So many people struggle with the scriptures. We read, and the scriptures seem to contradict itself constantly. People then try to figure it all out with human reasoning, and voila, the world is confused and in religious turmoil. The cross of Jesus Christ is the centre of everything. When we take all scripture back to the cross, everything makes perfect sense in a strikingly simple way.
The law and the prophets were the Holy Scriptures of God given to the nation of Israel. Heb 9:9 says that the law was a parable or a figure of better things to come. The prophets prophecied of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. The law and the prophets testified of the Messiah, or the Christ that would come and save the world from their sins.
In John 5:39-47, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, who were educated in the law and the prophets. He said:
39 You search and investigate and pore over the Scriptures diligently, because you suppose and trust that you have eternal life through them. And these [very Scriptures] testify about Me!
40 And still you are not willing [but refuse] to come to Me, so that you might have life.
41 I receive not glory from men [I crave no human honor, I look for no mortal fame],
42 But I know you and recognize and understand that you have not the love of God in you.
43 I have come in My Father's name and with His power, and you do not receive Me [your hearts are not open to Me, you give Me no welcome]; but if another comes in his own name and his own power and with no other authority but himself, you will receive him and give him your approval.
44 How is it possible for you to believe [how can you learn to believe], you who [are content to seek and] receive praise and honor and glory from one another, and yet do not seek the praise and honor and glory which come from Him Who alone is God?
45 Put out of your minds the thought and do not suppose [as some of you are supposing] that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you-it is Moses, the very one on whom you have built your hopes [in whom you trust].
46 For if you believed and relied on Moses, you would believe and rely on Me, for he wrote about Me [personally].
47 But if you do not believe and trust his writings, how then will you believe and trust My teachings? [How shall you cleave to and rely on My words?]
It is clear from this portion that Moses testified of something different than what the Jews thought. They were waiting for a natural physical king to come and establish their nation as the kingdom of God in Jerusalem. Moses wrote of a spiritual inheritance that would give power and authority to those who received it. They insisted on their own righteousness, and their way of thinking, which blinded them to what God was really saying through Moses.
The scriptures testifies about Jesus Christ, and not about us. The rituals of the law testifies about what Jesus Christ would do, not about what we must do to be justified. People feel condemned when they read the law, because we have a fallen human way of understanding. It is error in person, i.e. we don't realise who the scripture is reffering to. We think the scriptures give burdens to us, but the burdens was in fact to be carried by the Christ.
The same scripture that condemns someone who reads it with a natural mind, edifies and justifies someone who has spiritual insight. How can this be?
2 Cor 3:14 In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away.
15 Yes, down to this [very] day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts.
16 But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom).
18 And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.
Whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their minds and hearts. This means that whenever natural people with limited understanding reads Moses thinking that he wrote about them, the veil of darkness covers their minds and hearts. How can this be? God gave the law in a demonstration of glory! How can that which had glory bring darkness to those who read it?
2 Cor 3:7 Now if the dispensation of death engraved in letters on stone [the ministration of the Law], was inaugurated with such glory and splendor that the Israelites were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because of its brilliance, [a glory] that was to fade and pass away,
8 Why should not the dispensation of the Spirit [this spiritual ministry whose task it is to cause men to obtain and be governed by the Holy Spirit] be attended with much greater and more splendid glory?
9 For if the service that condemns [the ministration of doom] had glory, how infinitely more abounding in splendor and glory must be the service that makes righteous [the ministry that produces and fosters righteous living and right standing with God]!
10 Indeed, in view of this fact, what once had splendor [the glory of the Law in the face of Moses] has come to have no splendor at all, because of the overwhelming glory that exceeds and excels it [the glory of the Gospel in the face of Jesus Christ].
11 For if that which was but passing and fading away came with splendor, how much more must that which remains and is permanent abide in glory and splendor!
12 Since we have such [glorious] hope (such joyful and confident expectation), we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly.
13 Nor [do we act] like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze upon the finish of the vanishing [splendor which had been upon it].
Moses brought the law with a demonstration of power and miracles. Physical glory shone from his face, and there were many miracles in his day. The Israelites went through the Red Sea on dry ground, and the Egyptians drowned. They were fed manna and quails from heaven in the desert. They drank water from a rock. They were accompanied by a glory cloud of light by night, and a covering cloud of shade by day. God showed spectacular miracles.
