Jesus’ death is the propitiation (atonement – substitutionary death) for YOUR sin; Jesus is sinless, Jesus is God (John 1; Hebrews 1; Colossians 1) who took YOUR sin upon Himself at the Cross and in exchange Jesus imputes HIS righteousness into your life by faith in HIM as your Messiah IF you will believe that Jesus died for you (2 Corinthians 5:21; John 3:16-18; Romans 10:9-10); in response to your faith in Jesus as Lord the Father then declares you “not guilty” and welcomes you into the family of God and seals this Covenant relationship with the Gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) who takes-up residence within you and He teaches you and methodically guides you in God’s will as the Spirit prepares you for service in the New Jerusalem (Galatians 5:16). This is the Father’s Plan of victory over the Devil (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) ordained “before Time began” (2 Timothy 1:9-10; 1 John 3:8b).
Jesus fulfilled what the Sabbath edict foreshadowed. The Sabbath pointed the children of Israel to their Messiah who would free them from slavery to an arduous Law Covenant that only defined their sin, their culpability before God, but provided no atonement (Romans 3:20); a Law Covenant that only cursed and condemned the one seeking righteousness with God through obedience (Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26) because the Law, in order to attain righteousness through it, mandated absolute perfection (James 2:10) and all of mankind is under the condemnation of sin (Romans 3:23); therefore, the Law condemned without hope – but – God the Father did not leave mankind in a hopeless condition but sent the Son into the World to provide blood atonement for sin as per Leviticus 17:11 as the Son kept the Law in perfection (Matthew 5:17) and shed His innocent blood upon the sands of Golgotha as payment for the sins of the whole World (Matthew 28:26; 1 John 2:2) and anyone who trusts-believes that Jesus is Lord who died to pay their sin-debt is released from the curse of the Law of sin and death (Romans 7:6; 8:1-2) and the righteousness of Jesus is imputed in the life of the one who believes in exchange for their sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); therefore, Jesus provides an eternal rest that the Jewish Sabbath only foreshadowed but could never accomplish due to the sin-nature of mankind (Hebrews 4); therefore, the Sabbath Rest given Israel’s children as a sign between God and Israel (Exodus 16; Exodus 20:12; 31:13) was fulfilled by Messiah Jesus who is now our Sabbath in the New Covenant…NOT a Day but God Himself in Jesus as Lord who was resurrected on the third-day by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11-13) for our justification and our peace…a peace with God that the Sabbath edict could never provide (Romans 5:1); therefore, those who live by faith in Jesus are not obligated to a Day or a Festival or any form of ceremonial law as Jesus is our Sabbath and the fulfillment of what the ceremonial-civil law foreshadowed (Colossians 2:16).
Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. Romans 14:5-6 ESV .
Was there Law before the Commandments given at Sinai?
The Commandments, the Decalogue, were simply a reiteration, with some specificity via codification, of the moral law of conscience (Romans 2:14-15) that has been extant as an arbiter of free will since the creation of the angels; after all, it is this moral law that judged the sin of Satan and that same moral law judged the sin of the Noahic generation where all but eight were destroyed by water.
All of humanity is created with God’s basic moral law infused within them and that moral law is arbitrated by the conscience. In the New Covenant, that same moral law is arbitrated by the indwelling Holy Spirit through the conscience for those who have trusted in Jesus as Lord (Galatians 5:16). Those who die apart from the Law Covenant will be judged by the moral law of conscience; those who die under the Law Covenant, will be judged by the Law of the Covenant (Romans 2). Those who die in Jesus as their Lord will NOT be judged by law as Messiah is the end of the Law for those who believe as Messiah’s righteousness has been imputed in the life of the redeemed by grace (Romans 6:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
The Law of the Covenant concerning morality was nothing novel or new but simply codified in writing certain specific behaviors as particularly abhorrent to God as the Law Covenant, given specifically to the Hebrew Tribes, reflected God’s holiness and the holiness expected of Israel’s children as they were set-apart for God’s purposes within the Realm of Time and a people group through whom God would introduce His Messiah to the World (Leviticus 21:8); essentially, the Law Covenant was a school-master or tutor pointing Jacob’s children to their need for Messiah’s atonement by faith as the Law defined sin void atonement (Galatians 3:24; Romans 3:20).
Confusion concerning Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:32)
32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit spoken of by Messiah was ONLY relevant to those who accused Jesus of casting-out demons by the power of the Devil thus equating the work of the Holy Spirit with the work of the Devil…this was only possible while Messiah walked upon this Earth performing signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Spirit in the presence of humanity.
