“But if you rebel against the Lord’s commands and refuse to listen to him, then his hand will be as heavy upon you as it was upon your ancestors.” 1Samuel 12:15
“But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and laws I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you.” Deuteronomy 28:15
“But any nation who refuses obey me, will be uprooted and destroyed. I, the Lord, have spoken.” Jeremiah 12:17
The Old Testament is plentiful with such strident verses. In fact, such verses are often the basis for the rebellious questions, “How can God be a loving God if he is smiting, uprooting and destroying people and nations.” Or, “If God is the same yesterday, today and forever and this is found in his Word, why would I want anything to do with him?” Unfortunately, both are legitimate questions, but both are wrapped in a lack of understanding of the God Jehova (Yahweh), who is described in 1 John 4:8 simply as “Love.”
When God heard the cries of the Israelites in bondage to Egypt, he rescued them. (Exodus 3:7-10, an act of “Love”) He led them out of Egypt and pointed them toward the Promised Land. However, having been in bondage for 400 years made freedom a challenge. Once in the wilderness, pandemonium, confusion and uncivility resulted because the people didn’t know how to handle freedom. Therefore God gave them a guide for civil law; ten rules and regulations concerning living together in peace and harmony. We call those ten rules the Ten Commandments, or The Law.
I used to think I was unique as a rebellious kid – then as a rebellious young adult; then as a rebellious, somewhat-mature adult – because I didn’t like being told what to do. But the truth is…there is nothing really unique about me at all. Obedience has been the challenge for all mankind since creation.
But God called us to obedient, and the proclamation has been sounded by Prophets throughout the Old Testament, the New Testament, and even by today’s Evangelists: “Repent! Turn from your sin and turn to God.” (Isaiah 30:15, Matthew 3:2, Acts 3:19) It is from being obedient to God that we begin experiencing his multitude of blessings. James 4:10 makes this crystal clear: “When we bow down before the Lord (come to Him in a state of humility) and admit our dependence on him, he will lift us up and give us honor.”
God gave man from Creation to 2015 years ago to solve the disobedience issue. And what was at the center of the disobedience issue? The sin issue. And what is the sin issue? Living with the focus on ourselves rather than on God. That was the original sin, and it is still the same issue today. We want to do it our way. We want to satisfy our self; we want to go for the gusto; we want to be all we can be; after all…we deserve it. That’s what the world tells us, and if that is our truth, then we will continue to live in sin.
But God knows our weakness; “he knows we are only dust.” (Psalm 103:14). And because he is “Love”, his plan – “which was in effect even before the world was created” – (Ephesians 1:3), was to solve the sin issue for mankind. Romans 5: 6 makes this abundantly clear: “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.” I believe “utterly helpless” say it all!
Prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, man lived under the Old Covenant, or under the Law. Under the Law, should man decide to yield to the Proclamation referenced above, it became about his effort to earn God’s approval. But contained therein is the “rub”. Yielding to God has always been contrary to our default nature – our sin nature (ego, self-centeredness). That was the root of our “utterly helpless” condition referenced above. But Jesus Christ changed all of that.
Under the New Covenant, it is no longer about earning God’s approval through our own effort. God’s salvation plan for mankind came to fruition when Jesus Christ was hung on the cross to pay the ransom for our sin. “We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ, to take away our sins. And we can all be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.” (Romans 3:22) Jesus did it for us. All we have to do is accept God’s Gift of Grace.
When the magnitude of that event sinks in, it becomes obvious this was God’s ultimate show of love for his proudest creation. Did he wait for us to clean up our act? No! Did he wait for us to get it all right? No! In fact, to reference Romans 5:6 again, our state of being “utterly helpless” dictated it was “the right time.” God’s salvation plan – even before the world was created – was always for Jesus Christ to do for man what man could not do for himself.
However, God is the same yesterday, today and forever, and his standard (the 10 Commandments) is still as much in effect today as when it was given on Mt. Sinai. God still demands the same obedience. But what has changed is how we go about being obedient.
Under the Law we worked to earn God’s approval. Under the New Covenant, our motivation to please God comes from a different source. When we look at the price God was willing to pay for an eternal relationship with us, we want –choose –desire to be obedient as our way of saying, “Thank you God for what you did for me.” Jesus did the work. Now I accept your Gift of Grace. It’s all about exercising our free will and making the right choice. Again, “Thank you, God, for your unconditional love for me.”
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May God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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