Despite the apostle Paul’s earnest plea to all believers which states, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Yet still sectarianism which is defined as being sinful is plaguing the Christian community because of the disbelief and lack of understanding of three basic things.
1.
Disbelief or ignorance of the fact that Jesus Christ is
indeed the Lord God of the Old Testament
Although people profess to believe in Jesus Christ, they have not truly believed Him, and have not truly accepted Him as the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the One Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty. For; “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ' I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.
The irony of
truth is, the Lord of hosts Who is the first and the last, Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the
Almighty is
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is the same
yesterday, today, and forever. It is He Who created the heavens, the earth, the
seas, the springs of water, and all that are in them. It is He who, “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and
without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and
we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth.”
It is Jesus Christ Who, “is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created
that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created
through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all
things consist” (John1:1-4, 14;
Colossians 1:16-17).
And according to the apostle Paul, “...there is no other God
but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or
on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there
is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord
Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live” (1Corinthians 8:4-6).
Therefore, the Lord God of the Old Testament is our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ who for example spoke the following words to Moses saying;
·
“Speak also to the
children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a
sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I
am the LORD who sanctifies you” (Exodus 31:13).
·
“You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My
sanctuary: I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:30).
·
"Speak to the
children of Israel, and say to them: 'The feasts of the LORD, which you shall
proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. Six days shall work be
done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You
shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at
their appointed times” (Leviticus 23:2-4).
·
“Command the children
of Israel, and say to them, 'My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire
as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed
time” (Numbers 28:2).
He is also the One who spoke to Ezekiel the prophet and
said; “I
am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths,
and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the
LORD your God” (Ezekiel 20: 19-20).
Now since Jesus Christ quite emphatically said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly,
I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no
means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these
commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of
heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19).
I beg to ask the question, what is the status of these
instructions the Lord gave to Moses, and to the prophet Ezekiel, since He said
quite emphatically; “Do not think that I came to
destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill?”
To all those who sincerely want to be obedient to the Lord,
and to worship Him in spirit and in truth, let us be candid with ourselves and
answer the following question; If the Lord of host, who is the beginning and
the end, the one Who is, and was, and Who is to come the Almighty, the One who says; " For I am the LORD, I
do not change;” and Who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, instituted a
way by which He is to be worshiped as the Lord, how can anyone assume that it
is no longer applicable?
The only change that has been effected between the time the Lord revealed Himself to Moses and the children of Israel, and now is that, He took away the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, the substitutes, and replaced them with the reality, because they could not fulfill their objectives, and therefore had to be reformed.
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To be continued, stay tuned
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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