Do You Have to be a Christian to be in God's Kingdom?

"Are you a Christian?" One of those nice evangelistic questions to ascertain one's belief system. Where do you classify yourself and does your classification fit in my preconceived matrix. For many, if the answer is "No" the discussion is over, or the need now is to convert you into one. We place a huge amount of weight upon a word that is rarely used is Scripture. Only two times, plus once in the plural. Acts 11:26 informs us that disciples of Paul and Barnabas, and thus of Yeshua, were first called Christians in Antioch. This strong Roman city would see the community of Christ followers as disloyal to Caesar. The term is most likely derisive, not complimentary, or a positive title. The same is true in Acts 26:28, where King Agrippa uses the word to mock the Apostle Paul. I Peter 4:16 gives us the one verse that tells us if we suffer we should do so as a Christian (Christ follower), not for being a wrong-doer. This is not necessarily a bad thing, for titles which are meant to poke fun can actually speak volumes as to one's integrity and belief system. 

The issue here is what if you find, through the study of history, that the promoters of the term had an agenda that violates Scripture? What if this reality makes you uncomfortable with the identifying term? If  you prefer to hang a different label on what you believe, will that keep you out of God's Kingdom? The other side is, how valid is the Christian label if there is no life agreement with the Word of God? We once had a Dr. who was very gracious and compassionate, so I asked the question, "Are you a Christian?" His response was, "I guess so. I'm not Buddhist or Muslim so I must be a Christian."  He gave himself the right label, so is he in God's Kingdom? Most would think not. If you ask Jesus to be your Savior does that automatically make you are a "Christian"? Is there any obedience involved or is the prayer enough? What if you are Jewish? Are you a Christian or a Messianic Jew?

I believe, that at its core and at its foundation, my faith in Yeshua as my Messiah, Lord and Savior, is Judaism. I am a follower, a disciple of the Jewish Messiah. I believe He is coming back and will establish His Kingdom. Through faith I, as a Gentile, am grafted in to the true olive tree. "And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree" (Rom 11:17).  By faith, I am a child of Abraham (Rom 4:16). In essence I am adopted into the blessing promised to Abraham.

Followers of Yeshua are a sect of Judaism, “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets" (Acts 24:14). Acts 28:22 makes the same reference to this new sect of Judaism, and Acts 24:5 calls this new sect the Nazarenes. A new sect as were the sects called Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and Essenes. Different groups within accepted Judaism.  Not unlike today with the Hasidics, Orthodox, Reformed, and Liberal Jews; and you can toss in the Zionists and Zealots as well. We know there are lots of sects of Protestantism and, it seems, new ones are added all the time. Adding a new sect called the Nazerens to the overall Jewish community would not be that unusual at that time.

We should also note that the Apostle Paul, as a follower of Yeshua (Jesus), is still believing in, and thus obedient to, Torah and the Prophets. Paul is still Jewish. Paul was a Messianic Jew. I am a Messianic Gentile. A follower of Messiah. A part of the "Way" spoken of in Acts 24:14. I live in expectation of Messiah's return and the establishment of His kingdom. I am His Child. According to Acts, a member of the sect called the Nazarenes. Does that make me a Christian? In its simple definition, "Christ Follower" or "Christ imitator", that is true. So where does the discomfort come for a growing number of His followers?

Just a little shot of History. One of the most influential early church fathers was, Ignatius. He lived in the first century. He was Greek by heritage but became a follower of Jesus. He was one of the strongest proponents of the new term "Christian" to describe the followers of Jesus.  He writes this in one of his letters. "It is monstrous to talk of Jesus Christ and to practice Judaism. For Christianity did not believe in Judaism, but Judaism in Christianity" — Ignatius to the Magnesians 8:1, 9:1-2. To be a Christian means you MUST abandon any Jewish practice or custom. Apparently what the Apostle Paul did was "Monstrous", as he continued to believe in Torah and the Prophets. 

