Hello all,

Those who pay so much attention to the "letter of the Law" and ignore the "spirit of the Law within our hearts", waste their time blaming and accusing others of not living up to the expectations of what they FEEL we should be thinking and doing. And they miss those little hidden nuggets which bring such joy when they are revealed to us.

Much time is wasted in determining whether or not we should be keeping the 10 Commandments. Jesus TOLD US that the "laws are now written in our hearts", and not on "tablets of stone"....and this explains the transferring from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. The new one supersedes the old, thereby canceling the old in favor of the better one (the new).

An example of this would be if someone made a will, and then with changing times and situations, later he made a new will to accommodate the changes. The old one will no longer be valid due to the changes made in the new one. If one tried to keep BOTH of them valid, then this would be denying the wishes of the one who changed the original will, and it would also cause much confusion. One has to be cancelled so that the other one can be kept.

We have NT scriptures which tell us what the NEW COVENANT (confirmed by the blood of Jesus Christ...Gal.3:17) accomplished, which was FAR SUPERIOR to the OT (Old Covenant). The word "covenant" means "testament", such as "the last will and testament" and is valid only upon the death of the one making the covenant. Jesus shed His blood and died, thereby, "confirming" the NEW COVENANT, which, thereby, supersedes the Old Covenant.

Essentially, the rules and regulations are the same, but they now become a "spiritual" part of us instead of being a physical directive. For instance, instead of "thou shalt not commit adultery", we should not even look upon someone with lust in our hearts. It's not only because we "shouldn't", it's because we shouldn't WANT TO....if we have the "mind of Christ" within us.

And, since there is no longer a "physical" temple, all the rules and regulations that applied to "temple worship" now apply to the "Temple" which WE ARE in our "Body of Christ", and they are fulfilled in a "spiritual" manner within us. And to try to fulfill all the Laws of the OT in the "natural" (external) is misunderstanding the effects of what the Cross has changed.

The NEW COVENANT is one which constitutes GRACE rather than the works of the law...Ephesians 2:8-9. Among the scriptures which show this truth are Hebrews 8:10 and II Cor. 3:2-3. And they essentially say, in meaning:

I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. God wanted to take possession of our hearts. It says that nothing can be put into our hearts especially by God without securing its affection and controlling its whole being.

What God did, He breathed life to us, the very spirit of His law into and through our minds and wrote them on our hearts. Imagine the covenant of God written on our hearts... if the Holy Spirit of God has possessed our whole being and taken complete control of our minds and our emotions... everything that comes out of it shall be from God.

We will no longer be separated from Him. We will know Him completely; for we are no longer on our own when we are one in Christ Jesus. As what Galatians 3:25 says, "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." (The Ten Commandments as part of the Old Covenant) God's laws will then become our inner principles that enable us, His people, to delight in doing His will.

The wonderful thing that has been hidden from most people is the meaning of the "ark of the Covenant" in the OT, and what it represents in the "spiritual" sense. We think of it as a construction that was part of the temple, but we have failed to see the significance of WHY the "tablets of stone", upon which the 10 Commandments were written, WERE PLACED WITHIN THE ARK under God's instruction.

The REAL meaning of this is that God was telling us what His plan was for the future concerning the "10 Commandments".....HE PLACED THEM IN A COFFIN! With the coming of the New Testament (Covenant), and with the death of Jesus Christ, the Old Covenant was now DEAD and "buried" in a coffin.


Information on the meaning of the "Ark of the Covenant":

The small details about the Ark of the Covenant that can be gleaned from the Bible impart a great deal of information about its fate. Where they do not tell the story, they substantiate the conclusions.

Aron

The Hebrew term for the Ark of the Covenant is Aron and this word simply means a chest, box, casket or coffin. It is not the same word as found in reference to Noah's Ark. The following entries are from Strong's King James Concordance in reference to the Ark of the Covenant.

0727 'arown aw-rone' or laron {aw-rone'}; from 0717 (in the sense of gathering); a box:--ark, chest, coffin. (see Hebrew for 0717)

0717 'arah aw-raw'
a primitive root; to pluck:--gather, pluck

(Strong's Exhaustive Concordance)

The word Aron means a chest or box, which the Ark is. The word also means a coffin or casket. One might place a corpse in a coffin. This is a highly important clue for deciphering the later words of the prophets.

