Grace Versus Works?

Teaching, , , ,

Seeing and hearing so much teaching that the Grace of God offered in the New Testament has canceled the requirement for the moral law and its good works, please consider the following exhortations to good works:

Works Matter

God judges our work: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (14) For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil,” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14. See also Psalm 28:4; 62:12. Proverbs 24:12, 24. Ezekiel 7:3; 36:19.

The final judgment will be of our works: Revelation 20:11-12: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (12) And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

God’s message to each of the Seven Churches  starts by saying: “I know thy works.” Revelation 2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15.

1Peter 2:11-12: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (12) Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak evil of you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

Hebrews 10:24: “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works.”

Titus 2:6-8: “Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. (8) In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works; in doctrine, shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, (8) Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.”

1Timothy 6:17-19: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; (18) That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; (19) Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Women should adorn themselves with good works: 1Timothy 2:9-10: “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”

Grace and Works Again:

Titus 3:1, 2, 8: “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. (2) To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men…. (8) This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”

Grace teaches good works: “(11) For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (12) Teaching us that, denying ugodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world: (13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; (14) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (15) These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee, Titus 2:11-15.

Lesson 20 of Series – The Pattern Fulfilled

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The End of the “World”/ “Age” Came in 70 AD

The “end of the world” (KJV, “end of the age,” NIV, RSV, etc.), as spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24 was fufilled in the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the Jewish nation, and the destruction and dispersion of the Jews as a people. The “end of the age,” of the fleshly Israel established the pattern for the end of any nation who has known the commandments of God and has refused them. God is no respecter of persons in judgment. The fact that there was an immediate, literal fulfillment only confirms the general reference and the future eschatological fulfillment upon the wicked.

The Gospel Fully Preached

The immediate reference that the gospel must be preached to “all the world” was fulfilled in the sense that the Roman Empire was called “all the world,” (Luke 2:1), and “to every nation” was fulfilled in the sense that the tribes of Israel were “the nations,” as in Acts 2:5. Therefore, the gospel was fully preached, according to Colossians 1:23, before the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the “end of the age” for the fleshly Israel.

Christ’s Prophetic Identity Proven True

Christ’s signal predictions in the Gospels were fully realized in the events of the destruction of Jerusalem, serving also as a sign of the yet future end of any nation that forgets God. Thus the Book of Revelation shows that the morally imperative fulfillment of Christ’s prophecies did come to pass, proving that He was indeed a true Prophet.

Just as God’s word by Jeremiah was fulfilled, so also was the prophecy of Jesus fulfilled in the utter desolation of the city of Jerusalem in AD 70. The fact that Jeremiah’s and Jesus’ predictions came to pass should have the effect of striking Godly fear into the hearts of the world, for their words are surety of the pending judgment upon those who reject the Gospel, even when the Gospel has been fully preached to all nations and the whole world stands accountable before God. Rather than being a source of racial pride and/or bigotry, it is proof that God is indeed “no respecter of person in judgment.”

End of Series: Revelation 1:1 – ‘Must’ The Moral Imperative. If you have followed this series, you will understand fully that the Book of Revelation cannot be interpreted as to yet be fulfilled in some future time. It was morally imperative that these events happen quickly, soon, shortly. Please follow the future lessons on my blog to understand how, when, and why these things did “come to pass” shortly. This is often referred to as the “preterist” interpretation.

Next Lesson: Angel(s)

Lesson 19 of Series – Forty Years of the Messiah

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The Historical Record

The Church historian, Eusebius, says: “After the Saviour’s passion, and the cries with which the Jewish mob clamoured for the reprieve of the bandit and murderer and begged that the Author of Life should be removed from them, disaster befell the entire nation. There is no need to add anything to the historical records. But it would be right to mention, too, certain facts which bring home the beneficence of all-gracious Providence, which for forty years after their crime against Christ delayed their destruction,” (Eusebius, 3.7.3).

The Biblical Record

There was indeed a space of time of 40 years, (as in Numbers 14:34), after the rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, (about AD 30), to the destruction of the nation, (about AD 70). That this period of time was considered analogous to the 40-year wilderness experience is confirmed by Hebrews 3:7-4:11 and 1 Corinthians. 10:1-11. This was the period of time in which the gospel was preached throughout the Roman Empire to all the Jews, Colossians 1:23. This space of time, however, was not a “breach of promise” but was a demonstration of God’s mercy, as Eusebius says.

The Jewish Tradition

In fact, the ‘forty years of the Messiah’ was a tradition amongst the Jews, as attested in their writings. Lightfoot quotes R. Eliezer from Sanhedrin:

“The days of the Messiah are forty years, according as it is said, ‘Forty years…shall I be grieved with this generation.’ The Gloss is, ‘Because it is …(in the future tense) it is a sign the prophecy is concerning the time to come.’ It is ingenuously done, however, of these ‘Jews’, that they parallel that faithless generation that was in the days of the Messiah with that perverse and rebellious generation that had been in the wilderness: for they will, both of them prove a loathing and offence to God for the space of forty years. And as those forty years in the wilderness were numbered according to the forty days in which the land had been searching [Num. xiv.34]; so also may those forty years of the Messiah be numbered according to the forty days wherein he was conversant amongst mankind after his resurrection from the dead.”

The passage in Numbers 14 speaks of the long-suffering of God by waiting forty years while the doubting generation died. This is also referred to in Hebrews 3:7-19 and is applied to the contemporary audience: “Today!” There is a serious problem, however, with the interpretation that “God stopped the clock for a ‘time out’ which has not been called back in yet,” (after 2,000 years!) The forty years of God’s merciful patience with the fleshly nation, Israel, ended in 70 AD.

Next Lesson: The Pattern Fufilled

The Law – Do We Need It Now?

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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

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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