It takes little effort to check history to discover two things. One, the early church fathers were almost all Hellenistic Romans. And two, they were anti-Semitic. By the time the Council of Laodicea meets, in 633 AD, the edict written to all "Christians" is that if they observe the Sabbath or any Jewish practice they are anathema, cursed and damned. The word Christian was used to separate "Christians" from Jews. Soon the church was seen to replace Judaism as God's Chosen People. We are subliminally told that God has rejected the Jews. Soon the Roman Church would emerge with its own traditions ad regulations. People would be compelled to be Christians. Those free from Judaism, the Law, Sabbath and the Word of God. Instead they were bound to new rules administered by a new hierarchy not to be questioned, a select group who would tell you what to believe and what the Scriptures said. 

But Christianity does not end there. Welcome the Reformation and freedom from Roman Catholic traditions and authority. The reformers, Luther, Calvin, Huss, Zwingli and others would bring new freedom and a new Christianity. Unfortunately many, Luther in particular, were antisemitic. This new brand of Christian is free from the Roman Church, the Pope, the manufactured ordinances that needed to be reformed. In due time the new Protestant Christians had their own traditions. But now free to interpret the Scriptures for themselves split into over 30,000 distinct flavors. Now Christians are free from the Law, free from Moses, free from authority, free to believe what they want, free to interpret God's Word as the choose. Christians are free, so like the people of Judges, "Every man does what is right in his own eyes". 

Christians have little or no relationship to Judaism. Not to Sabbath, dietary regulations, Torah, Moses or the Prophets. We follow a Jewish Messiah void of Judaism, something that is absolutely contrary to the Scriptures and the first followers of Yeshua, Messiah, Jesus. If Christians are indeed fully separated from Judaism, then there is nothing for me to be grafted into. History makes me uncomfortable with my label. I tend to tell people that I am a follower of Christ. I have tried, "I am a follower of Yeshua" but people get confused or their eyes glaze over, so Christ Follower works. It is the meaning of the word and what I believe. I use the word within my circle of "Christian" believers for it is cumbersome to explain this every time. Most live with an appreciation for our Jewish roots. But the vast majority of Christians give it no thought. The nearly 2000 year effort to separate Christ Followers from our roots is grievous to me. We have little regard for our heritage. We have built walls to keep Jews out or to let them know they must be grafted into the church. They must forsake the teachings of Moses and the honoring of the Sabbath to be a part of us. What happened to Gentile believers being grafted into Judaism? Few would ever make the mistake of the First Century Caesars in thinking that Gentile followers of Christ were Jews. They persecuted them both, for they could not tell them apart.

Can you say, "No I am not a Christian, because the term carries little meaning culturally or historically." Is it Okay to say, "I am a Messianic Gentile, A follower of Yeshua. An adopted child of Abraham. A wild branch grafted into the true Olive Tree." Can you say, "No, I am not a Christian." because you reject the "Christian" label. Can you use another label and still be in God's Kingdom?

Messianic Gentile? Maybe the label is more accurate than most would want to believe.   

My Trampoline Died

It is sad but true, our trampoline has come to the end of its life. It has served our family for something like 12 years. It has been bounced on by myself, my children and my grandchildren, not to mention more of my children's friends than I could list. It has served as a launching pad to get on the shed and a landing platform when doing flips off of the shed. It has provided a place to sleep on and even to hold a pop up tent so my campers didn't have to deal with the hard ground. But its time has passed. The tabs holding the springs are tearing and the fabric is deteriorating. So it will soon find its way to the land fill and the metal will someday be a Kia. 

It is like the rest of the world we live in. Tainted by death and deterioration. It is hard to avoid the reminders that come our way. Death is a strange thing to me. I do not understand it or really know what to do with it. We were not created to die. When God made us He made us to live. "God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). But Sin entered and now death touches everything. There is an odd tension concerning death in the Scriptures. Paul points out, "to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21). Yet he knows that living is a good thing for those around him. John tells us in his Revelation of Messiah that "Death and the grave were cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:14). Death will be removed. Like Satan, death is our enemy. We do not need to fear it, but it is not our friend. It is an affront to all God began. Even our Lord, when contemplating the pain and agony, wished that it would not be so, but cried "Not My will but Thy will be done" (Mt. 28). By the way, this really baffles me. The Divine dying? Conquering death makes sense to me as He is life and gives life and began life, but the dying part............??? 

