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A Time to Change?

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“The times they are a-changin’,” so wrote Bob Dylan almost 55 years ago and the same could easily be said of today’s world. Solomon wrote of the various seasons of life (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8); just like water’s ebb and flow, life presents different circumstances with joys and sorrows.  There are political movements, trends in thinking, and advances in technology that all bring about different eras in the history of humanity.  But there are some things that cannot change and some things that should not be changed.

Photo by Alex Knight

God does not change (Malachi 3:6).  “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).  This should provide comfort for us because it means we can count on God.  We’ve all experienced the sorrow that comes from circumstances changing for the worse.  Relationships sometimes change because people change.  Who hasn’t felt forsaken or betrayed by someone thought to be a friend?  Only those who haven’t lived long enough.  God will not leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).  We can trust in Him who gives every good and perfect gift; with Him there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17; cf. Romans 11:29).

God’s created order should not be changed and in general it will not be changed.  Jesus said that “from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female” (Mark 10:6).  At the end of time, when Jesus returns, people will be “marrying and giving in marriage” (Matthew 24:38).  Despite attempts to redefine marriage and genders, there will always be men and women with differences between the two.  Those who distort this created order go against nature (Romans 1:26-27).

God’s word should not be changed either.  It is his perfect will and does not need a human editor (James 1:25).  Near the beginning of the Bible, when God had given the law of Moses to Israel, He said, “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you” (Deuteronomy 4:2).  In the middle of the Bible, we find this command, “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar” (Proverbs 30:6).  And at the end of the Bible, this warning is given: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).

At the end of this year we think about what has changed and what will change in the year to come.  Hopefully we have changed for the better and will continue to in the coming year.   With all the pressure to move out of the way and let the new come in because “the times they are a-changin’,” let us remember to seek the old paths of God’s word (Jeremiah 6:16).  His word was of ultimate consequence when “God said…” and the world was created (Genesis 1), and it will be of ultimate consequence when the world ends and we all stand before Him in judgment (Revelation 20:12; cf. John 12:48).

-Mark Day

The Faith Came

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The law of Moses served the purpose for preparing mankind for Jesus Christ.  The only way to live under that law was to continue in flawlessly keeping of all its stipulations, else one was under the curse (Galatians 3:10).  In the Old Testament, God stated through Solomon, “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not” (Ecclesiastes 7:20); he acknowledged this truth again on a separate occasion—when praying at the dedication of the temple representing God’s holiness (1 Kings 8:46; 2 Chronicles 6:36).  Nobody could keep the law perfectly; it was a yoke that no one could bear (Acts 15:10).  Humanity needed to be saved from the curse it was under.

Photo by Aperture Vintage

Enter Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham through whom God had made a promise of blessing the world (Galatians 3:16; Genesis 12:1-3).  This promise came before the law; it was God’s unilateral commitment to bless mankind in spite of man’s failing to keep the bilateral contract of the law (Galatians 3:17-21).  Jesus perfectly kept the law which no other man could keep; only He “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  As the apostle Paul goes on to write, “But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Galatians 3:22-25).  The law served as a guardian and disciplinarian until mankind came of age and could be blessed by the freedom in Christ.  Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:34-36).

The faith that came is the system of truth of the New Testament.  Faith in Jesus Christ is the way of salvation; those who become children of God by faith, by being baptized into Christ, are heirs of God’s promise (Galatians 3:26-29).  It is contrasted to the law in that it is, at its root, a faith system, not a merit system.  Faith is an integral part of God’s plan of justification that stands for the whole process (Galatians 3:24).  Faith does not remove laws for even later in this book we are exhorted to “fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).  But faith does remove the curse resulting from failing to faultlessly keep God’s commandments, for we trust and follow Him who did faultlessly keep the commandments.

Therefore, we are no longer under the old law.  It served its purpose.  It highlighted sin and the need for the Savior.  We are not bound by that former law and we should not seek to return to its bondage; instead, we should stand upon the liberating truth of Jesus Christ (Galatians 5:1; cf. John 8:31-32).  How thankful we should be that Christ came and brought the faith—His last will and testament.  Has the faith found lodging into your heart?  Have you become a child of God through faith in Jesus by putting Him on in baptism?  What better way to finish up this year?  You could then say, “I was in the bondage of sin, but then faith came and made me free.”

-Mark Day