For some 1900 years church people have believed that the Institutional (Catholic/Protestant) Church System is a Gentile institution governed by Gentile doctrines established by Jesus Christ.  Gentiles, it has been preached and believed, replaced the twelve tribes of Israel as God’s Chosen People.  The theory supporting this contention is called “Replacement Theology.”  To the church, the belief is not a theory, but rather an unquestioned “truth.”  The Israelites and the Law by which God ruled them, are kept at a distance by “the church” of modern times.  The harsh, unyielding Law has removed it from consideration forever as far as “Christianity” is concerned.  Any notion of obeying that crucified Law is labeled “legalism,” its practitioners having “fallen from grace” if, that is, they have ever been in grace.  Such is the price one must pay for having the audacity to believe and obey God’s Word.

The Christianity that has been put forth since the middle of the first century is an entirely new religion, totally separate and in no way reflecting the tenants of the Old Testament Law and prophetical writings.  This new religion has Jesus Christ as its founder and head, having replaced the stern, even tyrannical God Who headed the Old Testament Israelites.  This new religion is in every way separated from and antithetical to Judaism which is foundation on the Law and the writings of prophets.  This new religion, for all practical purposes, begins where the its predecessor leaves off (died on the cross).  The guiding belief of the Church is that the Old Testament is nothing more than history, that the historical accounts, the prophecies and the teachings of the Law and the prophets were for Israel only and in no way affect the life of the New Testament Christian.  The church rejects the idea that Jesus was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, that He came to be the example the church is to follow by obeying God’s Law and the teachings of the prophets.  The Biblical truth relative to the Law and the prophetical teachings is that God destroyed them both by nailing them to Christ’s cross.  The idea is that there is something new in Christianity, something never before heard of prior to her founding in 31 A.D.  The church sees Jesus as the Founder of a new religion and herself as the guardian of its doctrines and customs.

However, in the New Testament we find the exact opposite being preached and practiced by Jesus and His apostles.  There we find that everything they said and did was based on and reflected the teachings of the Old Testament.  The New Testament is filled with references to that Truth.  Jesus identified God’s Word as Truth in John 17:17.  That Truth was what God used to sanctify His true saints.  At the time Jesus made that statement the New Testament did not exist and would not exist for some 70 years.  In keeping with Christ’s emphasis on the teachings of those who had preceded Him, everything the apostles did, said and wrote was a reflection of the Old Testament Law and the prophets who taught it.  Nearing the end of Christ’s premier, all-encompassing “Sermon on the Mount” He summarized His message and everything He and the apostles would preach by saying: “For this (His teaching) is (the message of) the Law and the prophets” (Mat. 7:12).  If the Law and the prophetical teachings were to soon be “nailed to the cross,” Why did He teach and emphasize the Law and the prophetical messages to the people of His day, some of whom would become part of the church He would later establish?  In the remainder of this series we will learn what He and His apostles preached and wrote relative to the teachings of the ancients.  I will introduce the “fine print” that will comprise the remainder to this series by quoting someone else: “Jesus did not nail the Law to the cross, the Law nailed Jesus to the cross.”  I wish I had said that.  Now let us turn to the New Testament where we will find numerous Scriptural Truths that will explain the importance of the ancient teachings in the lives of God’s modern day church.

An early hint concerning the part the Law would play in the Lord’s desire to save all of mankind is found in Exodus 12:38 where we find that Israel has physically departed from Egypt.  Bear in mind that relative to mankind, God labels each individual either an Israelite or a Gentile.  In reading about the exodus we find that not all who came out of Egypt were Israelites.  We learn that “a (racially) MIXED MULTITUDE (large group) came out WITH them (Israelites).”  Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth at that time.  When they defeated a nation they made the defeated people their slaves.  This mixed GENTILE group consisted of slaves from other countries who had embraced the God of the Israelites and had departed from Egypt with them.  Further reading reveals that the Gentiles became SPIRITUAL ISRAELITES by obeying the God of Israel, beginning with the observance of Passover.  From that time on there is no mention of Gentiles within the tribes of Israel.  Biological Gentiles (now spiritual Israelites) soon intermarried with their spiritual brethren, thereby becoming ONE PEOPLE under their common God. In Exodus 12:49 God told the people that all would live by one Law which He would give them from Mt. Sinai a few days later.  Recall God addressed the entire congregation as one people, telling them that if they would obey Him then they would be His people and He would be their God.  All, including biological Gentiles (now spiritual Israelites) were to obey the Ten Commandments–the entire Law in condensed form.  This rule applies to God’s church to this day.  The Institutional Church rejects God’s rule, thereby separating herself from Him.  Read Who and Where is Israel Today?  Key word–Today.

Another indication of the importance of the Law and the teachings of the prophets is found in the fact that God designated Israel to be His “light to the Gentiles” (Isa. 42:6; 49:6/ 60:3).  God sent the Word to earth in human form (Jn. 1:1-4) to be the (Jn. 8:12) “light of the (Gentile) world (Jn. 9:5).  He knew that some Gentiles would come to His light and the light of His apostles.  Now notice that Jesus called His apostles the “light of the world” (Mat. 5:14).  Jesus, His 12 apostles and all who would become God’s disciples by obeying His Law were to be God’s “light to the (Gentile) world” around them.  We are talking many different people.  They are not one individual, but many.  Therefore, they each must have one thing that makes them all God’s light.  What is it that they all had and still have in common?  THE WORD OF GOD, WHICH IS GOD IN WRITTEN FORM.  CHRIST WAS GOD IN HUMAN FORM.  CHRIST TAUGHT AND OBEYED GOD’S WORD, AS DID HIS APOSTLES OF OLD, AS DO HIS DISCIPLES AND APOSTLES TODAY.  GOD’S CHURCH EMBRACES HIS WORD BY OBEYING IT, THEREBY BECOMING HIS LIGHT TO THE WORLD AROUND HER.  Unfortunately, few within professing Christendom recognize God’s light and therefore reject those who reflect it.  In fact, they hate God Light (Word) and those who proclaim and live it.  Jesus warned that this would be the case in Mat. 7:13,14; 22:14.  Many are called to obey His Word, few are chosen for having answered His call.  The vast majority who receive God’s call reject it and instead answer Satan’s call.  In doing so they follow in Adam and Eve’s spiritual footsteps and become part of the world around them.    L.J.