I understand that there are times when the suffering ends and going to be with the Lord is a great release. I have been to memorials that are a celebration of the life of the one past. But death is still so wrong to me. The aging process that is unavoidable. The "putting down" of my faithful trampoline because the enemy called death takes his toll on everything. But this is the reality we face.

Paul tells the Corinthians that death has lost its sting and the grave has lost its victory. I will have a new body that will not suffer the deterioration this one is undergoing. To be "absent with the body is to be present with the Lord" is true, however all this seems to be pretty clouded to me. Now don't misunderstand. I do not fear death. (A bit apprehensive about aging and not being able to provide for my beloved wife. The no Social security, no retirement, no real savings thing haunts me a little, but not death) Fear of dying is not the issue, fear of missing life is.

Life is a gift. My daughter is expecting. I was asked if I hoped it was a boy this time. Sorry, no expectations or wishes here. Just amazement that the God who created the universe is forming and knitting together this tiny being in my daughters womb. Awestruck at the thought. Every day, every breath is a gift. Each day is filled with new mercies from God ( Lam. 3:22-23). Our enemy, death, wants to rob us of that reality. I woke up yesterday early and captured a moment as I watched Debbie sleep peacefully beside me. This remarkable being, this creation of God, resting comfortably in the gift of sleep that is also a gift and God's design. Thoughts wandered to how blessed I am. In His divine mercy this woman loves me, and has been my soul mate and my greatest earthly treasure for over 37 years. Life is a gift. I would have liked the moment to last. It reminded me of other moments when one of the little lives given to my stewardship would rest comfortably nestled in my arms. Well, yes, that has been a few years but now granddaughters occasionally fill the gap. Life. 

In the harried pace we live, do we miss the daily mercies? Do we take time to just savor the reality of breathing, knowing that it was God's very breath that gave us life to begin with? Take ten minutes, a few times a day and soak in the reality of the God who loves you. Revel in His creation. Be aware that death wants to take life from you long before your final breath. Take it away little by little, moment by moment, day by day. 

We have responsibilities, work, all the things we have to do and many are not really optional. But we do have the option to pause. To stop for a moment and hold life. Treasure the moment. Bask in His mercy. He gave it to you fresh this morning so don't miss it. Don't let the day go by and allow death to win. Death surrounds us. It tries to immerse us in its gray mist of activity and deadlines. Hmmmmmm dead lines. Perhaps right now you need a life line and He is there who gave you life. He said something about abundant life, not living in the shadow of death every day. Take time to live, to enjoy the gift. Don't let the enemy win today. Celebrate life and then you can say goodbye to the trampoline.  

Proclaiming Less than the Gospel

Mark 16:15 " Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." A straight forward command of our Lord just before He departed and returned to glory. But what is the gospel? For many it is that Jesus died for your sins and that if you believe that or accept Him as Savior you will be saved from hell and have eternal life in heaven with Him. And that is true, at least it could be true. For now you have to define believe or what it is to have faith. Belief or faith is not a mental choice; it is a change in direction for your entire being. It includes obedience and being a disciple or, according to James, it is not faith at all. From this is the issue of what it is to obey and how do I know. All good questions, rabbit trails to chase another day. The question I face in this blog is what we leave out when it comes to sharing the Gospel or Good News Jesus told us to share. Are we robbing those we talk to by not sharing all of the good news?

The word translated "gospel" in the New Testament is euagelizo, which is where we get the word evangelize or evangelical. It means good news or glad tidings, or in a verbal sense, as proclaiming the good news. It is rarely used with salvation but often used in reference to the Kingdom. The good news is that God's Kingdom is coming and we can be a part of that Kingdom. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called the Gospels, for they are the record of the "Good News" that Messiah has come and He has conquered death and will establish His Kingdom, among a host of other things. This is, indeed, good news. Paul writes to the Corinthians, " For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: 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" 1 Corinthians 15:3 - 4. Paul's primary message concerns the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, Messiah. However, that is not Paul's only message and it is not all of the Gospel or Good News. In fact, the letters of the New Testament all have one thing in common. That is the need for unity in the community of believers.

