God's Law and Jesus' gospel are our salvation
“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.” (Jn. 19:30).
Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.” Desire of Ages, p. 25.
“Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that exchange,—the Sinless One is condemned, and he who is guilty goes free; the Blessing bears the curse, and the cursed is brought into blessing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is whelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face is clothed with glory.” Great Controversy, p. 212.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that has fought to save a world like ours. Is it just an old tradition, threadbare and hoary with age? Is it just like the title of the hymn, an Old, Old, Story? Is the gospel just another Aesop fable?
Millions, yes, billions of animal sacrifices have littered this world’s history. The mountain of their ashes sits as a bulwark pointing to an ancient truth—the promise of a Messiah who would propitiate our Creator for the sin of the world. All the baby lambs and kids, the heifers and bullocks spoke of a coming Redeemer who was humble, innocent, pure, and faithful to the end.
Even the raucous swine and human sacrifices from corrupted religions all point back to the original promise, though altered by the distance of time and the shielding sin causes the light of truth.
Every victim in the animal kingdom killed by a hungry predator, that stabs our heart, testifies to the plan of salvation. The Creator has preached the gospel to every soul under heaven; in our generation, there is no language where its voice is not heard. Death has reigned from Adam to the present, either by murder or mortality, to remind mankind of the death sin has caused God. (Rom. 5:19).
The tradition from the Old Testament law and prophets, and from Christ and His apostles, still lives. (2Thess. 2:15). When it had lost its living power to Israel and they had “transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” then it became nothing more than a tattered script, a relic of bygone generations. (Is. 24:5). They had disregarded the truth in His law, and He said, “they despised My judgments, and...their soul abhorred My statutes,” which would lead them to “break My covenant.” (Lev. 26:43,15).
“Neither doth God respect any person: yet doth He devise means, that His banished be not expelled from Him.” (2Sam. 14:14). The war raging over their heads and the knowledge of plan of salvation which God gave them became nothing more than ignored enscripted wallpaper pasted to the dome of their sky. Once the Old Testament gospel had dried up for Israel, it remained that way. For 450 years Israel received no life from it and the veil over their eyes was not broken until the Son of God broke through the wallpaper over their heads on His way here.
Today, “the everlasting gospel” of the New Testament, is the “everlasting covenant” of the Old Testament. (Rev. 14:6;Is. 24:5). It’s the same thing amplified with more power to save from sin. But it has atrophied in the church just as it did in ancient Israel. And for the same causes as Israel had. Let’s read ourselves into the picture so that we can gain from it and it becomes more than just a fiction-suspense.
“We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments....
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of [Protestantism], and to the inhabitants of [Adventism], and unto all [Christianity], that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee.…
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.
Yea, all [Christianity] have transgressed Thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey Thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the [letters of the apostles] the [servants] of God, because we have sinned against Him.” (Dan. 9:5,7,10,11).
“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Rom. 8:7). “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24). “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” (Rom. 3:19).
The law stood to bring us guilt and shame and the promise of forgiveness to all who would allow it to condemn them and bring them to Christ for His justification. But just as with ancient Israel the church has “walked not in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and My Sabbaths they greatly polluted.” (Ez. 20:13). God’s professed people have even thought “to change times and laws.” (Dan. 7:25).
By dispensing with the sharp rebukes and strong language of the Law the evangelical churches have deceived themselves. They have removed the sole means heaven has provided to force us to wrestle with God so that He can forge faith in us. The Law is real with real consequences in this life. The gospel is ethereal and spiritual and must have a container in which to reside or it dissipates quickly. That container is God’s Law. Without His Law we can have no concept of God or His grace for us.
To abrogate the Law of God in doctrine or to ignore it in the testimonies of this Earth’s last prophet is to lose salvation. It means the truth of the Bible atrophies into wallpaper again. When that happens, this world receives all of the attention of the deluded church and heaven is a farce.
And the deluding wallpaper that hides heaven will remain in place until Jesus again bursts through it like a thief in the night. Then the world will know that the law and gospel were real living documents, valid and current demands.
Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.” Desire of Ages, p. 25.
