The Only Way To Everlasting Joy

For this is the covenant that I 

will make with the house of Israel

after those days, saith the Lord; 

I will put my laws into their mind,

and write them in their hearts; 

and I will be to them a God, 

and they shall be to me a people:

and they shall not teach every man

his neighbor, and every man his

brother, saying, Know the Lord:

for all shall know me, from the

last to the greatest.

Hebrews 8:10-11]

     I need to clear some things up that are translated that might, and has in some cases, not understood according to the Greek and cause false teaching, even heresy. The English word, "put," indicates that something was placed by another thing, or person, but this is not the Greek word, for it comes from the word: δίδωμι, from which the word in the text is: διδούς, a nominative, singular, masculine, participle, in the present tense, active. This word is to give, or bestow, or present, and can be used, to give, or cast, to supply, to entrust, and more, but in all uses this word is to give, not just "put" into rather to give and how this is given is by the word of God, His revelation about Himself, His purposes, and how we are to live in order to be pleasing to Him. For God to "write" upon the hearts is not to say that He does so by His hand, it could mean this but to "write' upon the heart indicates more than pressing into the flesh of the heart, rather the heart being the seat of emotion and in a large way is connected to the mind, then when His word is taken in by the mind, which is connected to the heart, the heart is said to have been imprinted, to have pressed into them something and that something is that they will know that the one giving, imprinting is God, God to them and that they are one of His people. When this occurs life changes and this world with all its pleasures and sins will no longer be desired and practiced by a child of God. 

     This covenant, this New Covenant, is so different from all other covenants of God for this Covenant is eternal and has its root in Jesus Christ the eternal One, the Wisdom of God, the Only Begotten of God. This writing on the heart is in the future tense in Greek, so it is something that is going to happen in a greater way, for when Jesus Christ returns for His bride no longer will there be a need to teach for God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, the Godhead, will be known by all of God's children. We can live now, in the present knowing that God's word is always true, and His promises are always fulfilled (Try and find a promise that has not been fulfilled except for those promises that are future), you will find there is none. 

     We have been studying about Jesus Christ, Who He is, and what has been found is that Jesus Christ is greater than Melchisedec, although Melchisedec was the example and illustration, and that by Jesus Christ and Him instituting a New Covenant, albeit that the previous covenants pointed to Him, we can have salvation and eternal life: "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that He saith, A new covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away" (Hebrews 8:12-13). No angel, not other being can offer salvation, and salvation can come by no other than God Himself for only He has the right to forgive sins, therefore Jesus must be God to be able to forgive sins and this He did on the cross, Himself, for Himself to satisfy this debt of sin and the to be able with this satisfaction of His debt apply mercy and forgiveness to those who believe upon His Only Begotten Son and Savior, the One He sent to do His will: "For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14).

     There is only one explanation of the forgiveness of God and His forgetting of our iniquities, unrighteousness, and sins, and this is by the death of Jesus Christ. No matter who you are, what your station in life is, or any other thing, for with God, through Jesus Christ there is absolute reinstatement to God, no other way, not because Jesus pleads, as some teach, no, but because He died. You cannot earn this forgiveness, you can accept. If a person does not recognize the cross, then the cross is of no avail. There is no other name by which man can be saved, only Jesus Christ, and their is no forgiveness except by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We must, if we are to be Authentic Christians, become identified with the death of Jesus Christ, not just to be identified with Jesus Christ, but by His death, and then we must become dead to everything that is not in Him. The Atonement is a propitiation whereby God through the death of Jesus Christ makes an unholy man holy. 

     Put the word of God into your heart and be inscribed so that you will know who you are and Whose you are, and then sanctify your sanctification. Live, be a witness for God, for Jesus Christ, there is no other life that will bring to you a sense of completeness and joy.

Hold thy peace at the presence

     of the Lord God: for the day

of the LORD is at hand: for the

     LORD hath prepared a sacrifice,

He hath bid His guests.

                Zephaniah 1:7

Sanctify your life for God

Richard L. Crumb

 

     

Learning The More Nobler Way To Authentic Christianity

But now hath He obtained a more

excellent ministry, by how much 

also He is the mediator of a better

covenant which was established

upon better promises. For is that

first covenant had been fautless,

then should no place have been

sought for the second. For finding

fault with them, He saith, Behold,

the days come, saith the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel and with

the house of Judah: not according

to the covenant that I made with 

their fathers in the day when I took

them by the hand to lead them out of

the land of Egypt: because they

continued not in my covenant, and I

regarded them not, saith the Lord.