New Testament Hebrews 9:1-10 shows the ark was a part of the old order with external regulations waiting for the new day of Christ to come with a perfect Sacrifice able to cleanse the human conscience.

*******
Heb 9:13

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

Heb 9:14

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Heb 9:15

And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

*******

Be very clear about this, the Law is now written in our hearts, not on stone. It is by what Christ did that we keep the laws of the New Covenant...not by our own works. Anyone born again has Christ living inside of them and will naturally produce good works because it is Christ, and not them, carrying out their deeds. Our faith is in what Christ accomplished, and we must rest in Him and let Him work through us.

JESUS IS ALL AND EVERYTHING!!

Patti C.

I agree with you to a point where we disagree. And that is on the following verses, which I would love for you to explain!

James 2:17........Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.


In other words, faith is useless, unless, it produces some type of action on the persons part that has the faith. This action is a result of the holy spirit working in the person to do Gods will. Otherwise, there is no witness that the person has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We are SAVED by GRACE! BUT, we are not relieved of responsibility to do GOOD WORKS in accordance with the laws of God, as to our best abilities.


Romans 3:31..........Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.




Through our faith in Jesus Christ, we are able to establish the law.



Romans 4:2...........For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God.

3....................For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.



Abrahams works were considered righteous because of his FAITH! This is the type of WORKS that are required of us!


Revelation 21:11........And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12......................And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS.


In my humble opinion, our works are to follow Gods commandments, for we establish the LAW by our FAITH!


Revelation 22:14........Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.


AND IF WE "DON'T" do his commandments:


Revelation 22:15........For without are dogs, and sourcerers, and *****mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.


Revelation 22:16........I JESUS HAVE SENT MINE ANGEL TO TESTIFY UNTO YOU THESE THINGS IN THE CHURCHES. I AM THE ROOT AND THE OFFSPRING OF DAVID, AND THE BRIGHT AND MORNING STAR.


These are the words of God from his scriptures, so make your decision wisely!



God bless all who share these words,

YBIC
Michael

Please address the scriptures that I have copied from the KJV of the Holy Bible. This is the BIBLE talking Patti, not me!

And the last verse copied is Jesus Christ own words in Revelation 22:12, 13, 14, 15, & 16. So please explain these verses without a long rant of how some people just don't get it! I have asked you to explain these verses before and you CAN'T!

These are NOT words of MY interpretation! They are straight from the Bible. And I think they are very clear. You need to move on from the milk and quit trying to use milk to explain the meat of biblical matters!

Help me Lord,

Michael

Michael...I am amazed how you kick against the goads!!!

First off Michael, let's address "milk" and "meat" and how you are accusing me of doing the very thing you are guilty of! I am addressing the "meat" and it is you who is addressing the "milk"!! The OT and the carnal way of keeping the Law is the natural or milk, and the NT is the Spiritual way of law keeping which is "meat".

All of the Scriptures I have used to prove my point are also from the KJV of the Bible. Which one of those do you have a problem with and why?

Jesus said "if you love me keep my commandments". Who's commandments did He say to keep? Did He say keep the ten commandments written in stone, or the 38 written on our hearts in His blood? Is Jesus not God?

This should answer your questions about Rev 22...the commandments we are to keep are the commandments given by Jesus (from His own mouth) under the New Covenant.

As to the faith and works issue, I have addressed this over and over, and you still keep asking about it. Therefore, I will bump up my study on this very issue and you can read it, again or for the first time, I do not know. It is entitled "Faith without Works is Dead"...simple.

I do not appreciate your unwillingness to really understand the difference between the Old and New Covenant. This is obviously where you are having trouble. And I do not appreciate you treating me like I am the one who is lacking in understanding when it is you who is stuck on the milk!

I have answered your questions and I am not going to return to this issue again with you. Believe what you want!! Just do not try and teach this to others as you are in danger of leading others astray, and that is not good!

JESUS IS ALL AND EVERYTHING!!!

Patti C.

Hi,

I hope it is ok to interject for a moment and ask you both to take a step back from this topic.....

Pray for a day or two over it and see if there is room for both of you to glean from each other.

ok....

I'm stepping back out of this ....

I pray you both will glean from each other and come to a peaceful resolution to this conversation.

God Bless

Steven