Kinsella ~ Everything in Context
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Kinsella ~ Everything in Context
The Omega Letter Intelligence Digest Vol: 144 Issue: 28 - Saturday, September 28, 2013 | |
Everything in Context I believe it to be a self-evident truth that the key to having a basic working knowledge of the Bible is the understanding of Scripture as a series of progressive revelations from God about the things of the Spirit. This understanding of progressive revelation is confirmed by the Scriptures. The various dispensations are not difficult to identify. Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening, Genesis tells us. He spoke to Noah with an audible voice and prepared Noah and his family to be saved from the Flood. God appeared to Abraham in the form of a man when warning Abraham of the coming judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. God dealt with Abraham as an individual, whereas He chose Moses to reveal God's Law to the children of Israel. For a time after that, God communicated with the children of Israel through a series of judges, until Israel demanded a king. After that, He communicated through the Hebrew prophets. At different times, in different ways, God progressively revealed more of His plan for the Ages, including the promise of a Messiah-Redeemer. There is a difference between Israel and the Church, which is why the Scriptures are divided between the Old Testament (the Covenant between God and the descendants of Abraham through Isaac) and the New Testament (the Covenant between Jesus Christ and the Church). There is also a distinct difference between Jewish legalism and salvation by grace through faith. Understanding WHY the Bible is divided according to Covenant Promise helps us to rightly divide the word, reconciling apparent contradictions like, 'an eye for an eye' (Exodus 21:24) vs. 'turn the other cheek' (Matthew 5:38-39). The first three chapters of Genesis reveal that God's intention in the creation of man was to live in fellowship with Him in the Garden of Eden. Eve was deceived by Satan into sampling the fruit of the forbidden tree. Adam was not deceived, but willfully disobeyed God and followed Eve. This sin represented the fall of mankind from grace. They were removed from Paradise and through their fall, death entered the world. God shed the blood of animals to cover their nakedness (physical and spiritual) but not until they tried unsuccessfully to cover themselves on their own with fig leaves. This was the first example of God's principle of 'blood atonement'. After being expelled, Adam's descendents continued to rebel against God, bringing about the Flood and later, the confusion of speech at the Tower of Babel. As human history progressed, so did God's revelation to man. Genesis 12 established the Abrahamic Covenant, in which God revealed His intention to set aside a peculiar people unto Himself, through the seed of Isaac. Paul summarized the history of the Old Covenant in Acts 13:16-22 before giving the details of the New Covenant between Christ and the Church. Paul stressed that the New Covenant grew out of the Old, that Jesus was of the seed of David, and that, rather than replacing Israel in God's plan, he likened the Church to Israel as a graft on the original tree. The Bible reveals that Jesus came first to the children of Israel, but they rejected Him, after which He offered salvation to the Gentiles -- not instead of Israel, but in addition TO Israel. In this present age, salvation is open to all men, Jew and Gentile, through faith in the completed work of Jesus Christ at the Cross. God has NOT abandoned His promises to Abraham's descendants. Neither have the promises to Israel been transferred to the Church. "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." (Romans 11:29) Instead, God reveals that "by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." (Galatians 2:16) The Gospel of John details the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through John, God reveals the Mystery of the Church, that Jesus was both fully God and fully man, tempted in all manner as we are, as a fulfillment of God's promise of a Savior. His earthly ministry was "only to the lost sheep of Israel." However, about the non-Jewish Gentiles, Jesus said "I have other sheep, not of this pen. I must bring them also." BEFORE His blood was shed for forgiveness of our sins, Jesus commanded His disciples to "not go among the Gentiles." However, Jesus then explained "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." AFTER He completed His work on the cross, in His resurrected body, the Lord Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples and told them to "go and make disciples of all nations." He fulfilled Jewish prophecy and was crucified by both the Jews and Gentiles. Remember, God said it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. He was buried and was resurrected on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures. The Book of Romans summarizes the revelation of salvation by grace for all men, based on the equation of faith plus nothing equals salvation. Paul explains the sin nature, our inability to overcome it by our own works, the principle that if a person lives by the law, he will be judged according to the law. And that such a person is automatically condemned, since no man has ever kept the whole law as required by the Old Covenant. Indeed, Paul reveals the purpose of the law was to establish our need for a Savior in the first place. The equation of faith plus nothing equals salvation is an expression of the terms of the New Covenant, which, recognizing man's inability to keep the law, releases him from its harsh terms.
Understanding that the Old Covenant demanded complete obedience to the Law and demanded blood atonement for its violation reveals how completely hopeless our condition really is. No man can keep all its terms, and breaking the law on even one point calls for the spiritual death penalty. Having established, through a series of progressive revelations, God's purpose for man, the consequences of his fall, the futility of the law and the penalty for sin, the Gospel reveals that penalty of blood atonement was satisfied by Jesus Christ. The final revelation of the New Covenant concerning the Church is the 'mystery' of our own resurrection at the Rapture of the Church. When the Bible speaks of something as a 'mystery' it refers to something not previously revealed by God. Paul likens physical death to the planting of a seed. "Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die." (1st Corinthians 15:36) Paul goes on to note that what springs forth from the seed as it dies is a new creature. Through Paul, God reveals a new truth; That resurrection, 'in the twinkling of an eye' is not limited to those already dead. Once again, Paul reveals the requirements for salvation. Faith. If we believe, then we who are alive and remain will ALSO be changed, 'in a twinkling of an eye'. I know that a lot of this, if not all of it, is review for most of you, but it is important material, nevertheless. The Bible is laid out in a logical progression, line upon line, precept upon precept, with each successive revelation adding purpose and clarity to those which came before. Misunderstanding the principle of progressive revelation, or 'dispensationalism,' removes context from the Scripture, giving rise to all kinds of heresies. Like, for example, replacement theology that says God rejected the Jews after they rejected Jesus. Not understanding the differences between the Covenant Dispensations leaves room for the Church in the Tribulation Period, since there is no recognition of the differences between them. The Tribulation is the final 'week' during which the terms of Abrahamic covenant is fulfilled when Israel enters into its inheritance of the Messianic Kingdom. The Church plays no role. God reveals to the Church that, However, during the Tribulation, Scripture says of he that is in the world, (the antichrist) "it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to OVERCOME them . . ." (Revelation 13:7) Which is it, then? Are we overcomers during the Church Age, because of He that indwells us now, only to be abandoned by Him and subsequently overcome later by the antichrist during the Tribulation? How does THAT work? Obviously, it doesn't. Instead, the progressive revelation of God says that the purpose of the Tribulation is to fulfill the promise of Daniel 9:24 "upon THY (Daniel's) people and upon THY holy city, (Jerusalem) to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." All those things were accomplished for the Church at the Cross. As a hodgepodge of seemingly conflicting revelations (eg. 'eye for an eye') the Bible can be confusing, even misleading, giving rise to all manner of misunderstanding. Seen as the record of the progressive revelation from God, the Bible presents a harmonious and cohesive outline of human history, past, present and future, devoid of contradictions. This brief was originally published June 19, 2012. |
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