Unabolished Law

 We do not love more than Christ did. This has been a repeating idea in several of the books i've recently read, and it's true. As much as we water down the Gospel to make it purely "loving," we overlook the idea of Christ in the temple with a whip, shouting, and throwing tables. He also spoke truth to people's sin, cast out demons from people who hadn't asked for prayer, and had little regard for public opinion when He spoke. Much of what He said was harsh.
 We skip much of the Old Testament because, frankly, God just seemed rather ticked off. We don't want to mess with God when He's grumpy.
 But here's the thing; we write off unappealing passages and entire books of the Old Testament because, well, we say, "That's Old Testament." Christ fixed all that, didn't He? Who needs Levitical Law when we have Christ? Who needs Deuteronomy, Numbers, or Exodus, either? Might as well drop part of Genesis, too, since it has a mitzvah or two that we aren't overly fond of, right?
 This is idolatry.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law (Torah) or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law (Torah) until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments (mitzvot) and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

 Is Heaven still here? Is earth still here? Then the Law, the Torah (the Law of the books of Moses), does still apply. He, Jesus, even went so far as to say we're not even to relax even the least of them.
 Why would God have written it if only to void it later? Is not the Bible infallible? Is it truth? Or is only part of it of concern for us in the Anno Domini? You may say, "That's Old Testament," but i tell you right now that it is still Testament. If the Ten Commandments are still worth following, why not the rest? I'll tell you why--because the Ten Commandments aren't all that hard! We're okay with them because we can manage them without it creating too much derision between soul and Spirit.

 You may say God's not like that anymore, but i tell you that He is eternal and unchanging! He is the I Am (not to be confused with "I Was;" this is not a temporary statement, but a statement of His nature; He Is)! He does not change like the seasons, He does not go back and forth as the tides.
 You may say He is ruthless, and i would agree; He is ruthless in His pursuit of those He loves. And He is ruthless against those He hates. But how can God hate when God is love? Well, reading over the book of Psalms will confirm that He hates a great many things, including violent and wicked people.
 "But that's not my God," you might say. Precisely. A god made in our finite definition of "good" is much more appealing to us than the universally "good" and true God. To deny the Old Testament God is to deny the One Christ calls "Father."
 He was, He is, and He is to come. Anything that He was, He also is and also will be.

 Do not think this a fit of rage, for this is a moaning of remorse.
 I do not wish to condemn, i only wish to encourage teachers to do what is necessary in order to become "great in the kingdom of Heaven." So often preachers give potent laxative to the order of the Old Testament in some attempt to nullify its authority, but the Word of God is eternal authority, Old or New Covenant. This, again, is an idolatrous misconception. This is a futile attempt to make God in our image, to set Him in a cast to be formed as small, weak, and impotent. The truth of the death of the Law of sin is that the sacrifice has been made.

 I also understand how Paul said that death with Christ and resurrection with Him has made the Law dead to us, but looking at it from Christ's words, the Law is fulfilled and certainly not to be relaxed. The Law of sin, the rituals determined for redemption, this is what is dead to us. The Law has been fulfilled, Christ our provident propitiation. The Spirit descended like a dove, the Lamb was slain, the birds have been rent and their blood spilled and sprinkled with hyssop, whatever it was that had to happen for sin to die, it happened. But that doesn't mean the Law is to be ignored. We can't behave as though it has been relaxed or abolished.

 This is not a free pass to live however we wish. This is a costly pass to enter into the holy of holies, or rather it is a costly pass for the holy of holies to enter into us.

 God was wrathful, He is wrathful, and He is to be wrathful.
 God was ruthless, He is ruthless, and He is to be ruthless.
 God was patient, He is patient, and He is to be patient.
 God was compassionate, He is compassionate, and He is to be compassionate.
 God was merciful, He is merciful, and He is to be merciful.
 Above these things, and Christ our proof, God was love, God is love, and He is to be love.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)

 Christ is the single offering to prove that God was, and is, and is to be loving, faithful, merciful, and compassionate.

