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“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
Christians often use the word “fellowship” for occasions when believers are spending time together. Yet, fellowship means more than being in the same place at one time with our brothers and sisters in Christ. It refers primarily to the unity believers have in Christ.
Believers, having been called into the fellowship of the Son, are all united to Christ.
All believers have new life by the power of the Holy Spirit and are grafted into the Vine, Christ:
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Thus, we are all connected to our fellow believers because we are all in Christ. Here are some more Bible passages that affirm the nature of Christian fellowship:
We are called by God to be part of this fellowship.
God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor. 1:9)
This fellowship is of a different nature than what the unsaved have.
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14)
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
This fellowship is with the Father and the Son.
That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
This fellowship can only happen because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14)
The fellowship of believers is not just of a spiritual nature. Our fellowship is also a physical one in a material world. We live in physical bodies and gather together in physical places as the body of Christ.
The primary place Christian fellowship occurs physically is in the official gathering of God’s saints for corporate worship.
In Acts 2:42-47 we read about how this fellowship in Christ takes place in the daily lives of believers, and in Acts 2:42 Luke writes about how believers met together to worship in the early church:
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…”—the Word preached in the church service.
“…and the fellowship”—the gathering of believers in the church service.
“…to the breaking of bread…”—the Lord’s Supper administered during the church service.
“…and the prayers”—the saints’ corporate petitions to God in the church service.
Christ is growing his kingdom as believers gather together for corporate worship.
In his letter to the Roman church the apostle Paul emphasizes how God works through the preached word to save people:
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom. 10:14-15)
We also see in Acts 2 that God used this frequent gathering together by believers for corporate worship to care for each other (vv. 44-45) and to bring more and more people into Christ’s kingdom and this holy fellowship (vv. 46-47).
For a variety of reasons, including the ever-growing access to online sermons and teaching, many Christians have sadly come to think that attending church in person isn’t necessary. They conclude that it is enough to listen to a sermon online and then get together for “fellowship” with other believers outside of church as everyone’s schedules allow. Yet, this is not the kind of fellowship God intended for the saints as they live out their holy calling as God’s people in this world.
Believers are called by God to participate together in the ordinary means of grace he gives his people.
Hearing God’s word preached physically together, being gathered on the Lord’s Day physically together, receiving the sacraments physically together, and expressing gratitude and making petitions physically together to God are all essential aspects of fellowship. Becoming members of Christ’s church and confessing our faith in Christ Jesus before the congregation is not only part of our calling but also a testimony to a dark world. A congregation sharing the love of God with unbelieving visitors who want to know “What’s church and Jesus all about?” is a joy to see.
Of course, there are unusual circumstances that prevent God’s people from gathering together physically, such as illnesses, persecution, catastrophes, pandemics, war, etc., but ordinarily we are called by God to enjoy and participate together in the ordinary means of grace he gives us: the preached word, the sacraments, and prayer. This is the most important way we live out our fellowship in this world, our communion with the saints.
May we continue to find ways to have fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ on a daily basis, always seeking to love, encourage, exhort, and care for one another however we can, and may we also take with utmost seriousness the gathering together of God’s saints for fellowship on each Lord’s Day until Christ returns to bring us into eternal and perfect fellowship with him and all the saints.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb. 10:24-25)
This article is adapted from “The Fellowship of the Saints” in Beautiful Christian Life’s October 2023 monthly newsletter.
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In our own day there is much to be afraid of. Many of us have experienced not only the recent pandemic but also violence, turmoil, broken families, tragedy, illness, death of loved ones, political upheavals, and an uncertain future. How can Christians be firm in faith when they are fearful?
Our hope is in God, just as it was for Ahaz in the book of Isaiah.
