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*March 15 - 21 |
The New Covenant |
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*March 15 - 21 |
The New Covenant |
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MEMORY TEXT: "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shalt live by faith" (Galatians 3:11, RSV).
ABOUT SEVEN CENTURIES BEFORE CHRIST, the poet Homer wrote the Odyssey, the story of Odysseus the great warrior who—after sacking the city of Troy in the Trojan war—began a ten-year voyage to try to return to his native Ithaca. The voyage, too, took so long because he faced shipwrecks, mutinies, storms, monsters, and other obstacles that kept him from reaching his goal. Finally, after deciding that Odysseus had suffered enough, the gods agreed to allow the weary warrior to return to his home and family. His trials were, they agreed, enough atonement for his mistakes.
In one sense, we are like Odysseus, on a long journey home. The crucial difference, however, is that, unlike Odysseus, we can never "suffer enough" to earn our way back. The distance between heaven and earth is too great for us to atone for our mistakes. If we get home, it would have to be only by the grace of God.
THE WEEK AT A GLANCE: Why must salvation be a gift? Why could only Someone
equal with God ransom our souls? What makes Abraham such a good representative
of faith? What does it mean that righteousness is "imputed" or "credited"
to us? How can we make the promises and hope found in the Cross our own?
*Please study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 22.
The Old Testament way of salvation under the Mosaic covenant is no different from the New Testament way of salvation under the new covenant. Whether in the Old or New Testament, old or new covenant, salvation is by faith alone. If it was by anything else, such as works, salvation would be something that was owed us, something the Creator was obligated to give us. Only those who do not understand the seriousness of sin could believe that God was under some obligation to save us. On the contrary. If anything, there was only one obligation, and that was what we owed to the violated law. We, of course, could not meet that obligation; fortunately, Jesus met it for us.
"When men and women can more fully comprehend the magnitude of the great sacrifice which was made by the Majesty of heaven in dying in man's stead, then will the plan of salvation be magnified, and reflections of Calvary will awaken tender, sacred, and lively emotions in the Christian's heart. Praises to God and the Lamb will be in their hearts and upon their lips. Pride and self-esteem cannot flourish in the hearts that keep fresh in memory the scenes of Calvary. . . . All the riches of the world are not of sufficient value to redeem one perishing soul. Who can measure the love Christ felt for a lost world as He hung upon the cross, suffering for the sins of guilty men? This love was immeasurable, infinite.
"Christ has shown that His love was stronger than death. He was accomplishing man's salvation; and although He had the most fearful conflict with the powers of darkness, yet, amid it all, His love grew stronger and stronger. He endured the hiding of His Father's countenance, until He was led to exclaim in the bitterness of His soul: 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' His arm brought salvation. The price was paid to purchase the redemption of man, when, in the last soul struggle, the blessed words were uttered which seemed to resound through creation: 'It is finished.'
"The scenes of Calvary call for the deepest emotion. Upon this subject you
will be excusable if you manifest enthusiasm. That Christ, so excellent,
so innocent, should suffer such a painful death, bearing the weight of the
sins of the world, our thoughts and imaginations can never fully comprehend.
The length, the breadth, the height, the depth, of such amazing love we cannot
fathom. The contemplation of the matchless depths of a Saviour's love should
fill the mind, touch and melt the soul, refine and elevate the affections,
and completely transform the whole character."—Ellen G. White,
Testimonies for the Church, vol. 2,
pp. 212, 213.
| Pray over what Ellen White wrote here. Keeping these lines in mind,
read
Galatians
6:14 and then ask yourself, In what ways can I glory in the Cross of
Christ? |
"You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your
fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot"
(1
Pet. 1:18, 19, RSV).
What does Peter mean here when he says that we were ransomed?
When Peter speaks about Christ's atoning death on the cross, the "ransom" or price idea to which he refers brings to mind the ancient practice of a slave being freed from his bondage after a price had been paid (often by a relative). In contrast, Christ ransomed us from the slavery of sin and its final fruit, which is death, but He did it with His "precious blood," His substitutionary and voluntary death on Calvary. Again, this is the foundation of all the covenants: Without it, the covenant becomes null and void, because God could not have justly fulfilled His end of the deal, which is the gift of eternal life bestowed upon all who believe.
Look up the following verses: What message do all of them share in common?
Rom.
6:23;
1
John 5:11, 13.
We have this promise of eternal life, because Jesus alone could repair that breach that first caused us to lose that eternal life. How?
