Believers who study God’s Word to find new insights and fresh revelations are constantly fighting religion. The Word is all about Jesus, who has more facets to Him than any of us could ever imagine. Remaining open to hearing from God always allows Him to reveal something new to us that we didn’t see before. By contrast, religious doctrine pulls out one little slice of Scripture, holds it up, and tries to define God in limited, static terms; this is why continually hearing from Him instead of having heard from Him gives us a fuller perspective on what He’s doing over time.
We can make the mistake of digging into an Old-Testament view of the way God was before the cross and saying, “This is what God is all about.” The problem is that it gives us an outdated view of a complex God. Everything in the Old Testament, including the Law of Moses, were shadows of Jesus who was yet to come. However, the law by its very nature was only temporary and could never contain the God of progressive revelation.
One example of this is the comparison between the annual Old-Testament animal sacrifices to cover man’s sins to the one-time sacrifice Jesus made with His body and blood. The animal blood only covered sin for a year, but Jesus’ blood completely wiped it away. “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect” (Hebrews 10:1). Under the law, the priest receiving the sacrifice was a foreshadowing of Jesus. When He went to the cross, He was our sacrifice; if He was okay, then we’re okay.
God’s people need to understand the distinction between law-based sacrifices and grace-based sacrifices so we won’t be overcome with condemnation and shame. In the Old-Testament, all the steps had to be followed precisely and in the right order for God to accept the offering; this was one hundred percent performance. Now that Jesus has already performed perfectly and given Himself as our one-time sacrifice, no additional work is required of us; only faith in Him. This spares us from a sin-consciousness that has us perform penance to appease God after we do something sinful.
When Jesus began traveling extensively to preach and teach, He was actually fulfilling two ministries at once—perfectly fulfilling the law while laying the foundation for the future covenant of grace. This new covenant wouldn’t start until after His death and resurrection; until then He kept dropping little pearls here and there hinting that major change was about to come. He said things like, “Until now, I’ve spoken to you in proverbs and parables, but there will come a time when I’ll speak openly of the Father.” He actually stated outright that the law and the prophets were ending. “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it” (Luke 16:16).
The last thing I want to say is that God wants longevity for us. We’re in this for the long haul and we occasionally need to rest our bodies and our souls; some of us need to take a break because we have tired souls. Unlike in the Old Testament when the Sabbath was a specific day, Jesus is now our Sabbath. Let Him give you the rest you need to keep pressing forward.
