This is the second part of "God's Timeline" helping us go back to the Bible basics. There are alot of things in the Old Testament and so much we can learn from. I want to emphasize some of the things that are "of faith" and some that are not.
THE LAW AND THE PROMISE
"Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to the seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. 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." Galatians 3:15-18
"What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party, but God is one." Galatians 3:19-20 (read the rest yourself)
If you notice, "..until the Seed.." is referring to Jesus. This was the whole purpose of God since the beginning when God "promised" Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 (crush his head).
"Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." Galatians 3:23-25
The Law & Faith:
We'll talk about when the law ceased and the justification of faith started. You might not know this but we need to know who was "..under the law.." and "..who was not..":
From Genesis 1:1 to Exodus 19, people were not under the "Law" but under the grace of God. Abraham was never under the Law. Neither was Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Judah and others, even Jesus lived during the Old Covenant. "Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Galatians 3:6
God didn't have a commandment for Abraham to be "baptized" at that time. God didn't have a commandment for Abraham to "..observe the Law..". The Law wasn't given until the time of Moses after the exodus "exit" from Egypt until the death of Jesus!
Now, from Exodus 19 through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, Israel was under the "..curse of the Law..". Not that the Law was bad, it was that people couldn't keep the Law. They became disobedient to the Law. "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Galatians 3:10 "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." James 2:10
"You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Galatians 3:26-27
FAITH IS?
"But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."" Romans 10:16-18
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1
EXAMPLES OF DISOBEDIENCE
"The names of the sons of Aaron were Nadab the firstborn and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. Those were the names of Aaron's sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests. Nadab and Abihu, however, fell dead before the Lord when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai." Numbers 3:2-4
"The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in his ways, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws, and that you will obey him." Deut. 26:16-17
"This is what the Lord Almighty says: "I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys... ...Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive.. ..Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle.. ..Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 'I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instruction.'.. ..Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?'.. ..'But I did obey the Lord,' Saul said... ..But Samuel replied, "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.'" 1 Samuel 15:2-3, 7-8, 9, 10-11, 19, 20, 22.
"Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink. So Moses took the staff from the Lord's presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them." Numbers 20:8-12
BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS
"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God." Deut. 28:1-2
"However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:.. ..The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him." Deut. 28:15, 20
OLD COVENANT & NEW COVENANT
"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him." Exodus 34:29-30
"Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman (Hagar/Ishmael) was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman (Sarah/Isaac) was born as the result of a promise (through Abraham). These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai (Law) and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother." Galatians 4:21-26 (parenthesis mine)
"'The time is coming,' declares the Lord, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,' declares the Lord. 'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the Lord. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the Lord. 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.'" Jeremiah 31:31-34
"We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away." 2 Cor. 3:13-14
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." Hebrews 8:13 (kjv)
THE PROPHETS & FALSE TEACHERS
"From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiffnecked and did more evil than their forefathers." Jeremiah 7:25-26
"But I said, 'Ah, Sovereign Lord, the prophets keep telling them, "You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place."" Then the Lord said to me, "The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds."" Jeremiah 14:13-14
"But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them - bringing swift destruction on themselves." 2 Peter 2:1
"The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet (possibly Jesus) like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him." Deut. 18:15 (parenthesis mine)
"If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account." Deut. 18:19
"But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death."" Deut. 18:20
FAITH IN ACTION:
"Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions where working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend." James 2:21-23
God gave Abraham a "command": "Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about." Genesis 22:1-2
If Abraham did NOT do what God commanded him to do, Abraham wouldn't be reckoned as a "righteous man"; "a man of faith"! But Abraham did exactly what God told him to do. "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." James 2:24
..to be continued; more to come..
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