SOME THINGS I HAVE BEEN REMINDED OF
FROM THE STUDY OF JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
I appreciate the fact that we have studied from the Old Testament this year to find Jesus throughout the Bible. I commend those who considered it, and the challenges that we have faced as we examined these things again.
Below is a list of things I have been reminded of – please add your thoughts to what I have suggested below.
1. God planned for man’s sin from the beginning of the world (this does NOT mean that he caused man to sin) but by making us in his image he gave man the opportunity to choose between God and obedience or the option of disobedience and punishment. Some struggle with why God would do this — the best explanation I can give is that He wanted one part of His creation to be like him in making choices and thinking things through to consider the consequences. God honors us in allowing us to make decisions, even if those decisions are not best for us.
2. Jesus was there in creation – John 1
3. The giving of the Old Testament law as recorded in Exodus-Deuteronomy (the second giving of the law) since God’s people had sinned and failed in their relationship with God. We fail in our relationship with God when we allow sin into our hearts and fail to put God first (Matthew 6:33).
4. The giving of the law was an act of love for the Jew IF the Jews would obey – we know how that worked out. Yet this sets us an example today.
5. God knows all. He had prepared before the foundation of the world His Son dying on the cross so we might live – and this act of love should motivate us to love Him who first loved us!
6. It is easy for God’s people to go with the flow of the culture around them, rather than stand for the truth. “Going with the crowd is easy, especially if it is sin that causes pleasure in the hearts of men.” Consider these verses (summarized)
a. Exodus 23:2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.
b. Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
c. Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that appears right to a man, but the end thereof is death.
d. 1 Peter 1:14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,
e. Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
f. Other passages for your study are Matthew 7:13-14; John 15:18-19; Proverbs 5:20-21; Psalms 118:8-9; Colossians 1:9-10; Philippians 4:8; Matthew 4:19.
How serious am I when it comes to my relationship with HIM?
Think on these things! More next week Tommy