Moses acted out a parable. He put a veil over his face, so that the Israelites wouldn't know when the glory departed. They had the tabernacle with the veil seperating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. No one saw the glory behind the veil, except the High Priest once a year. They only assumed it was there. The glory of God was only manifested to the nation through miracles. As the time went on though, the glory faded. Less and less miracles happened until the Babylonian captivity, wherafter there were no real miracles to talk about. Even the tabernacle was no more. Solomon built the temple, and they brought back the arc of the covenant from Babylonia, but it was not as Moses described it. Solomon built his own Holy of Holies, and his own cherubim. The arc was broken, and had no glory. There were also no miracles. The nation was in darkness. The height of the darkness, was when the Pharisees, Saducees, Scribes and Temple Priests were in charge. No scripture made any mention of synagogues, but they built themselves synagogues. They had their own system, and they did not seek God.
Suddenly Jesus was on the scene, demonstrating glory: signs wonders and miracles. Some of the Jews believed, and some said He did the miracles by the power of the devil. They said he drove out demons by the power of the devil. They were so blinded by the veil of their ignorance, insisting on a righteousness of their own, not believing Moses who wrote about the Christ that would come to save them from their sins. They were so blinded that they did not recognise Him. They glory of Moses had faded, and it was time for it to pass away forever, and make way for the abiding glory of Jesus Christ, the power and miracles that would abide forever by the Holy Spirit inside those who believed what was written about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Rom 10:1 BRETHREN, [with all] my heart's desire and goodwill for [Israel], I long and pray to God that they may be saved.
2 I bear them witness that they have a [certain] zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to [correct and vital] knowledge.
3 For being ignorant of the righteousness that God ascribes [which makes one acceptable to Him in word, thought, and deed] and seeking to establish a righteousness (a means of salvation) of their own, they did not obey or submit themselves to God's righteousness.
4 For Christ is the end of the Law [the limit at which it ceases to be, for the Law leads up to Him Who is the fulfillment of its types, and in Him the purpose which it was designed to accomplish is fulfilled. That is, the purpose of the Law is fulfilled in Him] as the means of righteousness (right relationship to God) for everyone who trusts in and adheres to and
relies on Him.
5 For Moses writes that the man who [can] practice the righteousness (perfect conformity to God's will) which is based on the Law [with all its intricate demands] shall live by it.
6 But the righteousness based on faith [imputed by God and bringing right relationship with Him] says, Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into Heaven? that is, to bring Christ down;
7 Or who will descend into the abyss? that is, to bring Christ up from the dead [as if we could be saved by our own efforts].
8 But what does it say? The Word (God's message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word (the message, the basis and object) of faith which we preach,
9 Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
This means that the Jews tried to fulfill the law, in stead of seeing the parable of the law, and believing it. They tried to fulfill their own righteousness, which was completely against what God had planned for them. This was not by chance. God designed the law in such a way that it would blind the spiritual eyes of those natural people who read it. They had the knowledge of sin. They had the knowledge of good and evil. The law thereby gave the, a fresh remembrance of sins, because they had no other context to see it through.
God needed the spiritual knowledge of the Gospel of the kingdom of God to be hidden from people, until Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sins of the world and fulfill the law of Moses and everything the prophets wrote about Him.
This is the reason: 1 Cor 2:8 None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.
The Jews saw Jesus as a threat to their little world that they had created for themselves. Act 13:27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know or recognize Him or understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, have actually fulfilled these very predictions by condemning and sentencing [Him].
28 And although they could find no cause deserving death with which to charge Him, yet they asked Pilate to have Him executed and put out of the way.
29 And when they had finished and fulfilled everything that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
30 But God raised Him from the dead.
So Jesus was crucified, and the law in all of its intricate details and rituals had been fulfilled. The law therefore has no more bearing on us. It is made redundant and obsolete by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Heb9:9 Seeing that that first [outer portion of the] tabernacle was a parable (a visible symbol or type or picture of the present age). In it gifts and sacrifices are offered, and yet are incapable of perfecting the conscience or of cleansing and renewing the inner man of the worshiper.
10 For [the ceremonies] deal only with clean and unclean meats and drinks and different washings, [mere] external rules and regulations for the body imposed to tide the worshipers over until the time of setting things straight [of reformation, of the complete new order when Christ, the Messiah, shall establish the reality of what these things foreshadow-a better covenant].
11 But [that appointed time came] when Christ (the Messiah) appeared as a High Priest of the better things that have come and are to come. [Then] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with [human] hands, that is, not a part of this material creation,
12 He went once for all into the [Holy of] Holies [of heaven], not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves [by which to make reconciliation between God and man], but His own blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us).
13 For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body,
14 How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, Who by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent divine personality] has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God?
