THE LAW 

Theologians have said for many years that the Law, the Torah of the Hebrew Bible, is to show Israel that it cannot be holy before the Lord, it cannot keep the Law to fulfill it. This is meant to show that only the doctrines of grace can enable a man or woman to stand before God.

The idea is that the Law would show Israel how it failed.

I have always found this to be a strange way to run a country. I don't think any people would be encouraged to come before the God who does this. Can you imagine telling a child everyday he has failed? How do people gather together as a nation under this sentence?

They can't.

So what would be the purpose of the Law?

The purpose might have been to show Israel how to bring sin to God for forgiveness. This cleansing from sin would enable Israel to be with God.
The Law begins with Passover. Notice who will come over Israel and Egypt that night---I will go through the land of Egypt that night...I will execute judgment---I am the Lord, Exodus 12.12. So we have the Law beginning with the appearing of God the Lord. The Passover lamb is for Israel's sin, the Lord's appearing of the Lord is for every Israelite to see Him.


When Israel leaves Egypt, they will build the tabernacle. The outer court is for Israel's sin, the inner court known as the Holy of Holies is for the Lord to reside and appear.

The same Lord had appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18.1, to Lot in Gen. 19.1, to Hagar in Gen. 21.17, to Isaac in Gen. 26.24. Now in Exodus the Lord takes up residence in their midst. John Calvin said the Law was to bestow God's presence among the people of Israel.

As the Lord is in Israel's midst from Exodus onward, He gives His word to the nation through Moses and Joshua and eventually the prophets in the OT. The Law will strike down sin among the people because they are to stand before the Lord. As the sacrifices are there for cleansing from sin, His presence is there for blessing and holiness.

This is the Law of God.

So why does Jesus say He fulfills the Law in Matt. 5.17? If I obey the civil law to not steal, I have obeyed the law but it would not be said that I fulfilled it. So how does Jesus fulfill the Law, the Torah?

He does so because the Law was always to reveal Him as Lord and God. The sacrifices prepared Israel to stand before Him by cleansing them of sin, as if they were all priests ministering to Him. Then they can see Him as He bestows Himself before them.
Joseph and Mary take Jesus to Egypt so that when Herod dies they can return. Matthew says this was so that---what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled saying・\out of Egypt did I call My Son, Matt. 3.15 quoting Hosea 1.11. This is the first indication that Jesus will not just keep the Law perfectly but fulfill it. We might think of the Law as a lens through which to see Jesus as the Lord.

In Romans 3.19 Paul makes some insightful comments about the Law. He makes a statement that due to the Law---all the world may become accountable to God. What this means is every created being is dependent on God, no one human or angel or devil can come before God on the basis of their own perfection. Even an angel of light such as Lucifer sinned.


The Law puts every created being in its place under God. When Lucifer tried to exceed that place, he was thrown out of heaven to await judgment.

But when Jesus came, His baptism fulfilled all righteousness, Matt. 3.15. Jesus could be said to fulfill the Law because it was given to show Israel who He was and is. What this means for us is that we do not relate to the Lord through the Law as Israel did. We relate to God through the acknowledgment that Jesus is the Lord who was revealed in the Law and the prophets.
Paul says this in Rom. 3.20---But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus.

We stand before God as the priesthood of believers through our faith in the Lord, Jesus of Nazareth.

GOD AND MAN Week 51

In Proverbs 3.1 Solomon writes--
Do not let kindness and truth leave you
bind them around your neck
Write them on the tablet of your hear
So you will find favor and good repute
in the sight of God and man.
We have seen the expression, God and man in Luke 2.52 when--
Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature
and in favor with God and man.

This was said about Jesus as a boy. It's one thing to grow in stature with God. We know that John the Baptist did. In Matt. 11.9 Jesus calls John a prophet, that no one born of woman is greater than he, 11.11. John was a desert dweller, a man of fasting and prayer, a Nazarene, a flaming preacher. But he did not dwell in the company of men.


Someone who did was Nicodemus. He has a conversation with Jesus in John 3.1, he meets with the Sanhedrin in John 7. 50, and he provides the spices for the burial of Christ's body when Joseph of Aramithea brings it down from the cross., John 19.39. Nicodemus seems to be accepted by men of high stature and reputation in the Sanhedrin and of low reputation at the cross. But he is not known for his relationship to God, the way the Baptist was.

These two men represent the two sides of God's covenant. Jesus says in that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love your neighbor.

God and man, kindness to men and truth to God.