Hebrews 8:6-9

       Why? Why another covenant? Was the first so bad that it needed 'fixin?' Another covenant was necessary, not because it was bad, rather, that the people were bad, they did not follow the covenant that God gave to them so that they would not only have a better life on this earth, but also would be worshiping God in obedience. We must remember that God has issued several covenants, and the one that stands forever is the covenant God made with Abraham. Abraham was faithful, so there is no need to replace that covenant with another. The covenant made by God with Moses and the children of Israel stands in completeness in the Ten Commandments, there is no need to replace that covenant. Abraham's covenant was a promise of God that cannot be broken. The Ten Commandments was Law, a law embedded in the covenant to the children of Israel that if the kept the Law they would be blessed. This the children did not do: "they did not continue in this covenant." The Law led to a knowledge of sin, a need for a mediator between man and God. Some were led to this knowledge, others, well, they left the true worship of God to follow after other religious ideas and practices. Time went by, capture, incarcerations by other nations, wars, killings, nothing would turn the mass of Israelites back to God, some did, some did not and what they were missing was to know that God even though unhappy with their living intended to bring forth the mediator that they needed even if they were not as a whole looking for that mediator promised way back with Adam and Eve. Some Israelites were looking in "all the wrong places," to find a mediator, the Messiah. Even after the entering into this world, Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, with all His teachings, and miracles, many would not believe that He is the Mediator promised by God. 

     God then made a "better" covenant and not just with and for the Israelites, but for the whole world, Gentiles alike. The word used in translation: "Better," must be understood: The Greek word means not just "better," rather it means more, it means "nobler,", the "best," for the Greek word: κρείττόνός, formed from: κράτος, that means strong, denoting power in activity and effect, and is used 12 times in Hebrews, and indicates what is advantageous or useful. Why then is this New Covenant better? It is as is with the covenant with Abraham, God's promise to all who believe upon the Mediator, Jesus Christ. This covenant will never end, it is eternal for Jesus Christ is eternal and the eternal Mediator. God shows His displeasure of those who will not keep His covenant. Those examples found in the Bible should bring fear to anyone who wishes to be called a "Christian." Obedience, Obedience, and true repentance will lead to "Obedience." It is not just saying: "I am sorry for my sins," it is more, it is to be truly convicted of your sinfulness against a Holy God, His covenant, His Only Begotten Son who is the Mediator, the covenant that is in Him, from Him, and kept by Him. Authentic Christians live according to the covenant of God. PERIOD! Believe upon Jesus Christ as the Bible has so dutifully done to show that He is the Mediator. How can one believe? Faith comes by hearing, hearing the word of God. This faith is a free gift from God. You or I do not earn it, no do anything to obtain this gift, but we must do the one thing: accept this gift and this acceptance comes when one hears the true word of God, not any man's gospel, but, the Gospel as revealed in the Bible. Here is the rubric: read, hear, the word of God, accept by faith, this free gift of salvation that comes by faith in the One by which salvation comes, Jesus Christ, and believe with full repentance that comes by your conviction of sin, and your need for a Savior. Now, if this is true of you, then by obedience you live what God has revealed in His word for His children to live. Now you are more, you are a faithful witness to the promises of God, to His "better," covenant that applies to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. 

     Due to so much misrepresentation of God's word, His covenant, and as to Who He is, we must study to be prepared to defend our faith, our belief. This requires to read, to study, to pray, and to listen to men who are speaking from Scripture to come to an accurate knowledge of the truth. This is work! Yes! But, is there a better work to be done? No! We have a responsibility to live as who we say we are: Christians, Authentic Christians, with Authentic Christian Faith. I am trying to be a part of disseminating from Scripture the truth as revealed in Scripture and to give tools to defend your faith. I guess the questions is: Will I do it?

And it came to pass, when I

    heard these words, that I

sat down and wept, and 

    mourned certain days,

and fasted, and prayed

    before the God of Heaven.

                      Nehemiah 1:4

Choose whom you will serve

Richard L. Crumb

 

The Revelation Of Jesus Christ

For every high priest is ordained

to offer gifts and sacrifices:

wherefore it is of necessity that

that this man have somewhat

also to offer. For if he were on

earth, he should not be a priest,

seeing that there are priests that

offer gifts according to the law:

who serve unto the example and 

shadow of heavenly things, as

Moses was admonished of God when

he was about to make the tabernacle:

for, See, saith He, that thou make 

all things according to the pattern

shewed to thee in the mount.

