Time with Jesus - Friday, 09 November 2012
Hi all,
Today’s meditation concerns the Old and New Covenant
“laws”. Of course, Jesus summed up both with His statement, 37 Jesus
replied, "'You must love the LORD your God
with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39
A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbour
as yourself.' Matt 22:37-39 NLT He
did not give anyone the right to sin with impunity. He gave immunity from the
penalty of sin under Jewish Law subject to certain conditions.
Blessings,
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Friday, 09 November 2012
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Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
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These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
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©
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INTRODUCTION
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DAILY
LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
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THE
OLD AND NEW COVENANT
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Most
of us think that when we refer to God’s Law we are referring to the Ten
Commandments. This is not surprising. The ten commandments are just about
impossible to keep. In fact Jesus is the only person who succeeded in doing
so. According to Nelson’s Illustrated New Bible Dictionary, “There are eight distinct categories of
civil law in the Old Testament: (1) laws regulating leaders, (2) laws
regulating the army, (3) laws respecting criminals, (4) laws dealing with
crimes against property, (5) laws relating to humane treatment, (6) laws
about personal and family rights, (7) laws about property rights, and (8)
laws regulating other social behaviour”. For the likes of you and me,
these laws are equally impossible to keep. These laws had inflexible
penalties. For example death was the penalty for fornication, adultery,
homosexuality, prostitution, incest and bestiality. These penalties were
absolute. Man had no authority to change these laws. In Jewish law, these
penalties were rigidly applied.
It’s
important to understand that these laws have not been rescinded and are as
true now as they were in days of old. What has changed is that in Christ, the
penalty no longer applies. The curse of the law was the penalty applicable
when the law was broken. Paul points this out: 13 Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that
God's laws bring by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says,
"Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed." Gal. 3:13 GW
For
those familiar with the game “Monopoly”, it’s a bit like having a “get out of
jail free” card. If you get sent to jail during the course of the game, the
card enables you to continue playing. You are “just visiting”. What we need
to remember is that although we have been redeemed from the curse of the law,
it does not mean that the law no longer applies. Jesus made this very plain: 8
I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear,
not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is
achieved. Matt 5:18 NLT
Note
that the law is still in place. It’s just as true as ever. It’s the penalty
that has been taken away. The danger for us is to think that because the
penalty has gone, we can sin as much as we want. Paul discusses this at
length in Romans 6. He points out that in Christ we are dead to sin and alive
to Christ. In other words, 12 Do not
let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Rom 6:12 NLT Living under the Old Covenant was
not easy. Living under the new covenant should not be thought of as “easy”!
Under the New we can be forgiven for sins that demanded the death penalty
under the Old. But to continue to live in sin under the New Covenant is
anathema. The New Covenant demands repentance from sin. No repentance = no
forgiveness = No salvation.
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
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5 "Gather to me this consecrated people,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
Psalms 50:5 TNIV
28 In the same way, Christ was offered up
once. He took away the sins of many people. He will also come a second time.
At that time he will not suffer for sin. Instead, he will come to bring
salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:28 NIrV
15 That is why He is the One who mediates a
new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive
the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set
them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first
covenant.
Hebrews 9:15 NLT
24 Father, I want those you gave me To be
with me, right where I am, So they can see my glory, the splendour you
gave me, Having loved me Long before there ever was a world.
John 17:24 MSG
27 And He will send out His angels to gather
His chosen ones from all over the world--from the farthest ends of the earth
and heaven.
Mark 13:27 NLT
4 Even if you have been banished to the
most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather
you and bring you back.
Deuteronomy 30:4 TNIV
16 For the Lord himself will come down from
heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17
After that, we who are still alive and are left
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the
air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 TNIV
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There are many differences for folk
like me and you,
Between the major Covenants. The Old
one and the New.
The Old had no provision for a
deliberate sin.
The penalty was final. There’s no way
man could win.
A murderer found guilty was taken out
and stoned.
There wasn’t a provision for such sin
to be atoned.
Taken in adultery? Death was the only
way
To satisfy the penalty for what was
done that day.
You couldn’t get forgiveness, no
matter how you tried.
If you had sinned deliberately, then
you were going to die.
David got away with it. He took
Uriah’s life.
By lying with Bathsheba. She was
Uriah’s wife.
Uriah was then murdered for Bathsheba
was with child.
Her marriage to Uriah was utterly
defiled.
David and Bathsheba. They both should
have been stoned.
But who dare challenge David while he
was still enthroned?
And so it’s very clear that David was
above the Law.
Who would dare accuse him and Uriah
was no more.
We know that he repented. He did the
best he could,
To satisfy the matter. But legally he
should,
Be stoned because of murder and for
adultery.
But kings were all untouchable; he had
to be set free.
The law was unforgiving. The penalties
were clear.
Accidental sins were all atoned for
every year.
They were “covered over” by the blood
of sacrifice.
A ram had to be slaughtered. There was
no other price.
There were different gifts that were
all offered to the Lord
But none of them were perfect. Each
one of them was flawed.
How many should be slaughtered to pay
for just one man?
Thus in the New Covenant, God had a
better plan.
The sacrificial system was still very
much in place.
But who could ever pay the price for
all the human race?”
The offering would have to be the Son
of God Divine.
His blood and His alone forgives all
sin. Both yours and mine.
So Jesus, by one offering, could pay
for every sin.
By His blood of sacrifice, we now can
enter in.
This means that the Old Covenant for
us is obsolete.
Jesus blood is final; and forgiveness
is complete.
Jim Strickland
Written
9th November 2012
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