And yet Jesus as a boy is increasing in stature with God and men. How did He master kindness and truth at such an early age?

Could it be that His relationship with God was due to his father Joseph? And His kindness is what He saw in His mother Mary? If this is so, how did Joseph help His only son become the man He became?

Joseph and His son heard the Hebrew scrolls read in synogogue. They both could have noticed how Israel is God's son. This is first expressed as a saying in Exodus 12.27 when the Lord speaks to Moses about the first Passover--
It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord who passed over the house of the sons of Israel...

Then in Deuteronomy 14.1 it becomes more than an expression. It is a description--
You are the sons of the Lord your God...


Joseph heard an angel tell him to take Mary and the baby Jesus out of Israel and into Egypt, thousands of miles away, Matt. 2.13. He simply did it. Joseph knew how to obey the leading of the Lord. So Jesus is led by that same Spirit out into the wilderness, He simply goes, Matt. 4.1.

Matthew gives us two quotes from the OT concerning the baby Jesus. One is Matt. 3.15—-
out of Egypt I called My Son,

and Matt. 2.18—
Rachel weeping for her children
and she refused to be comforted,
because they were no more. 

Matthew associates the children of Rachel with the young boy babies who were killed by Herod when he was searching for the baby Jesus. Did Joseph know of these prophecies? He may have because the angel told Joseph to return from Egypt as--
those who sought the Child's life are no more.


This is some indication Joseph knew who his son was and would teach Him to enter into the life His heavenly Father had for him. Jesus expresses His unique relationships with His heavenly Father in John 17.4-8.
From Mary He may have learned of the kindnes of His heavenly Father. In Ephesians 2.7 Paul speaks of the kindness of God--in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Kindness in Chrsit Jesus. In 2 Cor. 6.6 Paul says he commends himself as a servant of God--in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love... And in Colossians 3.12 Paul says to--put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Such qualities were not promoted by the ancient classical world, but they are part of the foundation of the kingdom of God. He may have learned these qualities from Mary.


But now, is this growing in stature with God and man for us also?

The answer is yes.

When a lawyer came to Jesus, asking what is the greatest commandment, in Matt. 22.35, Jesus does not say which one—-He says two. The first is to love God and the second is to love one's neighbor. Jesus thrusts at the lawyer the significance of these two-—
upon all these hang the Law and Prophets, Matt. 22.40.


Paul summarizes our relationship with God and with man in Philippians For the God side, Paul says in Phil. 1.10--
so that you may approve the things which are excellent in order that you may be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ , having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God.

And for the man side, Paul says in Phil. 2.15--
that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.

This is great stuff.

MARKS OF RELIGION Week 50

Usually world religions have two trademarks. One is they require subservience through a code of conduct. The other is they require the individual give the gods something, usually money or sometimes animals.

   The concept is the gods have something which we are supposed to need, since we lack it. So we come to the god to buy some sort of relationship to that god with money or a sacrifice.
   However this is not the situation with Christianity. Paul says--He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1.4. When Paul says we are--in Him--he means we are in the likeness and image of God. We have Him within us, so that we are not lacking in anything we need. So, instead of coming to God to buy what we lack, we go out into the world to give away what God has given us.

   This is why the Bible says we have an unspeakable gift, or freely you have been given, freely give. Paul says--you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise....Eph. 1.13.

   We do not seek to acquire, we seek to give away. A perfect example is Matt. 8.2, 3. A leper came to Jesus. The leper bowed down, saying, Lord if You are willing, You can make me clean.'

  Is Jesus willing? Will He hoard the power He has, running away to a desert community or to Miami Beach? What will He require of this soiled leper? What sacrifice must the leper make?
   Jesus says, I am willing; be cleansed, Matt. 8.3.

   What happens next? Is the leper to keep this miracle to himself, just not give it away? Jesus then says to him, present yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses prescribed, for a testimony to them. Not a testimony against the priest, but to him. Through the willingness of Jesus, two are blessed: the leper and the priest.

   In Romans 4.15 Paul says—the Law brings about wrath. What he means is the Law reveals that we have fallen short of the glory of God. This results in wrath because we were meant to reveal God's glory beautifully. As we have sinned, so the glory of God has been darkened.

   However, if we keep on reading Romans 5.8 says—while we were sinners Christ died for us. This released us from that wrath, to be free before God. Romans 6.6 says---we are no longer slaves to sin... We live the life of holiness which Christ lives, we are---alive to God in Christ Jesus.