My God Is Mine, And I Am His

There are times where i've said things that have been rather legalistic, and have decided to try and hold less Levitical opinions, and to stagger trivial things as being less than absolute. I take it back. All of it.
And i pray God allows me to make this as least condemnational as possible because, as is taught more often than the wrongfulness of sin, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

If something is not wrong, that makes it right. Likewise, if something is not right, that makes it wrong.
What is not right is not good, what's not good is bad, and what's bad is, well, sick. If there is one time that something is neither good nor bad in the Bible, i have not found it. The Bible draws all things as absolutes, right or wrong, blessed or cursed, living or dead, righteous or sinner; there is no halfway right thing, there is no barely blessed person, no one is only kind of alive, and there is none righteous.
And it's about time there were some things set as absolute again.

Sin is sin is sin is sin.

Now, to put this a little step forward, the Ten Commandments.
How do we reconcile them to Romans 8:1?
Simple. Do not condemn. This includes yourself. Do not condemn yourself by breaking the Law of God.
Yes, we are set free from the law of sin and death. Yet at the same time, a mere two verses later, Paul says that "[God] condemned sin in the flesh."
We are set free from the law because it could not free us. If we are in Christ, we are not condemned because He freed us by being the catalyst through which God condemned the flesh.

Despite this freedom from the law and condemnation, i feel that seeing a Levitical stand would be an act through which the glory of God could shine all the more unhindered through a set apart people.

Moses asked the camp of the Israelites, "Who is on the Lord's side?" and it was the sons of Levi who gathered around him.
It was the tribe of Levi that said, in essence, "We will do anything the Lord asks of us, no matter the cost to us or those around us." This stand was against any and every institution of man and it was for God alone. Then, in the same chapter, it was Moses, another Levite, who said to God (paraphrasing), "These people have sinned against You, but I am asking for forgiveness on their behalf. And if they are still to perish, as the one You have designated to be their leader, I must die with them."
Levites were the first, as far as i can tell, to make intercession.

When taking a census of the nation of Israel, the tribe of Levi was overlooked, because these people were not to be counted, but to be kept apart. They were to stay at the Tabernacle, to set it up, take it down, to guard it; the Tabernacle had been given unto them, this place where the Spirit of God would come down and rest was under the watch of these men. Under their watch was the presence of the Lord.
The man that guards to Tomb of The Unknown Soldier; this tribe was comprised of men with that sort of zeal.

"Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. The Levites shall be mine: I am the Lord." (Numbers 3:45)
God made a special claim to the people of Levi; He chose them as His own. What greater statement could be made of a people over God saying, "[They] shall be Mine: I am the Lord"? Through Christ, all nations come unto Him, and He calls us all His.

Here's a personal favorite of mine regarding them; "At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord to stand before the Lord to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day." (Deuteronomy 10:8)

The Lord set them apart. They were the firstfruits, the wave offering, the choice grain, however you want to put it, they were just that. The best of the crop were they, and God set them apart to carry the Ark of the Covenant. In other words, He chose them to carry His promise to mankind among the people of Israel. They were the ones who had been entrusted with the Law, the pre-destination of Christ, the future hope of grace and glory was on their shoulders as they marched, and God set them apart for this specific act. In our lives, if we are to be Levites, we must be so overwhelmingly fascinated by God as to completely succumb to His will such that He can call us carriers of His promise. They had wholly died to self in order to become vessels of God's purpose--just as we're to do as Christians.
Not only this, they were called to stand before the Lord and to minister to Him and to bless in His name. Just as angels ministered to Christ after He was tempted, Levites were called to minister to God, to proclaim His glory, to pray without ceasing, to constantly offer up praise of pleasing aroma. With the New Covenant, Christ, we are all called to minister to each other and to God, and to bless in Jesus' name.

"Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God said to him." (Deuteronomy 10:9)

And here, Levi has no portion with the rest of God's people. Because God called them His, they would call Him theirs. If you want to be set apart, it requires a call, but it also requires an answer. The only answer to the call of Christ, as i believe it was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who put it, "is an unconditional yes."

We can't say, "Well, God, we will carry the Ark so long as You have someone else relieve us sometimes. That thing is heavy, You know!"