The Good News we are to proclaim is not about an isolated intellectual faith or belief in an event in history. It is not about an isolated event in my life when I chose (or was elected for you reformed folk) to believe and thus began a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The Good News is more than that. In writing to the Ephesians Paul tells us Gentiles the good news that, "We who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ". We have been brought into God's Kingdom. Grafted in. Made part of the Body of believers. We are a living stone, a part of a temple with other living stones being built together to the glory of God. We are not isolated. We are not alone.  I am not the only one in God's Kingdom. I am a citizen among many citizens with the privileges and responsibilities that go with that remarkable Good News. I belong.

The Good New Paul, Peter, James, John, the writer to the Hebrews all proclaim is that we are together in this. Every individual who receives Christ as Savior is, at that moment, a part of God's Kingdom, His Body, His temple, The assembly in His fellowship with other believers. God likes to remind us of this with "one another's" in His Scriptures. In Romans alone we are told to be kindly affectionate to one another, to be of the same mind,to love, to not judge, to edify, to be like minded with patience and comfort, to receive, admonish and greet one another. Check out the Blue letter Bible  https://www.blueletterbible.org to see the full number of "one another's" that we are commanded to do. A brief look showed most to be imperatives, so these are not "feel good" suggestions; these are things the Lord expects us to do. Now how can we do any of these things alone?

The additional gospel or good news here is that these are reciprocal. One another demands that I do all this for you and you do all these things for me. We are not isolated beings; we belong to one another as much as we belong to Christ who is the Head of the Body. Single cells or single parts of the body do not survive well or function as they should without the rest of the body. Paul makes this abundently clear in 1 Cor 12. If you prefer building illustrations then see the living stones in 1 Peter 2. A stone isolated from the rest of the building is no more than rubble on the side of the road. That is not God's intention. That is not God's design. That is not the gospel. To have an isolated, personal relationship with Christ is not found in Scripture, Yes, there are times when we have to stand alone and when circumstances will isolate us from other believers but that is not to be the norm. The Gospel is that, through Christ I have forgiveness, eternal life AND that I am a part of His Kingdom, a part of His Body, a living stone in His temple. That is the Good News.

So when you present the gospel, do you hope they will "pray the prayer" and receive Jesus. Or do you also explain that receiving Christ also means becoming a part of a community. A part of a body of fellow believers. They will not be alone but a citizen of God's Kingdom. The good news of the gospel is that by accepting Jesus I am accepting the privileges and responsibilities to be a "one another" follower of Jesus. Because to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord means you are a part of His Body. There are no other options.     

Paul Never Persecuted Christians

Welcome back or if this is your first visit, welcome. My last post began to deal with the issue of tradition over Scripture. I know that was not the topic precisely (by the way it is time to peel the cat off of the wall) but that is the issue at the core. As followers of Yeshua, Messiah we tend to just reiterate things that have been passed on from scholar to scholar and teacher to teacher without honestly looking at the text or asking what this really meant to those who first read or heard the words. In so doing we get quotes similar to what I shared last week. I hope you expended a little brain power to consider the statement. I believe that one phrase is accurate. Five words linked together to give us one bit of information that could be observed in the life of the Apostle. The rest we need to talk a bit about. Just to see if the statement is supported in God's Word.

By way of reminder this was the sort of quote:
"Saul, who God changed to Paul, was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians but was transformed, by God's grace, to become a man of faith."
We begin with the thing that is confirmed in 1 Cor. 15:10, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." Paul attributes the change in his life to the grace of God. He was indeed transformed by the grace of God. The old had passed and he was a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Transformation by the grace of God is necessary for all who desire to follow the Messiah. It is a process and is accomplished by Him and the power of His Spirit, not by our efforts alone. But transformation must occur or there is no relationship with the Lord, no faith, no salvation. It is clearly evident in the Scriptures that Saul/Paul was transformed by the grace of God.

