“He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” (Isaiah 33:15-16)
In reading Old Testament prophecy or promises, we must remember that the church is included. This Scripture is a promise to those who walk righteously. Remember that in the Old Testament to walk uprightly, follow the law and make the sacrifices of sin when you break it was to walk uprightly or in righteousness. Their good works of obedience to the law was counted to them as righteousness. The law they followed was based on their actions. Do this and blessings were given. Don’t do this and punishment came. We know from experience that as human beings, we do not have ability to “be good.” People failed the law, but God provided sacrifices to atone for their sin. And yearly the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies, the very presence of the Lord God and make the yearly sacrifice for the sins the people had committed that year. It was only good for that year.
Many Christians and especially those who have hearts which have not been redeemed and who have never read the Bible, still think like those of the Old Testament. They believe if they do good, they will be blessed. And they believe if they don’t do good, they will be punished. It’s the thinking of the world because they refuse to believe that God is good and desires to have a covenant with them.
God sent Jesus. (John 3:16) because He loved us. He wanted fellowship with man. This was in His heart since the creation of the world. But man betrayed Him. God’s desire didn’t change. But man’s heart got darkened with sin and departed from Him. Good News! God had a plan. It took many years, decades, generations, centuries, but God’s plan came in His perfect time. And in His perfect time, all who belong to Him will come to Him.
In Jesus, our weakness and inability to be perfect is recognized. God made provision for that. He sent Jesus, the Messiah, His only begotten Son and the second person of the Holy Trinity, to take the debt for our sin. Only He could pay the debt with one suffering and one death, once and for all. And Jesus did it. He did it while we were still in sin. “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Jesus paid the debt of punishment and death for sin so that we could live. “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1Peter 2:24)
And because we believed, we are born again of God with a pure and holy spirit. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” (1Peter 1:23) We loathe sin and darkness. It’s our new nature, the nature of God. But do we sin? Yes, because we live in this world, and we live in this flesh. The flesh will rare up and pull on us. We have to resist. We are commanded to resist. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) This temptation by the flesh and the world can be useful. It shows us our weakness and tendency to sin. We can repent and confess according to 1John 1:9 and the Holy Spirit will help us overcome this sin fault in us, taking us from glory to glory closer to the image of Christ. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2Corinthians 3:18)
Again, unlike the believers of the Old Testament, we have a better covenant with the Lord. But they are not forgotten. Jesus preached the Gospel to them, and we will see many of them in heaven. They are the saints of old, waiting for all of us to be together. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison;” (1Pe 3:18-19).
Comentarios