The Law and The Day Star from The Coming Day of Redemption
The Law and The Day Star from The Coming Day of Redemption
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8)
We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. (II Peter 1:19)</p>
By "the Law" I mean the first five books of the Bible.
By "the Day Star" I mean the Lord Jesus Christ.
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. (Revelation 22:16)
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Second Peter 1:19 (above) is saying the same thing as John 14:23.
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23)
The purpose of the exhortations of the New Testament is to bring us to close fellowship with God and the Lord Jesus.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)
The purpose of the written commands of the Bible is to guide us until we are able to hear the commands of the Spirit of Christ and obey them.
I know of no ceremonial laws in the New Testament, except water baptism. Even eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His blood is not supposed to be a ceremony but a manner in which the victorious saint lives.
We are given, in the spirit world, to eat of the flesh of Christ and to drink of His blood every time we choose to do God's will rather than our own. It is the Tree of Life; the hidden manna, to which the true saints have access.
The Communion service is a dramatic portrayal of how we are to live in Christ.
Although there is only the ceremony of water baptism, there are numerous exhortations to godly living in the New Testament.
We are to be governed by the Spirit of Christ, to whom we are to look at all times.
Please keep in mind that the Divine redemption is not primarily for our benefit but for God's. Its purpose is to reconcile God's children to Himself.
The Law of Moses governs those who are alive in their natural man. The Spirit of Christ governs those who have died with Christ and have risen with Him.
I have written many essays, some booklets, and a couple of books. Sometimes people ask me what text should they begin with in order to comprehend what I am declaring.
In this present essay I will make as clear as I can what I am teaching.
The goal of our redemption is conformation to the inner and outer image of Jesus Christ, and untroubled rest in the center of God's Person and will.
From God's point of view, the goal of our redemption is to create us in God's image so God may settle down to rest in us.
In order to attain to this goal we have to observe the rules and regulations of the Christian life until we successfully have learned to hear and obey the Spirit of Christ.
The Old Testament contains numerous rules and regulations. Peter (above) refers to these as "a more sure word of prophecy." He is not including the animal sacrifices, because they cannot be performed when there is no Temple; nor to the non-moral ordinances, such as the kosher laws, because the ordinances concerning eating, clothes, leprosy, and so forth do not lead to the forming of Christ in us.
All such rules and regulations belong to the first covenant and cannot apply to the new covenant. But the moral injunctions, such as honoring our father and mother, are true to both covenants.
The New Testament also contains numerous rules and regulations. These differ from the Old Testament in that they are not ceremonial rules and regulations, of which there are a multitude in the Old Testament. The rules and regulations of the New Testament are exhortations to godly living.
If we do not obey the New-Testament exhortations to godly living we never shall arrive at the place where we can hear the directions of the Spirit of Christ, the Day or Morning Star, and obey them.
Although it is not widely understood, no ceremonial rule and regulation of the Old Testament, including the Sabbath Day and circumcision, is included in the new covenant. The ceremony of circumcision is fulfilled in the cutting away of our sinful nature.
No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God. (Romans 2:29)
The Sabbath Day is fulfilled in the rest of God. God finished all His work through to the new heaven and earth reign of Christ. Then He rested. We are to cease from our own works and enter God's rest, so that what He envisioned for us in the beginning will be fulfilled in our life.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. (Ephesians 1:3,4)
At the onset of the physical creation, God had a vision of each human being and his or her destiny. Then God rested, knowing His Word would bring to pass the vision.
If we are willing to cease from our own thinking and planning, and look to the Spirit of Christ at every moment, the image of us God had in the beginning, along with our destiny in the Kingdom of God, shall be fulfilled perfectly.
Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, "So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. (Hebrews 4:3—NIV)
For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10—Holman)
Such is the new-covenant fulfillment of the Sabbath Day.
Instead of ceasing from our own work and looking to God especially on Saturday, as in the Jewish Sabbath, we cease from our own plans and ambitions and look to God every moment of every day and night, seven days a week so that what He has ordained for us may be fulfilled perfectly and completely.
Since we are ignorant of God's plan for us in image and destiny, when we attempt to conduct our own life we frustrate what the Spirit is seeking to accomplish in us. Our life should be a dance with Jesus, and we need to be careful not to step on His toes!
I understand that numerous believers, particularly of the Jewish race, seek to mix some parts of the ceremonial ordinances of the Old Testament with their Christian faith. I do not condemn such. But they needlessly are complicating their fellowship with Christ. One moment they look to Christ. The next moment they look to Moses. Needless confusion!
They do not understand that we cannot keep just a part of the Law of Moses. If we choose one part of the Law, such as circumcision, not eating pork, or observing the Sabbath, and consider our practice as obedience to the Law, and then do not keep the rest of the Law, we are guilty of breaking the entire Law.
To put it succinctly, we either are under the Law of Moses or under the Law of the Spirit of Christ.
Let me add that obeying the ordinances of Moses may result in self-righteousness. Obeying the Spirit of Christ results in fellowship with the Father and the Son.
