How important is circumcision for modern christians? Can we drop it, and will it be according to the Gospel? Should we pluck out an eye for an eye, and should we also knock out somebody’s tooth, if our tooth was knocked out? (The Book of Deuteronomy) And how can we understand what we have to do out of what we are reading in the Bible, and what we have to ignore? Where is the list of verses we can just drop? For whom did God confirm this list? Try to give the answer to this question just for yourself! To a young man Jesus told he must keep the commandments (Matthew 19:16-19), in order to have eternal life. Jesus already told about it, didn’t He? But why today we are not saved by the 10 commandments, given by God to Israelites? And do we have to bring the offerings, required by the Law, for example, to sacrifice doves, in order to be healed? It was what Jesus himself told (Matthew 8:4). Today you’ll get the answer to many suchlike questions. The Bible describes to us different times and periods.
There is no doubt that when we take the Bible into our hands, we should have a revelation about different times and periods, which are described in the Scriptures, when these events were happening. In my opinion, we should separate three main periods (not touching Genesis and the Fall of man). To the first period we shall refer the times of the Old Testament (when people were waiting for Messiah to come); the second period is the birth, life and death of Jesus Christ; the third period is resurrection of Jesus Christ (when the New Testament came into action). And now we shall discuss it in more detail.
When we take the Word of God in our hands and think over what we have just read, we should have in mind the period, when these events were taking place, and take it into consideration. There was a time in the Old Covenant, when everything described in it, pointed to the future coming of the Messiah. The Law was given to the Jews so that they could wait for Messiah’s coming and not indulge in sins completely. The sin was reigning in peoples’ lives, and it could not disappears, for Jesus didn’t yet sacrifice Himself for sins. That’s why the methods of fighting sin were as described in the Old Covenant. We can speak much about works and life of Moses, Aaron, prophets etc., but we should have it in mind, that it was all under the Old Covenant. In that period the methods of the Old Covenant were in action, also the goals, tasks, instruments of the Old Covenant were actual for that time period. For sure, if we start investigating all this in detail, we can get lost in the lifestyle of the Old Covenant believers. For example, we can get into such a situation: the Holy Spirit rebukes a christian whose name is Vasya (for example) that he doesn’t move in the direction of God’s will for his life (the salvation of Prostokvashino village), and Vasya loves the Old Covenant prophets (he spends much time in reading about them) — Isaiah 6:5 «I am a man of unclean lips..». He attends a church, prays, reads the Bible and thinks that God rebukes him for his «unclean lips» and because he cast a lustful glance to Masha (it’s a fake name) and thus made a sin. It doesn’t even come to his mind, that the village of Prostokvashino is in a great need for salvation, for he is preoccupied by his sin (which was long ago crucified by Christ on the Cross); he is preoccupied by the faith of David and Moses, by an exciting story with Samson, etc. The teaching of the church he attends is also mixed with the Old Covenant and offers to him a solution — you need to repent for a sin (which is on the Cross for 2000 years already). What is Vasya doing? He opens «a spiritual window» (what can be easier?) and outcalls: «I repent! I repent! I repent!». He thinks he satisfied God by doing so. God knocks at his heart once again, calling to him about salvation of Prostokvashino’s village. In Luke it says: «So why do you call me Lord, when you won’t obey me?», and Vasya, having analyzed everything according to the Old Covenant (the Law), makes the conclusion — «yesterday I judged my brother». And he runs to the window «again». And at this time Prostokvashino is going to hell, not even knowing about it.
There is no need to use the methods of the Old Covenant and the Law (repenting each day, just to be «on the safe side» — the Book of Job), if you believe in Christ. You receive forgiveness exclusively by your faith in the Cross of Golgotha — once and forever.
When you spend too much time examining the Old Covenant, it returns you to the thought — «I am an eternal sinner», as it was before the New, better Covenant.
The second period it’s better to analyze on the example of the prayer «Our Heavenly Father», which Jesus opened to His disciples. The things Jesus did (His words, actions, His life) are the things which are actual for us today, and the things we should follow. But the time when parables were told, when the leprotic people were healed, the deaf and the blind were healed, the prayer «Our Heavenly Father» was pronounced, — were the times of the Old Covenant. The New Covenant didn’t yet come into action. And that’s why, when disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He told them what was actual in His time (still before Resurrection). Although He told that people will speak the new tongues, but nobody spoke them until the Holy Spirit came after Jesus resurrection. It’s evident that we don’t have the right to pronounce every day: «..and forgive us our sins» — this is a mockery at the Cross of Christ. Or should we ask Jesus many times each day «save us from the evil one»? It has already been done by Him! (Luke 10:19). Show me the verse in the epistles of Paul, Peter, John where they pray «Our Heavenly Father» or ask to save them from the evil one? We shall not find it! Have you decided to stand higher than apostles? That is, if you don’t understand the time period or the circumstances, about which the Word of God tells us, then you’ll get into a mess. A christian psalm, or a verse called «Our Heavenly Father», taken from the Bible, doesn’t reflect the will of God for today (after Jesus’ resurrection). For example, Mark 10:17, Luke 10:25 — Jesus was asked what should be done in order to inherit the eternal life? He answered by the words which worked for that period of time: Luke 10:26 and Mark 10:19, and then — Luke 10:28, you have salvation. Though these are the words of Jesus, but for today it’s the way to hell — Romans 3:20, because today we get salvation by faith in Christ (Romans 3:22, Romans 24-26). For today, Psalm 90 is not the psalm that keeps us under protection — there is something, which is more important — our faith in blood of Jesus Christ. And today we mustn’t bring offerings according to the Law of Moses, for example for healing (the example of Jesus healing of a leprotic man). That is, if we don’t have a revelation about different periods described in the Bible, we can go far away from the will of God on our life. Constant investigation of the Old Covenant soaks you with the idea just to wait for the second coming of Jesus, while doing nothing at this time, but the New Covenant requires works of faith from you, and always motivates you to go to battle. The New Covenant will not come true without you! Amen!
The third period is resurrection of Christ with all its consequences. I didn’t visit big churches for a long time already, but 17 years ago the line of confidence (one of the church ministries) — was a very popular ministry. And I witnessed such a picture. A newly born woman (who already repented, was born again, her sins were forgiven, never to be reminded to her again, (Hebrews 10:17 and Hebrews 8:12) called, because she had a problem (a spiritual pressure), with a request to pray for her healing. Her diagnosis was concerning gynecology (a satanic diagnosis). They prayed for her. The newly-born was asked: «What is the root of this problem?» The correct answer had to be: «this is satanic lies» (spiritual pressure). A minister on the other side of the phone asked her: «Did you make abortions? Did you repent for them?» She answered: «Yes, I had abortions». She was offered to repent deeper. And the «newly born» repents again in things, that were forgiven to her by God (it’s a devilish scheme in case of a problem) — an experienced person takes the newly-born person by hand and puts him (her) before the Cross of Christ (eternal spiritual childhood), showing the false way of settling any spiritual problem. It happens because we don’t distinguish events and periods, described in the Word of God.
So, each of us has to make a decision in what to believe after salvation, and what tasks to set for our life. AMEN!!!
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