   We've been given the gift of eternal life. As a result, we are to give away. In Matt. 5 Jesus says to give away not just our shirt but our coat. He says in Matt. 5.42--Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. In Matt. 9.22 and 9.29 Jesus gives away His power. In Matt. 10.1 He gives the disciples authority over unclean spirits.


   So we are not subservient to the Law but we are alive to the holiness of God in Christ Jesus. He even says in Matt. 10.39 that if we give our life away for His sake, we will find it. For all of the people in all centuries who have sought for a meaning to their life, this is where it is found.

   This is how the Christian lives. It is unique.

ALL I NEED--Part 2
In the NT we have been given encouragement and instructions by which to experience God in coming to Him.

When Jesus walked Israel many came to Him.
  In John 2 Mary comes to her son Jesus, asking Him to provide wine. Then He came to the servants, changing water into wine.. In John 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus asking about Him. So Jesus comes to Nicodemus when He says—You must be born again. In John 4 Jesus comes to Jacob's well. When He speaks the truth to the Samaritan woman, she returns to her city. Then John 4.40 says—When the Samaritans came to Him, they were asking Him to stay with them. He stayed with them two days.


   In each instance, someone came to Him so that He might come to them.
We are told in John 4 that the Father is looking for true worshipers. He wants us to approach Him.  Today we come to Him through the Spirit, through prayer and the Bible and through worship. In Revelation 22.9 the angel tells John, worship Him.


When we do these things, we can do what the Levitical priests did in the OT, we can approach God.
  Jeremiah had said that we cannot go out of God's presence---
'Can a man hide himself in the hiding places, so I do not see Him?' declares the Lord. 'Do I not fill the heaven and the earth?' declares the Lord.
 In Acts 17.28 Paul said to the Athenians---For in Him we live and move and have our being...  So we see that God is all around us, like the air we breathe.
  But God was not satisfied with His presence being all around us; He wishes to be in us. The Bible tells us that God not only fills heaven and earth, but He fills the souls of believers. In 1 Corinthians 3.16 Paul wrote--
you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you.

  Peter says in 2 Peter 1.4 that God has given us promises---that by them you might be come partakers of the divine nature...

   Paul says in Ephesians 1.4 that---He chose us in Him...that we should be holy and blameless before Him. As Elijah was before Him, we are before Him so that we might be filled in Him.


   Now all of this is quite spiritual, so we come to Him in quiet steps so that He would come to us in soft waves.
   Some are far off, as the multitudes in John 6.2 where the crowd followed Him at a distance. So Jesus came to them through the disciples who fed them with fish and bread. When this happened, the crowd comes to Jesus as much as they can when they say—--This is of a truth the prophet who is to come into the world, John 6.14.

  The centurion stands a bit off when he says in Matt. 8.8---if you just say the word, my servant will be healed. Jesus says to the centurion---Go your way; let it be done to you as you have believed, Matt. 8.13.

   Some come closer, as the woman with the issue of blood who---came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak. Jesus says---take courage daughter, your faith has made you well, Matt. 9.22.


   Children even sat on his lap in Matt. 19.14.

   How these people came to Jesus was how He came to them so that they could enter into His presence.
   Hebrews 10.22 says—let us drawn near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

ALL I NEED Week 49  Part 1

The two drives which have haunted nearly all Christians throughout the centuries have been:

--the drive to find certainty
--and the longing to experience God.

The more perceptive fiction writers say we live in an inconclusive world. So what is there which is certain, so the soul can know that it is in the hand of God? What really changes people?
In Matt. 6.14 Jesus is teaching about forgiveness when He mentions His Father. He says--if you forgive men for their transgressions your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Notice Jesus did not mention the individual sinner who sinned, but the Father who forgives. This makes forgiveness sure, as it comes from heaven and God. It come from eternity, in which God and heaven never change. If we are forgiven in heaven with God the Father, then it is sure upon the earth.

I have counted 13 times in Matthew's gospel Jesus says, God who is in heaven.
In Matt. 5.16 we are to let our light shine before men so that they may see our good works and--glorify your Father who is in heaven.

In Matt. 5.48 we are to be perfect--as our heavenly Father is perfect.

In Matt. 6.6 when we pray and--your Father who sees us in secret will repay you.

In Matt. 6.9 it is--Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name..

