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Reconciliation and Freedom

by Jon von Ernst
8/15/2023 / Bible Studies

God begins the process of fulfilling His promise concerning the seed of the woman by choosing a people for Himself. The whole world is in sin and darkness, but God calls a man to come out of the world unto Himself.

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’ So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran” (Genesis 12:1-4, KJV).

In Genesis 15:1-6, the word of the Lord came to Abram, reinforcing this promise, telling him that his seed would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. God “took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

At that time Abram had no offspring, yet he believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. God began to reveal to Abram how His promise concerning the seed of the woman would be fulfilled. Then in Genesis 17, God appeared to Abram again and changed his name to Abraham, because God said He would make him a father of many nations. Then in verse 8, God promised him, “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God” (KJV).

Paul explains to us in Galatians 3:16-18 who this “seed” is. He writes, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.”

The Law was given as a school master, a tutor, to preserve God’s people until the promise of faith arrived. Galatians 3:23-24 says, “Before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”

Galatians 4:3-5 says, “While we were children, we were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

When God gave the Law through Moses under the first covenant, He established offerings whereby the priest could make atonement for the people so their sins could be forgiven. Leviticus 4 tells us that the person who has sinned is to bring his sin offering to the priest. The sinner is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering before the Lord. The offering is killed and the priest is to take some of the blood of the offering and apply it to the horns of the altar of the burnt offering. Verse 26 says, “In this way the priest will make atonement on his behalf for that person’s sin, and he will be forgiven.”

Under the law, God provided a process through the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats that the priests could make atonement for themselves and for the people, and their sins would be forgiven. Through this covering of their sins, the Israelites would be considered by God to be clean ceremonially, outwardly, and worthy to join in the fellowship of the assembly of His people. By the offerings of the Law under the first covenant, God’s people were reminded, that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 10:1-4 says, “For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

Christ fulfilled the Law. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” In the new covenant He is writing the Laws on our hearts. He accomplishes this by the Holy Spirit that the Father gives to live within us. This Spirit teaches us all things that are ours in Christ.

The word translated “Law” in the Old Testament, “Torah,” comes from the root word “yara.” Yara means to point out, to teach, to instruct. The Law was given to teach us about God and His ways. Under the new covenant, the Holy Spirit is given to us by the Father to do just that. However, this Spirit not only teaches us, but also empowers us to live according to His teaching and instruction. The new covenant is not weak through the flesh, but strong through the Spirit working within the believer.

The Law has not changed. The Laws that God is writing on our hearts are the same Laws He gave to Moses in Exodus 24. In verse 12, the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”

In Matthew 22:37-40, when asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (NIV). Romans 5:5 says, “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” This love of God is writing these Laws on our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and by that same Spirit He is empowering us to fulfill these Laws as we are led by the Spirit.

However, the process for fulfilling the Law has changed. The process has changed from the weakness of the flesh to the strength of the Spirit, and from works of the flesh to faith in Christ Jesus. “Man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 2:16). “It is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants” (Romans 9:8). Those that, like Abraham, by faith believe the promise, are God’s children. Their faith is credited to them as righteousness.

“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3). Let us summarize some of the things that the Law could not do, that God did through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, the seed of the woman.

The offerings and sacrifices of the first covenant could not take away sins. Hebrews 10:11 says, “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” It is recorded in John 1:29 that John the Baptist saw Jesus coming unto him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (KJV). I John 3:5 tells us that Christ appeared “in order to take away sins.” In promising to make a new covenant with His people, God says, “And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins” (Romans 11:27).

The Law could not cleanse the conscience of the people. Hebrews 9:9 states that under the first covenant, “Gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience.” Therefore, God sent His own Son, the seed of the woman, to cleanse the conscience of the people. “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience” (Hebrews 9:13-14). The sprinkling of the blood of bulls and goats could only sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, but the blood of Christ cleanses the conscience.

With the first covenant, under the Law, sins could be atoned for and forgiven, but they could never be taken away. Therefore, the people always had a consciousness of sins. When a believer’s sins are atoned for and forgiven by virtue of faith in Christ, the blood of Christ takes away that person’s sins and cleanses their conscience. It is by this taking away of the sins and the cleansing of the conscience that the believer has peace with God.

If, upon confessing a sin and making restitution when instructed by the Spirit to do so, after the blood of Christ has taken away the sin and cleansed our conscience concerning it, our minds should no longer be troubled by thoughts of that sin. If accusing thoughts of that sin ever enter our minds, we need to understand that it is an attack of the enemy, Satan. We need to be strengthened and encouraged in our faith in Christ and His shed blood, and remember the words in Revelation 12:10-11, “The accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony.”

When the enemy, the accuser, attacks, we need to turn our hearts and our minds to Christ and His faithfulness. We need to praise Him for His blood that has cleansed us and has taken away our sin. We need to turn the enemy’s attacks into victorious praises to our God. We will soon find that the attacks will cease because they are unprofitable.

