Clean the Greece from my eyes...hah that was funny. Ruling with a rod of Iron is a coercive justice. There is no Justice without mercy to alloy it, but justice must be dispensed as necessary or there is no true justice. For a thousand years, Christ will rule on the Earth after that, Satan will be loosed to deceive the nations again..”for a little season”.
Hebrews 12 describes the curse of Mount Sinai where there is gloom and smoke and destruction for those who have not received the Salvation of Jesus Christ, for those who have...there are the Joys of Mount Zion. I have read the prophets and I read the covenant made between Noah and God symbolized by the placement of the rain bow in the sky. God certainly is steadfast about keeping his promises and certainly pronounces future judgments upon Satan and those men who are unrepentant! The Noachide teachers certainly depict God as being one of unyielding Marble who busily keep dusting and polishing his set in stone, unyielding ordinances and fixed pronouncements.
The Christ I believe in and know (at least only as much as he has given me faith to believe) is the God in Flesh who openly marveled (displaying his humanity) at the faith of the Centurian and gentile while in his authority as HOLY GOD granted the centurion’s request for healing of his servant.
Consider why God made ordinances and covenants? Were they not mostly for man’s benefit? God told men to be fruitful and multiply and that he would never again flood the Earth with water. God covenanted with Abraham and promised him a son, from whom’s descendants would arise the living Christ! God gave the Mosaic code that promised blessings for those who adhered to it and curses for those who did not. Yet men could not live by them and the prophets including Moses knew that they could not and knew that an even greater covenant, one that could be inscribed into men’s hearts of flesh instead of tablets of stone, was needed. You might think the Ark was the place where the Shekinah glory of God rested and you would be right. The ark was also a promise, not just of the coming Christ who lived among men, but also a promise of our individual regeneration where the Spirit Of God resides in each of us.
Even having a vast knowledge of all the laws of God, and even having the willingness to try to keep them isn’t enough to save us. If we never again broke another law of God, that would not save us. Jesus Christ is the only one that can save us, and only by the Spirit can we learn how to apply his laws correctly with an eye fixed towards faith hope and above all charity! And when we fail, he is willing to forgive us as we repent!
One can only begin to grasp the laws of God by understanding his two greatest laws....Loving him with everything we have within us to do so and then loving others as we love our selves.
The little secret that I think mechanistic teachers of the law forget is that when one endeavors, by the power of the Spirit, to live by the two greatest commandments...all the other laws we’re supposed to live by (and by what proportions and sequences of applications as guided by the Spirit with Charity and Wisdom) will naturally fall into place!
My point was that the 'rod of iron' is judicial, not militaristic. But all the same, the perfect justice of YWHW is coercive? That seems to go against the evidence of the last 6000 years. When my sons were young, I sometimes had to treat them in a coercive fashion, in order to teach them - But now they are men, and they understand. I don't have to threaten anymore.
God certainly is steadfast about keeping his promises and certainly pronounces future judgments upon Satan and those men who are unrepentant! The Noachide teachers certainly depict God as being one of unyielding Marble who busily keep dusting and polishing his set in stone, unyielding ordinances and fixed pronouncements.
The Christ I believe in and know (at least only as much as he has given me faith to believe) is the God in Flesh who openly marveled (displaying his humanity) at the faith of the Centurian and gentile while in his authority as HOLY GOD granted the centurion’s request for healing of his servant.
Soooo... The two are different? Is that your point?
Consider why God made ordinances and covenants? Were they not mostly for man’s benefit? God told men to be fruitful and multiply and that he would never again flood the Earth with water. God covenanted with Abraham and promised him a son, from whom’s descendants would arise the living Christ! God gave the Mosaic code that promised blessings for those who adhered to it and curses for those who did not. Yet men could not live by them and the prophets including Moses knew that they could not and knew that an even greater covenant, one that could be inscribed into men’s hearts of flesh instead of tablets of stone, was needed.
So the Torah, which YHWH says is good, eternal, and not grievous, cannot be kept? What of Yeshua commanding us to do and keep the Torah? What of the prophets who say explicitly that the Law will go forth from Jerusalem and the whole world will do it?
What is sin, except the transgression of the Torah? What is wickedness except the twisting of the Torah? What is lawlessness, but an absence of the law? Take away the Torah, and one takes away the very definition of right and wrong.
And finally, understand the structure of this: If Yeshua caused the Torah to be null and void (in one tiny way, not to mention the whole thing), then He cannot be Messiah. That is the penultimate logic trap against those who would believe as you do. And it is wholly insurmountable!
Don't believe me. My conversation with you has left me with the belief that you have a great capacity toward logic and reason - Test the above upon the whole Word, honestly and without preconceived notions, and you will inescapably arrive at the very same conclusion. Sola scriptura - Take it all the way.
Even having a vast knowledge of all the laws of God, and even having the willingness to try to keep them isn’t enough to save us. If we never again broke another law of God, that would not save us.
Who said it would? That is not it's purpose.
Jesus Christ is the only one that can save us, and only by the Spirit can we learn how to apply his laws correctly with an eye fixed towards faith hope and above all charity! And when we fail, he is willing to forgive us as we repent!
TRUE. Apply His laws then. Follow His example. Really. If you do, you must needfully end up here.
One can only begin to grasp the laws of God by understanding his two greatest laws....Loving him with everything we have within us to do so and then loving others as we love our selves.
How then, do you know you love YHWH? The Bible teaches us throughout: By walking in his commandments - The Torah.
The little secret that I think mechanistic teachers of the law forget is that when one endeavors, by the power of the Spirit, to live by the two greatest commandments...all the other laws we’re supposed to live by (and by what proportions and sequences of applications as guided by the Spirit with Charity and Wisdom) will naturally fall into place!
Indeed. That is exactly why I keep the Sabbath. That is why I am endeavoring to understand and keep His Holy Days, and not the pagan holidays and sabbath of the Roman church. That is why I am trying to tear down the Talmudic traditions that surround the law, in order to find it out in it's truth. And that is why I have thrown off the Roman and Greek traditions of Christianity to find the truth of Yeshua too. Reason and love dictate that I do so. And it has been a remarkable journey. The more I understand, the more I love YHWH for showing it to me.