Some theologians rightly suggest that blasphemy against the Spirit today is “unbelief”…that is, rejecting the call of the Spirit to repent and trust in Jesus as Lord; therefore, to die in “unbelief” is the only sin that is beyond God’s grace for if one dies in unbelief they will die in their sin and therefore not enter the Kingdom of God where nothing impure is permitted to enter therein (Revelation 21:27).
What makes Christianity different – don’t Christian’s sin like everyone else?
All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and His righteous standard i.e. perfection (Romans 3:23), but as a Christian, born again by faith in Jesus as my Lord and having received the Holy Spirit as my Tutor, Teacher, Wisdom (John 3), I no longer run after or pursue sin but actively seek to eschew it, avoid it, because the Holy Spirit guides me in the ways of God’s will for my life via the daily process of sanctification (Galatians 5:16) and Jesus’ blood and His imputed righteousness covers my sin, past-present-future (Hebrews 8:12); therefore, I have peace with God because He loves me, God gave Himself for me and I love Him more than life itself and this intimate relationship is greater than anything a man or woman might desire from this World that is passing away in nihilism and futility (1 John 2:15).
Jesus was NOT “created”…Jesus is Spirit, Jesus is Elohim (John 4:24) and Jesus is God eternal, immortal, everlasting (Psalm 90:2; John 1; Hebrews 1). Elohim told you as early as Genesis 3:15 that He would enter the Realm of Time through the virgin womb in order to circumvent the curse on Adam’s seed, a genomic curse resulting in the sin-nature that condemns all of humanity (those having attained an age of reason/accountability) to death in Hell (Romans 5:12); then, Elohim provided you a word picture in Genesis 3:21 concerning His strategy to destroy the works of the Devil and defeat the power of sin, death, Hell, the grave, through the Gospel ordained “before Time began” (1 John 3:8b; 2 Timothy 1:9-10); that battle strategy comprised of the shedding of innocent blood by God Himself to cover the sin of humanity in an imputed robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) while rejecting the work of man’s self-righteousness to cover sin as pictured by the fig leaves Adam used to cover his own sin and shame.
Jesus is, was always, will always be, God (Hebrews 13:8); Jesus Christ is Elohim who entered the Realm of Time in a body like ours, void the sin-nature, to make known the true and Living God (Philippians 2:5-11; John 14:9) and ultimately give Himself as blood atonement (Matthew 26:28) as per the mandates of Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22, and subsequently provide humanity a pathway to eternal life through the forgiveness of sin (John 14:6; John 3:16-18) while simultaneously defeating His nemesis, the origin of sin and evil, Satan (1 John 3:8b).
Salvation, Eternal Life. Eternal Security. Performance-based or Faith-based?
Your salvation is a Gift (John 3:16-18) granted you by faith in the Son, Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 10:9-10); you are then sealed by Covenant (Matthew 26:28) by the Holy Spirit who is the “Guarantor” of relationship, forever (Ephesians 1:13-14). Your salvation does not depend upon your performance, if it did, you would never escape Hell (Romans 8; Romans 3:20). If you belong to the Father through Jesus as your Lord, you will endure to the end and the Spirit will ensure that by promise and walk you daily in sanctification in God’s will as He prepares you for service in the New Jerusalem (Galatians 5:15; Jude 1:24; 1 John 2:27). No one will snatch the faithful in Jesus out of God’s hand irrespective of our trials, tribulations, failures, and there is peace in this Truth. We know we belong to God and are secure in Him as the Spirit testifies with our spirit that God is our Father, forever (Romans 8:16).
Hell is the eternal destiny of those who reject Jesus as Lord for the mediation of sin (John 3:16). God desires that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth in Jesus (1 Timothy 2:4). Hell was NOT created for mankind but for Satan and his angels who allied with him in the rebellion (Matthew 25:41). Mankind enters Hell by “choice”…”free will” by rejecting the saving grace God freely offers by faith in Jesus Christ as Lord believing that Jesus died to pay your sin-debt (Romans 10:9-10). There are only two-options in this life concerning eternity,
1) Choose eternal life through the forgiveness of sin by trusting in Jesus as your Lord and receive the imputation of His righteousness into your life by faith (2 Corinthians 5:21).
2) Reject the forgiveness of sin by rejecting Jesus Christ as your Lord and die in your sin and die in Hell as your sin will NOT be permitted to enter the Kingdom subsequent to the death of your body in Time (John 8:24; Revelation 21:27).