In chapter seven of the book of Isaiah, King Ahaz was experiencing fear of the unknown and the anxiety about what was coming next as he faced an impending attack and siege against Jerusalem. But God sent his prophet Isaiah to him to tell him not to fear. God ends his encouragement to Ahaz with a short and memorable principle. Capturing the meaning well, the New International Version translates Isaiah 7:9b as follows,
“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”
This is a call for Ahaz—and us—to believe and to trust God. It is a call to put away the fear and anxiety and to “be careful, be quiet, not fear, and not let your heart be faint” (Isa. 7:4). Theologian John N. Oswalt writes,
Unless Ahaz puts his faith in God and what God has said through his prophet, then he will have to give way to fear. But if he will firmly believe in God, then he can stand in quiet confidence no matter how desperate the immediate circumstances may appear. — (Oswalt, Isaiah; The NIV Application Commentary, p. 139)
Our hope is in God, just as it was for Ahaz. If we are to stand in the days of our own troubles, we must be firm in the faith. We must trust our Lord God, the sovereign ruler of all creation, because he is faithful to his promises.
We can trust that God will continue to keep all his promises.
Consider how Isaiah continues in Chapter 7. Although Ahaz refuses to test God by asking for a sign, the Lord gives one. In verse 14, God responds to Ahaz and says,
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isa. 7:14)
Immanuel is Hebrew for “God with us.” About 700 years after Ahaz, this prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:23). Jesus is Immanuel. He is God with us. He is the promised Savior of God’s people and the eternal King who rules over all. He is the fulfillment of all the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20).
By the grace of God in the power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s word we can trust that God will continue to keep all his promises, just like he did in giving his only begotten Son to die for those who believe in him. God will complete the entire work of salvation in a new heaven and earth, giving all those who believe in him, who are firm in the faith, new resurrected, imperishable, and immortal bodies with everlasting life. So be calm, be quiet, do not fear, and be firm in the faith while rejoicing that God is with us!
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Knowing the difference between the biblical categories of justification and sanctification is key for resting in Christ and understanding our duties as God’s children. Following is a basic definition of each word:
Justification
Without understanding how they are justified in Christ, Christians may wrongly think their own works, good or bad, could keep them in or out of God’s kingdom. The Bible says that we are declared righteous in Christ—this is a legal verdict and not something that God sees inside of us:
And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. (Rom. 4:5)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:1)
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (Rom. 5:8-9)
Christ has taken upon himself the punishment we deserve, and he has earned life for us by his perfect obedience to God’s law:
For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:17)
Even our faith is God’s gift to us (Eph. 2:8-9). Believers will never have to face God’s just sentence for their sins and spend eternity in hell separated from God. Think of someone in a courtroom who is guilty of a horrible crime and deserving of the severest punishment but is instead declared innocent because someone else paid the penalty for them—and even made them coheirs with him, sharing in his vast wealth! This is the joyful justification every believer has in Christ.
Sanctification
Not only do Christians have the benefit of being justified in Christ, they also have the benefit of sanctification. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer and is at work conforming them to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). According to the Heidelberg Catechism, sanctification in Christ consists of two parts:
the dying of the old self (mortification), which consists of a "heartfelt sorrow that we have offended God by our sin, and more and more to hate it and flee from it" (Q. 89);
and living unto God (vivification), which consists of "a heartfelt joy in God through Christ, and a love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works" (Q. 90).
Christians should be diligent to grow in godliness and be confident, as the apostle Paul writes, “that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).
Sadly, the Roman Catholic Church has turned around the teaching of justification and sanctification, erroneously teaching that our justification comes some day in the undetermined future, after we have completed the process of sanctification via the sacraments of Rome and purgatory. The truth is that all believers are coheirs with Christ, and sanctification is God’s gift to all his children. As the apostle John declares,
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
Just as a child has the consequent duties to honor and obey his parents, so Christians have consequent duties to honor and obey their heavenly Father. Believers should expect to be recipients of the Lord’s discipline in their life when they disobey God:
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (Heb. 12:7-8)
Christians can rejoice, even in times of discipline, that they are God’s children and their adoption into the family of God is secure. All Christians receive the double benefit of justification and sanctification by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
Rijksmuseum: Elisha helps a poor widow; Image from Wikimedia Commons
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With God’s wrath hovering over Israel during the ministry of the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 4, we meet a widow:
Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.” (2 Kings 4:1)
We are not told her tribe, her hometown or that of her husband, yet we are informed that she was married to one of the sons or disciples of the prophets—they were loyal to Elisha and faithful to the Lord. In a land of apostasy and idolatry, the sons of the prophets were true believers and worshippers of the Lord.
