MELCHIZEDEK KING OF SALEM (PART 2)

MELCHIZEDEK KING OF SALEM   (PART 2)             

                There are many Messianic Jews who don’t like Paul because he seems to be speaking out against the Law. He even seems to be speaking out against observing the Feast Days and Sabbaths and none of that fits well with Messianic teaching.

                Sometimes we may be tempted to ask if Paul was schizophrenic. For instance, in Galatians 3 he tells us that the Law is not of faith and that Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law and he finishes his argument by saying that we are no longer under the tutelage of the Law and in Hebrews 8:13 he says that the New Covenant has in effect made the first covenant obsolete.

                Then again in what seems to be the exact opposite Paul says: “Do we then nullify, or make void the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary we establish the Law.

                Wow Paul! What are you saying?

                But it is exactly this paradox that must be solved in order to bring the Body of Christ into unity and that unity will come about by reconciling Law and grace… and Law and Grace are reconciled in the Melchizedek Priesthood of Jesus Christ.

                Like I said in my last article, churches are divided and virtually identified by which side of Paul’s argument they choose to agree with. Some like to shout from the roof tops that the Law was done away, while others like to trumpet the fact that the Law is Holy and Righteous and good and not one jot or tittle of it will be removed until all is completed and that the Remnant people of God will be identified as those who Keep the Commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

                Well… who’s right?

                Neither group is completely right, for if we embrace the total of what Paul says, we would have known that the Law was not only fulfilled by Jesus back then, but it continues to be fulfilled in us who live not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For this thought let us take a look at the tabernacle of Moses:

                We as Christians like to post the Ten Commandments in public places and on the walls of our churches. (That is if we are fundamental Christians) and for that matter, our nation needs a good reminding of the laws that many are breaking. But where was the Law posted in Israel?

                To find the Law, you had to pass through the outer court and through the veil into the Holy Place and from their through another thick veil and into the very presence of God and even there you didn’t see the Law. It was hidden inside the Ark of the Covenant under the solid gold mercy seat and under the glowing presence of God Himself. But what does this tell us exactly?

1.       The Law is eternal. The Law is certainly not done away with, since it is still in the Ark of the Covenant within the very throne of God.

2.       The three compartments of the Sanctuary represent the body (outer court) the soul (Holy Place) and the spirit of man (The Most Holy Place) The Tabernacle of Moses tells us exactly what the New Covenant would be… and of course the Old Covenant is, in every way pointing to the New Covenant that would be ratified by the True Lamb of God Yeshua.

3.       So hidden within the heart of the Old Covenant is the New Covenant. There the Law is written in our hearts. The letter of the Law is hidden in the foundations for it is the Spirit of the Law that brings life.

                This is what Paul means in Colossians 2:16, 17 when he says: “Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day- things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

                Everything in the Old Covenant pointed to the New Covenant… from the lamb at the front gate, to baptism in the laver, to partaking of Christ through His Word and the Holy Spirit and prayer in the Holy Place, to being born again and filled with the Spirit of God so that His Laws could be written in our hearts (spirits) in the Most Holy Place… every one of these things was pointing directly to the New Covenant. Jesus came as the true Lamb of God to bring to us the realities of all that the Law of Moses pictured for us in types and shadows. Nothing is done away, but everything moves from the letter of the Law to the Spirit of the Law.

                So when Paul asks, “Do we make void the Law through faith?” He answers with a resounding NO! Jesus in fact establishes the validity of the Old Testament by fulfilling its types and shadows. He doesn’t destroy it; He fulfills it and then offers to us in His Spirit that which the Law could never deliver to us…the transforming power that is His righteousness and His salvation by entrance into His kingdom through the cross. There we die to Satan’s kingdom and are born into Christ’s kingdom.

                So the question remains. Do we need to observe all of the types and shadows and the feast days and Sabbaths? They had this discussion in the first century and the types and shadows were not imposed upon the Gentile believers. But this does not invalidate these things in the least. Indeed we live in the spiritual realities that are pictured therein. As true Christians our lives will fulfill spiritually all that is pictured in types and shadows. And since the Fall Feasts have yet to be fulfilled, we certainly need to understand them, for they outline the events of the last days leading up to Yeshua’s return.

                The dynamics of this transition from the Old to the New Covenants is best described by the law of circumcision. We are no longer required to physically cut off our foreskins, even though this was actually a part of the Abrahamic covenant that came before the Law. Nevertheless we are circumcised in our hearts by the Holy Spirit when our flesh is put to death (cut off) in order that we might live by the Spirit and not by the flesh. This is a much greater circumcision than a mere cutting of the skin. And when we enter into rest from our own works through faith in Jesus Christ, this is a far greater Rest than a mere 24 hour day to be observed.

                When we are born again, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and we partake of Christ for our new life… this is far greater than mere physical deliverance from Egypt through Passover. And when we do away with sin in our lives by the power of the indwelling Christ… this is much greater than merely eating unleavened bread. And when we receive the Holy Spirit and the power of Pentecost, this is much greater than the mere receiving of a Law written on stone from Mt. Sinai. For as Hebrews 12 says: We do not come to the mountain and the blast of the trumpet and the thundering voice of God that was so powerful that even Moses was full of fear and trembling; but we have come to Mt. Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels and the general assembly of the first born and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect and to Yeshua, the Mediator of a New Covenant.

