The Next Step

In a sense, Christianity is all about getting gentiles connected to God, whereas Judaism is the next step which involves engaging in activities (the Commandments) that involve bringing God down into the earth. How sad that most never get to experience this next level of relationship because they have been told that the Commandments are a thing of the past. How sad that the Church has been told that the keeping of Commandments is the activity of those who are “weak in the faith.”

The lie that the law is in opposition to grace robs gentile believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of so much. It is a tragedy.

If we look back on the history of Israel, we see that the Law was not given to a nation of unbelievers, but to a nation that were ALREADY believers and were ALREADY connected to God. After leaving Egypt, symbolic of salvation, Israel was told that if they followed all the instructions of God that He would come down and meet with them. They did, and He did, as evidenced by the cloud over the Tabernacle and later the Temple.

How great it would be if the church interpreted the NT through these patterns in the OT (Which were given to us as examples!) and embraced all the feasts, and Sabbaths and Commandments as a means to bring God’s presence down to earth more fully. What a powerhouse the Church could be if they would continue on and grow into and begin practice the faith that Jesus, the disciples and the early Jewish Church practiced.

The tragedy is that they have believed the lie that obedience to the Law and faith in Jesus are in opposition to each other. It seems the early disciples held no such belief as they continued to practice the Law IN ADDITION TO their faith in Jesus. (Were they "weak in the faith?")

How great it would be if the gentile Church could come to understand that the keeping of the Commandments are not in opposition to their belief in Jesus, but simply the next step in it.