Luke 2:25-32  :

Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. He came in the Spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child, Jesus, that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law, then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

“Now you are releasing your servant, Master,
     according to your word, in peace;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
     which you have prepared before the face of all peoples;
a light for revelation to the nations,
     and the glory of your people Israel.”

Here we read about a "righteous and devout" man named Simeon that was caused to know by the Holy Spirit that he would not "see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." It is very interesting to me that the Holy Spirit was capable of influencing people before Jesus had come in such a personal way. Notice that it says that "the Holy Spirit was on him." This is typical of how the Holy Spirit is described before Acts 2. After the events of Acts 2, we discover that the Holy Spirit actually comes into people and does not just rest upon them. This is the time in which we live. God has an intimate relationship with His children by the Holy Spirit that now comes in to stay with each one of us.

Notice how the Holy Spirit made it clear, somehow, that Simeon should go to the temple right at the moment that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus there. This is very typical of the Holy Spirit's guidance. It is often difficult for us to understand what He is doing before the events take place. How this works is a mystery to me and I think that this is because the Holy Spirit is God and God's ways are much higher than mine. I can't expect to understand how it works at all, really. What I can do is trust in the Holy Spirit and know that what He wants is what is the absolute best.

Let's look for a moment at what the Holy Spirit said through Simeon as he held the Son of God. Simeon was thrilled that he had been given the priviledge of seeing God's salvation with his own eyes. Most people didn't get to see Him but Simeon was aware of the precious nature of the event and praised God for it. I believe that we all have precious events that happen in our lives that God gives to only us. This gives us an opportunity to praise Him personally. This is especially good to remember when we are prone to complain about something. We should let the truth of what God has done for us fill our minds and give thanks for those things instead.

Notice that the Holy Spirit made it known to Simeon that God's salvation would be for Gentiles and Jews. Notice also that the Holy Spirit clearly says that Jesus would be the "glory" of Israel not the end of it. Simeon has even more to say if we read on.

Galatians 3:19  :

What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.

We learn five things here about the Law of God given through Moses.

• It was an additive
• It was temporary
• It was given because of sin
• It was ordained through angels
• It was ordained by a mediator

I am going to simply accept the last two and not discuss them. The reason is because I don't know why Paul mentioned it here, perhaps it will become more clear as we go on.

It is easy to ignore, however, that the Law given by Moses, was an additive. It simply didn't exist before the children of Israel left Egypt. There were many years without the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments didn't come as at the beginning so there were many who were not held accountable by them according to the requirements specified by Moses. It was still wrong to do most of the things written into the 10 Commandments, it's just that, as law, they had not been defined with their appropriate punishments and sacrafices and all of the rest. This is important to know because one would naturally ask, why was it added?

Also, the Law given by Moses was temporary. Paul says clearly here that it only applied "until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made." Because of this, we know that the scope of the law was limited in time. So the law was added at the time of Moses until the time of Christ. This describes a special economy between God and mankind. We are no longer in the "Mosaic Economy". We are now in a different one. This still brings up the question of "Why?" Why was the law added temporarily?

This compact verse also tells us that it was given because of sin. Sin isn't the same as "sins."  We are talking about who we are here, not what we do.  We are sinners by nature.  We don't just sin.

The reason that sin is so hard to accept is because we often think that we are good. God says we are all evil. God doesn't think we good until we murder or steal. God already knows that we are thieves and murderers at heart. The law does a great job of exposing that fact to us. Attempting to follow a law and be good all by yourself, causes it to be very clear as you continuously break the law, that you are not a good person at all.

Notice what isn't in scope here. The law can't be used to improve our morality. It isn't going to improve anything, in fact, it makes things worse as the law excites our deep-seated rebellion against God.

Galatians 3:17-18  :

Now I say this. A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.

Notice here that Paul says that a new covenant "does not annul" an older one. We should keep this in mind regarding God's covenants. There shouldn't be any talk of God changing covenants. It is clear, here, that God doesn't do that. I am very concerned that attempting to say so would be to imagine a doctrine that is not in scripture. I am speaking to the popular idea that, somehow, the promises God made directly to the nation and land of Israel somehow apply to Gentiles. It is clear that God did not make these promise to Gentiles and many of them have not yet been fulfilled.