At one point, Peter, and some others who came from James, were wavering between the Kingdom of God and Jewish traditions.
But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? (Galatians 2:14)
The passage leaves the impression that the Jews were regarding Paul as a sinner, and Paul was defending himself by rebuking Peter.
Paul's response is very revealing:
For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Galatians 2:19,20—Holman)
We might wonder, "How does this statement explain how Paul could ignore the Jewish traditions and still remain righteous?"
It is because the Law of Moses has jurisdiction over a human being only as long as he or she is alive. But when the individual dies, the Law of Moses no longer has jurisdiction over him.
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:1-4)
Paul is declaring that since he is crucified with Christ he is dead, in that sense. Therefore he no longer is bound by the Law of Moses, nor by the traditions of the elders.
For through the law I have died to the law. I think Paul was referring to the fact that when the Law came to him, sin revived and Paul died.
For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. (Romans 7:11)
The Law of Moses put Paul to death. Sin revived and Paul died. Since the Law has no jurisdiction over dead people, Paul now was free to look to the Lord Jesus Christ for righteousness.
So that I might live for God. This is the important aspect. Being completely free from the Law of Moses, Paul could turn his attention to God and Christ and live for Them.
When we believe we still are under part of the Law, even though we have died with Christ in water baptism and have risen with Him in His resurrection, we are going to look to Moses part of the time and to Christ part of the time.
Let us say we believe we are not to eat pork. We are to obey the kosher laws. We are invited to a friend's house for dinner. Porkchops are served. What do we do?
If we are mixing Moses with Christ, we may say, "I am sorry but I cannot eat pork. It is against my religion."
But if we are living by the Spirit of Christ, either Christ would have warned us in advance because He did not want us to eat pork; or He would have told us that He had no problem with our eating pork. In other words, we are to look to the living Jesus to guide us in all we do.
Can you see the difference between mixing Moses with Christ? If we are following Moses we would consider eating a porkchop to be sin, and we would not ask the Lord Jesus what we should do.
But under the Law of the Spirit of Christ, we do not regard eating a porkchop or anything else, as sin, unless Christ forbids our eating the food—which he sometimes has done with me for health reasons.
Thus there is an uncrossable gap between the Law of Moses and the Law of the Spirit of Christ. Either we are looking to the letter of the Law of Moses to guide our decisions, or we are looking up to Christ to guide our decisions. There absolutely is no way of mixing the two.
As Paul wrote in the seventh chapter of the Book of Romans, to mix Moses and Christ is adultery. Either we are married to Moses, or we are married to Christ and are bringing forth fruit to Christ. We cannot be married to both!
Being a pastor, and attempting to follow Christ, it sometimes is Tuesday before I feel I should rest. But not always. It just depends on how the Lord leads. Saturday always is preparation for the sermon on Sunday and not a day of rest for me.
And I think circumcision of a baby may be a good practice in terms of health, but not in terms of the Gospel of the Kingdom!
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. (Galatians 6:15)
When we keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus, and obey what He says to us, the result is a new creation of righteous behavior.
I have been crucified with Christ. Paul took his place on the cross with Christ. For this reason he is dead to the Law of Moses. Now Christ is living in the fullness of eternal resurrection life and Paul is living with Him. The only law is the will of Christ, which actually comes from the Father.
And I no longer live. It is the present writer's prayer each day that I will not be living, but Christ will be living in my flesh. I have no use for my old personality. It has been nothing but trouble and foolishness. How about you?
When I am not needed here any longer, I want to go home to be with the Lord. But as long as I am needed here, I desire that Christ be thinking, speaking, and acting in me.
But Christ lives in me. The Apostle Peter tells us that we are to take heed to what is written until the Day Star arises in our heart. Guess who the Day Star is? You are correct. The Day Star is the Lord Jesus Christ. As I stated previously, unless we first take heed to what is written in the New Testament, it will not be true that the Day Star will arise in our heart such that we can be guided by Him.
The life I now live in the body. In the transition from Moses to Christ, we never lose our unique identity as a person. It is that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit now are sitting on the throne of our personality. Once we have been proven faithful and true, we will be permitted to sit there alongside of Them.
I live by faith in the Son of God. The righteous live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself is our righteousness. He is God's Grace given to us. We have no need of a partial observance of the Law of Moses in order to be righteous in the sight of God.
By stating we are to live by faith, I am not speaking of belief about the theological facts concerning Christ and His work of redemption. Rather, I am referring to having a grasp on the Character of God so that we go through every situation of life in His will.
The individual who is obeying only part of the Law of Moses is guilty of not keeping the entire Law, as James stated.
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10)
Who loved me and gave Himself for me. It is one matter to love the Law of Moses, or any other religion. It is another matter to return to Christ the love He has for us. As I said, the person who keeps the Law of Moses may become self-righteous. But the believer who is obeying the Law of the Spirit of Christ gains loving fellowship with the Father and the Son.
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)
The Law of Moses divides the one Body of Christ into a Jewish Church and a Gentile Church. This ought not to be!