Because the righteousness and infinite value of the Creator alone could cancel the debt we owed to the broken law—that is how wide the breach caused by sin was. After all, what would it say about the seriousness of God's eternal moral law if some finite, temporal, and created being could pay the penalty for violating it? Only Someone who is equal to God Himself, in whom life existed unborrowed and underived and eternal, could have paid the ransom required to free us from the debt owed to the law. This is how all the covenant promises are fulfilled; this is how we have the promise of eternal life, even now; this is how we have been ransomed from sin and death.
| Imagine that someone's child, in an art museum, throws a balloon filled
with ink on a Rembrandt painting and ruins it completely. The painting is
worth millions; the parents, even if they sold everything they owed, could
not come close to paying the debt owed. In what sense does this image help
us understand just how serious a breach sin has caused, how helpless we are
to fix it, and why only the Lord Himself could pay the
debt? |
"He believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness"
(Gen.
15:6).
This verse remains one of the most profound statements in all Scripture. It helps establish the crucial truth of biblical religion,
that of justification by faith alone, and it does this long centuries before Paul wrote about it in Romans. All of which helps prove the point that from Eden onward, salvation always came the same way.
The immediate context of the verse helps us understand just how great Abram's faith was, believing in God's promise of a son despite all the physical evidence that would seem to make that promise impossible. It is the kind of faith that realizes its own utter helplessness, the kind of faith that demands a complete surrender of self, the kind of faith that requires a total submission to the Lord, the kind of faith that results in obedience. This was the faith of Abram, and it was counted to him "as righteousness."
Why does the Bible say that it was "counted to" him or "credited to" him
as righteousness? Was Abram himself "righteous" in the sense of God's
righteousness? What did he do, not long after God declared Him righteous,
that helps us understand why this righteousness was credited to him, as opposed
to what he himself actually was?
Gen.
16:14.
However much Abram's life was a life of faith and obedience, it was not a life of perfect faith and perfect obedience. At times he displayed weakness in both areas. (Does that sound like anyone you know?) All of which leads to the crucial point, and that is: The righteousness that saves us is a righteousness that is credited to us, a righteousness that is (to use a fancy theological term) imputed to us. This means that we are declared righteous in the sight of God, despite our faults; it means that the God of heaven views us as righteous even if we are not. This is what He did with Abram, and this is what He will do to all who come to Him in "the faith of Abraham" (Rom. 4:16).
| Read
Romans
4:1-7. Look at the context in which Paul uses
Genesis
15:6. Pray over those verses and write out in your own words what you
believe they are saying to you.
|
Looking again at Genesis 15:6, we can see that various translations have rendered the term counted (Hebrew, hasab) or "reckoned" or "credited" (RSV, NIV) or "accounted."
The same term is employed in other texts in the books of Moses. A person or a thing is "reckoned" or "regarded" as something that person or thing is not. For instance, in Genesis 31:15, Rachel and Leah affirm that their father "reckons" ("regards" or "counts") them as strangers, although they are his daughters. The tithe of the Levite is "reckoned" ("regarded" or "counted") as though it were the corn of the threshing floor, although it is obviously not the corn (Num. 18:27, 30, NIV).
How is the idea of reckoning expressed in the context &f sacrifices?
Lev.
7:18;
17:1-4.
The KJV uses the word imputed to translate hasab. If a particular sacrifice ("peace offering") is not eaten by the third day, its value is lost, and it shall not be "reckoned" (Lev. 7:18, NASB; Hebrew, hasab) to the benefit of the offerer. Leviticus 7:18 speaks of a situation in which a sacrifice is "reckoned" to the benefit of the sinner (compare Lev. 17:1-4, NASB) who then stands before God in righteousness. God is accounting the sinner as righteous, although the individual is actually unrighteous.
Take some time to dwell on this wonderful truth that we, despite our faults,
can be accounted, or credited, as righteous in the sight of God. Write out
in your own words your understanding of what this
means.
The great truth, that of being declared righteous, not because of any act that we can do but only because of faith in what Christ has done for us, this is the essence of the phrase "righteousness by faith." Yet, it is not that our faith itself makes us righteous; rather, faith is the vehicle by which we obtain the gift of righteousness. This, in essence, is the beauty, the mystery, and the glory of Christianity. All that we believe as Christians, as followers of Christ, finds an important root in this wonderful concept. Through faith, we are accounted righteous in the sight of God. All else that follows; obedience, sanctification, holiness, character development, love, should stem from this crucial truth.
| How do you respond to someone who seeks to be a Christian yet says,
"But I don't feel righteous"?
|
There is a story told about the famous Cardinal Bellarmine, the great Catholic apologist who all his life fought the message of justification by an imputed righteousness alone. As he lay dying, he was brought the crucifixes and the merits of the saints to help give him assurance before death. But Bellarmine said, "Take it away. I think it's safer to trust in the merits of Christ."
