under the law

The Full Gospel and God’s Character

/ Yosef (ytl) / Leave a comment

This is the first part of a series. The events from that original Passover to Pentecost at Mt. Sinai paint an amazing picture of God, who He is, what He is doing, and what man’s part is. This picture, however, doesn’t always line up with what is normally taught in our churches.

Let’s start with Exodus 6:2-3.

“God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.” (NASB 1995)

There are a couple things to note. But before we get started there is another issue. Some of this won’t make sense if we stick to the English translation.

In the verses above, it seems that He is saying that “LORD” is His name. It isn’t. It is simply a title. The word lord is used throughout the Bible, and in ancient times, as an honorific to people, or even as a title to a deity. The word ‘lord’ is used today in much the same was as it was in ancient times, except that we call it His name as well, which it isn’t.

Here is a short article on the topic of God’s name: LORD – God’s Name.

Why is it important to understand God’s name at this point? Go back to that verse above. God is saying that He hasn’t fully revealed Himself yet; but He is going to. That revelation, underpinning the meaning of His name, starts there in Exodus and continues to the giving of the 10 at Sinai, and to the promised land. (It doesn’t actually finish until Yeshua (Jesus) comes, but that comes later.) He will be revealing His full character!

His name, יהוה, means basically, ‘the one who was, who is, and is to come’. Never changing; eternal. He further comments about Himself: He keeps His covenants and promises; He is full of grace and mercy.

Then comes a couple verses that explain all of what He is doing and will do. Paul and the apostles spend much time trying to explain it. Yeshua lived it out to show us its full meaning – the spiritual meaning if you will. Israel lived it out to show us the plain, physical meaning. The gospel! The full gospel! Not a watered down partial gospel! Here it is – Exodus 6:6-7; and I’ve replaced “the LORD” with Yehovah (or Yahweh if you prefer, or a couple other possible pronunciations – we aren’t sure):

Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. (NASB 1995).

Do you hear the gospel in that?

‘Bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians’: Did not Yeshua preach, ‘repent, the kingdom of God is at hand!’ He wants to bring us out of the kingdom of this world into His kingdom. Yeshua made this possible for us.

‘deliver you from their bondage’: Paul spends much time talking about the fact that those who have accepted and follow Yeshua are no longer under the law of sin and death – no longer under the bondage of slavery (to sin)!

‘redeem you’: Passover. The lamb and it’s blood on the door frame. All penalty for our sin, wrongdoing, and uncleanness has been paid in full through Yeshua!

‘I will take you for My people, and I will be your God;’: Ah, this one is the pinnacle! We are His! He is our God. This has many implications; If He is our ruler and God, we should follow His ways! If we are His people, we should act like it, including rejoicing that we are His! (As a side note, this phrase occurs a couple times in the Tanakh (“old testament”), and even in the book of Revelation. Check it out!

So, in God’s revelation of Himself, He starts with telling us the full gospel! Good news indeed! We don’t belong to this world – we have a higher calling! We don’t live and operate under the rules and penalties of the world – the law of sin and death; rather, we’ve been purchased as we were and brought in to His family! He is our God and we are His people!

Then He starts revealing more of what this means and has Israel live it out. As we go through it, it will be fun to notice the many Christian theologies that are addressed and often shown to be missing the mark. I hope you join in the journey! Both in reading it, and even better, living it by accepting Yeshua as the promised messiah! Doing all that He just stated…

Shalom,

Yosef

What’s all this about Blood in the Bible?

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Just a cursory reading of the Bible and you’ll eventually read something about blood.

“…The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground.” Genesis 4:10 (ESV) [God talking to Cain after Cain killed his brother Abel.]

“But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, the blood.”  Genesis 9:4 (ESV) [God telling Noah how to eat meat after the great flood.]

“Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin.”  Exodus 12:22 (ESV) [God’s telling the Israelites to kill a lamb or goat and put its blood on their doorposts prior to God going through Egypt and freeing the Israelites.]

“But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.” Deuteronomy 12:16 (NIV)

“and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 (NIV)

It seems Yehovah (God / the LORD) puts importance on blood and gave people rules concerning it.

But what does this have to do with Christians, for, as I hear often, “we are no longer under the law!”?

Well, consider the following:

– Three of the above quotes are from before the “Law” was given (on mount Sinai).

– The apostles, including Paul, and the early Jerusalem church leaders, considered the issue of blood of fundamental importance to Gentile believers.

In Acts 15 we find what is called the “Jerusalem Council.”  They wrote to all Gentile churches the following, expecting all believers to obey:

“…that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.”  Acts 15:29 (ESV)

So what? you may ask.  This doesn’t affect my walk with Jesus (Yeshua).

Our walk with Yeshua (Jesus), and his knowing us, is deepened when we do as He asks.  When we do as He asks, we are humbling ourselves and saying to him, “your way is the right way; not my way.”

What better way to get to know Yeshua (Jesus) better, and be known by him, then to walk as he walked and do what pleases him!

And obeying is training in righteousness.  How can we say that we will listen to Him when the spirit speaks to us when we won’t listen when His words are in black and white before us!  As we learn to do the easy things, and listen to the easy to hear words, we will grow nearer to Him and hear Him clearer in all things!

After this you may also ask, “what does it mean to abstain from blood?”  That is an important question as the Bible does not clearly spell it out.  Looking into this opens up a huge discussion on what it means, and what it implies.  But that is for a later post….

Shalom!  -Yosef

Days, Months, Seasons and Years – Paul in the Book of Galatians

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This is the first entry in the ‘Apostle Paul’ series that deals with what Paul wrote.  The earlier entries are some background information.

The apostle Paul wrote,

“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.  But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?  You observe days and months and seasons and years!  I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.”  Galatians 4:8-11 (ESV)

The above verse is often used to support a doctrine that basically states that Paul taught against keeping any of God’s “appointed times” (Sabbath, Passover, day of Atonement, Tabernacles, and other feast days or times.)  But is that really what he is saying?

Galatians is a great book – but keep it in the context with which Paul wrote it. He wrote it ‘to the churches of Galatia.’ Galatians 1:2 (ESV). In other words, gentiles. When he speaks of ‘days and months and seasons and years,’ why assume he is talking about God’s times when he is talking to gentiles who knew nothing of any times God had given?

The world in the time of Paul was full of all sorts of gods and goddesses, and they all had their special days and months and seasons and years.  It is these things that Paul is calling the ‘worthless elemental principles of the world.’  There is even a clue in the verses above where Paul says, ‘how can you turn back again.’

The gentiles never knew God or Yeshua (Jesus) prior to hearing the gospel message. They weren’t ‘turning back’ to God’s times, but to the pagan days, months, seasons and years.  The beginning of the verses above states from what the Gentiles are coming from.

Throughout Paul’s writings he has nothing but good to say about God’s law. He does, however, try to caution all the gentile believers from thinking that following the law leads to salvation. It was never meant for that purpose and Paul is trying to make that point over and over.

So, if you think that Paul is, in Galatians, telling us that God’s days, months, seasons, and years aren’t important, please do an overview of Paul’s life, teachings, and his relationship to God’s law. You will see him over and over upholding the law in his actions and words, yet also pointing to Messiah Yeshua as the one through whom salvation is given.

If, in light of the context of all his letters, he is (here in Galatians) stating that God’s times, sabbath included, are not important, then we have a schizophrenic Paul, being one thing in one letter and another thing in another. Such a person wouldn’t be worth listening to.

But he isn’t schizophrenic. 

And he is worth ‘listening’ to. 

But keep all his sayings both in the context of all his letters, and in the context of the cultures he is writing to!

Shalom

  • Yosef

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