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Apart from the Law
By Brian Hennessy
Part
3
There is another important aspect to the Law’s purpose that needs to
be addressed. And that is that the Law with all its commandments,
statutes, and stone tabernacle, should be thought of simply as God’s
blueprints for His future home with a scale model in the form of a
physical temple thrown in.
To use Biblical terms, they were “types and shadows.” That is they
pointed to a greater spiritual reality to come, which we know was
Messiah Jesus in the fullness of His manifestation in us. “For the
Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come, and
not the very form of things....” (Heb.10: 1). “Therefore let no one
act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a
festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day - things which are a mere
shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ”
(Col 2:16,17).
Interestingly, if you go to Jerusalem today you will see a large
replica of Herod’s Temple on display there. It helps us visualize the
magnificence of the original, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70
AD. But as I say, even the original tabernacle was but a model of the
spiritual temple that God would introduce later, which we call the
body of Christ. “For we are the temple of the Living God” (2 Cor.
6:16). That’s why it is written in the Book of Hebrews concerning the
physical temple that “the Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way
into the holy place (the true spiritual tabernacle in heaven) has not
yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing,
which is a symbol for the time present... (with) regulations for the
body imposed until a time of reformation. But when Christ appeared...”
(Heb. 9:8-11).
Soon after the New Covenant temple of the Body of Christ was
introduced, God allowed the Romans to remove the old stone building.
That eliminated all confusion about having two temples.
However, the “temple” as it exists today, that is the Body of Christ,
should really be equated with the portable tabernacle rather than
Solomon’s grand permanent structure. Like the tabernacle that was used
to transport the Presence of God throughout the 40-year wilderness
wandering, we too are carrying about His Presence in these physical
flesh-and-blood tabernacles, as we go from century to century.
Therefore it can be said that the Church Age parallels the wilderness
journey of the Israelites. Like them, the promise of the completion of
our salvation still lies ahead. We have not yet entered our promised
rest.
When the time comes to enter in, the “living stones” will be brought
together at Jerusalem (I have no idea how) and assembled. “I will
return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it”
(Zech 1:16 and 6:15). There we shall be spiritually fused together
into the finished temple of God, which is what the permanence and
glory of Solomon’s edifice foreshadowed. And the cloud of God’s
shekinah glory will fill this completed temple, just as it did
Solomon’s temple on the Feast of Tabernacles! (2 Chron. 5:3-14). That
is when the prophecy of Haggai will be fulfilled, that “the latter
glory of this house will be greater than the former” (Hag. 2:9).
These flesh-and-blood tabernacle stones will be instantly glorified
and transfigured in the “twinkling of an eye.” Jew and Gentile
believer alike will become “One New Man” (Eph. 2:15) in a way that we
cannot yet imagine. And the world will finally see Jesus. This event
will also answer the prayer Jesus prayed that we would “all be one.”
(John 17:2) The poles that were used to carry the Ark will no longer
be needed. We will have found our permanent rest in Him, and He will
have found His rest in us. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne
saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with
them” (Rev. 21:3).
That’s when I believe the real evangelization and healing ministry of
the Church, who will then become Israel, will start. The real work and
battles of Israel didn’t begin until they got INTO the Promised Land.
Disease, sin and rebellion must be wiped out, and the kingdoms of this
world must become the kingdoms of our God. “For the Lord said to my
Lord: Sit at My right hand until I put all your enemies under your
feet.” (Mk 1236; Ps 110:1)
But right now we are still a corporate work in progress. But even so,
the Mosaic blueprint which was initially needed to point Israel
towards Messiah, has been retired. Its role now at best is as a
reference tool to look back and check the validity of New Covenant
truths, both present and yet to come. If our forefathers had done that
more often, many false teachings of the organized church would have
been exposed when it was seen that they did not square up with Old
Testament typology.
Did Paul keep the Law?
