““THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM …” Part 2 of 4
““THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM …”
Part
2 of 4
THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH of the
book of Matthew
This
kingdom of heaven gospel confronted the Jew with the impossible
demand
of being sinless. If they could not be sinless, they would not enter
Abraham’s
bosom, never to get to heaven, but burn forever in hell.
“Furthermore”
Christ adds “it will be possible for you to have the kingdom
of
heaven down here on earth, but there are two
conditions:
First,
you must believe I, Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, can
perfectly keep
the rules for you.
Second,
you
will keep doing the animal blood sacrifices for the remission
of PAST
sins (Rom 3:25).
If
you can do these two things, I can guarantee you 100% that you will go
to
Abraham’s bosom as a temporary stop-over when you die, and then after
the
cross, I’ll come and collect you and take you to heaven.”
In
Summary:
Jesus says “Correct. You won’t be
able
to keep these rules. In fact I gave you these rules to show that you can’t
keep them as they are impossible to keep. BUT I WILL DO IT ON YOUR
BEHALF!
But you will need to continuously believe (that is “believeth”
which is the present, continuous and on-going belief) that I can
satisfy the
kingdom of heaven rules, that is, fulfil the law. Also, you will still
have to
go up to the temple to offer blood sacrifices for your ever on-going
sins. It’s
a DOUBLE FORMULA of believe in me for perfect
works on
your behalf + animal blood for your past sins as I
haven’t shed
my blood yet!”
Christ
says “The entry requirement for Abraham’s bosom the works in fulfilling
the Old
Testament laws, the Ten Commandments, PLUS you’ll need
animal
blood for remission of past sins. After I shed my perfect and sinless
blood on
the cross, then I’ll come and get you from Abraham’s bosom and take you
into
heaven.”
Now
at this point, the seeds of suspicion and doubt crept into the minds of
the Jews,
which were stoked by the priests and the Jewish rulers who saw their
empires
about to crumble. However, the ordinary Jew just loved Jesus, and why
wouldn’t
they? He healed them, fed them, raised their dead and ‘nursed them like
babies’. They initially believed in him, but many couldn’t keep it up
(John
6:66).
So
why did Jesus come to,
and for, the Jews to give them an impossible set of rules?
Answer?
God’s patience had been tried with Israel for about 1500 years.
When
Moses gave the laws at Mt Sinai, they were to put Israel under the curse of God
(Galatians 3:10) as
these laws were also IMPOSSIBLE to keep (Matthew 22:37-40),
as keeping the law had two conditions
1.
The
acts themselves with animal blood sacrifices, feasts and ceremonies
2.
The
right ‘heart’ attitude that would please God
Israel
were simply going through the motions and their hearts weren’t in it.
So when Christ gives his laws with the Sermon
on the Mount, they were also given to put Israel
under a curse,
as these laws couldn’t be kept either.
Now these laws were much more strict
in demanding a more internal obedience about
their thought-life, heart attitudes and motives. For example, if they
wouldn’t
forgive others in their hearts, then God would not forgive their sins
either.
Also if they weren’t pure in heart they would never see God in heaven!
These
were impossible rules!
Now,
in the Old Testament they knew all this, but they were a nation that walked
by sight. They had more miracles happening per square metre, than
all other
nations combined in the history of the world. For 40 years they had
food drop
out of heaven, and prophets who had countless signs and wonders. But
they
failed!
So
God says “I know, I’ll go down to earth and appear to them in person,
and as
Jesus Christ, I’LL FULFIL THE LAW ON THEIR BEHALF. That will
make it
real easy for them. Then with animal blood, they can atone for the remission
of their past sins.”
So
at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus, God himself in the flesh, is face to
face
with them. Jesus says “Look the Old Testament laws still are in force,
but I’ll
fulfil them on your behalf with the pure internal heart
motivation
that the law requires. If you will believeth (that is present,
continuous and on-going believing) in me that I can do this for you,
and also
keep up the blood sacrifices for your past sins, and you’ll qualify for
Abraham’s bosom, and then into heaven.”
****
****
Harley Hitchcock
This
website’s front page is:
www.
“THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM …” Part 3 of 4
********************************************
Australian Bible
Ministries, PO
Box 5058 Mt. Gravatt East 4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
