David Pawson -The Word of God Part 2
Thoughtful Thoughts 19.1.2018 ; The Word Of God Part 2
Introduction to the Bible, Part 2 - The New Testament
Last time we had a quick glimpse of how easy it was to read the ‘Old’ Testament. The message this time by David Pawson uses the book of Romans as an example of why reading the New Testament is so important. The translator William Tyndale said to a priest, “I will cause a boy that drives the plough to know more of the Scripture, than you”. Priests were surplus to requirements. In fact this one didn’t want the Bible translated. A bishop of London even burned the translated Bibles. Paul says the only priests now are each and every single Christian. I know Tyndale was right because I was eight years old when I started reading the Bible, and already when I was eleven years old I knew enough to ask Jesus Christ to forgive my sin and be my Saviour and Lord, so I can safely argue that children can understand the Bible, even though it is not a children’s book.
The Old...
God is a God of history. The Bible tells us what God has done, and has promised to do. It starts at the beginning and tells us how it will all end. Last week we looked at how God put together a salvage operation for those wanting to be in His family. This week we see how it all came together in the New Testament, with the good news of the New Covenant brought by Jesus. The New Testament was nearly all written by Jews, showing that it complements and completes what God promised in the former covenant. Matthew goes to great pains to point out how it is all a great fulfillment of what God had promised. It is a completion of the former covenant. “The new is in the old concealed. The old is in the new revealed.” (St. Augustine).
The New...
Between the two covenants 400 years elapsed. Then suddenly God speaks through angels to Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, Anna, Simeon and the wise men. They would have been shocked. This wasn’t a message to priests in the Holy of Holies, but God talking to ordinary men and women about sending His Son, the Messiah, to fix the problem. Jewish religious leaders had taught about a Messiah coming, but when the event actually happened their spiritual blindness meant that they missed it! The event reset the world clock, resulting in us now living in AD 2018, (Anno Domini 2018, meaning “In the year of our Lord” 2018); the New Testament era. God was now speaking with individuals. It wasn’t just a general message to a nation, like decrees. Now it was personal. The temple curtain was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross. Paul tells us God cancelled special priests. He also tells us in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that giving is “no longer under compulsion”, yet in the Old Covenant it was compulsory. Every believer now is a priest. We cannot “DO” anything to add to what Jesus did to be forgiven. Man still invents religious activity as if there is something he himself can “DO” to fix his sinful condition. If he could fix his problem by self effort, it would not be ‘grace’. The religious leaders missed the Messiah’s first coming. Now Jesus warned that many religious leaders won’t be ready for His second coming either, and will be ‘cast into the outer darkness’; Matt. 22:13, (Cf Matt 7:21-23). Jesus did tell us of things that must happen before He returns. As Jesus told us of these things, we must believe Him and not those who say He may return anyay without them happening.
Next week we start David Pawson’s series, ‘Unlocking The Bible’, (in English but with Chinese subtitles).
I’m John Dunning and that’s “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.