Did God change Saul to Paul? God did change Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah and Jacob to Israel. He did tell Zacharias to name his son John, Yoannes, meaning God's gift and Mary to name her son Jesus, Yeshua, meaning He saves. Not, by the way Joshua, Yehoshua, meaning the Lord is salvation or the Lord is my salvation. There is a theological difference if you think about it. (That thought was for free.) However, we have no record of God ever changing Saul's name to Paul. The Lord certainly had the opportunity in Acts 9 when He confronted Saul on the road to Damascus. But there He calls him Saul. It is not until Acts 13 that we are told that Saul is also called Paul. So why the change? I find four possibilities. 1) Paul is a Hellenistic version of Saul. Like we use John instead of Yoannes or James instead of Yacov (check your concordance or Bible dictionary if you find this hard to believe). So Paul is a little more Greek sounding than Saul; his being the Apostle to the Gentiles would account for the name change. 2) As the Apostle to the Gentiles the name Paul carried more weight than Saul. Paulus was an honored name among the Greeks and Romans, as in Sergius Paulis in Acts 13 where Saul is first called Paul. 3) It was a nick name of derision that stuck. The first Saul of 1 Samuel was the honored first king of Israel. He came from the tribe of Benjamin, as did the apostle. the name Paul means small and insignificant, which is how the Corinthians saw him. (See 2 Cor. 10:10, unimpressive and contemptible is not a compliment) 4) God sovereignty orchestrated the shift to remind Saul that he was not royalty but small and insignificant outside of God's grace. I think option 1 is the most likely. If you like option 4 you can say God changed Saul to Paul; just know you have no Scripture to back up your claim. All we know for sure is that among the Hellenistic world, Saul was known as Paul.

So maybe you can stretch God into changing Saul into a Paul, but you cannot get to the second statement following the path of Scripture. To do so you have to take the detour of tradition to get there. Scripture simply contradicts the premise. Paul never persecuted Christians. In the time of Saul/Paul's zealous pursuit of the followers of Yeshua there were no Christians. His persecution ended in Acts 9 and the word Christian doesn't show up until Acts 11 and there it is likely a term of scorn calling them "Little Messiahs". The insinuation within the quote is that Saul persecuted Christians until he became one. Any number of commentaries and works on the life of Paul will refer to Acts 9 as his point of conversion, when Saul became a Christian. But Paul never became a "Christian". He was, throughout his life a Jew. He became a follower of Yeshua as Messiah and worked to persuade Jews and Gentiles to accept the truth that Yeshua was Messiah, and therefore, the Lord to be faithfully trusted and obeyed. 

To affirm this point see Philippians 3:4-6 where Paul gives his current heritage as:a Jew, a Pharisee, a follower of Torah etc. In Acts 23:8, Paul declares to the Jewish crowd that he currently is a Pharisee on trial for his belief in the resurrection from the dead. In Acts 24, Paul's defense is, "this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect [of Judaism not Christianity], so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law [Torah] and in the Prophets." Even at the end of his life, Paul comes to Rome and does not seek the Elders of the Assembly of believers in Yeshua, but the Leaders of the Jews, Acts 28:17 "And it came to pass after three days that Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. So when they had come together, he said to them: “Men and brethren, though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans." 

As a zealous Jew and Pharisee Saul/Paul was concerned that a new sect of Judaism was being formed. This new group was declaring that this man, Yeshua, was Messiah and even divine. This would be a clear violation of what Saul held to be true. It was a violation of his understanding of Torah and Jewish tradition, therefore, it must be stopped. Saul/Paul was a persecutor of Jews, never of "Christians". In our contemporary understanding of the word Paul was never a "Christian". He was a devout Jew and Follower of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua. 

Last but not least is the claim that Paul became a man of faith. The problem here was dealt with in my blog on "Faith or Faithfulness". Faith is not a noun it is an action. A man of faith acts faithfully. Saul was a man who acted faithfully, living as best he could in accordance with Torah. He kept the feasts and festivals and Jewish traditions. None of that changed after he believed that Yeshua was Messiah. He still hurried to Jerusalem for Passover. Still partook in vows and Temple worship. Still observed the Sabbath and attended Synagogue whenever possible. Saul was a man of Jewish faith before and after he accepted Yeshua as Messiah. The question becomes one of "What is faith?". If one did not become a man (or woman) of faith outside of acceptance of Jesus, then none of those in Hebrews Chapter 11 were people of faith. All these died in their faithfulness awaiting the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven and the reign of Messiah. Just what Paul was waiting for. He just came, by the grace of God, to a realization the Yeshua was Messiah and God's Kingdom was at hand.

