(Emphasis added
throughout)
“Do not think that I have
come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)
This is a great verse to show people that God does not
change and to help all those who have the following
misconception: “The so-called tribal God of Israel in the
Old Testament was harsh and war-like. But Jesus somehow changes all that.
Now God
is all about love.”
Can you see just how subtle and deceptive the enemy is? Of
course God is love (see 1 John 4:8); the truth is, He always
has been. However Satan always places some lies within
the Truth–a little leaven–and then mixes it all up, just as one
might blend all the various ingredients of bread together.
And then when this mixture is baked, the dough rises making
one loaf from those ingredients. This is what the Devil has
always done to God’s Word, and to what our Lord tells us
about the way mankind is to live. He takes various parts of
what God has said and then fiendishly blends them together
with a few lies to confuse people.
The result here in
America is the postmodern disdain for the subject of truth.... The enemy has
sown so much confusion while the Church slept that millions
of people don’t think there’s any way to know the truth.
That’s odd, because Jesus said – “I Am the Truth.”
And it is written – "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and
today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
People need to
understand what Christ Jesus means by the Law and the
Prophets. This is a reference to the Old Testament
Scriptures and not just to the Law of Moses itself. In His
time there were three sections of the Hebrew Scriptures –
“the Law,” “the Prophets,” and “the Writings.” Oftentimes in
Christ’s day when someone would say “the Prophets” they
would also be including the Writings as well.
So what the Master is telling us here is – "Do not think that
I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; – [our Old
Testament Scriptures] – I have not come to abolish them but
to fulfill them." After all, we must remember the Bible is
history, or His-story....
A
Bible Study With Christ Himself
You might recall from Luke’s Gospel that following His
Resurrection Jesus came to a couple of disciples who were
walking along the road to Emmaus. Our Lord talks with these
two for a bit, and then He begins a Bible study with them. And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,
He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures
concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27)...
By Luke telling us that
Christ used all the Prophets we know for sure that this is a
reference to both “the Prophets” and “the Writings”. Here
God the Holy Spirit is letting us know that Jesus was using
all of the Holy Scriptures that make up our Old
Testament....
Satan... has been mounting a furious attack on God’s Word
from the very beginning of his dealings with mankind. And
then at the time of the so-called “Age of Enlightenment,”
the Devil began to seriously blur the lines between “faith”
and “reason,” as if they are mutually exclusive; as in
alleging that faith is opposed to reason. Here again Satan
has mixed a little lie in with the Truth to create this new
batch of rancid and toxic dough, which is currently
contaminating the Emergent Church movement to name one
example.
You’ll also hear this flawed thinking within the messages of
the false teachers in the Word Faith perversion.... Here’s a quick example from
Rod Parsley. While he was delivering his “sermon” he
suddenly stopped and told his audience: “You can’t listen to
this next part with your reason. You gotta get this down
into your spiritual man.” Men and women, this is
an extremely dangerous way to think – or more rightly –
how not to think. Let me warn you that to suspend the use of
the mind God gave you to blindly follow any professed
spiritual teacher will... shipwreck your faith....
Truth has not been abolished! As Jesus tells
us in the text – “Do not think that I have come to abolish
the Law or the Prophets,” because the Old Testament
teachings about the character and nature of the LORD God
Almighty are as valid today as when the Spirit of God wrote
them through His holy prophets ...
“My sheep know My voice; I know them, and they
follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never
perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand” (John
10:27-28).
Copyright © 2006 by Ken Silva.
All rights reserved.
Read the entire
message at
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2005/12/truth_has_not_b.html
Other articles by
Pastor Ken Silva:
The Falling Away of the Evangelical Church
Behold What Manner of Love |
Why Fear Reveals Love |
The Master's Sword