JC Blog

Christ ushered in the New Covenant of grace, which comes to us by faith alone. Faith placed in what Jesus did to fulfill the Law of Moses. He obtained the righteousness that the Law could never give mankind. And now anyone who trusts in Jesus to save them is freely offered this rightness in place of the guilt and shame which plagued mankind because of sin. Romans makes this very clear, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” ( Romans 3:21-24 ).

Through faith in Christ we gain the full revelation of what Moses spoke about. He showed us the righteousness of the Law, Jesus is the one who provided that righteousness for us, so the Law could be fulfilled in our hearts. Paul said in II Corinthians, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” ( II Corinthians 5:17-21 ). Now that we have obtained this we become partakers in God’s House where Jesus resides as the faithful Son over it.

Jesus has proven Himself trustworthy as overseer of the New Covenant God made with mankind. But He is not just a servant of this promise; He is the master and guarantor of the Covenant. It is ratified by His precious blood. Therefore the members of God’s house, everyone who puts their entire trust in Jesus, can rejoice and hold fast to this promise of grace. We can experience confidence before God because of the hope we place in Christ. Since He was faithful to God when He entered humanity to redeem us, He will be faithful to us and every promise that has been made.

What Moses saw and spoke about is fulfilled in Christ. As long as the Son resides over God’s Covenant we rest securely in this promise. We have hope for every situation in life. We know Jesus is our advocate to sympathize and help in every situation. We also know the glory to which we are called and look forward in anticipation to the time when Christ returns.

Tomorrow we will look at Hebrews 3:7-9; Hardness of Heart Effects Our Understanding of God

“Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast” ( Hebrews 3:5-6 )

Moses was truly a faithful servant. He oversaw the administration of the Law and led the people of God through the desert for all those years. However Moses’ entire ministry was a testimony about Christ. Because everything the Law said, pointed to Jesus. The Law showed God’s righteousness, His standards and His holiness. But what it couldn’t do is make us right with God. Galatians tells us “For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law” ( Galatians 3:21b ).

In fact the Law did just the opposite; it accused us before God and showed our guilt because of sin. Paul went on to say, “But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law” ( Galatians 3:22-25 ).

Moses gave, in amazing detail, what the Christ would be when he gave the Israelites the Law. Every aspect of the written code showed God’s righteousness and holiness. To fulfill it, you had to be perfect and sinless. It was an impossible standard for mankind which is why the true purpose was to point us to Christ. This is why Moses’ entire ministry was revealed afterward when Jesus came. He spoke faithfully about what was coming and yet he never lived to see the promise fulfilled. Hebrews gives us amazing insight into this, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” ( Hebrews 11:39-40 ). All of the men and women mentioned in Hebrews 11, because of their faith, saw and looked forward to the time of Christ, but we are truly blessed because we live after the time when Jesus entered into humanity.

Tomorrow we will look at Part 2: Christ is Faithful as a Son Over God’s House

“Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything” ( Hebrews 3:3-4 ) 

When the Law was given, it was given to the people by Moses. He acted as a mediator between God and man. He was God's steward overseeing the administration of the written code. Moses was truly a faithful servant over God's house leading the Israelites by example. But Jesus is worthy of greater honor than Moses because He is not a servant entrusted with overseeing the covenant, Jesus is the covenant. Everything that the Law and the prophets foretold was about Jesus. He is the spoken Word of God and He was always the plan for redemption.

Covenants Are God’s Way of Protecting Us

God has always made covenants with His people. If you look back through the scriptures you will see several accounts of these promises. The amazing thing is, these covenants were initiated by God and based solely on His word. In other words, mankind's behavior did not nullify the pledge God made to them. Take Abraham for example. God came to him and told him, that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and He would give him a great span of land as his inheritance. He asked nothing in return from Abraham. Then God ratified this covenant with a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a young pigeon ( Genesis 15 ). The only thing required on Abraham’s part was believing God. The scripture records, "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." ( Genesis 15:6 ). Faith placed in the Lord and what He did was the only requirement.

The important thing to understand is that God is the one who initiates the covenant. He makes the promise, ratifies it and then stands behind it never changing His mind. The New Covenant, which Jesus ushered in is in the same fashion as the covenant made with Abraham. It is not based on anything we can do, it is based on what God did. Ratification of this promise was made by Jesus' blood. Now Jesus is the guarantor of this covenant, since He lives, this promise offered to us can never be broken or revoked and God will not change His mind about it. Even though the world gets increasingly worse, with more evil and sin, God will never renege on this covenant of grace offered to us through Jesus.

Because of this, Jesus is truly worthy of far greater honor than Moses. Paul said in II Corinthians, “Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!” ( II Corinthians 3:7-11 ). This is a comparison between the Law, written in stone and the administration of the Spirit written on our hearts through the covenant of grace. It is far superior and worthy of more honor than anything the Law did or could ever do.

