Both Testaments

Both Testaments

5/18/17

There is some controversy concerning the usage of the Old Testament and how much it really means to us since the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.  The lack of our understanding of the Old Testament plays right into the hands of our enemy and thus into our lives as well.  We cannot afford to sit back and study the New Testament alone for if we do our definition as The Church cannot be understood and lived.  God wants ALL of His Word to be understood so that we may live in complete protection under His Son’s blood.  Sadly, we are not living in His Word and therefore subject to many deceptions from our enemy.  The only way to repair this damage is to allow God to restore our lives through his entire Word and not just parts of it.

I was raised in church and have listened to countless numbers of sermons from God’s Word.  Various degrees of depth my ears have heard with some squarely on target and some kind of hard to follow.  In my younger years I have to admit that not every sermon and teaching that I was present at took hold, and for some of these settings, my ears and eyes were focused on other things (girls) and practically did not hear a word that was spoken.  Now, I wish I had listened more to those sermons and messages that were given for maybe I could have avoided some of the misfortunes I had to trek through in order to arrive at this current stage in my life.  Then again, God knows exactly what He is doing and allowed me to encounter such rebellious tendencies in order for me to understand what to say to His Church today.

The sermons that I sat through during my time in church have many memories that still I reflect upon from time to time.  I love to mentally hear my father’s voice in some of those sermons, along with my uncle Jerry, Pastor Lee, and many other friends and family members that stood behind pulpits and on platforms.  I could not tell you exactly or even roughly how many sermons and teachings that I have heard that came from the Old Testament or the New Testament, but what I can tell you is that both testaments were used in the sermons that I did hear.  Up until a few years ago, I did not understand that both testaments were needed in order for me to understand my life, my spiritual life, my growth, and most importantly my definition and origin.  Once I grasped the truth that both testaments of the Bible were written specifically for me and you it brought into spectrum just how much my life (and yours) means to God.  As my wise and wonderful mother says sometimes “oh, to go back and relive the past so that we can make things right the first time”, she is absolutely correct when she says that “hindsight is 20/20”.

God did not give us the Old Testament alone and nor did He give the New Testament afterward, only to be read by itself.  We must understand that we need both testaments in order to understand our definition, for our growth and our maturing that only comes from our eternal Father.  If we leave out any part of God’s Word we are saying that we know it all or have no desire to know where we came from or what our lives mean.  Sadly, many Christians play this partiality when it comes to the inclusion of the Old Testament into their lives and thus have the lack of knowledge to defend their “Church” status when challenged. This is why it is imperative that we study both testaments of the Bible, for ultimately our eternal life depends on it.

God has shared with us over the past few months about His completeness and how through this completeness He transforms our lives into the creations that He first placed into existence.  God could make this pure, holy, no rival, and complete status if He would have only given us a partial truth about our existence.  Yet, in providing this valuable information He has left out details that could have swayed our unique creative status, thus verifying that our choice to believe in Him and choosing His Ways in our lives is just that, a choice.  If He had detailed all of the information about everything, then we would have the argument that He forced us to live under His “rules” instead of claiming free will and choice in all things.  This truth about God proves a brilliant message that only a true and all-encompassing God and Creator would think about before He created one item.

This brings us to a point where some people may not agree with what is about to be shared, but these words are from God and He wants us to understand exactly what He is saying to His people, ALL of what He is saying and to ALL of His children.  We cannot survive our lives if we live without the Bible or if we try to live with only one Testament of God’s Word.  The presenters of print may have placed God’s Word into two sections but God wrote His Word for one purpose only, for us to be complete.  Therefore, if God wrote it in this manner of completeness His Word cannot be “divided” but must be taken as a whole to be understood completely.  If we do not study and live under each word of the Bible then we are guilty of not obeying what God’s Word actually states.  God did not stop with the Nation of Israel but extended His purity to everyone who wanted to live under God’s protection.

If God had stopped with Old Testament and the history of Israel then we would have been subject to a “lawful” God and one who would not be nor could be considered complete, for choice would have been eliminated.  When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, God’s protection covered both of them which means all were covered who wished to obey.  All throughout the Old Testament we see this pattern continue and while Israel defined themselves with laws and forgot God entirely, all who wished to live for God could do so, but not in good standing with others the Bible states.  If God had only given us the Old Testament, then the definition of “The Church” would have never been established, nor could she have either.  This would also mean that God would have thought of another way of salvation because the creation, life, death and resurrection of Christ would have not followed God’s words in the Garden of Eden concerning the punishment of Satan and nullify the plan of restoration for everyone who chooses God.  With this statement of truth, Satan would have the legitimate recourse of claiming that Jesus’ presence and Divinity on earth was a lie and deemed as heretic in existence.  I do not wish to take away from any person who may be reading this message from God, but does this paragraph remind you of a certain group of people when referencing Jesus and Christianity?