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby. (Ephesians 2:14-16)
I suppose there may be some who will insist that "the law of commandments contained in ordinances" does not include the Sabbath Day, but it does.
I am not certain why, but people love religious symbols and practices. Christian girls wear crosses around their neck who never would accept the denying of their intense desires, included in the personal cross of the believer.
We have special buildings, special vestments, the ringing of bells, the burning of incense, ceremonies, none of which are included in the new covenant. The new covenant emphasizes only one thing—the coming to maturity of Christ in us.
We read of distinguished prelates in the Middle East, those of differing orthodoxies, who quarrel over their rights to "sacred" buildings. It is their sinful nature that is quarreling, not the Spirit of Christ.
All religious ordinances and statements of faith divide not only Jews and Gentiles, but Christian denominations. None of this is of Christ.
The truth is so much simpler. It is "Christ in us, the hope of glory." Nothing else matters, as far as our faith is concerned.
It is not that difficult to walk in fellowship with Christ. Such closeness to Christ is readily available to anyone who is willing to abandon his or her own thoughts, plans, words, and actions, and give them all to Jesus. This is what it means to live by faith in Christ. He will live in every aspect of our life if we will permit Him to do so.
Christ, the Day Star, is more willing to be our Life than many of us are willing that this should be so.
Notice that if we are to govern the nations with Christ we must have the Day Star created in our personality. God will permit only Christ to govern people; so if we are to rule with Christ, it must be Christ, the Day Star, acting in us who is doing the governing.
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:26-28)
One of the problems in teaching that we are not under the Law of Moses is that people believe that since this is true, there is no law they are required to obey. They then will suppose that "grace" is the removing of all law so they can live as they please and still, if they "accept Christ," be ushered into a mansion in Heaven as soon as they die.
They will croon "there is no law except love"; "God sees me through Christ"; "God's love is unconditional"; and other such unscriptural excuses for not taking up their cross and following the Lord.
They have been told that Christ shares His righteousness with us. But they do not read or do they understand what the Bible says about Christ sharing His righteousness with us.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:3,4)
In many instances, the believers are taught that the righteousness of Him who kept the Law of Moses is fulfilled in us if we just "accept Christ."
There could be no deadlier doctrine!
We are given the righteousness of the Law provided WE WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE SPIRIT!
When this clause is not included, the result is moral catastrophe. It is the reason for the spiritual infancy of so many Christian people.
Well then, what does it mean to "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit of God"?
It means that we are to pray without ceasing that we may overcome the lusts of our flesh and remain obedient to the Spirit of Christ at all times.
There is an awesome difference between telling people that by accepting Christ they will be as righteous as if they had obeyed the Law of Moses perfectly; and announcing to people that they will be as righteous as if they had obeyed the Law of Moses perfectly, provided they walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.
I am of the opinion that if this provision were announced and explained to the church attenders in America, half or more of the "Christians" in America would leave their churches.
What could one deduce from what I have written thus far?
First, we are to obey the admonitions to righteous living of both the Old and New Testaments until Christ, the Day Star, arises in our heart and we can be directed by Him in all we do. This is the "rest of God."
Second, we are not to attempt to mix any part of the ceremonial aspects of the Law of Moses with our faith in Christ, including the circumcising of the flesh and not working on the Sabbath Day.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. (Galatians 3:10)
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. (Romans 7:4)
So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. (Galatians 3:24,25—NIV)
Let me add that in the Jewish calendar, the seven feasts of the Lord attain to their climax in the celebration of Tabernacles. The convocation of Tabernacles reminds us that God is seeking a dwelling place, a house, a habitation in which He can find rest from His enemies. Thus we understand that our religious symbolism and practices, liturgies and devices, are nothing more than a human response to that which is supernatural and invisible.
In actuality, nothing is of eternal significance except the Day Star. When we die and find ourselves in Heaven, we will notice that there are no churches, no sacraments, no liturgies, no burning of candles or incense, no pilgrimages or statuary, no special vestments of priests, or ministers, or rabbis.
Will there be Bibles? Certainly. The written Word of God is eternal.
Will there be Bible teachers? Of course. The majority of people who pass into the spirit world will have had no instruction in the Bible; and those who have been taught error will have to be corrected. None of this teaching will include the ceremonial aspects of the Law of Moses, such as the kosher ordinances or animal sacrifices.
However, it is important for us to understand that God is not interested in church buildings, liturgies, or doctrine. God is concerned about people---that they have honest and good hearts; that Christ is being formed in them.
God is constructing a great Tabernacle, an eternal temple in which He will dwell among His creatures. Christ is God's eternal House, and in Christ there are very many rooms that the saints occupy. The whole Christ, Head and Body, is the revelation of God to the creation.
We understand, therefore, that the important issue is the coming to maturity of the Day Star in us; and we must not hinder His development and fellowship with us by introducing the ordinances of the Old Testament, except as they bring us to godly behavior and a personal relationship with the living Christ.
Close fellowship with God may not come through religious practices but by looking constantly to the Lord in every aspect of our day to day life.
My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? (John 14:2—NIV)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." (Revelation 21:3—NIV)