Hebrews 8:3-5

      Those things recorded in the Old Testament were examples and shadows of heavenly things and shadows point to the reality, and examples give understanding to the reality. The writer of Hebrews is doing just that: he is using the examples and shadows in the Old Testament to reveal the reality. The reality revealed is Jesus Christ, that He is the reality of the previous recorded examples and shadows, so now we can see and understand that this One, Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Savior promised by God from the the fall of Adam. We can have sure faith, not blind faith. Jesus proved to be the Savior can only be the true Savior if He is God for only God can forgive sins and only God can ensure our salvation and this He did by sending His Wisdom to earth to become man, the Son of God in the flesh. This leads us to the Trinity if we are to say that Jesus is God and that the Holy Spirit is God, all of the same essence or substance, not separate but the Godhead, with each Person having a function in the role of God to save man. But, Christianity is not the only religion that has a Trinity. 

     The ancient world with the various religions have as their base a Triad and is expressed mostly in a philosophical approach, meaning, a rational or sensibly calm acceptable manner and can be found in such beliefs as the pantheistic theory, (a theory that has become acceptable to many) a theory that God is the transcendental reality of which the material world and humanity are only manifestations. This has been the underlying theorem that was accepted by many of the ancient religions and is also the theorem for many non-Christian religions even today. This can be confusing to honest seeking men and women who are being deceived, or misled by false teaching. It is important then to have a basic, or at least, an understanding of or various religious beliefs that find opposition with the Orthodox Christian Trinitarians, in other words, the Trinity as taught in the Bible. 

     The Hindu religion and beliefs are difficult to define although this religion in its various sects, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, better defined as a way of life has in its Triad an undeveloped god, Brahm. This primal being is without consciousness or attributes, a formless transcendental immanent divine and one of three gods: Brahm, Vishnu, and Shiva. Hinduism is polytheistic for it allows all people to have their own god, but in actuallity it is monotheistic for only Brahma is the sole god, the chief of all gods. 

     Buddhism, formed from Hinduism although it does not practice a Triad as such for in Buddhism the spiritual principle is that that soul of man is part, or an existence-form, much like the Mormons that teach that the soul existed forever and is only planted into a human body, and is of the same spiritual essence as God as do the Buddhist. The Buddhist believe that at death you enter into a realm of nothingness determined in Buddhism to be at one or in the same essence as god. Buddhism has moved slightly away from Hinduism and while not teaching a Triad do have the same foundational beliefs. 

     The Greeks held to a god that was unknown as Paul addressed this fact with them, yet it goes farther back in the formation of their religious beliefs. Plato, a classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, and a student of Socrates helped to lay the foundation of Western philosphy and science. Within Platoism we find the notion of a Trinity. Neo-Platonism, taught in Alexandria, while somewhat different from what Plato taught still held to the belief that knowledge is innate and ideas are buried in the soul. Plato believed that the soul existed before birth (a theological position that can be found in the doctrine of the Mormon's) and had the form of the "Good," as well as the knowledge of everything and you only recall things when something can be learned. He held to a theory of dualism, and it is to be found not only in today's universities and schools, also in some Churches leading the congregant to a belief separate from the Bible's teaching on man and the Trinity. The teaching of Aristotle a student of Plato infiltrated the early Church and some early Church fathers, and today, much of his theories have found their way into many so-called Christian Churches and have enslaved many to believe in a lie propounded by men whose god, or gods are not of Christian Biblical truth. 

     The early Christians had to fight this fight against false religious teachings, such as the Gnostics, Nestorism, neo-Platonism, and Platonism, and more, and we today must stand firm against false religious teachings. Not much has changed, only who and how those false teachings are being perpetrated upon Authentic Christians. 

     The writer of Hebrews is first in his book laying the truth about who Jesus is and why He came to earth, proof that is undeniable unless a person just does not want to believe. Your faith can mature and you can grow in your relationship with Jesus, but only if you study and meditate and pray and allow the Holy Spirit to guide you. Examine, inspect what you expect, and you will find the truth. 

I will mention the lovingkindnesses

    of the LORD, according to all that

the LORD hath bestowed on us, and 

    the great goodness toward the 

house of Israel, which He hath 

    bestowed upon them according to

His mercies, and according to the

   multitude of His lovingkindnesses.

For He said, "Surely they are my people,

     children that will not lie: so He 

was their Saviour.

                   Isaiah 63:7-8

Sanctify your sanctification

Richard L. Crumb