Do not misunderstand, today God only accepts faithful living based in Messiah alone. It is not any faithfulness to any random religious system. However, at the time of Saul, faithfulness that mattered was faithfulness to Torah and the Word of God. By the way, that is true today as well. True followers of Messiah, the author of Scripture, who love Him keep His commandments. The inference in the statement that Paul became a man of faith is that there was a change in faith or a conversion. That Paul left his Judaism and became a Christian by faith. Saul/Paul was a man of faith long before he encountered Yeshua on the road to Damascus. That is what we observe in Scripture. We too are called to be people who are faithful both to the Word of God and to His Son Yeshua. We too are to be transformed by the grace of God.

The simple statement that Paul persecuted Christians and converted to some new faith or religion is seldom questioned. It just isn't supported in God's Word. Tradition is simply accepted. But we are called to diligently study to see if these things are so. Even if it leaves you feeling like a cat pet backwards. 
   

Don't Pet the Cat Backwards

Have you ever wished you didn't know so much? Things would not bother you if you were a little more ignorant. Life could be less irritating. To some extent the phrase "Ignorance is bliss" actually has some merit. My best friend in Virginia really is a rocket scientist. He puts things into space, works for NASA and the Department of Defense. He has a hard time watching movies that are pretending to be accounts of some space event: "Space Cowboys", "Gravity" and the like, because he knows too much. The same is true with finished carpenters that see bad woodwork installation, carpet installers and bad carpet seams, and the auto body guy watching his neighbor restore his classic car with "bondo" and a can of spray paint in his backyard. To most people it looks pretty good, but for the one who knows, it can be at the least a distraction, at the worst you feel like a cat being pet backwards. (If you missed the analogy, pick up a cat and quickly and repeatedly pet it against the grain of its fur. You may generate enough static electricity to stick the cat to the wall. And no, I am not suggesting you try this; the point is Fluffy will not enjoy the experience).

Such is the reality that occasionally plagues my life. I have graduated from a Christian University with a minor in Bible, I completed my Masters of Divinity with an emphasis in theology; and I recently earned a PhD. in theology as well. So I know stuff. One would hope so anyway. My post graduate degree focused on the study of Scripture from a Hebraic perspective. The whole Bible is a Jewish book. The New Testament was written by Jews (with the possible exception of Luke). Jewish followers of a Jewish Messiah. They lived in a Jewish culture and they read, spoke, and wrote in Hebrew. The Gentiles were grafted in as followers of a Jewish Messiah and met with the Jews on the Sabbath in the Synagogues for at least 150 years after the ascension of our Lord. I was forced to take this into account as I worked on my degree. So I now ask questions as to how the first readers living in their Jewish culture would have understood the message. Recognizing that there was no New Testament, all references to God's Word and to the Scriptures were references to Torah, the Writings and the Prophets, Genesis to Malachi. 

The issue I face is that a significant number of people, preachers, and teachers do not share this perspective. They would agree with it, but either haven't taken the time to soak in the reality or simply are so immersed in American and Western thought that any alternative is foreign to them. There is no intent to ignore the cultural setting; the thought just never seems to come to mind. It never really did to me until I was forced out of my comfort zone a few years ago with questions that were not answered well from my traditional perspective. Now simple, honestly shared phrases by well-known and well received TV and radio preachers give me that "pet backwards cat" experience. I don't mean to be picky but we are to rightly and accurately teach the Word of God. If we just perpetuate thought without thinking we are guilty of a sloppy handling of the Word of Truth, the very Word of Life God breathed for directions and instruction as how best to live a life abundant in Him. 

Wow! What a long introduction. Now there is no room to really address the irritation that poked me this past Saturday. So I will ask you the question and see what you think, then give you my thoughts next week. I heard a popular Radio and TV preacher make a statement while I was listening to the car radio. By the way, I mean no disrespect, and the man has been used mightily of God to teach the truth and to see lives changed by the power of God's Spirit. I just think he is trapped in saying what has been said for hundreds of years. It seems to me we don't really think about what the words mean any more. That being said here is the sort of quote, maybe not the exact words but pretty close: "Saul, who God changed to Paul, was one of the greatest persecutors of Christians but was transformed, by God's grace, to become a man of faith." Are there any issues here? Any possible inaccuracies? Was Paul indeed transformed by the grace of God? Any little abrasions to the truth that rub you the wrong way? Give it some thought and we can talk next week.       