Turning to the New Testament, we see that this beautiful message from God contains the exact same situations that the Old Testament contains.  We have specifics about settings and then letters that were written to God’s people telling them to follow God and not the world.  If one wishes we can consider the physical authors of the New Testament as the prophets and wise men that wrote so vividly in the Old Testament.  The called of each Testament in the Bible may differ somewhat but the content that God shares with His people is the exact same, which means that God has to reinforce His Word in both Testaments.  The Old Testament is the definition of Israel and thus serves as the foundation of our existence as both in presence of life and as the children of God.  If the Old Testament is not taken into the New Testament as the truth about God and our lives, then we cannot have a true understanding of our lives.  We as the Church cannot survive in believing that the Old Testament ended when Jesus came and performed His Life on the earth.  If we believe this to be true, then we are no better than the beliefs of those who end their truth at Malachi 4:6 and thus believe in a half truth about ourselves and most vitally about God.

The idea of only living under one testament fails our lives from our foundation and therefore no truth of the Church exists.  We as the Church cannot have any definition without first accepting the Old Testament as our foundation and organization and thus a completion of god’s Laws as a protection and not as a limitation.  I have heard many times over my lifetime that the New Testament is the definition of the Church and it is but it does not stop there, for the New Testament is a history of Jesus for it was He who established the Church.  Jesus came first, not the Church and it is through this exact order which gives the authorization of our lives in the Old Testament because God has no origin and was present before His Word was given to us in the first place (Old Testament).  The pattern is the same and consistent with a consistent God, the one who is the author of all established life, our personal lives, and the Church.  It is through this truth that forges the truth that we cannot live in fullness without living inside Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. 

If we do not believe that the Old Testament is relevant to our lives today then we cannot honestly say that the New Testament is relevant either.  In other words, if we do not believe one is as equal as the other then God’s Word is a lie and therefore our existence is a lie as well.  Israel does not need our existence to prove theirs correct, but we need Israel’s truth as a defining point as the Church for when we desecrate God’s existence and origin we automatically do the same with our lives and I believe we are seeing this belief coming true in our societies today.  I spoke to a friend the other day about how sad it is to see such a gifted world go down the toilet all the while refusing to accept the one Being who can turn our lives around and at the same time refuse to acknowledge our origins through Him as well; but it makes sense for if you do not believe completely in His Word, then it is easy to fall for such deception from our enemy.

Study God’s Word, all of it and you will find out that the timeframe is different but the people and their choices are the same.  Taking only one portion of God’s Testaments as truth is the same as taking a bit of a passage and using to gain an advantage in an argument for that type of usage is exactly how Satan deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; furthermore, if one uses Scripture in such a manner then they are reenacting the scene with them playing the part of the serpent.  Using only a portion of God’s Word is wrong and heretical and could easily cause some person to be hurt by the light of the world instead of understanding His presence in our lives.  We need to study God’s Word as a protection and as an eternal guide that focuses on restoration into God’s Covenant instead of personal (worldly) ideologies that try and justify self.

Church it is time that we wake up and see what we have allowed to occur on our watch.  If you turn on any newscast and not be convicted of the fruits of the world then we have been lulled asleep by our enemy.  What I mean by the scenes on the newscasts is that the spiritual condition of the world and more specifically of this nation is sickening to God and at some point in the very near future God shall have no choice (pure choice) to say “enough”.  I dread that day and we should be doing everything possible to delay this day from coming in our lifetimes.  Life itself has been shaken and destroyed to the core well enough that our enemy no longer has to do it for us, all he has to do is focus on his laughter as he stands and watches us continue the course.  We can stop this and be repaired back to our original health, but we can only achieve this truth if we turn back to God and accept Him and His Ways in our lives as number one again.

We cannot live as the New Testament Church if we do not live under the Covenant that God established in the Old Testament, for the New Covenant comes from the Old Covenant.  If we do not believe and understand this “Old Covenant” then we cannot understand the “New Covenant” either.  The entire Bible is the Word of God and its contents have stood the test of time for all time and this champion of life shall continue its undefeated rank for your entire lifetime if you only choose to allow its Author full reign over your heart.  It is this reason why God wants us to study and to understand His Word in its entirety, for when we study His Word with a pure and clean heart God’s truth shall flow from within our life and there can be no mistake that both testaments are alive inside your heart.  God's entire Word is infallible and we should be living in His Word fully at all times, for it is our desire to understand according to our creative hearts, so why not go to the entire source instead of a fallible rejection.

DLB