John 1 tells us, “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” ( John 1;16-18 ). The Law was meant to accuse us and show us our guilt before God ( Romans 5:20, II Corinthians 3:6, Galatians 3:24-25 ) but the grace and truth that Jesus offers us shows us the love and forgiving nature of God. This message is incredible and since the bearer of this amazing news lives, seated at the right hand of the Father, we know that this promise is eternal. So in every sense of the word, Jesus is worthy of incredible honor and glory and He is the guarantor of our covenant of grace, initiated and offered by God, rarified and secured by Jesus forever. The only requirement is believing and accepting it. Then we too like Abraham are credited with righteousness.

Tomorrow we look at Hebrews 3:5-6; Moses Testified about Christ

"He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house" ( Hebrews 3:2 )

The writer of Hebrews is calling our attention to the covenants. He is drawing a parallel between the faithfulness of Jesus compared to the faithfulness of Moses. Both men ushered in God's covenants, Moses with the Law, Jesus with abundant grace. The book of John tells us, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" ( John 1:17 ). Both were faithful to God with what He had entrusted to them.

Since the original audience of the book of Hebrews was primarily Jewish, this statement would have been quite radical. Moses held a place of honor with the people far above any other prophet in the scriptures because he gave them the Law. Moses proved faithful before God, administering this covenant. In fact God said this about him in Numbers, “When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house" ( Numbers 12:6-7 ). Even though the Israelites were hard-hearted, refusing to believe God, wandering the desert for forty years, this didn't nullify Moses’ faithfulness. He remains true to God and the covenant that was made.

Just like Moses, Jesus has remained faithful to the one who appointed Him Apostle and High Priest on our behalf. None of this bears weight on what we do, but everything depends on what He did. He has proven himself a faithful steward with what God entrusted to Him. And now Jesus resides permanently over the house of God administering this covenant of grace. In fact God has sworn an oath to Jesus that He will never change His mind, Jesus is a priest forever ( Hebrews 7:21-22 ). Because of this oath Jesus is the guarantee for a better covenant.

This is why the writer started chapter three reminding us to focus our thoughts on Jesus. Just like Moses, He has proven himself faithful. Understanding the covenant which He is the guarantor will bring us into a deeper revelation of grace. With this understanding, nothing will get in the way of the relationship that God has called us into.

Tomorrow we will look at Hebrews 3:3-4; Jesus is Worthy of Greater Honor than Moses.

Do you find it curious that the result of sin brought death even when sin wasn't credited to the accounts of men? Why did death reign during this time period if God didn't impute transgressions to the human race before the Law was given? The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death ( Romans 6:23 ) and death is a result of sin, but wages cannot be earned if the account is not credited. If sin wasn't taken into account on behalf of God's mercy with humankind, why did they still suffer death at the hand of sin?

This is a fair question that must be answered to fully understand the power of God's grace. Since God was not holding mans sin against them, it also meant that there was no punishment for sin during this time. However, the effects of sin were obviously present, because death abounded. Paul said that death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even void of God's punishment for sin. This gives us amazing insight to the effects of sin upon our lives. Even when God doesn't judge sin, as is the case with the New Testament believer today, sin is deadly. Paul adds clarity to this in Romans 6 when he says, "Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?" ( Romans 6:16 ). So death reigned during this time from the effects of sin and not according to the punishment for sin.

The same principle is true for the born again believer today. When we open ourselves up to unresolved sin, it gives Satan and inroad into our lives. God does not reject us or punish us for sin because Jesus took the full weight of God's wrath for our sin upon the cross. Sin has been completely paid for and completely forgiven. However the effects of sin are still evident in the world in which we live. Problems arise when we expose ourselves to Satan because of continuing on in sin. He is called the accuser of the brethren and he will not think twice about using it to destroy you. So just as the effects of sin claimed lives during the period of grace in which the Patriarchs lived, the effects of sin play a part in our lives today, even though we are not held captive to it.

When Adam transgressed, he plunged mankind into sin, shame and into the control and dominion of Satan. With that, came death, disease and everything the corrupted God's perfect creation. This passage clearly teaches that Adam was a type and a shadow of the One who was to come. Adam was a foreshadowing of Jesus. Hebrews 2:14 says, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he [Jesus] too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil" Jesus came in the flesh to regain dominion and control from Satan and to conquer the power and effect of sin once for all. Because of this, we also live in a state of grace, where to God does not hold sin against us.

Today I am thankful for what Jesus did. I am thankful to be born again and rescued from the power of Satan. I belong to the Son and share in victorious inheritance with all the saints. Today, if you have made Jesus your Lord and Savor then the same is true for you! Amen!