15 [Christ, the Messiah] is therefore the Negotiator and Mediator of an [entirely] new agreement (testament, covenant), so that those who are called and offered it may receive the fulfillment of the promised everlasting inheritance-since a death has taken place which rescues and delivers and redeems them from the transgressions committed under the
[old] first agreement.
16 For where there is a [last] will and testament involved, the death of the one who made it must be established,
17 For a will and testament is valid and takes effect only at death, since it has no force or legal power as long as the one who made it is alive.
18 So even the [old] first covenant (God's will) was not inaugurated and ratified and put in force without the shedding of blood.
19 For when every command of the Law had been read out by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of slain calves and goats, together with water and scarlet wool and with
a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled both the Book (the roll of the Law and covenant) itself and all the people,
20 Saying these words: This is the blood that seals and ratifies the agreement (the testament, the covenant) which God commanded [me to deliver to] you.
21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and all the [sacred] vessels and appliances used in [divine] worship.
22 [In fact] under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the
due and merited punishment for sins.
23 By such means, therefore, it was necessary for the [earthly] copies of the heavenly things to be purified, but the actual heavenly things themselves [required far] better and nobler sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ (the Messiah) has not entered into a sanctuary made with [human] hands, only a copy and pattern and type of the true one, but [He has entered] into heaven itself, now to appear in the [very] presence of God on our behalf.
25 Nor did He [enter into the heavenly sanctuary to] offer Himself regularly again and again, as the high priest enters the [Holy of] Holies every year with blood not his own.
26 For then would He often have had to suffer [over and over again] since the foundation of the world. But as it now is, He has once for all at the consummation and close of the ages appeared to put away and abolish sin by His sacrifice [of Himself].
The following is very important to what I what to convey today: The law speaks of purification by means of blood. It is the law of Moses that makes provision for a sacrifice of blood which brings purification. Jesus brought the perfect sacrifice, thereby purifying all and purging the world of it's sense of guilt, having once for all cleansed the conscience of the worshipper.
Who is included here? The sacrifice was for the sin of the world. The sacrifice included all sins of all people committed under the law of Moses. The question is: "Who do we believe", rather than: "How do I become justified and forgiven". The law and the prophets spoke of Jesus that would come and bring this perfect sacrifice to bring the world to salvation. There are those who still use the law and the prophets to condemn, rather than to preach the Good News of the end of the law through the perfect sacrifice of our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
John wrote and said: test the spirits to see wether they are from God.
1 John 4:1 BELOVED, DO not put faith in every spirit, but prove (test) the spirits to discover whether they proceed from God; for many false prophets have gone forth into the world.
2 By this you may know (perceive and recognize) the Spirit of God: every spirit which acknowledges and confesses [the fact] that Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [actually] has become man and has come in the flesh is of God [has God for its source];
3 And every spirit which does not acknowledge and confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh [but would annul, destroy, sever, disunite Him] is not of God [does not proceed from Him]. This [nonconfession] is the [spirit] of the antichrist, [of] which you heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.
4 Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.
5 They proceed from the world and are of the world; therefore it is out of the world [its whole economy morally considered] that they speak, and the world listens (pays attention) to them.
6 We are [children] of God. Whoever is learning to know God [progressively to perceive, recognize, and understand God by observation and experience, and to get an ever-clearer knowledge of Him] listens to us; and he who is not of God does not listen or pay attention to us. By this we know (recognize) the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.
There are those who would use the scriptures to condemn and to make people change themselves through efforts and sacrifices. That is the spirit of antichrist. Those people would never confess that Jesus Christ the son of God came to pay the price for the sin of the world and thereby bring absolute forgiveness to all who believe. They will always imply that you need to do something according to the law of Moses (or some other law or ritual) to produce your own righteousness.
The devil is called Satan. Satan means: Adversary, or Accuser. The only thing the devil has to accuse you with, is the law of Moses. Jesus says in John 8:43 Why do you misunderstand what I say? It is because you are unable to hear what I am saying. [You cannot bear to listen to My message; your ears are shut to My teaching.]
44 You are of your father, the devil, and it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar [himself] and the father of lies and of all that is false.
So the devil is a liar and the father of lies. He will not speak the truth to you. The devil is called Satan which means Accuser. This means that after the cross of Christ, all accusations are lies. Some will use the law to accuse. They are liars. Their lies will keep you in bondage to a law which have already been fulfilled. They lie to you, keeping from you the testimony of the True Sacrifice that had been brought to end the law. There are however others who will use the law and the prophets to preach the truth about Jesus Christ, that He fulfilled the law, and all its intricate demands. These will always speak of Christ and the cross. They are speaking the truth to you, and their word will always be in power, attested by glory: signs wonders and miracles.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets,
22 Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ (the Messiah). [And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
23 Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.