The widow cries to Elisha in her distress.
We know the widow had faith because she cried to Elisha. This crying out meant that she was in trouble. Hard times had fallen upon her, and in her pain and uncertainty she was in desperate need of help. Now in the Old Testament this crying out was ultimately directed to the Lord; it was an urgent prayer for heavenly aid. Yet, these cries went through an agent, an intermediary.
The usual mediator in those times was the king. If you stumbled into desperate need, you petitioned the king; the king was the Lord’s servant to give you relief. The widow, however, bypasses the king and goes directly to the prophet. When the king is wicked, you seek out a true agent of the Lord, and there was none better than Elisha. This is another mark of the widow’s devoted faith.
Elisha is obligated to care and provide for his servants.
Next, we get to listen to this woman’s voice. And the pain of the widow in no way diminishes her eloquence. Her first two words say it all: “your servant, my husband.” The widow and Elisha have a pre-existing relationship. Her husband was his servant. This means both he and she are loyal to Elisha; they are part of the same group with Elisha as the head or leader.
It also ignites Elisha’s duty. If the widow and her husband served Elisha with fealty, then as a master, Elisha is obligated to care and provide for his servants. She reminds Elisha of his duty and then pulls at his heart strings. He is dead; your servant, my husband is dead.
In ancient times, widowhood wasn’t just sad; it was also dangerous. It exposed women to vulnerability, need, and loneliness. Next, she underscores the piety of her husband. You know, Elisha, how he feared the Lord. Her husband had no eyes for idols, but his heart was wholly devoted in reverence to the Lord alone. Finally, the widow states her problem: “The creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves” (2 Kings 4:1).
The creditor had the legal right to seize the widow’s children for repayment.
Before he died, the husband had taken out a loan, probably fairly sizable. And for collateral or as a pledge, he put up his two children. This means that if he defaulted on the loan the creditor had the legal right, by contract, to seize his kids, and they would become the creditor’s debt-slaves until they pay off the loan. The word here for slave or servant means debt-slave. And this financial arrangement was fully legal under Mosaic Law, and it was common. Thus, there is nothing unjust or oppressive about this setup. When the husband died, the loan defaulted.
And the creditor has the legal right to seize the children for repayment. This is just one of those hard times. The family was struggling to get by, so the husband took out a loan. He unexpectedly died, and the loan fell to his wife and she defaulted. And now the creditor has no choice but to foreclose on her two children.
In the widow’s situation we observe the painful mystery of the suffering of the obedient.
Her kids were the widow’s life insurance policy; if she loses them, she has nothing left. She is the faithful saint who is suffering. This is the devoted missionary who gets cancer; the excellent parent who loses their child in a tragic accident. Her family did everything right. They feared the Lord; they kept his commandments.
They were loyal to Elisha, the Lord’s true prophet. They never bowed the knee to Baal or visited one of those golden calves. Their piety was pristine, but all they have known is difficulty. The widow lost her money, had her hubby taken, and now will she lose her kids too? She prayed for bread, but all she got was a rock. This is the painful mystery of the suffering of the obedient.
Elisha responds with words of refreshment, not blame.
And then Elisha responds, and with such words of refreshment! He doesn’t roll his eyes. He doesn’t brush her off as unimportant. And most significantly, he doesn’t blame her. He doesn’t say,
You are the one who took out the loan. Sorry, but you are reaping what you sowed.
He doesn’t even turn it into a lesson on sin:
Something must be lacking in your faith. This will teach you the importance of budgeting, of financial stewardship. Tell me what you have learned from your mistakes.
No, Elisha does none of this. Rather, without a hint of guilt, he offers to help. He gives her privileged access:
And Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? (2 Kings 4:2)
Elisha’s first instinct is not to criticize, judge, or be suspicious. He erupts with charity, generosity, and willingness.