Specifically, we see here that, in this case, it is the Mosaic Law that did not annul the covenant made to Abraham and to his One Seed. The Law of Moses was given 430 years after God made the covenant with Abraham. Abraham didn't have the Ten Commandments. He didn't have to keep the Sabbath. The law was not yet given. What was given was a promise, and that promise is also ours as Gentile believers.

I want to spend some time considering the difference between a promise and a law. A law is the measure of a persons behavior. The intent of the law or a rule, is to determine what good work must be done in order to merit a particular reward. The law doesn't promise anything. It just says if you pass, you will get paid and if you don't you will be punished. You could call a law a promise, but it is really just a measure that depends entirely on you.

A promise depends solely on the one who makes the promise. When benefit is promised, the only thing a person can do is believe it. Believing that you will recieve a thing that is promised, changes how you behave. For instance, if you believe you will be given 10 years pay tomorrow, you would respond by being extremely happy and relieved that your debts would be paid off. You would feel like thanking this person and showing them your great appreciation. This proves that you really believe the one who is going to give you the money. You didn't have to do anything to get it, you just believed the one who promised. It is by believing a promise that we are saved and live the Christian life, not by a rule.

When we really believe that God gave us such great promises, we are filled joy, confidence and happiness about the future. Our immediate circumstances begin to fade away. We all need to concentrate on the promises so that we don't lose hope. That is why it is so good for you to be reading the Bible, praying and listening and singing good Christian music.

For most of my life I was confused when I read the Bible.  It was difficult to understand what God was expecting of me.  It seemed to depend on where I was reading as to what God really wanted of me.

I remember when I finally understood Galatians and Romans for the first time and how it completely altered my life.  I knew that I had come upon a very important understanding regarding Grace and Legalism and that it had powerful consequences in me.  Still, I was confused as I read the Bible.  How could the Bible be promoting so many rules, and not be suggesting that I follow them like a law to make God happy?

About two years ago, God, in his providence, planned for me to stumble upon the works of Miles J. Stanford on the web.  Miles describes a big problem that he was witnessing in Christianity at the time regarding an appropriate understanding of something called Dispensationalism.  I know it must not be a huge topic, because my word processor can’t even spell check it; however, this used to be an important topic 100 years ago and I believe that it is very important for us today.

Mr. Stanford lead me to another Bible teacher named Lewis Sperry Chafer.  Dr. Chafer was the founder and president of Dallas Theological Seminary.  He had a great deal of important things to say about Dispensationalism.  I plan on talking about this subject at length on this blog, but for now, I wanted to explain the connection that it has with understanding what the Bible says to us personally.

An important thing to remember about the Bible is that even though all of the Bible was written for us, not all of it was written to us.

It is very important to remember this when reading the Bible.  Context of what you are reading is an issue.  When you read the Bible, try to remember who is talking and who they were talking to.  Were they writing to Christians or were they writing to the Jews before Christ?  Another important thing to remember is: Was this written before or after the Holy Spirit was given to reside in people?  When Jesus is speaking, is he talking to a Jewish person, to a Gentile, or to his very soon to be Church leaders?  I think you will find an amazing thing.  Jesus said very different things to different people at different times that often sound contradictory.  They weren’t contradictory at all as it turns out.

I hope that on this web site we can discuss some of these seeming discrepancies together as believers and see the truth that God has for us about what he means.  It has become a big eye-opener to me.

Over the years that the Bible covers, God worked with humanity in different ways.  The three great government systems that the Bible discusses are:

• The Law of Moses
• The Kindom Law of the Messiah
• The Teachings of Grace

I plan to discuss these different government systems on other posts.  The important point today is to remember to not read every verse as one that is written to you.  Some of the verses were written for people of other times to follow.  Pay careful attention to the context: who is talking, and to whom.  And, as always, make sure you check out what I am saying against what God’s Word says, and then let me know.  If I’m wrong about something I will need your prayer and help too.