As humans we like to hold God to human standards. We think it only fair that he treat everyone the same. If God chooses to show extra mercy to an individual in certain situations is this unfair to the rest of mankind? Paul knew this question would quickly follow his previous statements about election in Romans 9, that is why he addressed this question himself, is there injustice on God's part by electing the people who have chosen him first?

In today's passage, Paul is heading off anyone from taking his statements and misinterpreting them. "What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!" ( Romans 9:14 ). Is God unfair in choosing, predestining and electing those who by their free will chose him first? Not at all. Paul is reassuring us that God is completely just in offering mercy and compassion on those he chooses. Just because he chose to grant us extra mercy doesn't make him unfair or unjust to others in the process. This is one of the things that he spoke to Moses in Exodus 33, "And God said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim My name, THE LORD, before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy and loving-kindness on whom I will show mercy and loving-kindness" ( Exodus 33:19 Amp ). Not everyone was able to witness the Lord passing by in the cleft of the rock. But Moses witnessed it because God told him he was pleased with him and knew him by name and because Moses asked to see him face to face ( Exodus 33:17 ). God showed Moses extra mercy and favor in revealing himself, in the same way he also bestows this grace and mercy upon us.

God would be just in calling all of our accounts due. He is righteous and holy and mankind is the complete opposite. Because of this, he would be completely righteous in bringing judgment against us. However, because of what Jesus did for us, he extends mercy towards us. He is patient and loving and has chosen to extend grace to us instead of judgment. There is no injustice upon God's part on account of his mercy.

Today, I am so thankful that God is so gracious towards us. I am glad he has extended mercy instead of judgment. Today, my this revelation of God mercy bless you, amen!

There is a difference between the righteousness that the Law offers and the righteousness that comes by faith. Paul started out this chapter by saying the Israelites were zealous for God but their zeal wasn't based upon the truth of Jesus and because of it they sought to establish their own righteousness based upon the law ( Romans 10:2, Romans 10:3 ). Then in verse four he made an amazing declaration that Christ was the end of the law so we could be righteous and holy by faith ( Romans 10:4 ). This is an amazing truth but difficult to accept unless one's heart is in alignment with this truth from God's word.

Our relationship with God has always been based upon a heart change even at the time that the Law was given this was the objective. Moses warned the Israelites when he gave them the law that the man who obeys them will live by them ( Leviticus 18:5 ). It wasn't based on Ten commandments, it was more extensive and based on over four hundred laws and precepts. If you religiously followed one law then you had to follow all laws. Moses warned them about this. However he also understood that this revelation of God's decrees was simply intended to get them ready for the promised Messiah and not to be a means to an end. It outlined everything Jesus would be and it showed us how He would be the perfect sacrifice before God in our stead. Moses warned that if anyone was trusting in the law to save them, they would soon discover how impossible it was. If you live by the law then you will die by the law.

James said the same thing, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it" ( James 2:10 ). The Law is an all or nothing thing. So in that sense it is impossible to live by it because of the sinful nature with which we were born. Fortunately for us we do not have to live this way because "but the righteous will live by his faith" ( Habakkuk 2:4 ). The Amplified Bible put it this way, "but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall live by his faith and in his faithfulness" ( Habakkuk 2:4 Amp ). Meaning that faith in Christ is how we must live and this fulfills the law in our own hearts. Because the law looked forward to Christ and made him its object. Jesus brings us into relationship with God and our heart changes and aligns to His in the process.

What does Jesus say about the Law? When questioned about it Jesus responded, "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" ( Matthew 22:37-40 ). Fulfilling the first commandment can only be accomplished with true lasting heart change. We cannot love God with all of our hearts when it is only an intellectual ritualistic thing. To love God takes every ounce of our being we can only do this when our heart is aligned to his heart. This only happens when we experience the love of Christ. John said, "we love because he first loved us" ( I John 4:19 ). Our love is a natural response to His love towards us. We can love him with everything we are because through grace we are a redeemed and holy people. By loving God in this way we fulfill the intent of the law because we are looking to him for everything and not relying on ourselves.

In the same way, because of His love pouring out of us we can love others where before we couldn't. In fact we can love others more by accident than on purpose. This is because we are living our lives from a real change of heart that focuses on God for everything. It is not a self centered thing. Love flowed from the cross and overflows into our hearts and we have become like Him through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. Paul encourages us with the same thought, "The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ( Galatians 3:14 )."Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." ( Romans 13:8 ). This love is based upon Christ who is the end of the law ( Romans 10:4 ).

Today, I am thankful that Moses foresaw the coming Messiah and challenged the Israelites to look forward to Him in faith instead of living by the dictates of the Law. I am thankful that Christ has come in the flesh to redeem mankind. By trusting in Jesus you are saved and loved and equipped to love one another. May this revelation of Jesus Christ bless you today, amen!