Monthly Archives: February 2015

The Law – Do We Need It Now?

Christ Life, , ,

Let’s start from the beginning.

Genesis 1:26-28: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
(27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them.
(28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

God’s First Law: The Breath/Spirit Of Life

Since God is a Spirit, and created Man in His own image, Man was created as a Spirit. We have a soul; we live in a body of flesh; but we are a Spirit. Genesis 2:7: ‘And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Note that the word ‘breath’ is the same word as ‘spirit’ in Hebrew. God breathed His Spirit into Adam. The Spirit is the “breath of Life.” This is the first law: The “Law of the Breath/Spirit of Life,” Romans 8:1-2.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit/Breath of Life hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

The Law of Sin and Death

Genesis 2:16-17: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” This is the law of sin and death, see Romans 8:2

Before the fall, Man’s whole volition, intention, and natural spontaneous impulses were to do God’s will in the Spirit. When Mankind fell into sin, however, his Spirit, the inner man, died and it became necessary for his flesh to be ruled by the force of law. This condition required an atoning death, and so the whole Old Testament sacrificial system was established in order to teach Mankind the necessity of sacrificing the Flesh to redeem the Spirit.

In the fullness of time, Christ came, died the atoning death for all Mankind, and offered the resurrected Life to whosoever will. In His resurrected Body, He restored God’s original intention for Mankind; that is, that they would be alive in the Spirit/Breath, ruling, taking dominion over every living thing, including his own fleshly body.

However, not all would be willing to accept this New Birth, this Life from the Dead. So, for those, the Law must still be enforced upon the outward man. And the Spirit Man, the inner man, the real person, must rule his own flesh by the Law. The Law is still necessary to bring the Flesh, the outward man, into obedience to God’s Law until and unless he is born again of the Spirit.

As born-again Christians, we naturally fulfill the law. Our righteousness will exceed that of the Pharisees who were so diligent to keep the letter of the law while twisting and perverting it. Our righteousness must not only keep the true letter of the law, but also keep the Spirit of the law: willing and intuitive obedience to the Spirit of God. For the Christians, keeping the Law is not grievous but the natural thing to do.

Lesson 18 of Series – The End According To Daniel

Revelation Commentary, , , ,

Christ Himself taught that the ‘end’ as foreseen by Daniel was to come within the life span of the generation to whom He was speaking, (Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 21:32). The early Church expected this ‘end,’ (for example: Heb. 9:26; 1 Pet. 4:7; 1 Cor. 7:29). Did it happen?

Was the “End” Prophesied By Daniel The End of The Planet?

No, it was the end of the age of the fleshly nation, Israel, its people, and its City. The word translated ‘world’ in KJV is more accurately translated ‘age,’ as in RSV. The passage in Daniel chapter 9 is about an “end,” (vv. 24, “end of sin,” v. 26, “end of sanctuary,” v. 27, “the decreed end is poured out”). Daniel chapters 10 and 11 are about events leading up to this “end,” and refer to the history between Daniel’s time and the time of John the Revelator.

The ‘end’ which Daniel foresaw was also “to seal up the vision and prophecy.” In this passage the words ‘seal up’ is the Hebrew chatham, defined as: “…to seal, affix one’s seal, in attestation… as for example in Nehemiah 10:1-27, where the men attested to or ratified the covenant by setting their seal to it”.*  In other words, Daniel’s prophecy would be proven by its fulfillment. This sense of attesting or ratifying is also used in the New Testament in John 3:33; 1 Corinthians. 9:2; 2 Timothy 2:19. It indicates the stamp of authenticity.

Daniel’s Prophesies Were Proven By Their Fulfillment

“The vision and prophecy” of Daniel were attested to, or proven, by the coming of Christ, His finished work of redemption, the preaching of the Gospel at that time to the whole Jewish world as well as to some of the Gentiles, the formation of the New Israel of God in Christ’s Body the Church, and the subsequent destruction of the fleshly nation and the earthly city of Jerusalem. God’s prophets had foretold all of these things. Now they were attested to, and ratified by the fulfillment of that which had been foretold. Therefore, Daniel’s ‘appointed times’ were fulfilled, ‘accomplished’ – both the blessedness of the righteous who believed and the tribulation of those who refused to believe.

Daniel 12:7d: And when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be accomplished,” (RSV).

  • “All of these things” came to pass when Jerusalem was destroyed along with the Temple in AD 70:
  • There was an “end of sin” and transgression for fleshly Israel, because from this point on there was no other Israel than Christ, the only living legitimate Heir.
  • Christ’s death “atoned for iniquity and brought in everlasting righteousness”;
  • in Christ’s Body, “a most holy (place) was anointed,” the Church;
  • There was an “end of the sanctuary,” because the physical Temple was destroyed.

No More Delay (“Time No Longer”: “The Time Is Up”)

This passage in Daniel 12:7 is referred to in Revelation 10:5-7. Indeed, the Angel appears to be the same in both passages:

Revelation 10: “5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, 6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: 7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”

The phrase in 10:6: “…that there should be time no longer,” (KJV), literally means: ‘The time is up’ or “There shall be no more delay.” This refers to the ‘time’ spoken of by Daniel; that “time was up.” The angel proclaims that this ‘delay’ is over, Revelation 10:5-7, (RSV).

Jesus Himself, in answer to the question concerning the “end of the age,” (Matthew 24:1-28), interpreted Daniel’s prophecy as coming to pass when Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed. Therefore, God’s “unfinished business with fleshly Israel” spoken of by Daniel became “finished business” in AD 70 as described in the Book of Revelation.

*Brown, Driver, Briggs, Concordance, “seal.”

Next Lesson: Forty Years of the Messiah