Jesus Christ as Lord, believing that Jesus died to pay your sin-debt and that He was resurrected from the dead for your justification, is the only Way to life in the Eternal realm and in the New Jerusalem (Romans 10:9-10).
Why did a “loving” God permit the evil of the Holocaust?
God allows evil to exist because we chose it, self-righteousness and narcissism, over His paradise; also, our entire creation is the resultant of a war initiated in the Spiritual Realm and this Earth is a temporary repository for that war as God is demonstrating to the faithful angelic creation (that He adores beyond human comprehension) the ramifications, the horror, of disobedience and rejection of His law and His love. Truth be told, human beings think far too much of themselves and live and act as if God owes us something as though we’re entitled.
The thousands-of-years of Satan’s limited dominion upon the Earth will ultimately act as a bulwark against future rebellion in the Kingdom of God where free will remains extant out of necessity. Human kind has been given the opportunity by grace to ally with God in this war between good and evil by following and serving Jesus Christ as Lord; you are free to choose victory in Jesus Christ and live eternally; you are free to choose defeat in Satan and die the “second death” in Hell as God’s enemy. You are free to choose your eternal destiny; this is war, you’re a warrior regardless of your station in life; therefore, choose wisely!
A future Tribulation prefacing Messiah’s Millennial Reign. Why?
Our entire creation within the Realm of Time is the resultant of Satan’s rebellion in the Kingdom and God removing that destructive war from His Kingdom and commissioning the Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:35), to create this Earth (John 1; Hebrews 1; Colossians 1) as a repository to deal with Satan’s destructive sin partially constrained by Time and physics (Hebrews 11:3). The previous 6000+ years have been God’s display to the faithful angelic creation, those remaining loyal during the rebellion, of the horrors of sin, disobedience, the ramifications of rejecting God’s authority. The first major “tribulation” period that displayed God’s wrath concerning Satan’s deception on the Earth was the Noahic generation that God ultimately destroyed with water (Genesis 6).
Tribulation #1,
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6
Subsequently, wars and rumors of wars have come and gone and many millions if not billions of human lives have succumbed to starvation-murder-torture-hate-suffering families and men and women and children, the Holocaust, abortion…these are examples God has given to the faithful angelic creation relevant to WHY Satan was cast from Heaven (Luke 10:18; Ezekiel 28:11+) and why Satan, the fallen angels, must one-day be sequestered in Hell forever; this, while God has defeated and destroyed the works of the Devil via selfless love through the Gospel (Genesis 3:15; Genesis 3:21; 1 John 3:8b; John 3:16).
The coming Tribulation Era will be another stark display of evil and I believe the Holy Spirit’s restraining power will be at least partially lifted (2 Thessalonians 2:7) and the horror of pure, unrestrained, evil will be witnessed upon the Earth and in the Heavens; at that time, the Nation’s of Russia-China-Iran/Islamic coalition will ally against Jerusalem, Israel and an unconscionable nuclear war will ensue (Zechariah 14:12).
Tribulation #2,
12 And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem:Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. Zechariah 14:12 (NKJV)
The 2nd-Tribulation Era will culminate with Jesus Christ victorious over the armies who have fought against Israel initiating the 2nd-Advent of Messiah Jesus and the initiation of His Millennial Reign. At the initiation of the Millennial Kingdom, Satan will be bound for 1000-years and perfect peace will reign upon the Earth; this, another stark, experientially relevant, model differentiating Satan’s 6000-years of destruction v. World peace for 1000-years while the rebellious cherub angel is incarcerated.
At the end of the Millennial Reign of Christ, Satan will be loosed once again to deceive the Nations with lies and apostasy and a rebellion against God’s authority will once again manifest; this is a final demonstration to the faithful angelic creation concerning Satan’s horror through deception and the faithful angels will ultimately concur with Jesus Christ that Satan does indeed deserve punishment in Hell, forever (Revelation 20:10).
So then, the coming Tribulation dispensation will be one of the final major demonstrations by God relevant to the horrors of disobedience, the catastrophic consequences of ignoring God and His moral law; the demonstration of Satan’s horror upon the Earth will ultimately act as a bulwark against rebellion in the New Jerusalem for both the resurrected saints and the angels as free will remains extant and uninhibited but controlled via experiential relevance gained through 6000-years of observing Satan’s deception upon the previous Earth that will have been purified by fire (John 8:44; 2 Peter 3:7).
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 