Mosaic Christians always insist that Paul kept the Law even as an
apostle. Although Paul did keep the Law on occasion (as we read in
Acts 21) - which might lead one to conclude Paul was under the Law -
he clearly tells the ekklesia (the church) at Corinth that this was
not the case.
He explains his seemingly contradictory behavior this way:
"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to
everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew,
to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the
law - though I myself am not under the law - so to win those
under the law. To those not having law, I became like one not having
the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Messiah's
law), so as to win those not having law....I have become all things to
all men so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Cor 9:
19-22).
Obviously, to Paul, the Law could be used as an evangelistic tool when
necessary. And although he says that he personally isn't under the Law
- it doesn't mean he is under no law. He confesses that he is
very definitely under the New Covenant Law of Love which he terms
"Messiah's law." The extreme choices are legality and license - but he
shows that Spirit-controlled liberty is the right path to follow.
Given the volume of writing that Paul devoted to combating the idea
that the followers of Messiah (especially the Gentiles) had to keep
the Law, there is just no way we can say that Paul was a closet keeper
of the Mosaic Law. If so, I should think he'd be guilty of the same
type of gross hypocrisy he accused Peter of at Galatia. (By the way,
Paul's confrontation in Galatians 2:14 reveals that even Peter, whose
ministry was to the Jews, wasn't a Law keeper either: "You are a Jew,
yet you live like a Gentile and not as a Jew. How is it then that you
force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?")
It would seem that Paul had no problem with his fellow believing Jews
maintaining their customs (i.e. traditions that may have been part of
the Law) - as long as they did not see them as required by God, or tie
them to justification or sanctification. But as one Bible commentary
notes, he probably wouldn't have tried to stop them either if they
chose to abandon them. Furthermore, they were not to try and impose
them on the Gentiles, as we saw in his confrontation with Peter.
And finally it must be pointed out that, as Paul himself pointed out,
if he kept the Law, "why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling
block of the cross has been abolished" (Gal 5:11). Most Mosaic
Christians respond, “well what were the ‘traditions’ that Paul taught
if they were not the works of the Law?”
If you start from the premise that God still wants us to keep the Law,
then you might assume that the "traditions" which Paul told us "to
stand firm and hold to...which you were taught, whether by word of
mouth, or by letter" (2 Thess. 2:15) were the Mosaic Law. But that
assumption would not be correct. The word "traditions" does not
automatically mean old or ancient ways - it can refer to new
traditions, also. The "traditions" Paul was referring to were the
ordinances and teachings he had received, not from Moses, but directly
from Jesus. In 1 Cor 11, verse 23, Paul says, "For I received from the
Lord that which I also delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus
on the night in which He was betrayed took bread:..." Again in 1 Cor
15:3, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I
also received, that Messiah died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, was buried, ..."
Here he shows that included in his teaching was the identification of
Old Testament prophesies given in word and picture pointing to the
death and resurrection of Messiah. So in that sense you could say some
OT traditions were handed on - but not as rituals and laws to be
practiced, but as types and shadows pointing to New Testament
realities.
The “Fulfilling” Ministry of Jesus
Another argument of those who say the Law should still be practiced by
Christians today are the words of Jesus. Jesus said, “Do not think
that I came to abolish the Law or the prophets; I did not come to
abolish, but to fulfill” (Matt. 5: 17). What was he saying? If
he didn’t come to abolish the Law, does that mean - as so many in the
Moses Movement argue - that he is saying we are still supposed to keep
the Law? Especially when he says in the next two verses, “not the
smallest letter or stroke shall pass away until all is accomplished.
Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so
teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but
whoever does them and teaches them, he shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.”