Redeemed ..... but when?

"Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the lamb", so wrote Fanny Crosby back in 1882. And I have no argument with that wonderful truth. My question is, according to God's Word, just when did this happen? I was told from early on in my Christian walk that it was through the blood of Jesus which He shed on the cross. He is the Lamb of God who was pictured in the Old Testament sacrifices now sacrificed for us on the cross. But, as was pointed out in my previous blog, the focus of the cross is victory over death, not redemption. First, allow me to point out a few problems with the picture we have been given.

We begin with a statement made by the Apostle Paul to the believers in Corinth. First we need to recognize the audience Paul was writing to. Acts 18:4 tells us, when visiting Corinth, "he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks [Gentiles]." So in Paul's epistle to the Corinthians he writes to Jewish and Gentile followers of Messiah. They are all well versed in Jewish tradition and Torah. They meet at the Synagogue on the Sabbath, as that is where the Word of God was and could be heard (There were no Bibles and no printing press). In 1 Corinthians 15:3 Paul writes,"I delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." Now as a Jewish believer or a Gentile well familiar with Jewish teaching, where would your thoughts go? Most likely to Leviticus where all the information about sin offerings was written. You were to bring a lamb, goat, bull, turtle doves some approved animal, female or male, depending upon the passage. It had to be spotless, without blemish, presented to the priest, hands laid on it in identification, at the Tabernacle or the Temple, where it was killed painlessly, and its blood poured out at the altar for the forgiveness of sin. This would be the picture in the mind of the Corinthian believer. A person was redeemed by the grace of God, through the blood of the approved sacrifice. How does any of that remotely remind you of the events of the cross. No Temple, no priest, no altar, blemished beyond recognition, dying slowly in agony, no laying on of hands, no blood poured out at the altar; no way do the events of the cross look like a death for our sins, according to the Scriptures.

Where does that leave us? Let me suggest that our redemptive timing is off a bit. Isaiah writes of God's suffering servant in Isaiah 53. Most of the verbs are in the perfect tense or are participles. In Hebrew there is no past, present and future. Perfect is a completed event with ongoing results, and imperfect being incomplete action, sort of present or future. What this means is that when Isaiah wrote these words he wrote them as an event that was completed with ongoing results. Our Bibles translate it as a past event. "He was wounded, He was oppressed He was lead like a lamb to the slaughter."  Past event with ongoing results. How can this be? Jesus had not even been born yet. Now hop over to Revelation 13:8 If you have a KJV or a NKJV it reads, "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from (or before) the foundation of the world." The NASB, NIV and other translations rearrange the words to make it "the names written before the foundation" but the Greek reads the Lamb slain before the  foundation of the world. Was the Lamb really offered before the foundation of the world? 

Looking back to Revelation Chapter 5, we see John's vision as he enters heaven. He sees One called the Lion of the tribe of Judah (vs 5), but what John also sees is a lamb as though it had been slain. His vision will go on to see an altar and servants making offerings and incense, the prayers of the saints. It appears to be a heavenly temple. The writer to the Hebrews, in chapter 9, tells us that Christ is a better sacrifice and a better High Priest. Verse 11 explains that He entered a better more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is not of this creation. Verse 12 goes on to say He offered His blood when He entered the Most Holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of bulls and goats was not enough but "how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot or blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (14). Where is the record that , during his earthly ministry Jesus ever enter the holiest part of the temple to offer Himself as a blood sacrifice? Being from the tribe of Judah he could not enter the earthly temple. It was a heavenly temple not of this creation.

As the Apostle John writes his Gospel account he quotes John the Baptist in 1:29 where John proclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." The word translated "takes" is airon. It is a present active participle. Which means it is an ongoing action. A more accurate translation would be "who is taking away the sin of the world". The Lamb of God is, as John writes, taking away the sin of the world. Not in the future, not at the cross, but now, for the price has already been paid. His blood has already been shed on a heavenly altar in a heavenly temple perhaps by the Priest after the order of Melchizedek.