In 7.11 it is--how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him? In 7.21 it is--he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. And in 10.32 it is--everyone who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. In Matt. 7.15-21 Jesus speaks first about those who are false. Then he summarizes by saying--Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven. This is the same lesson as it is in 16.17, 18.10, 18.19, 19.32. Each of these passages uses, the Father who is in heaven. What comes down from heaven from God is sure on this earth. This has been said in a short form in Matt. 6.10--on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus makes this personal in Matt. 19.32 when He is speaking of confessing His name. He says--Everyone therefore who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.

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Bu what about experiencing God? If Jesus died for our sins, we might get the idea He experienced God but we did not. Since we can't work our way to heaven or ever be holy enough in our flesh to climb into heaven, how can we--ourselves--ever experience God?

In our own day many desire to experience God. The further away from Biblical times we are the more difficult it is to find our way back. So the desire to experience God has become intense.

Just as soon as Adam and Eve leave the Garden, immediately God begins to draw them back to Himself. To replace what was lost in Eden, God gives Adam and Eve a family who will eventually give birth to a savior.

God gives His family, Israel, a tabernacle so that He might dwell in their midst.
He gives them His Law, so that they might know Him.
He gives them psalms so that they might approach Him.
He gives them a temple so that they might praise Him.

And then He gives them Himself, so that where He is they might also be.

Being with God is being like God. So God gives His Holy Spirit to transform every believer, Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female just as in the Garden--those who are far off and those who are near.

In Exodus 14 God shows Israel His majestic power at the Red Sea. Not only did they see columns of bursting water careen so that they might walk between them, they felt His fury, His grandeur in holiness.

And in 1 Kings 19.11 God tells Elijah to stand before Him on a mountain. In a certain cave, Elijah hears God is not in the whirlwind, the fire, or the earthquake but in a still small voice. As God tells Elijah to come before Him, so God comes to Elijah.

In Psalm 69.18 David says--O, draw near to my soul and redeem it,
Ransom me because of my enemies.
Jeremiah 31.3 says--I have drawn you with lovingkindness.

These are promises fulfilled in the NT. There in John 12.32 Jesus speaks of His death as the act of redeeming which David asked for--If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me.
The author of Hebrews said in Hebrews 10.22 we can do this--Let us draw near with a sincere heart...  And finally James summarizes it all when he says--Draw near to God and He will draw near to you, James 4.8.

SERVING AND RULING Week 48
In 2 Corinthians 1.24 Paul says about taking spiritual authority over the believers in Corinth, Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy, for in your faith you are standing firm. The Greek word is kurieuw, to have possession of, or control. Paul is refusing to have possession or control over the saints at Corinth.

This recalls what Jesus said in Matthew 20.25, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authotity over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. The Greek word for 'lord it over them,' is a long Greek word. It uses kata, meaning against, with kurieuw, to have authority over.

Peter uses the same Greek word in 1 Peter 5.3. He is speaking to the elders of a church about shepherding the flock. He tells them to shepherd the flock, not under compulsion but voluntarily, nor yet as lording it over those alloted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. Peter is so intent on serving, he doesn't even mention the names of those who will follow him in ministry.

To give you an idea of the force of this word, Acts 19.16 translates this word as, leaped on them...to subdue them and overpower them.

Jesus will not allow the church to be run as governments are run--the ruler must be a servant. Jesus said He came to seek and to serve. Jesus said in Matt. 20.27, whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. .


A wonderful example of serving one another is Matt. 21.2. Jesus tells two disciples to go into a village to find a donkey and colt tied up. He tells them to bring the donkey and colt to Him. What was the result of such a simple act? The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem which led to His crucifixion which led to His resurrection and then ours.

When Jesus and his mother and disciples go to a wedding in John 2, the guests run out of wine. Mary expects Jesus to turn the water into wine before everyone, to great acclaim. However, Jesus is the servant of God--not a ruler. He waits, turns the water into wine by using pots reserved for purification. These pots would not be at the wedding itself, but where only the servants could get them. The servants pour water into these pots. When Jesus transforms the water into wine, the headwaiter did not know who did this because Jesus didn't broadcast it, but the servants did, John 2.9. Jesus was with the servants when He did the miracle.
He was among us all as one who serves, Matt. 20.28. Paul says, through love serve one another, Galatians 5.13. But the great word from God about serving is Joshua 22.5, serve Him with all of your heart all of your soul.

In Matt. 20.30 Jesus walks by two blind men on His way to Jericho. They call out to Him, 'Lord have mercy on us, Son of David'. Does Jesus tell them what they need to do? Does He tell them what He's going to do? No, He came to serve. So He asks them, 'What do you want me to do for you?' Jesus says 'Me' once; 'you' twice. When they say, 'We want our eyes to be opened,' Jesus opens their eyes.

