That All the People of the Earth May Know That The Lord Is God, and That There Is None Else! - Part 1732

"Moreover, concerning a stranger, that is not of Thy people Israel, but comes out of a far country for Thy Name' sake. (For they shall hear of Thy Great Name, and of Thy strong hand, and of Thy stretched out arm;) when He shall come and pray toward this house ... that all the people of the earth may know Thy Name!" (I Kings 8:41-43; Psalm 130:4; Deuteronomy 3:24; Psalm 102:15)

Then said He, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God, He takes away the first, that He may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." (Hebrews 10:9-10)

As the scripture reveals, the law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17) In other words, and as stated often in earlier posts, there is much more than a blank page between the old covenant and the new testament. We see this message explained specifically in Hebrews.

"And for this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament [is], there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament [is] of force after men are dead: otherwise, it is of no strength at all while the testator lives. Whereupon neither the first [testament] was dedicated without blood ..." (Hebrews 9:15-18)

There had to be a purchase made with blood -- the new patterned after the old but not on an earthly level, but a new work -- in the spiritual/ heavenly. Therefore, some time between John the baptizer proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is come nigh to the people, and baptizing those who listened in the Jordan river, and the subsequent pouring out of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, the dispensation of Law (the ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary, the golden censer and the ark of the covenant, the rituals & animal sacrifice as outlined in Hebrews 9-10) was replaced by the dispensation of grace.

"For the Law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can NEVER with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect ... for then would they have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

But in those [sacrifices there is] a remembrance again [made] of sins every year. For [it is ] not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when He come into the world, He saith, "Sacrifice and offering Thou would not but a body hast Thou prepared Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, "Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of Me) to do Thy will, O God!" 

Above when He said, "Sacrifice and offering for sin Thou would not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law; then said He, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He takes away the first that He may establish the second -- BY THE WHICH WILL WE ARE SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL." (Hebrews 10:1-10)

Indeed, "by ONE offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified ..... whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days," saith the Lord," I will put My laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 10:15-17; Jeremiah 31:33-34)

"Behold, the days come," saith the Lord, "that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them out of the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them," saith the Lord: "But this shall be the covenant I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, "saith the Lord: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God and they shall be My people." (Jeremiah 31:31-33; Luke 22:20; Hebrews 8:8-12; Hebrews 10:16-17; Jeremiah 32:40; Hebrews 10:16; Psalm 40:8; II Corinthians 3:3; Jeremiah 24:7; Jeremiah 30:22; Jeremiah 32:38) 

Jesus said, "This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you." (Luke 22:20) "For this is My blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until the day when I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom." (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Matthew 20:28; Jeremiah 31:33)

His Father's Kingdom -- the Holy Ghost! This explains why -- "if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not [no longer] under the Law." (Galatians 5:18)

For clarity -- "But the scripture hath concluded ALL under sin, that the PROMISE by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed, wherefore, the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith ... but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ ... and if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:22-29) 

Why is this important to understand? Because as apostle Paul asks: "Is the Law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a Law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law." (Galatians 3:21)

But as we now know, God is righteous in His abundant love for His people, and He Himself provided the Lamb for sacrifice. And even though the Law was added because of transgressions in the old, "it was added till [until] the seed should come to whom the promise was made ... and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is One!" (Galatians 3:17-20; Romans 3:29; John 15:22; Galatians 4:4; Acts 7:53)

"For the promise, that He should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the Law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise of none effect: because the Law works wrath; for where no Law is there is no transgression. Therefore, it is of faith, that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the Law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all ... who against hope, believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken -- So shall thy seed be." (Romans 4:13-18; Galatians 3:18,22; Romans 3:20-24; Romans 8:17; Romans 9:26; Genesis 15:15)

In fact, God spake on this wise -- "That His seed should sojourn in a strange land ..." (Acts 7:6) And unto Abram, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years ..."  (Genesis 15:13-16)

Just as God said unto Moses, "I AM THAT I AM," Jesus identified Himself in the same way to the Jews, saying,  "Verily, verily, I say unto you -- before Abraham was, I AM!" (Exodus 3:14; John 8:58)

This is why in this current dispensation of grace, we as believers in Jesus by faith are so very privileged, because through faith in Him we can receive His promise -- "God having provided some better thing for us." (Hebrews 11:40) What is this promise -- the mystery that was hid from the beginning of the world?

That this same JESUS whom ye have crucified is both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36-38) This same JESUS -- He is the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God ... for consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."

The apostles address the Jews who (in spite of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for us) still commanded that believers must be circumcised specifically -- in Acts 15. In fact, there is good instruction therein and in Galatians chapters 3 through 5 too -- "for if the inheritance be of the Law, it is no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise!" (Galatians 3:18)

However, for this day, let me conclude with Stephen's testimony to his accusers in Acts 7, because herein too, Stephen elaborates on Moses who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. The same Moses who was given the commandments -- all 613 of them. Stephen relates how, on one particular day, Moses saw one of the children of Israel suffered wrongly, and smote the Egyptian responsible -- supposing that his brethren would have understood. Sadly, they did not. Stephen continues:

"... this is that Moses which said unto the children of Israel -- A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; HIM SHALL YE HEAR." This is He that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to Him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us ..." (Acts 7:37-38) "Hear ye Him!" (Matthew 17:5; Galatians 3:19) The High priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. (Hebrews 6:20; Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 3:1; Hebrews 5:10-11) But I digress. Stephen states:

"Our fathers HAD the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen. Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob ..." (Acts 7:44-50; Isaiah 66:1-2; Psalm 102:25)

These had the tabernacle of witness but refused the instruction of the Lord, preferring other gods among them, and as Stephen is alluding, now these had Jesus and yet these killed Him -- the Lord of glory! It is no wonder Stephen said -- "Ye stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers [did], so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the Law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept [it]." (Acts 7:51-53; Acts 3:14; Acts 22:14) 

Yes, they stoned Stephen to death. But the point is this. There were 613 commandments given to Moses -- none of which, as the scriptures state, can bring us life. It is for this reason that in these last days Jesus spoke unto us by [His] Son, "whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being in the brightness of glory, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins ...." (Hebrews 1:1-3)

Yes, Jesus fulfilled the Law on the cross, when He shed His holy precious blood for you and I. (Matthew 5:17) And while the Law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, when we reject Christ, we return back under the Law once again. But for those who repent, and are water baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we receive the Holy Ghost -- His Spirit dwelling within us and our sins blotted out forever. (Acts 2:36-38; Acts 8:14-17; Acts 10:44-48) 

And in so doing, we become His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them ... that at the time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world -- but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ ... according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:22) 

He paid the price for our sins once and for all so that He could fulfill the purpose that He placed in our hearts whilst we were still in our mother's womb. "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law: for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified .... if righteousness come by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:16-21; Acts 13:38-39; Romans 1:17; Psalm 143:2; Hebrews 7:11) 

Stand in the offering plate.