For many people as they near the end of their lives, they look back and see how vain, how futile, how useless their deeds and their works are for earning salvation with a holy God, and thus how much they need the righteousness of Christ.
Yet the good news is that we don't have to wait for the approach of death
to have security in the Lord now. The whole covenant is based on the secure
promises of God now, promises for us now, and promises that can make our
lives better
now.
Look up the following verses and answer the question asked with each one in the context of developing, keeping, and strengthening your covenant relationship with God:
Ps.
34:8 (How can you taste God's
goodness?)
Matt.
11:30 (What is it about what Christ has done for us that makes this yoke
easy?)
Rom.
5:1 (What does justification have to do with
peace?)
Phil.
2:7 (What have you gained from your Christian
experience?)
Prayerfully examine your life and ask yourself, What things am I doing
that are strengthening my relationship with God, and what things are hurting
it? What changes do I need to make?
|
FURTHER STUDY:
The only way in which he [the sinner] can attain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner's account. Christ's righteousness is accepted in place of man's failure, and God receives, pardons, justifies, the repentant, believing soul, treats him as though he were righteous, and loves him as He loves His Son. This is how faith is accounted righteousness."—Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 1, p. 367.
"When through repentance and faith we accept Christ as our Saviour, the Lord pardons our sins, and remits the penalty prescribed for the transgression of the law. The sinner then stands before God as a just person; he is taken into favor with Heaven, and through the Spirit has fellowship with the Father and the Son.
"Then there is yet another work to be accomplished, and this is of a progressive
nature. The soul is to be sanctified through the truth. And this also is
accomplished through faith. For it is only by the grace of Christ, which
we receive through faith, that the character can be transformed."—Ellen
G. White, Selected Messages, book 3,
p.
191.
|
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SUMMARY: Old covenant, new covenant: Jesus paid the debt owed by the
law, so that we can stand righteous in the sight of God.
Salai Thang Mana Law
Salai Thang Mana Law is an elementary school teacher who lives in an isolated village in Myanmar. The village is almost one hundred miles from the nearest town and is so isolated that the people must walk four or five days to reach the nearest road, carrying all their supplies with them.
Of the 25 households in the village, everyone is an animist except Thang. Thang considered himself a Christian, though he had little knowledge of the Bible or plan of salvation.
Besides his infrequent trips to the nearest town, Thang's only contact with the outside world is his shortwave radio. One day he discovered Adventist World Radio. As he listened, he felt the love of God touch his life. He treasured the stories and songs he heard on the radio.
In time Thang wrote to the AWR staff. "I am totally changed," he said, "different from my former self. The lessons I have heard have brought me closer to God and helped me to understand His word. I love God more every day."
Thang wanted to share what he was learning with his students at the elementary school. He began teaching them choruses he had teamed from the radio, such as "Jesus Loves Me." He told them Bible stories about Creation, Moses, Abraham, David, Samson, Daniel, and especially about the love of Jesus Christ.
The children began sharing what they were learning about Christ with their parents. "Now the parents and even the village chief want to know more about Jesus the Savior," Thang reported. "I am sure that nearly everyone in the village will accept Christ as their personal Savior when they have a chance to learn more."
Thang's enthusiasm for the gospel bubbled over. "Your Adventist World Radio program is great! I love it! It is my daily bread." He then made a request. "I need someone to come and teach the people of my village more about the love of Jesus. The harvest is ready, but we have no one to teach us. Who will come?"
Who, indeed, will come? Adventist World Radio has opened the door of the people in Thang's isolated village. Pray that someone will be able to go and carry on the work started by one shortwave radio in an isolated village.
Salai Thang Mana Law lives in Pwe-Saung Village, Mm-Tat Township, Chin State, Myanmar.
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Principal Contributor: Based on previous work of Gerhard F Hasel
Editor: Clifford Goldstein
Associate Editor: Lyndelle Brower Chiomenti
Editorial Production Manager: Soraya Homayouni Parish
Art and Design: Lars Justinen
Pacific Press Coordinator: Paul A. Hey
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