The rise of the saints, part 12

The Nehemiah project in 2012 was done while I was doing the study on the book of Deuteronomy. I had started the weblog series on June 8, 2012 and did not finish until the next year on September 13, 2013. This focus on understanding the law of God through New Covenant eyes put us into a proper mindset and focus, which led to the wall-building project.

There were two laws in particular, representing the whole, which we were led to place in the wall of the New Jerusalem: the law of victims rights and the law of impartiality. The first establishes the right to forgive, be merciful, and to extend grace according to one’s discernment. The second establishes the rights of all men to approach God with equal standing and to be treated with impartial justice. The law of God establishes all genuine rights under God.

Although most Christians would give assent to these laws, many have only a superficial understanding of them. For this reason, they do not understand the implications of these laws. So although most Christians believe in grace and forgiveness, they do not see it as a right.

Hence, when Jesus said on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34), most Christians fail to see that Jesus was exercising His right to forgive the world. He, being the Victim for every sin every committed—past, present, and future—had the right to press charges or to forgive. He chose to forgive, thus establishing the restoration of all things.

This lack of understanding causes many Christians to discount Jesus’ words as if such forgiveness were impossible—as if such universal forgiveness would violate the holiness of God. They fail to see that God will indeed judge all sin, but that such judgment is designed to bring about universal forgiveness, not never-ending torture in “hell.”

The Law of Impartiality

God’s law of impartiality is set forth in God’s instructions to judges in Exodus 23:2, 3,

² You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; ³ nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute.

Exodus 23:9 concludes the full passage, saying,

⁹ You shall not oppress a stranger [gar, “alien, sojourner, guest”] since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

These laws address the most common forms of partiality, that of rich and powerful vs. poor and helpless, as well as Israelite vs. non-Israelite. The Apostle James teaches us about the sin of partiality in the second chapter of his epistle. He focuses primarily on the issue of rich vs. poor (James 2:2, 3, 4, 5, 6), concluding in James 2:9, 10,

⁹ But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

Paul, the Apostle to the gentiles (or “nations”), found it necessary to combat the practice of partiality among many of the Jewish believers in the church. So the book of Acts, written by Luke, Paul’s close companion and scribe, records how Peter himself had to learn this lesson of the Impartial God of Israel. In Acts 10 Peter was sent to extend the baptism of the Holy Spirit to Cornelius and his group of believers.

God had given Peter a vision of a sheet full of unclean animals, where God commanded him to “kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). Peter refused, but God said, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy” (Acts 10:15). In other words, Peter’s understanding of the law needed to have an upgrade.

At that moment, messengers arrived, asking Peter to go with them to Caesarea, where—much to his surprise—the Holy Spirit was poured out on non-Jews. When Peter heard the testimony of Cornelius, he finally received understanding of his vision. We read in Acts 10:34, 35, 44, 45,

³⁴ Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, ³⁵ but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him…” ⁴⁴ While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to his message. ⁴⁵ All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.

These Jews “were amazed,” because they had thought that the promise of God was given only to biological Israelites. They should have understood from Deuteronomy 16:10, 11 that the feast of Weeks (i.e., Pentecost) was to be observed by non-Israelites as well as Israelites.

¹⁰ Then you shall celebrate the feast of Weeks… ¹¹ and the stranger [gar, “alien”] and the orphan and the widow…

If God had commanded non-Israelites to keep the feast of Weeks as early as the time of Moses, then it is obvious that Peter’s understanding of the law needed to be upgraded. “All of the circumcised believers who came with Peter” had been in violation of the law of impartiality all of their lives, because the priests in the temple had taught them incorrectly.

In fact, there was a wall in the outer court that kept women and gentiles at a distance from God. Only Jewish men could draw near to God. This was a huge violation of the law of impartiality. Paul understood this, declaring boldly that this wall of division had been broken down by Christ and His teachings. Ephesians 2:13-16 says,

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, ¹⁵ by abolishing in His flesh the enmity… so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile them both in one body to God…

Jesus did not change the law; Jesus reinstated the law that had been abolished by the priests in Jerusalem. God has been impartial from the beginning, but men’s nationalism had gotten in the way. It was common in those days for each nation to have its own gods that favored them above other nations. The Jews had adopted their own version of partiality which was unlawful from the beginning.

Moses wrote in Numbers 15:15, 16,

¹⁵ As for the assembly [kahal, “congregation, assembly, church”], there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien [gar] be before the Lord. ¹⁶ There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien [gar] who sojourns with you.”

This is a law of our Impartial God and Judge of all the earth. The Jewish notion that they alone are to study and receive the law of God, while the Gentiles are given only the so-called Noahide laws of Genesis 9:1-7 is a blatant violation of Numbers 15:15, 16. Paul agrees, telling us in Romans 3:19,

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God.

The notion that only Israel received the law and are accountable to it is refuted here. Besides, there were many non-Israelites who came out of Egypt with the Israelites (Exodus 12:38), and these people were equally accountable to the law. Moses then said in Exodus 12:49,

⁴⁹ The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.

The Chosen People

Deuteronomy 7:6 says,

⁶ For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

These words were spoken to the entire nation of Israel—which included many who were not biological descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet these biological aliens had become Israelites by nationality, for they had left their own people and had joined with Israel. These simply joined the tribe of their choice and later lived in the Promised Land within the territory of that tribe.

More importantly, being “a people for His own possession” was actually a matter of faith, not biology. When Israel first came to Mount Sinai, God told them in Exodus 19:5, 6,

⁵ Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenants, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; ⁶ and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…

The condition by which they were to be God’s people (i.e., “chosen”) was that they would “obey My voice and keep My covenants.” It was not based on genealogy. God did NOT say, "Now then, if you can prove your genealogy back to Abraham, then you shall be My own possession." In fact, forty years later, they were still not God’s people, for God had to make a second covenant with them to ensure that they would become His people. Deuteronomy 29:12, 13 says,

¹² that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, ¹³ in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Old Covenant at Sinai had failed to make the Israelites God’s people, because they had not heard or obeyed God’s voice. So God made a second covenant (Deuteronomy 29:1), in which He Himself took an oath to make them His people and to be their God. This was a restatement of the New Covenant, which, in earlier years, God had sworn “to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

The point is that the chosen people were people of faith, who believed the promises of God, as did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These are the children of Abraham (Galatians 3:39). Our impartial God gives all men equal opportunity to be His people. The dividing wall has been torn down through Christ, and anyone who tries to rebuild that wall is in violation of the law of impartiality.

This law was the second “stone” that was to be placed in the wall of the New Jerusalem through our Nehemiah project. It was placed on November 29, 2012, as we will see, so that the saints of the Most High would know how to rule and how to judge the nations as priests of God and of Christ (Exodus 19:6; Revelation 5:10).