The Daily Word of Righteousness

Not Under the Law but Under Grace, #27

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)

The demands under conscience are not as strict as the demands under the Law of Moses. The demands under the Law of Moses are not as strict as the demands under the new covenant.

The enablement (grace) given under conscience is not as great as the enablement given under the Law (the offerings, the Tabernacle, the priesthood, the written statutes). The enablement given under the Law is not as great as the enablement given under the new covenant (the body and blood of the Lord, the testimony of the Apostles, the born-again experience, the baptism with the Holy Spirit).

God always is moving people toward the moral image of His Son and toward perfect union with Himself through Christ. If the new covenant did not require and produce more righteousness, more holiness, and more obedience than the Law of Moses, it would be an inferior covenant.

We understand, therefore, that it is time for a reformation of theology. Neither the Catholic nor the Protestant theologies, as we understand them, are in harmony with the Scriptures.

Worship and holiness. We have presented previously the concept of the two classes of redeemed people—the Church and the nations of the saved. We have discussed the total demands on the elect concerning worship with the entire personality, and the perfecting of holiness in the fear of God.

The requirement of worship and holiness with regard to the nations of the saved may not be as rigorous as is true of the elect. Nevertheless God demands a certain amount of worship and holiness from every human being.

As we have stated previously, it may be true that when the Lord Jesus spoke of thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and one hundredfold, He was denoting ranks in the Kingdom of God.

The hundredfold may be a firstfruits of the Church who are obligated to respond in total worship, total holiness, and total personality transformation.

The sixtyfold may be the balance of the Church, again having rigorous demands upon them in terms of righteousness and holiness but not having met extreme tests of obedience, of union with God through Christ.

The thirtyfold may represent the members of the nations of the saved. If this is the case, then every member of the nations of the saved has a portion of Christ in him or her and is required to worship the true God of Israel and to lead a holy life.

The concept of every saved person having a portion of Christ in him appears to agree with the following verse:

That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)

In due time, all that is redeemed will be in Christ and Christ in the redeemed until God is All in all.

As the Holy of Holies was more holy than the Holy Place, and the Holy Place of the Tabernacle was more holy than the Courtyard, so it may be true that the firstfruits of the Church, the remainder of the Church, and the nations of the saved, signify differing degrees of the Fire and Presence of God.

To be continued.