The widow’s faith grants her the privilege of prophetic intercession.
For a prophet who was supposed to bring the sword, this is certainly merciful. The widow has the benefit of prophetic mediation and aid, which was denied Jehoram in the previous chapter. Elisha told Jehoram, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother” (2 Kings 3:13).
The widow’s faith and devotion to the Lord didn’t shield her from suffering and hardship, but it did grant her the privilege of prophetic intercession. This is huge! Yet, Elisha’s second question is a bit curious:
“Tell me; what have you in the house?” And she said, “Your servant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.” (2 Kings 4:2)
The only thing left in the widow’s cupboard is a jar of oil. She is worse than dirt poor; she is death poor. The flask represents her utter poverty and desperation. Nevertheless, Elisha takes the object of her destitution and turns it into the source of her relief.
Note what Elisha tells the widow:
Then he said, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few. (2 Kings 4:3)
The word for “vessels” here is the most general term for containers. In today’s terms, it would include anything from a 5-gallon bucket or a Tupperware bowl to a wine bottle or a perfume jar.
Elisha employs the community in his miracle to help the widow.
Elisha tells her to get as many empty containers as she can from her neighbors. Note how he employs the community in his miracle to help the widow. The neighbors’ charity to lend out their containers is essential to how she will find relief. Next, Elisha strangely orders her to shut the doors behind her and her kids. What is the point of this direction?
This step is an allusion to a law in Deuteronomy 24:10-11. It says that a creditor cannot enter your house to seize the pledge; instead, you have to bring the pledge outside to the creditor. Remember, the creditor is on his way, and the pledge of this loan is the widow’s children. If he finds them outside, he can legally confiscate the children.
But, inside they are safe. Elisha makes her shut the doors to follow this law and to protect her kids:
“Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your sons and pour into all these vessels. And when one is full, set it aside.” (2 Kings 4:4)
With the door shut, this buys her time to save them. And time is precisely what the widow is going to need as Elisha then tells her to take the flask and start filling up each borrowed container, one at a time.
This is a slow miracle taking place.
And the widow of course obeys. Her children bring her a vessel. She fills it, and then it is pulled to the side and replaced with an empty one. If you think about it, this has to be the slowest miracle ever! She is pouring from a flask. Surely, the output is not that fast.
Maybe she gets a gallon per minute, maybe less. She collected some 50, 100, or more containers. With this slow dribble, the widow is filling buckets, canning jars, tubs, and gallon jugs. This could have taken days. Nevertheless, with the last container up to the brim, the oil stops flowing. We can just picture the widow and her kids, exhausted and oily, sitting in a house crammed with vessels of oil with spills all over the place:
So she went from him and shut the door behind herself and her sons. And as she poured they brought the vessels to her. When the vessels were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another.” Then the oil stopped flowing. (2 Kings 4:5-6)
And after a report to Elisha, he completes his charity to the woman:
She came and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” (2 Kings 4:7)
Elisha provided the miracle of oil, so that the widow would pay off her loan and not lose her children. And there is enough oil to pay the loan and then to live off of! The widow can live off the surplus oil until her children find jobs and start getting a paycheck.
Elisha follows the law and satisfies justice.
The flask of oil, which represented the widow’s utter poverty, has become the very source of becoming debt-free and living daily life. Elisha really did help out this poor widow and her children. This only adds to the uniqueness of this miracle, since typically prophetic help forgives sin, erases debt, and corrects abusive oppression.
Here though, Elisha follows the law and satisfies justice. He doesn’t forgive the debt, but he produces income to pay the loan off. The rights of the creditor are fully upheld and granted. Remember, this creditor is not some massive Wall Street bank; he is a neighbor, a friend, or a family member. If the creditor didn’t get paid, he might end up in the poor house. There is no hint that the creditor was corrupt or abusive, but Elisha stepped in to pay off the loan.
