In my opinion, what Jesus Christ actually said about Moses does not allow us to give any amount of short shrift to Mosaic Law...
The underlined emphasis is yours. Ok then, here is a requirement of the Law of Moses:
Exodus 23:
14 “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.15 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
16 “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field.
“Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.
17 “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.
Deuteronomy 16:
16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
GoldenEagles, if you bother to study these, they involve offering sacrifices at the only place authorized for such - at the temple, and the only temple was in Jerusalem. All the men of Israel were to assemble as commanded by God at the location specified by God on those three feasts. The Law of Moses included all the sacrifices throughout the year at the temple.
My question to you is this; do you offer those same sacrifices Golden Eagle? If not, why not, as they are codified in the the Law of Moses?
Cordially,
I know it is bad form to answer a question with a question, but in part, the answer you are seeking must include the following:
If one follows the great prophets, one will find that they predict a time when the law will go forth from Jerusalem, where David's throne is established eternally. At that time, those same feasts (sacrifices included) are being practiced, and all of the men in the entire world (ie: father and first born son) are required to attend... else they will get no rain.
My question, FRiend, is: "How do we get from here to there?" And with my previous post in mind, did the prophets get it wrong? Did Yeshua change that?
Diamond says, "GoldenEagles, if you bother to study these, they involve offering sacrifices at the only place authorized for such - at the temple, and the only temple was in Jerusalem. All the men of Israel were to assemble as commanded by God at the location specified by God on those three feasts. The Law of Moses included all the sacrifices throughout the year at the temple ... My question to you is this; do you offer those same sacrifices Golden Eagle? If not, why not, as they are codified in the the Law of Moses?"
The particulars of religion are never off topic in the religion forum. And especially where we are confronting the question as to whether we can serve the purposes of God as we are required to do, in the current election cycle, by turning our back on God. By taking a little time to run the fingers of the mind over important scriptural passages, this helps us to tune our mind into the spirit domain, from whence all illumination comes. And we need illumination in this hour.
As to your question. The Requirements of the Law, as given to the people of that day, through Moses, are given to them in a form that corresponds to the practical requirements of their life circumstances. As I understand it, they were a nomadic people. They made their living primarily through their flocks of sheep and goats and so forth. These flocks were kept moving to find appropriate grazing lands, and the people had to move with them. Moses, and God, had a great challenge in bringing a religious structure to their lives as the community was so fluid and dispersed. The passages from Exodus that you quoted represent this effort by God to meet these challenges. Ritual is extremely important to the religious life of a people, and these rituals had to be structured in such as way as to dovetail with their life circumstances. All of their sacrifices were given in the "currency" which they valued in their day, the life of their flocks. They did not have money as we know it.
All that was required by God of these people, are required of us today, but we meet those requirements according to the circumstances of the culture that we live in. It is part of the process of establishing rituals that give expression to our Love for God and our Devotion to his Purposes. We can't conform to the letter of the law, because the letter of the law does not conform to our circumstances, but we can and we are required to conform to the spirit of the law.
"three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me" In America, Christians do that in Christmas, Easter, and the Fourth of July.
"No one is to appear before me empty-handed." Have your wallet with you, and please put something in the collection plate. (tithing) And so forth.
In every case where Moses has delineated God's Law, where the law is expressed in a manner that reflected a certain cultural fabric, because the circumstances of our society are so different, we must discern what the spirit of the law is looking for, and obey the spirit. The requirement to obey and to fulfill the law is always before us. The law is life. All disease is the return current of disobedience before the law. All people are required to process the return current of their own folly in this regard, in times and places that the Law determines.
Jesus Christ spoke to this, and his statement should be branded on our forehead to constantly remind us of it:
"For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:18)
And that statement should be remembered along with its companion:
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil."(Matthew 5:17)
I explained above how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law. First we study to show ourselves approved unto the law. We know what the law is. Then we make our effort to be obedient to it. Finding that we are not able to achieve a substantial degree of obedience,we find that we need the intercession of Christ to destroy the momentum of sin in us. We call out to Christ in the here and now, and ask for freedom from a particular sin pattern. And Christ gives us freedom. But we are tested. And we will need to call out to Christ again and again, until the Power of Christ lives in us, and his power, has overcome the sin pattern in us. When you read that scripture, this is what it means that Christ came to fulfill the law.