No, this isn't a burdensome statement, this is freedom. God called them unto Himself, away from the material, and into sanctification. The liberties therein are boundless. Instead of worldly things that "moth and rust destroy," they were given something transcendental yet profound, and eternal. They were given the very presence of God.

This would be something to boast about for sure; to look at your neighbors and see them satisfied with their big houses, fancy clothes, and luxury cars, yet know in your heart of hearts that what you have will never be out of style, will not fade, can not be shaken or destroyed or taken from you, and will accompany you every day of your life, and being satisfied with it.

They were set upon things the other tribes could not see except through their lifestyle; the abundance of grace flowing to them and through them, the glory billowing from them like stacks in a furnace.

That is the Levitical order. That is God choosing His people, and choosing a people who would make Him theirs. That is resting in absolutes.

Christ offers this same prestigious honor to us all. He is calling, He is standing at the door, He is knocking.
God is looking for a Church set apart for Himself, of which He can say, "They are Mine." He's looking for a Church that will say, "God is ours at any cost."
And the first step towards seeing God's vision for His Church come to be is by saying, "Yes!" in your own life, and encouraging others to take that same step while interceding for them. The Church needs changed from the inside out, and this is how we do it; by letting God first change us from the inside out.
To quote Mahatma Gandhi, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." And the same goes for the Church. To see a Church set apart, be set apart in the Church.

Never again will i strive to be less Levitical in my words or actions.

Some Brief Correlating . . .

The other day, i was having a conversation about forgiveness, and who it benefits. I find that forgiving someone does little good for me, but it's me offering grace (what little i have to offer), a wholly Christian theme, to someone who doesn't necessarily deserve it. Christ on the cross, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," (or something along those lines) did little good for Christ's sake but show yet a further example of grace. It was for their sake that He forgave.

I digress. That has little to do with this post. Now to the meat of it.

As said, i was having a discussion about forgiveness. I thought back to what happens if a "brother" wrongs us.

We are told it's our duty to take it up with them, not theirs to come to us. We do this to cause a stirring inside of them so that they may see their wrong and right it, or at least apologize. If they do not hear us, we're to go and gather one or two witnesses so that it may be established by the testimony of two or three (Matthew 18:15-17).

Now in Romans 3, we have this little passage: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." (v. 20)

As those two seemingly unrelated passages came to mind, so did a revelation.

The law, the Torah, is from God. It is how we become conscious of our sin. In Matthew, it's our duty to make our brother conscious of his sin against us by telling him what he's done.
God does just that; through the law of the Old Covenant, the Torah, He confronts us, He brings the wrongs we've committed against Him to our attention.

Then Matthew 18 goes on to say that, if they do not hear us, we're to get one or two witnesses and confront him again.
God did that, too. He sent His Son, through Whom all things were made to be. He came back with a witness. Christ. We killed Christ. What greater witness to our wrongs than the very One we crucified?
No, not just one witness; He sent another. The Comforter, the Helper, the Advocate. The Advocate. An Advocate that stirs up our heart to repentance. Through the Holy Spirit, we are inclined to godly or spiritual sorrow, which is seeking penitence with God through Christ.

We sinned against God.

He sent Christ.
We crucified Him, emphasizing our breaking of the Torah.
He sent the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit inclines us to apologize for our wrongs.

In this, the selected passage from Matthew 18 is fulfilled; God made known our sins by means of the law (Romans 3). We didn't hear Him, so He came to us with the two Witnesses.

"Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? If a righteous person turns from their righteousness and commits sin, they will die for it; because of the sin they have committed they will die. But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die. Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
"Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!" (Ezekiel 18:25-32)

We know we've wronged Him the moment we accept the Torah as His law. That is His beckon to you; He wants you to repent. He wants you to seek Him. He wants you to live.

Not By Faith, Nor By Works . . .