Miracles of mercy typically are kindness to the undeserving. The person is a sinner; they deserve wrath, but the Lord graciously saves them. Here, though, the widow’s family feared the Lord. They fell on hard times. And Elisha provides oil to satisfy the law and to give them a daily income. This is not your usual miracle, but it is one that surely shows the Lord’s compassion on his people—in this case, a nameless and poor widow. Yet, this miracle sticks out for another reason.
Most of the miracles in the Old Testament were repeated by Jesus in some way or another.
This is a miracle that Jesus didn’t really imitate. Most of the miracles in the Old Testament were repeated by Jesus in some way or another. The sea was split; Jesus calmed the sea. Elijah raised the dead; so did Jesus. Manna fell from heaven; Jesus fed the 5,000. Yet, Jesus never really performed a miracle like paying someone’s financial debt.
Jesus made the crippled walk; he restored eyesight and hearing. He banished demons. He purified lepers and a bleeding woman. He touched the dead to make them alive. He spoke words and diseases were erased. But Jesus’ miracles avoided money. He didn’t cancel anyone’s debt. He didn’t get anyone hired at a new and better job.
Jesus didn’t produce wealth for anyone.
There was the one time when he told Peter to grab a shekel out of the mouth of a fish to pay a toll-tax. He preached that people should sell their possessions and give to the poor. We know that Jesus and his disciples had a purse to pay for expenses and to give alms. Jesus did multiply wine, but this wasn’t a relief for hardship—it was to let the people celebrate and drink more.
Yet, Jesus didn’t produce wealth for anyone. Sure, the healings made the people able to work, which is big, no doubt. Jesus didn’t pay off anyone’s loan though; he didn’t supply them with a daily stipend to live off of. From all appearances, this seems to be a miracle that was not fulfilled in Christ. Have we found a passage that is not Christ centered?
Well, it is true that Jesus did not fulfill this miracle in his life. Rather, he saved this miracle for the last. He fulfilled it in his death—a miraculous source of wealth to pay off the widow’s debts and to satisfy the law.
By his death Jesus paid off the debt that stood against us, the wages of all our sin.
When did Jesus do this? On the cross. And he didn’t use oil, but his own blood. Yes, by his death Jesus paid off the debt that stood against us, the wages of all our sin. The Father is just. His rights as the creditor had to be upheld. God loaned us life, but we rebelled in depravity and idolatry. His justice had to be satisfied; the terms of the law must be met.
And just as a flask of oil appeared impossible for the task, how could the life of one man pay for our sins? Yet, Jesus was righteous—he was the God-man. His shed blood paid for all our sins, past, present, and future. In Jesus Christ, we get no more bills in the mail from justice. It is God who justifies—who can condemn? There is no condemnation for us in Christ.
Such a miracle could not be wasted on earthly dollars and cents. It had to be saved for an eternal redemption—to pay off our corruptions, to purchase us for Christ himself, and to pay our way into heaven. Indeed, as the oil paid off the loan and provided for the life of the widow’s family, so by Christ’s blood we are forgiven and have life—even resurrection life! The merit of Jesus is the grace and favor by which we live, every day here and now and forevermore. Moreover, once we see this miracle reach its fulfillment in Christ’s death for us, we can also detect the privileges we have in Jesus.
By faith in Christ, we have the privilege of Christ’s intercession for us.
First, while Jehoram was cut off from intercession, the widow had access to Elisha’s prayers and helps. So also, for us, by faith in Christ, we have the privilege of Christ’s intercession for us. Like the widow, the Lord has told us that we are not immune to the losses and tragedies in life. Our faith and fear of the Lord doesn’t mean constant ease.
Loved ones will die. We will struggle with financial debt. Betrayal, heartache, and desperation are on the menus of life. Yet, amid the loss and pain, Christ prays for us. We have access to the Father through Jesus, with the help of the Spirit. And Christ’s intercession is more precious than diamonds, for it means we can cast our cares upon him.
It means our Father in heaven is listening to us. We may not know how he will answer; but God is listening and he cares, because Jesus died for us and is praying for us.
