#20 UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

     As we transition from the Old Testament to the New Testament, let’s take some time to consider one aspect of God’s interaction with the Israelites that is bothersome to many. If we’re honest, we have to admit that, on the surface, God seemed to border on hypocrisy at times during Israel’s history. For example, He specifically told the Hebrews that they were not to kill, yet many times, as the Israelites fought their enemies, God told them to kill everyone. Was God double-minded; was He a hypocrite? This issue is important because it has caused many people to doubt God’s veracity. So, ket’s take what we have already discussed in this blog and try to find a reasonable answer to this dilemma.

     As we have seen, quite a bit of the work God accomplished with the Old Testament believers was purposed to limit the destruction that Satan was determined to use to wipe the human race off the face of the earth. In story after story, God worked with different people to prevent their destruction, the destruction of Israel, and/or the destruction of the whole human race. When we come right down to the nitty-gritty of the whole picture, Satan used every weapon in his arsenal to kill all that he could. However, whenever God found someone who would seek Him, He made as many promises as He could to him or her. Those promises enabled God to intervene to save people’s lives. Those who did not seek God and/or rejected Him often immediately lost their lives because Satan was ready to destroy them. And, in all this–here’s the clincher–God’s wisdom sometimes resulted in the death of people because He was not able to intervene because of the choices they made.

     We need to grasp hold of two concepts at this point. First, God’s actions and His wisdom are two different things. God’s actions are consistent and flow from His character while God’s wisdom is based on the circumstances in people’s lives, and it originates in response to what Satan is trying to accomplish. In other words, God’s wisdom is what gives us victory over the kingdom of evil. Yes, in the Old Testament, when God gave wisdom to the Hebrews, other people often died, but the deaths were not the result of God’s actions but of Satan’s. Remember, Satan is the destroyer, not God. With this in mind, here is the second concept–God “knew” all those deaths were temporary. God “knew” His absolute love would prevail. Just listen to His promise in Isaiah 25:6-8:

The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine.

And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.

I don’t see how this concept could be any clearer–the death that took all those lives was going to be swallowed up. Even though the Old Testament writers didn’t understand this, God did. So, the eventual fruit of the wisdom God gave to the Israelites would be the freedom from death for all people, including those who died at the time.

     Now, let’s focus on another concept, one that will clear the way for us to understand who Jesus Christ is. II Corinthians 5:21 talks about becoming the righteousness of God in Christ. Over the years, I have heard many people equate righteousness with right living. God’s righteousness is so much more than that! A number of years ago I found these words tucked into the Webster’s definition of righteousness–”free from guilt or sin.” Free from sin, free from unbelief, free from evil. Let’s remember what James wrote in his letter: “…for God can not be tempted with evil…” (James 1:13). God is free from guilt or sin. God is righteousness and righteousness is God. Righteousness has nothing to do with “doing” and everything to do with “being.”

     In my next post, we are going to connect “the righteousness of God” with “God is spirit” (John 4:24) in order to understand who Jesus Christ really is.

     As always, please feel free to comment–just be respectful because we are all loved by God and His love is absolute: perfect, complete, and real!

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, November 27th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Jesus Christ

#15 Abraham–The Friend of God

     As God searched the earth looking for humans whose hearts were towards Him (II Chronicles 16:9), one day He found Abraham pressing the intercom button on the dividing wall. As He began talking with Abraham, God found that He had a human friend who was willing to work with Him to accomplish good in the world. In fact, God and Abraham became the first “friends forever” duo (II Chronicles 20:7) and we are still reaping the benefits of their relationship. Let’s look at some of the aspects of this friendship between God and Abraham (Genesis 11:27 through Genesis 25:10) and see what we can learn:

   • God called Abraham to activate a new life.  Once the two had established a relationship, God wanted Abraham to experience the fullness of His power and grace. For whatever reason, God knew Abraham needed to leave where his family was established in order to fully access the blessings He had for the man. Evidently, Abraham valued his friendship with God over everything else because he chose to move into the new life God offered him by physically pulling up stakes and moving to new territory. 

   • Although there were a couple of times when Abraham lied because he perceived danger, he did reflect God’s character in most of his dealings with other people.  For example, his dealings with his nephew Lot were always unselfish–Abraham never demanded his own way. Even when he rescued Lot and his family from warring kings, Abraham defeated the kings by chasing them away–there is no record of any deaths in that battle. And, Abraham’s compassion went beyond his own relatives because, when God told him of the destruction Sodom and Gomorrah faced, Abraham interceded for those cities–had there been ten righteous people, the destruction would not have happened. (Satan would have been stymied–God does not destroy, Satan does. Remember the Old Testament writers did not understand this reality.)

   • Because Abraham was faithful to seek God with everything he had, God was able to make promises to Abraham that were essential to the coming destruction of the kingdom of evil.  Abraham received God’s promises with an open heart, and the whole human race has and will benefit from those promises. Listen to the promise God gave Abraham when He asked the man to leave his father’s country: “…And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3 NASB). Do we really hear that? At that point in human history, God was able to make the promise that ensured the ability of the human race to destroy evil. Remember, we overcome evil with good–or cursings with blessings–(Romans 12:21) and the promises of God are yes and amen through Christ (II Corinthians 1:20).

Here’s a question for us to think about–Abraham’s faithfulness to Him gave God the open door to make the promises necessary for the human race to overcome and destroy the kingdom of evil. What will our faithfulness to God achieve? Could we be the ones who God uses to fulfil the promise He made to Abraham that all of the families of earth will be blessed in him? 

         As always, please feel free to comment–just be respectful.

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, August 16th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in THE OLD TESTAMENT