The purpose of obedience

For the people of God, one principle has not changed throughout history. It is the principle of obedience giving victory. I cannot expect to live with God’s fullest blessing if I deliberately ignore what He commands.

And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. (Deuteronomy 4:1)

In the former covenant, God said that those who believed in Him must listen to His laws and obey them. If they did, they would not perish. In this verse, “live” is about physical life. That is, His food laws kept them healthy and His civic laws kept them orderly. His laws about worship kept them distinct from their enemies around them. In their obedience, God protected them from drought and famine and from being conquered and destroyed. He blessed them with victory after victory in taking possession of the land that He had given them, as long as they obeyed.

Even though the people of God wanted to do what God said, their sinful hearts kept interfering with their good intentions. Their ears would not listen; their obedience wavered. They were attacked and many were destroyed by war, famine and disease. They possessed the land, yet not fully. Sin was always their problem and at the root of their disobedience.

Yet in that old covenant, their eternal salvation was not about obedience but about faith. God promised a Savior, a Messiah and their belief in that promise was key to their eternal well-being. 

In the new covenant, believers do not look forward to the promised Messiah but back toward the One that God sent, Jesus Christ. By faith in Him, sin is not only forgiven but those who believe in Him are given eternal life. This life goes beyond physical protection. That is, by listening to the Gospel and obeying what it says (believing in Jesus) no matter what happens to my physical body, I will live forever. 

Jesus also enables victory. Because I have Him, I can take possession of all that God gives me. I can hear God speak and have a Holy Spirit-desire to do what He says. I am protected from my enemies. God even promises that nothing will happen to me unless He can use it for good in my life. That “good” is about being transformed into the image of His Son. When I am like Jesus, I am in full possession of the “promised land” that God has given me.

Of course, all of this asks for obedience from a willing heart. While God did ‘zap’ me in the sense that salvation is of Him and from Him, I have to cooperate. In saving me, He touched my heart with faith and understanding. That was a zap. He also bestowed new life and made of me a new creation. That was a zap. Yet when it comes to obedience, I am not a robot. I can go my own way and give into sin. If I want to really live in the power of God and take possession of this wonderful life that is mine, I must listen to Him and respond by doing what He says. 

Obedience never earns salvation and a place in heaven, but it does make a difference in the life that is lived here on earth. The best part is that Jesus makes obedience possible.

Dayspring

As I read through the Bible this year, I’m noticing the difference between the Old and New Testaments, particularly the action that takes place. While the Old Testament relates history and has many passages of narrative and action, much of it is about the demands of God and what will happen to His people because they have failed to measure up. But when I started reading Matthew, the action increased and the focus changed. Instead of talking about God’s wrath and the peoples’ failures, the focus turns to Jesus.

I try to imagine what it was like for the people of Israel in those days. They had been several hundred years without a prophet, without hearing from God. Would most of them have lost hope? Would their faith be dull and without enthusiasm?

Then Zacharias and Elizabeth had a baby, unusual because they were old, and exciting because “Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied” (Luke 1:67). Those around him must have been overjoyed. At last, God was communicating with His people.

While the people observed, God gave this new father a name for the little boy. He would be called John because an angel had told them this should be his name. The crowds were certain he would be an unusual child, but Zacharias was given a preview. He spoke saying that the Lord had indeed visited His people and delivered them from their enemies that they might serve Him without fear. He spoke also of God’s covenants and the promise of a Deliverer.

Then he spoke, again under the power of the Holy Spirit, saying, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

His child, John, came to prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus would soon arrive and everything would change. Dayspring speaks of that light that floods a dark earth signaling the arrival of a new day. The Lord was coming to give light to those in spiritual darkness like dawn comes to light a world that is in physical darkness.

This morning before reading Luke, I read from Matthew 7:24 to the end of chapter 9. In those few pages, Jesus told parables, impressed the crowds with His authority, cleansed a leper, healed the servant of a roman centurion with a word, healed Peter’s mother-in-law with a touch, cast out many demons, healed all who were sick, made clear the demands expected of anyone who wanted to follow Him, calmed a storm at sea, cast demons into some pigs, healed and forgave a paralytic, called a tax collector to follow Him, enjoyed eating with tax collectors and sinners, rebuked and corrected the ignorance of the Pharisees, healed a woman who had been ill for twelve years, gave sight back to two blind men, restored the speech of a mute man and cast a demon out of him, and raised a child from the dead.

After all this, He went to all the cities and villages, “teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” He was moved with compassion for the multitudes and saw in them potential for a great harvest of souls.

Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, ends with the threat of a curse on the earth. Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, is filled with narrative about the amazing life of Jesus Christ. No wonder it is called “new.” The transformation in the working of God (and the lives of His people) is dramatic because the Dayspring has arrived, a new light has dawned. No longer do people need to be in the dark or lost in their sin. They have the Light of the Lord. He is the Dayspring from on high.

Jesus Christ amazes me. The difference He makes in history amazes me. Nothing in the world will ever be as dark and as hopeless as it was before the dawn, before He came and brought light. Read it. Be amazed too.