Whenever we are confronted with an opportunity to explain to someone why the law, by itself, while important, is not enough, that we need the Intercession of Christ as well, this is always the explanation. The Law and Christ go hand in hand. We must choose by freewill to work with Christ, so his power to fulfill the law in us can become active in us.
Jesus made it a point that we were not to make the Law of Moses into a dead letter:
Matthew 151 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Is Jesus Christ a hypocrite, who will chastise hypocrisy in these people, but look the other way as those who purport to follow him, in the same manner make a dead letter of the Law of Moses? Nay. The Law is essential.
All of this must be understood in the context of the goal that Christ set before us:
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
The Master is looking for us to become perfectly obedient to the law of God in every respect, as that is the only way a soul can be allowed back into heaven. People say, well, perfection is beyond me. But that thought makes a dead letter of the goal Christ set before us. And therefore represents the spirit of anti-christ in our world. We can become perfectly respectful, loving, and obedient before the law of God, if we understand that it is only the Power of Christ that will make that possible.
The following passage ties all of this together:
"21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."(Matthew 7:21-23)
This phrase "I never knew you" applies to those people who refused to submit their sin patterns unto Christ, for the purpose of being set free from them. In like manner, this phrase "ye that work inequity" refers to those who have chosen to live within their sin patterns, not having any desire to part from them, and not believing that Christ has the power to set them free anyway. It is Pride that blocks the individual from admitting that they need to change their ways. And pride blocks the formation of the necessary spirit of repentance in the heart. Pride is always reinforced by the dark side, the demonic realm, it is a power that has opposed, from the very foundation of the world, the movement of the Children of God in the direction of salvation.
The homosexual movement is composed of a veritable army of fallen souls who fit solidly into this category of rebellion against God and Christ, who refuse to hold out their hand for help, even as they are being dragged deeper and deeper into the bottomless pit.
The parable of the wedding garment was given to reinforce this teaching.
11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:11-12)
The wedding garment is a metaphor for a garment of Light, that surrounds the soul, composed of freewill decisions to surrender sin patterns, and to have those patterns replaced by the Power of Christ, which Jesus Christ is empowered to give to us, even as THE dispenser of eagle wings. The soul must be wearing this garment as a prerequisite for its re-entry into the domain of heaven, and its eternal life.
This phrase, "Many are called, but few are chosen,", refers to the fact that the requirement of perfection is before all people, in every culture, and God calls all people to perfection, because he wants to bring all of them home to their original divine estate. But only a relative few, in a given time and generation, will hear this call, understand it, and understand how to act upon it. These few bring into embodiment a more tangible sense of the reality of heaven, they want to return there, but they know that sin cannot live in the heaven world, so they are ready to work with Jesus Christ to be set free from their sin patterns, all of them, to establish that wedding garment, which alone will allow them to reenter the heaven world at the end of this life.
To sum up, the following reality check was given to us by the Lord Christ, to help us be clear in our minds, as to the progress we have made towards the goal of weaving the aforementioned wedding garment, a glowing consciousness of light, transferred to us by the Master Jesus Christ, of loving respect and obedience before God's Law in every particular, which is the prerequisite unto salvation:
Verily, Verily, I say unto you, he that beleiveth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my father. (John 14:12)
Indeed, there it is. This forcefield of Light, the wedding garment of loving and respectful obedience unto the Law of God, as it has been articulated by all the Prophets, into which the Lord Jesus Christ would restore us, has all of these powers inherent in it. This is our reference point for determining whether our belief structures are correct, or contain flaws that must be removed.
Make no mistake, whenever Jesus Christ referred to the benefits that accrue to the person who believes in him, and he did that often, he always had in his mind a very specific set of criteria for what it means to "believe." We must find that belief structure in his teaching, and we must integrate that belief structure into our lives. If we do that successfully, and we are not led a astray by false doctrines, even the commandments of men, we will be able to fulfill the promise give by the Lord Christ in John 14:12.
Finally, as I noted before, if the statements of an Apostle cause a person to create a conclusion in their mind, which would make a dead letter of the clear Teaching of the Lord Christ, as he himself expressed it, then we know that the interpretation is incorrect. All interpretations must harmonize with ALL the words that came out of the mouth of Jesus Christ.