To understand what Jesus meant, a distinction has to be made between
“keeping the Law” and “fulfilling the Law.” We know that Jesus “was
born under the Law,” and lived his whole life under the Law, “so that
he might redeem all those who were born under the Law.” (Gal. 4:4) We
also know that he was the only member of the human race to actually
“keep the Law” perfectly. BUT “KEEPING THE LAW” WAS NOT HOW HE
”FULFILLED THE LAW!” His unblemished record on Law-keeping simply
qualified him to be the perfect, unblemished sacrifice that the Law
required to atone for sin. His promise of “fulfilling the Law” had to
do with his bringing into existence the spiritual realities that the
Law pointed to by shadow, some of which I alluded to in the previous
section. Jesus was therefore saying that not one shadowy detail of the
Law would go unfulfilled. Heaven and earth would not pass away until
he had fulfilled every “jot and tittle.” That was a large part
of his mission!
At the same time, he reminded His audience that they themselves were
still under obligation to “keep the whole Law,” since the Mosaic Law
at that time was still the covenant de jour. (The New Covenant
wouldn’t become official until his death and resurrection.) And lest
anyone think keeping the Law was possible, he told them that the
righteousness of the Pharisees, who promoted themselves as the leading
keepers of the Law, wasn’t good enough. They’d have to do better. He
then raised the bar even higher by saying that if anyone sinned even
in their thought life, they had broken the Law. I’m sure many in the
crowd, upon hearing that, probably choked on their beards.
Of course he knew that he was the only one who could meet that
impossible standard, And what’s more he knew that the righteousness he
spoke of could only be achieved through faith in his atonement. But
that explanation would have to wait until his work was done and he had
returned to heaven. His disciples would explain that later in the
Epistles as the Spirit illuminated their understanding and anointed
their messages.
The bottom line is that his ministry fulfilled the ministry of Moses,
just as the building contractor fulfills the work of the architect.
“Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, for a
testimony of those things which were to be spoken later. But Messiah
is faithful as a Son over God’s house whose house we are, if we
hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the
end.” (Heb. 3:5,6)
Unfortunately, we have a history of not holding fast to our
confidence, which is why we are always in so much trouble.
Backsliding Boogie
As night follows day, the people of God have a habit of returning to
old religious habits after coming to the truth. Which is a pretty good
definition for backsliding. We often think the first sign of
backsliding is when someone stops going to church. But the truth is
backsliding usually begins the moment someone starts regular,
compulsory attendance at a local church or synagogue. That’s when he
or she begins to lapse back into a system of Christian or Jewish
religious law, instead of continuing to walk by faith.
It won’t be noticeable at first, but unless a believer is alerted to
this misstep by the Holy Spirit (a certainty), and he returns to the
faith walk, his lawless mindset with its lawless ways will soon be
back on the throne of his life again. When we choose to go back and
live under the letter of the law we don’t stand a chance. We are
empowering our old carnal mindset to arise and ride herd on us again.
Like old Brer Rabbit who wanted nothing more than to be thrown into
the briar patch, our old carnal mind wants nothing more than to be put
under law again. Like Brer Rabbit, he’ll even try to convince our “new
man” that this will be the best way to get rid of him for good.
Because our wily old carnal mindset instinctively knows that the Law
will always be powerless to stop him, “weak as it was through the
flesh.” (Rom. 8:3) Indeed, the Law will actually recharge your “self”
battery. “For the power of sin is in the Law” (1 Cor. 15:56).
This sad turn of events generally occurs when a person’s particular
cultural or religious tradition reasserts itself (usually through
family or friends), causing him to return to the religious
denomination or family church in which he had served God before
getting “saved. Because a new believer’s mind is not yet renewed
enough by God’s word, and the widespread acceptance of institutional
Christianity, it usually happens pretty quickly after being saved. But
sometimes it doesn’t kick in until years later. I know of several
believers, who after 20 years of walking with the Lord, suddenly
returned to Roman Catholicism. And they are now more Catholic than
ever!
The reason religion is so difficult to uproot from our thinking is
because we are taught from birth you don’t get something for nothing.
So we then apply that philosophy to serving God and try to pay our own
way. It feels right. But it is wrong. “Are you so foolish?” Paul asked
the Galatians who were doing that very thing. “After beginning with
the Spirit, are you now trying to obtain your goal by human effort?”
(Gal 3:3).
