True Christianity – 12
Curse or Blessing
Gal 3:10-13 NKJV
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM.”
11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”),
The Apostle Paul takes the Torah and the prophets to prove his argument; the fact is that the Law is pure, perfect and holy … it is impossible for man with a sinful nature to fulfil everything written in the Torah (LAW). However, to show mankind just how sinful they are, God commanded that they must keep the entire LAW and if they break one of the six hundred and thirteen Laws. He knew that they could not and that is why He also had the priesthood and sacrificial systems set into Jewish worship. God is merciful and gracious, loving and compassionate. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever … never changing.
People seem to see the God of the Old Testament as being harsher than the God of the New Testament.
God never changes … the priesthood and sacrificial systems were implemented to cover and protect the Hebrew nation until Messiah was come to once for all pay the price for man’s sinfulness and redeem him to his Loving Creator.
The reality was, that breaking the Torah brought the curse of God’s wrath upon the nation … sin is in the soul, the blood of humanity. It is passed on from generation to generation.
God cannot simply overlook sin. It has to be dealt with legally.
That is why, when Adam and Eve sinned, God covered their nakedness with skins.
The skins were obviously taken from living animals.
God was the very first Person to take life on the earth … and that was a direct result of His loving-kindness … His passionate love for His children.
The sacrificial lambs were killed and their skins were used to clothe our first parent’s sinfulness …a prophetic declaration by God Himself, that He would provide Himself as the Lamb Who would take away the sin of the world.
Do you really think God took pleasure in taking the life of His creatures? (Heb 10:6, Psa 40: 6-8)
Of course not. God hates killing of any sort. However, from that time ‘til the cross, man’s sin had to be atoned for by the innocent blood of bulls, goats and lambs.
Did God curse the earth because of Adam’s sin … or did satan’s nature, which is to steal kill and destroy simply fill the vacuum that God’s absence left?
I believe that scripture shows that there is no evil in God (James 1:13, 17; Num 23:19; 1Sam 15:29; Isa 46:10; Mal 3:6; Rom 11:29; Heb 1:11-12; Heb 13:8)
God is good … He only has good, justice, rightness, purity, holiness, love, compassion, creativity, honour within Himself.
The issue is not whether God has evil, sickness or death within His kingdom or character … Jesus refuted those doctrines when He revealed the Father as Good and the One Who only does good.
Jesus exposed the hidden, evil creature known as satan, the devil, the serpent … who was controlling the minds of humanity through the illicit desires he places there.
The thief, the one who is the murderer and liar … who was that from the beginning is the cause of all hurt malice, degeneracy, immorality, sickness, murder, war, pain … (Joh 10:9-10; Acts 10:38)
In contrast Jesus … doing only what the Father told Him to, did good and went about healing all who were oppressed by the devil that we might have life and life in abundance.
God did not bring the curse of the Law upon the people who sinned … the devil is only too willing to steal, kill and destroy the lives of those who are not in the Kingdom and protection, the Lordship of Jehovah Sabboath (the Lord of Warrior Hosts).
The fact remains, if a Jew, under the Old Covenant, broke one of the six hundred and thirteen Laws, he was as guilty as if he had broken them all … for sin opens the door to the curse of God’s absence.
The Law is good, if used lawfully :
1Ti 1:8-11 NKJV
8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,
9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
Rom 7:7 NKJV
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.”
If we consider our Western culture at this point in history, people are being taught and trained that fornication, covetousness, blasphemy, cursing, pornography, etc. are normal and natural.
The reality is that Christians are caught up in the culture of society and many are bound by bad habits, pornography, sexual sin, stress, fear, anxiety, anger, gossip and the like.
The Law is given by God to show mankind what sin is … how that it causes us to fall short of God’s glory.
The Law cannot make anyone perfect, or bring salvation … the purpose of the Law is to bring us humbly to God, so that we will acknowledge our need of forgiveness and salvation.
Forgiveness and salvation and perfection is only achieved by faith in Jesus Christ.
The False teachers were trying to take the Law and make it a part of the salvation process, leading the adherent to perfection.
How many have heard teaching such as; If you want to be blessed, you need to observe the Sabbath? Or you need to observe one or more of the Jewish Holy days, do this or give that according to the Law … then a special blessing will come to you?
Paul tells Timothy that these teachers that were confusing the Church in Ephesus, were using Jewish lineages, birth lines and Rabbinical stories to impress their listeners … but when using the Law, they did not understand what the Law’s purpose was … love from a pure heart and a good conscience, and sincere faith in Jesus Christ.
The LAW’s purpose is Love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith in Jesus Christ.
These false teachers seek to impress their followers with clever teachings and “hidden knowledge” that only they have received by “revelation” in the mysteries of the Law and its ceremonies, or genealogies or numerology, or prophecy … and so make their followers dependent upon them and their revelations … not leading the flock to total liberty in Christ.
Those who attempt to be justified by keeping just one Law becomes guilty of breaking the entire Law … and draws the curse of the Law upon themselves.
These false teachers were taking the young believers back under the Law and the curse.
In Gal 3:11 Paul quotes the prophet Habakkuk , “the just shall live by faith” (Hab 2:4) and goes on to say that no one is “justified by the Law”.
Word translation for “Justified” :
dikaioo?
