Love, Grace & Mercy -- Components of New Covenant - PART 52

My fellow believers, let me use an every day illustration to make a point.

We all know that a valid legal disposition -- a person's will -- cannot after his or her passing be set aside. At the same time, no one can legally make fresh provisions into it. So when we read that the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring, this is exactly what the scriptures meant. The word offspring was not intended to be plural, as if many persons were meant. Instead, the reference to “thy offspring” indicated that only one person was meant. That one person was, and still is Christ.

Listen carefully to the message that is being delivered. The testament or covenant had already been validated by God. As such, it cannot now be invalidated. The promises contained therein were rendered ineffective by a law made four hundred and thirty years after the promises were given by God.

In this context, if our heritage is the result of the law, then it would have to have ceased being the result of God’s promise. Yet we read that God conferred it on Abraham by promise, for if the receiving of the promised blessing were to now be dependant on the law, that would amount to a cancellation of the original contract -- the same contract which God made with Abraham as a promise.

Now you might ask, "What was the use of the law?" As the scriptures point out, the law was a later addition to humankind but never was the law an addition or replacement to the promise. The express purpose of the law was to make men conscious of their wrong doing. It was intended only to be observed until the coming of that promised offspring, spoken to Abraham as his offspring.

Let me repeat this point again. The law was an addition made to underscore the existence and the extent of sin until the arrival of “the seed or issue” to whom the promises were made. The law was enacted by the ministration of angels through the hands of [Moses who was] a mediator between God and the people. The intermediary was Moses. We also recognize that where there is a mediator, there must be two parties. But there is only one God.

There is no second party involved in the promises. God promised to deliver us from sin by Himself alone. He did so without angels or Moses in the middle. Now you might ask, "Is the law opposed to the promises of God?" Most certainly not. In fact, such a thought ought not to be entertained in your mind. The truth is this. If it had been at all possible for spiritual life to have been attained by law, then justification would have been assured by the same law. Unfortunately, that was an impossibility because there is none that are righteous. We all have sinned.

In this context, the whole world is contaminated. We are all in the bondage of sin, or as some might say, we are all in the custody of sin. This is why we needed a law to expose our sin. We needed to learn the lesson of hard knocks. Do you remember the analogy? After we leave school, we enter the school of life. Herein, we attend two schools -- one of these schools being the school of hard knocks and the second school the school of knee-ology. I hear you already saying, "What on earth is that school?" Well, the latter school becomes important when your back is against the wall, your friends have all jumped ship, you're broke, in tears, and possibly looking for an escape.

But now, by the Grace of God, you can drop on your knees and call upon your faithful creator Jesus. This is the same Jesus who loves you with an everlasting love. He is the one who does not want you or anyone should perish. You don’t need a law now.  You need His mercy.

This is why the gospel message is so powerful. At one time, we were all clothed in a fallen natural body. But through the shedding of blood (the Lamb of God), there is now remission of sin. We can be saved. Like the prodigal son who thought he had everything in his life under control, we also can hear our heavenly Father's whisper, “Welcome home! This is my son who was once dead but now alive again."

At the end of the day, it is HIS GRACE AND MERCY that will take care of you. Or like the psalms state, "When tears fall down like falling rain, then I turn around and call upon His name." Jesus the seed of the holy Spirit wants to meet you. Indeed, let Him whisper sweet "peace to you" too. Stand in the offering plate.