Most of us know the line, "Faith without works is dead." James 2 says it rather bluntly. James even goes so far as to call one who believes in faith apart from works a "foolish person." He then says it was Abraham's works that justified him when he offered Isaac on the altar.
So there's an example of works justifying a person, but note it does not say works alone. "You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works..."
See, it's not faith alone, but certainly not works alone either. Faith is completed by works, by the heart of servitude, but a heart of servitude is nothing of itself. Faith; it says even the demons believe—and shudder. Faith in itself is without merit, lest we respect the demons for their belief that Christ is the Son of God.

Romans 3 seems to have another perspective on this; if we preach, if we do works in the name of God, it's nothing.
"For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin."

If we are a good person, living by the Law (Torah) of the Bible, it does no good. Therefore, Paul says, no human being will be justified by his works.
It seems to contradict, but they fit together in a puzzle of logic that, after it's realized, is quite plain. It goes back to several things Jesus spoke of, which i will reference in a moment.

Faith justifies, not works of the Law, Paul says.
Works justify, not faith alone, James says.
The contradiction melts when you see that Paul and James both amount to faith requiring a resolution. To bring one's faith to fruition, we become inclined to follow the Law of God. And in order to follow the Law, we are to love others as ourselves. This singular commandment is manifested by doing what we to align others to our own level, or else lower ourselves to theirs. This commandment, this Law, is fulfilled when we have works, not just when we say to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body.

"Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

There are the words of Jesus from Matthew 7:21-23

He makes it very clear in this that "workers of lawlessness" will be cast out. Not everyone who says to Him "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of Heaven. Not by faith, but by works.
However, many who have cast out demons and done works will also be cast out. Not by works.
The culmination here is the very seeming contradiction between Paul and James; faith is justified by works, and works justified by faith. Works alone are futile, likewise faith alone is futile.

I think most anyone reading this would know the story of the "Rich young ruler," but i'll post it anyways.

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

This is interesting to me because it emphasizes that which was said in Matthew 7; a man came to Christ and wanted to inherit eternal life. He called Jesus "Good," which was a no-no, because only God is Good. This implies he has faith.
Jesus then set out a list of commandments and said to follow them. He had since youth. This implies he has works.

He should be good. But no. One more thing is necessary. Show a work of faith. He has faith, and he has works, but he has them apart from one another. Now Jesus is calling him to have works entwined with his faith. And that's where he falters. He is not able to do works out of faith.
And he leaves very sad, because he was extremely rich.

By no works can a man enter Heaven, nor by faith alone. It's impossible for man to enter Heaven by earthly means. However, what is impossible with man, Jesus says, is possible with God. Only with God can we be saved. Do not rest on your faith, nor on your works, but let your faith change your heart and resolve it in works--and know it's not by your doing that you're saved, but by the grace of God.

Why Is Love The Greatest?

Paul emphasized over and over that loving was the greatest thing for a person to do. Of the three, faith, hope, and love, he says, love is the greatest. He goes through a list of things that love embodies, and it's patience, gentleness, kindness, etc., as well as a list of things it does not do, such as delight in wrongdoing.

Paul was a man that had formerly been known as Saul of Tarsus, a man who was versed in the Law of the OT (Torah), and was adamant about punishing those who disobeyed it (to the point of killing those who professed Jesus as the Christ).

This man, who had for so long ignored what the love of God is, became outspoken that love was the greatest, even over faith (faith would imply obedience to the Law). It's not that we're to disobey the Law, or to disregard it, or to see it as anything less than crucial.

As Jesus said, the greatest of the commandments is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second being to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus, not just Paul, placed love above any other legislation of the Torah.

Love covers a multitude of sins. Love never fails. Love delights in truth. Love obeys.

In Romans 13, and likewise in Galatians 5, Paul says that all the Law is fulfilled in loving others as we love ourselves.

The reason is because if we love someone, we won't steal from them, we won't murder them, etc. The whole of the Torah is obeyed if we love God with all we have and if we love others more than ourselves.

Jesus said something along the lines of “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. It's the one who loves Him that does keep His commandments.

That is precisely why love is greater than obedience to the Law; a fruit of love is obedience to it. Which is greater, a tree, or one of its fruit? Surely, the tree.
Not to mention 1 John 4, I think it is, says twice that God is love . . .