Thayer Definition:
1) to render righteous or such he ought to be
2) to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered
3) to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be
Part of Speech: verb
In the realities of eternity and God’s holy character, sin is most offensive and cannot enter the throne-room of God.
Adam was warned that in the day that he disobeyed God, he would surely (certainly and without argument) die.
Spiritual death is separation from God’s presence.
When Adam and his wife sinned, they were immediately cut from God’s Life and Presence.
Lucifer rebelled against the authority and supremacy of God in leading a rebellion against the Throne of Heaven. He and one third of the angels were cast from Heaven like lightning.
Never again to enjoy the loving glories of God’s Character. In the courtroom of God’s throne, they have been accused, found guilty, judged and condemned to eternal damnation in hell.
When Adam sinned, all of humanity was “in Adam” when he sinned. As a result, the accuser, satan was there to accuse him after he tempted the woman. God, in His Righteousness, had to fulfil His moral judgement and judge Adam as He did Lucifer. Adam was found guilty and thus condemned to both mortal and spiritual death.
Biblical Judgement
It is most important for believers to have knowledge and understanding of Biblical judgement and justice.
The weakness of modern morality and living with no true standards has diluted our concept of Justice, Righteousness and God’s Judgement.
We need to start from the position of humility, taking our human thoughts captive and subject them to God and His Supremacy.
God is Almighty (Supreme, Omnipotent (all powerful, Pre-Eminent), Omniscient (All knowing, All seeing, All Knowing), Omnipresent (All-present, Infinite, Boundless, Predominant).
The word “God” used in the English language
Legal process
In criminal Law, a person that is accused of a crime must go through the legal process and procedure (litigation).
The accused is firstly summonsed or taken into custody and accused before the court. There is an accuser or prosecutor, the one who brings the accusation of a crime against the accused. This person gathers all the available evidence of the alleged crime and possible witnesses to support and strengthen his or her case against the defendant.
There is a Lawyer for the defence., who takes the case of the accused. This person also gathers all available information regarding the case looking for witnesses and evidence to acquit or prove his or her client innocent.
There is a presiding judge who oversees the case and along with the jury will deliver the verdict, ‘also called the judgement.
Once a verdict has been delivered, if the defendant is found innocent, they are judged as being “not guilty” and ‘released from all accusation, guilt or consequence (acquitted).
The innocent party is “justified”.
If the person is found guilty, the person is found “guilty as charged”. A verdict is pronounced … the person is found “guilty”.
The judge will then set a day where the court will sentence the guilty person. The person is then condemned or sentenced to whatever punishment the Law has prescribed suitable for the particular crime.
According to the Mosaic Law, the sentence of breaking the Law is death.
Eze 18:4 NKJV
4 “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die.
So, the Mosaic Law is good, it is perfect, it reflects the perfections and holiness of God … teacher which was to keep the Israelites in servanthood to God’s Way and protect them from the corrupt lifestyle of the Canaanites.
However, the Law could make no one perfect, it could only accuse the sinner each time he or she broke a Law. The effect of breaking the Law was the curse and the end condemnation of the Law is and was death.
Each time an Israelite sacrificed and innocent lamb, bull, goat or bird, they were declaring that God would one day send Messiah … the Lamb of God, Who would take away the sin of the world. They could put no trust in their own strength or ability … they could only trust God’s mercy and goodness to forgive them and cover their sin … until Christ’s blood was shed.
In God’s mercy, He provided a sacrificial system … the shedding of innocent blood to cover the sins of the Israelites until Messiah would come and take the sin of the world.
Lev 17:11 NKJV
11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’
The process of the Law in a person’s life would be:
1. The person sinned.
2. The Law exposed their action as “sin” or missing the mark of God’s revealed will.
3. The Law then accused them of sinning against God.
4. The Law then automatically found them guilty and condemned them to death.
5. An innocent animal was then sacrificed in their place … and God’s anger was appeased and the curse was held back.
Praise God for His mercy and goodness.
We do not have an idea of how great an offense sin is to our pure and holy Father.
But, He chose to shed the blood of His beautiful creation to cover and protect humanity from the effects and consequences of sin.
I believe His heart broke every time one of His innocent creatures died to cover a person’s sin … but His love for humanity is beyond human comprehension.
The Law was to keep Israel until Messiah came.
It is evident then, that by the Law, no-one is “justified” or declared innocent.
We are declared “innocent”, justified by the hearing of the Gospel of Christ and receiving Him by faith.
Hallelujah!!! Praise the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!!!
What wondrous love … what amazing grace the Father has poured out through the Son by the Holy Spirit.
Read the portion of scripture again:
Gal 3:10-13 NKJV
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO DO THEM.”
11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.”
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”),
It is evident that by trying to keep one Law, puts a person under obligation to keep the entire Law … which is impossible.
If just one Law is broken, the curse is automatically released and the condemnation of death is pronounced.
Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law … in His substitutionary sacrifice, Jesus became a curse for us!!
Our responsibility now, in Christ … is to live by faith in Him and His sacrificial work.
We are blessed with believing Abraham because we live by faith … as he did.
Gal 3:14 NKJV
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
We are now living under the promise of the Spirit and not under the curse of the Law.
We have been blessed with every Spiritual blessing in Heavenly places:
Eph 1:3 AMP
3 May blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm!
Who in their right mind would want to go back under the legal system of the Law, once you have received the blessing and presence of the Holy Spirit??