenant was God’s word to Israel. Not His first word to Israel, nor was it His last. But it did define Israel’s way of life as a nation from Moses until Jesus. The teachers of the Law believed Israel’s role in the world was to live out the righteous requirements of the Law, and in so doing, become a blessing to all other nations.
Where did this leave them? The same place it leaves anyone who attempts to gain God’s acceptance through obedience to Law – judged, condemned, fearful and dead in sin.
That’s the Old Covenant, a ministry of condemnation and death.
When read correctly, the Law is God’s word about man, the plain, stark truth. It answers these questions: What is the destiny of a people caught in the throes of a lie? What will be their end? According to the Law, the final stop is death, but only if the Old Covenant is God’s final word.
The denouement of this story has a twist. It is revealed on a hill called Calvary, outside the walls of Jerusalem. A man hung there on a cross, suspended between heaven and earth. He was no ordinary man, and the death he died was no ordinary death.
The man whose hands and feet were pierced was the Lord Himself, the unblemished Lamb of God. His death was in place of ours. Live out the full story of the Law and it ends at the foot of this cross. Look up and see God’s final word to man – Jesus.
Death is not God’s end for man, it is Jesus. In Him we have forgiveness of sins, righteousness and a new way of life defined by the New Covenant. That leads to several questions.
What if we truly believed that Jesus was and is God’s final word to man?
Where would this leave us?
How would it affect us here and now?
The New Covenant answers – in Jesus totally forgiven, completely loved and fully alive!
Month: January 2012
How You Can Have a Vibrant Faith in 2012
If you want to experience a vibrant faith, then ask and answer this question.
Jesus first posed this question to His disciples at Caesarea Philippi. The curiosity of the people of Israel concerning the identity of Jesus had the nation abuzz. Who was He? Jesus asked His disciples for feedback. Then He asked them, “Who do you say that I am?”
Most of us think of this question in terms of apologetics, defending the faith. Yes, Jesus’ identity is central to Christianity, and we as believers must be well versed in sharing the truth of His claims to be God.
The question, however, is much broader in scope. The answer has continuing effects in our day-to-day lives. It relates to our faith as individual believers.
“Who do you say that I am?” is not a question to be asked and answered merely once in a lifetime. We should circle back to it time and time again.
Our faith, to have value and substance, must be tied to an object. Without an object, faith is a meaningless word. For Christians, the object of our faith is Jesus Christ Himself. As our knowledge of Christ grows, our faith in Him expands within our souls.
This far exceeds the facts the question initially invokes. Peter answered the question correctly when Jesus asked it. He boldly delivered the answer that had been revealed to him, “You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Yet, when Jesus, in response to Peter’s answer, shared His ultimate mission, Peter recoiled. Jesus rebuked him saying, “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.” The fact of Jesus’ identity was clear in Peter’s mind, but fact had not yet blossomed into full faith.
Faith is a dynamic word that is lived out in trials and tribulations. Sometimes, in trials, we carry on as if we had never come to terms with the truth of Jesus. We act as if He is irrelevant to our life issues. However, it is in those times, we need to come back to this most significant question: Who do I say that He is? When we come back to the truth that Jesus is God and is living in us, then we can release our burdens to Him and confidently trust that He is capable of working the situation together for our good.
In 2012, make a point to circle back to the most compelling question ever asked time and time again. If you do, you can count on experiencing a vibrant faith in the New Year.