Perhaps the picture of the sin sacrifices in Leviticus are looking back instead of forward. Perhaps the Old Testament believers were already under the blood of the Lamb. The picture of the sacrifices was to remind them of the past rather than to have them hope for a future redemption. Just as the celebration of the Lord's Table reminds us of His death, for it is His death that is proclaimed, not His redemption (see I Cor. 11:26), until He comes again. If Messiah paid the price before the foundation of the world, the whole issue of redemption for the Old Testament believers is taken care of. Like all who believe they have always been under the blood of the Lamb.

It seems that, just as we were chosen before the foundation of the earth (Eph. 1), we were also redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, before the foundation of the earth. God was so passionate for us and loved us so much He resolved the sin problem before sin even entered the world. The curse of death would not be dealt with until the cross, when the Son of Man rose again and defeated death and broke the curse. Death has no Sting and the grave no victory for He is risen. This is the focus of the cross; however, redemption was already ours.

"And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain"(Revelation 5:6), "the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). I am redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. How about you?          

Is there Redemption in the Cross?

This article has been one of much thought and prayer knowing that some may react to the thoughts and misunderstand what it is I am suggesting. So right from the start know that I believe that the cross is central and essential to my faith and the hope that I hold for eternity. Also know that I believe that Messiah shed His blood on my behalf and it is through His blood that I have redemption, the forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to the Father. I agree with Hebrews 9:22, “that without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” I do not question the truth, just the timing of the event, and how the event was realized. I simply want to be true to the Scriptures.

The key verse to the common held theology, that the focus of the cross is the shed blood of Yeshua for the forgiveness and cleansing of sin, comes primarily from 1 Peter 2:24, “He bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” He took our sin and removed it on the cross. Eph. 2:16 declares that He, “reconciled them both through the cross.” And Col.1:20 says we are, “reconciled through the blood of His cross.” However these both speak of reconciliation not redemption, and there is a difference. Perhaps these hold merit, but when we look at the rest of Scripture is that honestly the focus of the cross?

Of the 24 references to the cross in the New Testament, all can be seen as the cross being an instrument of death, even 1 Peter 2:24. Sin brings us death for death is the curse passed on from Genesis Chapter 3. We will surely die. Torah set God’s standard before us and we disobeyed, and thus we are under the curse (death). Christ redeemed us from the curse coming from disobedience to the Law (death) when he became a curse for us, for cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree [cross], (see Galatians 3:10 & 13). In John’s Revelation, after telling us in Chapter 20 that death and the grave are cast into the lake of fire, John goes on to describe the New Jerusalem; in Chapter 22 we are told that “there shall be no more curse” (vs. 3) and that we shall reign forever and ever (vs. 5). Through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ the curse of death is broken and we have life. He is the first fruits and we will follow in His resurrection.

The point of the cross throughout the New Testament is victory over death. So Paul can proclaim to those in Corinth, “Death is swallowed up in victory” and ask “O Death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” (1 Cor. 15:55). The curse of death has been broken and we are delivered through His death and resurrection. Without His death and resurrection we have no hope. Forgiven or not we would still be under the curse of death, but the cross changes all that. Death is defeated and victory is there for all who believe.

One last thought comes from our Lord’s own illustration in John 3. Nicodemus has come to Yeshua under cover of darkness to seek to know if He is Messiah. The Master Rabbi turns to Numbers and the story of the fiery serpents, a story Nicodemus was well familiar with. It is found in Numbers 21. In brief the children of Israel sinned and God sent fiery serpents among them and, when bitten, they died. They cried out a clear confession of guilt and sought forgiveness. They came to Moses to plead for deliverance. Deliverance from what? From the fiery serpents that were bringing death among them. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. Whoever was bitten was to come and look upon the serpent lifted up and they would be delivered from death. They would not come if they did not believe. For those who believed and came and looked upon the serpent lifted up they were delivered from death. That was the focus, not redemption or forgiveness, but deliverance from death. Yeshua said in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up. Thus, like the serpent, all who would come believing would be delivered from death.

The predominate evidence from Scripture is that the point of the cross is deliverance from death, not redemption. Redemption, to some degree, may be there, but that is not the focus or the message from God’s Word. So where does redemption come in? We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, which is for certain; the questions are where and when. But I will save that for the next blog.