Our Idol Ways
We see this same backsliding to former religious ways demonstrated by
Israel constantly. When Moses was up on Mt Sinai the Israelites became
frightened that he wasn’t coming back. So they quickly reverted to the
soulish comfort of the religion they had learned and practiced in
Egypt for 400 years. They built the golden calf and participated in an
orgiastic feast. The fact that God had just outlawed that type of
worship wasn’t enough to overcome their mindset programmed by years of
idolatrous practice.
In fact, it was this
same type of reversion to former religious practices that initiated
the entire present controversy over the Law in the first century. No
sooner had Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant than the early Jewish
believers in the Church decided the Old Covenant was too rich with
memories and proud tradition to discard it. (Of course, unlike today,
the Temple with its animal sacrifices was still in operation then, so
they could at least make a pretense of keeping it.) But it wasn’t bad
enough that the Jewish believers of the first century still wanted to
practice the Law. They insisted that the new Gentile converts be made
to keep it also. Thank God Paul was given the revelation and anointing
to stand up against the Judaizers of that day to shield us from their
influence. And thankfully we still have all his arguments recorded as
Scripture, because we obviously are going to need them again.
Eventually, this Jewish
insistence on the Law drove many of those who had been gathered from
among the Gentiles to separate and form their own fellowships. Then
after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Jewish leadership began to wane
and non-Jewish leadership began to dominate in the worldwide church.
However, it wasn’t long before we too began to slip back into our old
former religious traditions, which of course were pagan. We combined
Biblical truths with worldly religious ideas and let them bake
together in our carnal minds for a few centuries, until out popped a
loaf of leavened bread known as Roman Catholicism. The church
continued to feed on this corrupted bread of religion until the
Reformation set us partially free. I say “partially” because
Protestantism never threw out all the leaven, and the Church soon slid
back into religion again.
For nearly 20 centuries the Church has been involved in this cycle of
being set free, and then going right back into religious bondage
again. When will we ever grab hold of our freedom and walk in it? “For
it was for freedom that Messiah set us free, so keep standing firm and
do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery?” (Gal 5:1).
The Law of Liberty
Even today, it seems most Christians still don’t feel comfortable
without having some kind of religious system of do’s and don’ts in
place. There’s a fear that the Church would become chaotic without
specific rules and regulations and authority figures in place to
enforce them. That’s why Jewish believers opt for the Mosaic Law. And
non-Jewish believers opt for a list of “New Covenant” commandments,
even if most actually come from the Old Covenant. And all this seems
perfectly normal and acceptable to us.
However, in acting like this, both Jewish and non-Jewish followers of
Jesus have rejected God’s true leadership in the Church through His
Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who was appointed to be God’s presence
and ruling authority on earth. To teach us all things (John 14:26). To
comfort us always (John 14 16). To inspire us to will and to work for
God’s good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). To help us resist all attempts to
carry out the desire of the flesh (Gal 16,17). To guide us into all
truth and reveal what is to come (John 16: 13). To appoint and send
out ministers (Acts 13: 2-4). And to embolden, convict and do all the
work of evangelization and running of the Church, including perform
miracles.
Following the Spirit is not an option under the New Covenant. James
calls it living under “the law of liberty.” Meaning following God’s
leading by His Spirit is now His LAW for us. He also calls it the
“perfect law.” He says, “one who looks intently at the perfect law,
the law of liberty, and abides by it, not becoming a forgetful hearer
but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does”
(James 1:25).
In order to keep the Law perfectly one has to abandon the impossible
do’s and don’ts of the Mosaic Law, and simply “love God with all your
heart and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” As Jesus
said, “on these two commandments depends the whole Law and the
prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40) So if we are loving God and loving our
neighbor we won’t be breaking any laws. “Love therefore is the
fulfillment of the Law” (Rom. 13:10). And it can only be accomplished
by walking free in the Spirit - apart from the Law.
“And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them,
and upon the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16).
(©2001 - www.reunionministries.net)
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