THE DIVINE EXCHANGE

THE DIVINE EXCHANGE

                Why is the Law of God written largely in negative terms? Mostly it says “Don’t do this and don’t do that. Surely none of that would have made sense to Adam and Eve before the fall. The truth of the matter is that when Adam and Eve sinned, they changed. Adam and Eve had been created to be temples of the living God. He was the very life of their lives. They lived in communion with Him and there was no sense of separation or guilt or fear at His presence.

                Adam and Even had only one law in the garden and that was to avoid eating from one certain tree… the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve knew nothing of evil and God didn’t want them to know evil. So when Satan (the Nachash) tempted Eve he told her that they would become as gods knowing good and evil. In this part of his temptation he was actually telling the truth.

                We know he was telling the truth because God agreed with him on that point. In Genesis 3:22 god said: “Behold the man has become like one of Us knowing good and evil; and now lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever…”

                In other words Adam and Eve were created to be immortal and as long as they were temples of the living God they would live forever. So their sin, the one sin of seeking immortality apart from God brought death to them and with death comes the knowledge of evil.

                Paul tells us in Romans 5,”Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned- for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed where there is no law. So there was no law, but men died anyway. And men became evil as well, so evil in fact that it repented God that He had ever created them, but their sin was not that of breaking the Ten Commandments because they had not yet been given.

                The Law of God is eternal, but in its eternal form it is written in the positive and not in the negative. It is the Sh’mah that Israel repeats and it is the Sh’mah that Jesus gave to the Pharisees saying that upon these two laws hang all the law and the prophets. The Sh’mah is nothing more than the Law of God written in its eternal terms.

                So when Adam and Eve sinned, they changed. They ceased in that very moment to be temples of the living God and the law changed with them. That which had been written in the eternal terms of love to god and love for each other, took on the nugatory language that must speak to fallen man.

                Knowing and understanding this, we must quickly see that keeping the Law will not restore us to favor with God. What we really need is to become temples of the living God once again so that we can be restored to the Sh’mah, the eternal law of love.

                So even though Paul says that mankind did not sin in the likeness of Adam, who knowing God and walking in fellowship with Him nevertheless chose to seek life apart from Him. And in the moment that Adam did that his connection with the living God was severed and he began to receive his life from the Nachash (Satan) Mankind traded in the eternal life of God for the “Iniquity Force.” The power of sin and death.

                So Paul tells us in Romans 5:12-13 saying: therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men FOR UNTIL THE LAW SIN WAS IN THE WORLD; BUT SIN IS NOT IMPUTED WHEN THERE IS NO LAW. NEVERTHELESS DEATH REIGNED FROM ADAN UNTIL MOSES, EVEN OVER THOSE WHO HAD NOT SINNED IN THE LIKENESS OF ADAM’S OFFENSE WHO WAS A TYPE OF HIM WHO WAS TO COME.”

                So why did the people have to die from Adam to Moses? IT wasn’t because they broke the Ten Commandments. It was because their connection had been severed from God. They were no longer temples of the living God. They were now living by the iniquity force which has no life in it and ends in death.

                It is within this context then that we begin to understand what Passover was all about. It was not about being restored to the Law for the Law had not yet been written in its negative terms. It was all about being covered by the blood of the Lamb and eating the Lamb… all of it so that they could be restored to fellowship with God. It is all about a restored relationship. IT is all about becoming temples of the living God once again. And for that restoration there must be the death of one innocent Lamb that was greater than the sum of humanity for His sacrifice must be enough to cover the sins of all of humanity. The sacrifice could be made by no less than the Creator of all life Himself.

                So to teach Israel this and by extension to teach all of us the nature of His sacrifice, God instituted the sacrifice of innocent lambs. We could look into the eyes of an innocent lamb that had never sinned, and to realize that this poor creature was dying for my sins and not for his own sins.

                Passover is called Passover because the death angel was required to pass over everyone whose door posts and lintel were smeared with and covered with the blood of the Lamb. But they also ate the lamb in order to have strength for the journey. Likewise we too are covered by the blood of the Lamb and we too partake of Christ by His Holy Spirit and His Word so that we can also have strength for the journey.

                Passover was instituted by God to help us to keep the issues straight. It is not in the keeping of the Law that we are reconciled to God. It is by the blood of the Lamb. Nevertheless the Law will be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4) And God has never changed His mind about this, for as we see in Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony and they did not love their life even to death.”

                We also see God’s Remnant people in the last days being identified as those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Rev 12:17 And how do they keep the Commandments? They do so because they have become temples of the living God and in them the Law has once again reverted to its positive terms. They have been restored to the Sh’mah… to love of God and love for each other.  They bear the fruit of the Spirit.

                Jesus died as our Passover Lamb in order to restore us as temples of the living God. WE follow in the footsteps of Yeshua. We have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live, yet not us, but Christ lives in us, and the life that we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave His innocent life for us.

                These are points to think of during this Passover season and we must certainly think of these things when we partake of the Communion as well. Communion is Passover as Jesus instituted it in eating His holy flesh (The unleavened bread) and partaking of His innocent shed blood. (The wine)

                Just like that first Passover, we must partake of Christ in His fullness and we must be covered by His blood.  The Lamb was struck down in our place… and yet, by the power of His resurrection, He has become our High Priest in order to minister His blood and His Spirit to us.

                If we once get this, then the book of Galatians will be no problem for us. In utter frustration Paul shouts across time, not only to the people of Galatia, but to us.

                “You foolish Galatians, wo has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit are you now being perfected in the flesh? Gal. 3:1-3

                Then Paul goes on to say in verses 21-26: Is the Law therefor contrary to the promises of God?  May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life (The life that Adam lost) then righteousness would indeed have been based on Law. But the scripture has shut up all men under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to faith, which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ.”

                This whole business is about being reconciled to God  is so that we can once again become temples of the Holy Spirit just as Adam and Eve were before the fall. This then is the REST of which the Sabbath speaks, for as we enter into that REST we cease from our own labors and we begin to live by and to trust His work in us and through us.

                May this time of Passover be a time of great blessing for you… and may you enter fully into all that this Passover represents. In this divine exchange then Jesus takes our own sin and death so that we can share His life and His righteousnss.