24 [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,
25 Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a mercy seat and propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be received] through faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former sins without punishment.
26 It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in the now season) that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has [true] faith in Jesus.
If people quote the law and the prophets to preach the Gospel of the cross of Christ to you, and show you how everything is fulfilled in the cross, they are speaking the truth. If people quote the law and the prophets to accuse you and get you to do certain things to establish your own righteousness, they are lying to you and killing you. The law gives power to sin. The Gospel is about the forgiveness of sin which we now certain have. This forgiveness is ours because of the last perfect sacrifice that satisfied the law, i.e the body and the blood of Jesus.
Heb10:3 But [as it is] these sacrifices annually bring a fresh remembrance of sins [to be atoned for],
4 Because the blood of bulls and goats is powerless to take sins away.
5 Hence, when He [Christ] entered into the world, He said, Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me [to offer];
6 In burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight.
7 Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God-[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book.
8 When He said just before, You have neither desired, nor have You taken delight in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings-all of which are offered according to the Law-
9 He then went on to say, Behold, [here] I am, coming to do Your will. Thus He does away with and annuls the first (former) order [as a means of expiating sin] so that He might inaugurate and establish the second (latter) order.
10 And in accordance with this will [of God], we have been made holy (consecrated and sanctified) through the offering made once for all of the body of Jesus Christ (the Anointed One).
11 Furthermore, every [human] priest stands [at his altar of service] ministering daily, offering the same sacrifices over and over again, which never are able to strip [from every side of us] the sins [that envelop us] and take them away-
12 Whereas this One [Christ], after He had offered a single sacrifice for our sins [that shall avail] for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
13 Then to wait until His enemies should be made a stool beneath His feet.
14 For by a single offering He has forever completely cleansed and perfected those who are consecrated and made holy.
15 And also the Holy Spirit adds His testimony to us [in confirmation of this]. For having said,
16 This is the agreement (testament, covenant) that I will set up and conclude with them after those days, says the Lord: I will imprint My laws upon their hearts, and I will inscribe them on their minds (on their inmost thoughts and understanding),
17 He then goes on to say, And their sins and their lawbreaking I will remember no more.
18 Now where there is absolute remission (forgiveness and cancellation of the penalty) of these [sins and lawbreaking], there is no longer any offering made to atone for sin.
The truth is that the law is fulfilled, and sin has been dealt with. The only way we could go back to a sin consciousness and condemnation, is if we reject the truth and believe the lies of the devil, which are accusations by means of the law. The law has one true testimony: You are forgiven and cleansed, because the perfect sacrifice was given to bring an end to sin in the flesh. We are cleansed by means of perfect blood. The Gospel is not about our sin, but about the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is His body and blood that was given at the cross for our justification and sanctification. This is the truth. When the truth, which was hidden and is now revealed, is preached, even the law testifies that we are completely forgiven and free. The law was satisfied by the offering of Christ. The law said that we could be cleansed by blood. Not the blood of goats and bulls, but the perfect blood of Jesus Christ.
Condemnation preached through the law of Moses, is a lie. This comes from the anti-christ spirit, from the false prophet who uses the holy scriptures of God to bring accusation, condemnation and death, in stead of live in abundance.
The Old Covenant spoke of something which had to come. The New Testament spoke of that which did come. It all testifies about Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice He made of His flesh body for the salvation of all those who believe in that sacrifice.
Acts 13:38 So let it be clearly known and understood by you, brethren, that through this Man forgiveness and removal of sins is now proclaimed to you;
39 And that through Him everyone who believes [who acknowledges Jesus as his Savior and devotes himself to Him] is absolved (cleared and freed) from every charge from which he could not be justified and freed by the Law of Moses and given right standing with God.
40 Take care, therefore, lest there come upon you what is spoken in the prophets:
41 Look, you scoffers and scorners, and marvel and perish and vanish away; for I am doing a deed in your days, a deed which you will never have confidence in or believe, [even] if someone [clearly describing it in detail] declares it to you.
Let us reject the lie of sin and condemnation that had such a strangle hold on us, and rather believe the truth of forgiveness and sanctification brought to us through the cross of Christ. We have received grace and righteousness as a gift, and we are saved and forgiven because of the blood of Jesus. To this even the law of Moses testifies. If Jesus never died, we certainly would stand guilty, but since He did bring the perfect sacrifice, the law has no choice but to declare us holy.