“Oh, the unspeakable greatness of that exchange,—the Sinless One is condemned, and he who is guilty goes free; the Blessing bears the curse, and the cursed is brought into blessing; the Life dies, and the dead live; the Glory is whelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face is clothed with glory.” Great Controversy, p. 212.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that has fought to save a world like ours. Is it just an old tradition, threadbare and hoary with age? Is it just like the title of the hymn, an Old, Old, Story? Is the gospel just another Aesop fable?
Millions, yes, billions of animal sacrifices have littered this world’s history. The mountain of their ashes sits as a bulwark pointing to an ancient truth—the promise of a Messiah who would propitiate our Creator for the sin of the world. All the baby lambs and kids, the heifers and bullocks spoke of a coming Redeemer who was humble, innocent, pure, and faithful to the end.
Even the raucous swine and human sacrifices from corrupted religions all point back to the original promise, though altered by the distance of time and the shielding sin causes the light of truth.
Every victim in the animal kingdom killed by a hungry predator, that stabs our heart, testifies to the plan of salvation. The Creator has preached the gospel to every soul under heaven; in our generation, there is no language where its voice is not heard. Death has reigned from Adam to the present, either by murder or mortality, to remind mankind of the death sin has caused God. (Rom. 5:19).
The tradition from the Old Testament law and prophets, and from Christ and His apostles, still lives. (2Thess. 2:15). When it had lost its living power to Israel and they had “transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” then it became nothing more than a tattered script, a relic of bygone generations. (Is. 24:5). They had disregarded the truth in His law, and He said, “they despised My judgments, and...their soul abhorred My statutes,” which would lead them to “break My covenant.” (Lev. 26:43,15).
“Neither doth God respect any person: yet doth He devise means, that His banished be not expelled from Him.” (2Sam. 14:14). The war raging over their heads and the knowledge of plan of salvation which God gave them became nothing more than ignored enscripted wallpaper pasted to the dome of their sky. Once the Old Testament gospel had dried up for Israel, it remained that way. For 450 years Israel received no life from it and the veil over their eyes was not broken until the Son of God broke through the wallpaper over their heads on His way here.
Today, “the everlasting gospel” of the New Testament, is the “everlasting covenant” of the Old Testament. (Rev. 14:6;Is. 24:5). It’s the same thing amplified with more power to save from sin. But it has atrophied in the church just as it did in ancient Israel. And for the same causes as Israel had. Let’s read ourselves into the picture so that we can gain from it and it becomes more than just a fiction-suspense.
“We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments....
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of [Protestantism], and to the inhabitants of [Adventism], and unto all [Christianity], that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee.…
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets.
Yea, all [Christianity] have transgressed Thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey Thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the [letters of the apostles] the [servants] of God, because we have sinned against Him.” (Dan. 9:5,7,10,11).
“The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” (Rom. 8:7). “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24). “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” (Rom. 3:19).
The law stood to bring us guilt and shame and the promise of forgiveness to all who would allow it to condemn them and bring them to Christ for His justification. But just as with ancient Israel the church has “walked not in My statutes, and they despised My judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and My Sabbaths they greatly polluted.” (Ez. 20:13). God’s professed people have even thought “to change times and laws.” (Dan. 7:25).
By dispensing with the sharp rebukes and strong language of the Law the evangelical churches have deceived themselves. They have removed the sole means heaven has provided to force us to wrestle with God so that He can forge faith in us. The Law is real with real consequences in this life. The gospel is ethereal and spiritual and must have a container in which to reside or it dissipates quickly. That container is God’s Law. Without His Law we can have no concept of God or His grace for us.
To abrogate the Law of God in doctrine or to ignore it in the testimonies of this Earth’s last prophet is to lose salvation. It means the truth of the Bible atrophies into wallpaper again. When that happens, this world receives all of the attention of the deluded church and heaven is a farce.
And the deluding wallpaper that hides heaven will remain in place until Jesus again bursts through it like a thief in the night. Then the world will know that the law and gospel were real living documents, valid and current demands.
posted by David | 11:38 AM
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