                This is what Paul is trying to tell us throughout His writings. As long as we remain in the flesh, then all that we might do is nothing but dead and empty ritual… but if we receive the Spirit of Christ, then life has entered into us and love and righteousness.  As such the Law is fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. It is not done away. It is being fulfilled in us daily as we walk in the Spirit.

                So when the Remnant in Revelation 12:17 are identified as those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus, this is telling us that the Law is being fulfilled through them who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. They are living in love for God and love for their fellow man and the fruit of the Spirit is being produced in our lives. This is the life that fulfills the Law.

                I believe that God has raised up the Messianic movement in these closing hours of history for two reasons:

1.       I believe that the Gospel that is being preached in many circles today has gotten off track and so it lacks the power that it once had to deliver people from sin and death... Therefore we need a reminder of the laws, types and shadows and feast days to act as a sort of self-correcting DNA to bring the depth of the true Gospel into focus once again. The New Covenant is not the careless dumping of the Old Covenant, but the empowering of it and us to actually live the life that it pictures for us.

2.       I also believe that Christianity has created a sort of paganized version of Jesus that the Jews cannot recognize. Joseph’s brothers did not recognize him because he looked like an Egyptian pharaoh. Likewise Jesus’ brethren don’t recognize Him today because He no longer looks like Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah. God has therefore raised the Messianic movement up to present to the Jews, their true Messiah as the One who is represented by all of the types, shadows, and feasts.

                                But one big question still remains. What about the Sabbath… the seventh day Sabbath of creation?

                In spite of the fact that Jesus is indeed our true Rest, we must consider that the Sabbath came long before the Law and was in fact a part of creation itself. How do we deal with this?

                On this question I would refer you to Romans chapter 14. Paul says that each person must be convinced in their own mind.

                Bonnie and I love the Sabbath and we keep it in our home, using the day for study and worship and praise to God. We think of it as a precious sign of the covenant that we walk in with our Lord. For us it has nothing to do with legalism or legal obligation. It is a relationship thing that never ends, for even in the millennium when Christ rules and reigns over the earth, New Moons and Sabbaths will be observed and at certain feast days all nations will go up to Jerusalem to worship the King.

                So rather than argue over our many opinions on the subject of the Sabbath I will let the Bible answer that for each of us, but I would like to talk about some of the dynamics of life in the Spirit.

                In Old Testament times they went to the temple to meet with God. God dwelt in the Sanctuary, so they had to go there to meet with Him. But in the New Testament, WE ARE the temple of God. We have become carriers of the presence of God. We are His tabernacle. We house the Ark of the Covenant within us and within that Ark is the Law, written in our hearts.

                For the truly born again Spirit filled believer, there is no such thing as secular time. All time for us is holy and we live with the consciousness of His abiding presence at all times. From this standpoint then, as Paul says, all time is holy and all spaces are holy. We don’t take time off from God. Our lives are governed by His presence. He is our Lord and King. We are His bond servants.

                This life and fellowship that we have in Christ is far superior to the lives of those who limit God to His sacred times and places. Many live life as they see it… calling their own shots and then stopping in on God once or twice a week to fulfill a legal obligation. Then they go out to return to their otherwise secular lives.

                This can never be the case for the truly born again and Spirit filled child of God. We live in a constant state of Sabbath rest, for we are operating by His power and not our own. We have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless we live, yet not us, but Christ lives in us, so that the life that we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave His life for us. This is the life of a true Christian as the Bible defines it.

                Now, if we choose to worship God in His sacred times and sacred spaces, we do so out of love rather than legal obligation and we do so for the sake of fellowship with like believers. And we do so understanding that there are certain portals in time and space in which heaven kisses earth and God has shown us those times and spaces and so we go there to worship the King… for even though we are temples of the Holy Spirit, we are also being built together into a larger dwelling place of God in which each of us is a living stone. And together, through the five-fold ministries that God has granted us, we are being drawn into ”...unity in the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” and speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head even Christ. Eph. 4:13, 15

                As truly born again and Spirit filled believers then, we would certainly want to be a part of all of that; for we are in training to reign with Christ and as such, a part of that training is in learning how to love and have patience with our brethren and sisters in the faith. We are learning how to nurture one another and encourage one another and we are likewise learning how not to gossip, and back bite, or to be divisive, or contentious. We are learning not to judge others, but to bear one another’s burdens knowing that except for the grace of God we would fall most miserably.

                In other words, under the Melchizedek Priesthood of Christ, our lives are being transformed in ways that far surpass all that we once tried to do in the flesh. To fully understand what has been said here would be to enter into a life driven by love rather than obligation… inspired by the Holy Spirit rather than controlled by Law. It would be like life from the dead.

                It is high time for us to enter into the fullness of the life that Jesus Christ bought for us on the cross and administers to us as our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. This is the new and living way… one which enters within the veil where Yeshua has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Heb. 6:20