The Law could not make anything perfect. Hebrews 7:18-19, “The Law made nothing perfect.” However, Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by one offering He (Christ) has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” The word “perfect” in these passages means “complete.” The Law could only sanctify to the cleansing of the flesh. Its sanctification was only outward, it was not complete. The sanctification accomplished by the blood of Christ is complete, even to the cleansing of our conscience and the transforming of our soul by His life.

The works of the Law can justify no one. Paul writes in Galatians 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” Romans 5:9 tells us that we are “justified by His blood.” The blood of Christ justifies the believer. The Law never can.

The Law could not give life. “Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law” (Galatians 3:21). Jesus said in John 10:10, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Paul writes in Romans 5:9-10, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Finally, John writes in I John 5:12, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.”

The Law cannot free us from bondage to sin. “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). When we were under the Law, sin was our master. However, Paul tells us that we need to understand, “that our old self was crucified with Him (with Christ) in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims” (Romans 6:6-7, HCSB).

It was because these things could not be accomplished by the Law that the process had to be changed. “For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: ‘The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah’” (Hebrews 8:7-8). Verse 13 continues, “When He said, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”

In changing the process, God did through Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, what the Law could not do. We are told in Hebrews 9:15, it is for this reason that, “He (Christ) is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” Hebrews 7:23-25, “The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.

“Therefore, He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises” (Hebrews 8:6).

In this new covenant, because of the value that God has placed on the blood of Christ, we can draw near to God with boldness and confidence. We need to value the blood of Christ because God values the blood of Christ. Hebrews 10:19 and 22 says, “Since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus. Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.”

There are two crucial aspects of the victory that Christ has gained for us; the shedding of the blood and the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent. When God established the Passover, He gave the children of Israel specific instructions about killing an unblemished year-old lamb, eating it, and applying the blood so that the angel of death would pass over them and not harm them. Exodus 12:13 says, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt” (KJV).

God told them, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” God looked at Abel and saw that he trusted in the shedding of the blood. God looked at the children of Israel at the Passover and saw that they trusted in the shedding of the blood. God looked at those under the Law of the first covenant and saw that they were trusting the blood. Today God looks at us to see if we are trusting in the blood that was shed when Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

When God saw the blood applied by faith to the door posts and lentils, He passed over them and they were not harmed by the angel of death. When God looks at us today, He looks to see if our faith is in Christ and in the blood he shed for us.

The other crucial aspect of the salvation that we have in Christ is the bruising of the head of the serpent. Christ’s death on the cross accomplished this. That is why Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:18, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Then in Colossians 1:18-19 Paul writes, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

Everything that the serpent accomplished in causing man to sin and destroying the peace and the fellowship between God and man, Christ destroyed by His death on the cross. By His death on the cross, Christ took away our sins and broke the power of sin over us. He reconciled us to God having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Under the Law, God’s people were always subject to slavery to sin. No matter how zealous they were for God, no matter how hard they would try to please God and live holy lives, the sin nature within them would overpower them and cause them to sin. However, Hebrews 2:14-15 reveals that, “Since the children share in flesh and blood, He (Christ) Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.” Christ bruised the head of the serpent, rendering him powerless to continue to hold us in bondage through fear of death. The power of the sin nature was broken. We were set free from the law of sin and of death.

Romans 8:2-4 confirms this, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” When Christ was crucified, God placed us together in Him. That is why Paul says that we were crucified with Christ.

Paul reminds us in Romans 6:2-7, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”

The only way we can “know this” is by the Holy Spirit revealing it to us. Once the Holy Spirit reveals to us the truth, the reality, of our death with Christ, then we can go on to reckon or consider ourselves as dead to sin. Romans 6:11 says, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” We can consider ourselves dead to sin, we can reckon ourselves dead to sin all day long and still find no freedom from the bondage to sin until we know for a fact that we died with Christ. And we can only know the reality of our death with Christ if the Spirit reveals it to us.

When, by the Spirit’s opening of our eyes, we see the reality of our death with Christ, we will no longer struggle to please God. We will realize that in ourselves we cannot please God. It is only as we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, can we please God by submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit within us. Romans 8:7-9 confirms this saying, “because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

Paul encourages us in Galatians 5:16, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” 2 Peter 1:3-4 says, “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

As the seed of the woman bruising the serpent’s head by shedding His blood for us on the cross, Christ has won a total and complete victory. “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever” (Hebrews 7:26-28).

“Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man” (Hebrews 8:1-2). When we walk by the Spirit we are walking in the victory of Christ. When we walk by the Spirit, we truly are victorious Christians.

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.’ And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.’ And the four living creatures kept saying, ‘Amen.’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.”

May we worship the Lord by walking by the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. When we walk by the Spirit, and not by the flesh, we are holy, and we are wholly pleasing to God. By the blood and by the cross, we are reconciled to God, and we are freed from sin’s dominion to walk in the newness of Christ’s life within us. Then we are victorious!

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light - Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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