In Matt. 5.39 Jesus tells of what might happen when we do not lord it over another. Jesus says, I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.... What would be the result in heaven if we did that? Jesus then says, in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven...

What would be the result here and now if we served rather than ruled? Paul tells the Romans to, serve in the newness of the Spirit, Rom. 7.6. He develops the thought with, Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality, Rom. 7.10-13.

TRUE OR FALSE Week 47

It's always interesting to see how others view you. An example of how Christianity is seen is from a well-known Jewish scholar Dr. Lawerence Shiffman. He has several things to say against Jesus and Christianity but they all seem to depend on one point.

He says Christian writers living 50 years after the death of Christ made up the gospels to appear to agree with OT prophecies.

Now if this is true, the epistles written before the gospels would not have any similiarity to them.. Since the historians say James was martyred in AD 62, his letter must have been written before then. Shiffman states that the gospels were written after that, to appear to make the life of Christ a fulfillment of OT prophecy. If this is true, James' epistle would have no relationship to Matthew's gospel.

So what do we find in James?

We know that when Jesus came, He came preaching the kingdom of God, not salvation or last things. Most of us recognize that the Sermon on the Mount is the Lord's great explanation of the kingdom which He brought and taught. But this kingdom is not just precepts but actions in the real world. Christianity according to Jesus is not just something you believe, but something you do.
Jesus uses some word pictures to say that. He says, You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid...Let your light so shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven, Matt. 5.14-16. That is an obvious call to make the kingdom of God apparent and visible to anyone and everyone in society.

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When we go to James 1.22, James says the famous line, But prove yourselves doers of the word, 1.22. He has learned from Jesus that the kingdom must be seen, it must be in front of an unbelieving society. It is the be presence of God before the world. Peter Marshall, chaplain of the Senate in the 1940s, once said his task as preacher was to enable people to see Jesus. This means to make Christianity something you do, not just something you believe.


In the literature of the ancient classical world, when a poet uses an extended metaphor he means to put something deep into the soul. this extended metaphor is saying the same thing more than once, using different images. When Jesus wants to speak against anxiety in the Sermon on the Mount, He uses 9 consecutive verses to do so, Matt. 6.25-34. So when James does the same thing in James 1.22-27 we should sit up and hear. He begins with hearing and then doing the Word. He goes on to a man looking at himself in a mirror; then he goes on from looking in a mirror to looking at the perfect law of Jesus and abiding in it. Then he goes on to controlling the tongue; and finally he mentions taking care of the widows and orphans as pure religion. James has gone from hearing to looking to abiding to controlling the tongue to aiding the widows and orphans.

You see what James has done? He has taken us from the inner quality of believing the Word to the outward gesture of taking care of others. He has taken Matthew 5.14 as a principle to be applied in his own day and time.

But that is only one instance, without a real close phrase or word linking James with Matthew. So let's look on.

In Matthew 5 Jesus will then mention five famous points of the Law: adultery, divorce, vows, and revenge (an eye for an eye), and loving your neighbor. Jesus will address each of these as indicating the sin in the heart which must be brought out to be forgiven. The role of the Law is to bring these inner things out into the open.

Does James have anything similar to this? Let's look at Matthew 5 and James 2.
In Matthew 5.25, 26 Jesus says if a man has a dispute with an opponent Jesus says, Make friends quickly with your opponent...in order that your opponent may not deliver you to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. This is what happened to people who did not have money for a legal defense.

James says in chapter 2 to show no favoritism to the rich because if you do, you have become a, judge with evil motives, James 2.4. Then James says, God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? And then James says what Jesus had said in Matthew 5, Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court, James 2.6.


Now let's look at Matt. 5.17-19 and James 2.10, 11.
In Matt. 5.17 Jesus says, Whoever annuls the least of these commandments and teaches others shall be the least in the kingdom of heaven...unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven... Matthew 5.20.


James 2.10 says, whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. James knows this brings up the question, How could someone be guilty of transgressing the whole law, yet have righteousness which surpasses the scribes and Pharisees? James says, by obeying the law of liberty, James 2.12. What is that law? Paul says in Romans 8.2 that it is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which has set us free from the law of sin and death. James then says in 2.25 that we abide by the law of liberty by being a doer of the word, not just hearer.

Our conclusion is that the gospels were not written later than James to fabricate a certain kind of Jesus, but that James knew what his brother Jesus taught, he knew what the gospel of God was, he understood the kingdom of God.