Today I want to talk about “redemption”.
“Redemption” is the proper Biblical word for what the church calls “salvation”!
There are two aspects to redemption.
There is the physical side of redemption and the spiritual aspect of redemption.
The timing is perfect to deal with this topic because from here on out, the overriding theme of the Torah will be REDEMPTION!
I feel that many Christians harbor serious misunderstandings when it comes to the true understanding of redemption.
A Christian will tell you that “before Christ the Jews had to obey the Law to be saved“.
Have you ever heard anything so nonsensical?
It goes against everything we’ve studied in Torah so far!
Think about it.
God saved or REDEEMED Israel from Egypt FIRST and then AFTERWARDS HE gave them the Law!
This is the salvation formula the Torah establishes.
First, you are “saved” or “redeemed“.
And then afterwards comes the developing of your relationship with the One who saved you through understanding and obeying His commandments.
It would be ridiculous to have it the other way around.
You have to be redeemed first before you can begin to develop your relationship with God.
It’s a mistake to think that you can build your relationship with God by mechanically obeying his commands like some kind of check-off list.
The reason it doesn’t work is because you have to TRUST the Lawgiver before you can obey Him.
God first established trust with Israel by saving them from Pharaoh’s grip in Egypt.
And then after that, He gave them His commands.
So let’s get this straight!
God’s HOLY instructions whether they come from the Old Testament or the New Testament are ONLY for believers.
God’s TORAH is only for those who have already been redeemed or “saved“!
The non-believer is not welcome for he or she has not entered into a relationship with the Creator!
The Law did NOT redeem Israel.
That wasn’t the purpose of the Law.
The Law was given to Israel AFTER they were redeemed for the purpose of living a life pleasing to God.
One good way to effectively communicate this point to gentile Christians is to ask them, “Don’t you think the way you live your life AFTER being ‘saved’ should be different than they way you live your life BEFORE you were saved (Christians love to use the word “saved”)?
And of course, no Christian will say the way one lives one’s life should be exactly the same before and after being saved.
Although, in many cases, there is no discernible change in a Christian’s pre-salvation and post-salvation lifestyle simply because they don’t consider God’s commands or TORAH to be relevant to their lives.
We will continue on with this discussion.
For the time being, understand that at this stage in the Scriptures, we’re at about 1350 B.C.
Israel has just been rescued after spending 400 years in Egypt as slaves!
The Bible word for this massive jailbreak from Egypt is REDEMPTION!
Israel has already been “saved” to use gentile speak, and now it’s time to learn how to walk in God’s Ways.
Posted from Jerusalem, Israel, Tuesday, August 8th, 2017.
Leave a Reply