May we be a family that is rich in charity and lavish in compassion and generosity.
Secondly, the widow was granted charity, a charity that all the neighbors helped with. In answer to our prayers, God has not promised us a miracle, but he has assured us of the charity of the saints. Being part of the family of God, we have a right to helped by the saints. And as saints, we have the duty to show love and charity to one another, especially when hard times strike. The generous giving of the saints and the work of the deacons is how God often answers our prayers in times of need.
So, may we be a family that is rich in charity and lavish in compassion and generosity. For in this way we glorify God, we spread the grace of Christ, and we wait until all our cares and needs will be gone forever in the resurrection.
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The author of Hebrews desires for Christians to appreciate the much better quality of the new covenant than the old covenant administered at Sinai. His lengthy citation of Jeremiah 31 in Hebrews 8 is intended to cheer the Christian with what the new covenant secures for believers through the coming of Christ. The covenant promises that we now enjoy in fulfillment are the same promises that Abraham looked forward to and, as Hebrews stresses, “is not like the covenant made with Israel on the day when God brought them out of Egypt, the covenant which they broke” (Heb. 8:9; Jer. 31:32).
Since many early Christians were giving up on Christ and desired to return to the Mosaic administration as a more superior revelation of God, the author stresses three promises of the new covenant that makes the arrangement superior to the old one.
These three major promises of the new covenant are intended to drive the Christian to a life of faith, a trust in the once-for-all death of Christ, to live confidently in this present evil age in the face of great opposition and struggle, and to not give up.
These are the most precious promises of the covenant of grace:
1. The Law is written on our hearts.
“I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Heb. 8:10;Jer. 31:33).
The law was originally written on stones, and this is how the people related to God. Their religion was one of mere duty without love. But the summary of the law was to love to God from the heart. This is the great reasons that the Lord called for circumcised hearts–that they might love him. The new covenant promise spoke of the interior quality of true religion. True love of God, springing from the gift of faith, would be demonstrated by a people who are not characterized as always apostatizing from the Lord from the heart. Instead, out of sincere and true love for God, faith and repentance will be the defining characteristic of their lives.
The new covenant Christian is one who has been born from above by the Spirit and, from the principle of new life in the heart, true faith in Christ and love for God will follow.
2. We know the Lord.
“And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest” (Heb. 8:11;Jer. 31:34a).
The second promise of the new covenant is that God’s people will truly know him. True knowledge of God becomes our great delight. What it is that we know of the Lord? We know his steadfast, covenant love. As Jeremiah expresses, we do not boast in riches, wisdom, or strength, but our delight is that we know the Lord’s steadfast love and his righteous character. Or, as Psalm 147:11 states, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.” What a remarkable statement! The Lord takes pleasure in those who know his covenant love.
This knowledge is our delight, and is the reason that Jesus prayed in the high priestly prayer that we would “know the only true God and the one whom he has sent.” This knowledge fills the new covenant people of God and characterizes their delight in this life.
3. Our sins are remembered no more.
“For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Heb. 8:12;Jer. 31:34b).
In Romans 2 we are told that in studying Israel under the law, it has the effect of stopping the mouth of the whole world in any attempt to establish our righteousness before God. Our sins deserve the strictest judgment. God established an arrangement at Sinai to teach the world about this problem, and Israel often received severe judgments for sin. What the author of Hebrews is describing is that in the superior work of Christ and his righteous sacrifice all who look in faith to him, unlike Israel who trusted in their own righteousness, can lived assured that every last one of their sins has actually been forgiven.
This is the greatest of promises that we enjoy in the new covenant. God desires that we live in full trust that he has been merciful to us in our sins; he remembers them no more.
These three promises are intended to drive the Christian life and provide us a sure anchor for our souls in all difficulties. Dear Christian, believe and enjoy the promises of the covenant of grace.
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Many Christians think that if something good happens to them, it’s because God is rewarding them for being obedient. On the flip side, if something bad happens to them, they think that God is punishing them for some sin in their life. We all know people who have received good things they didn’t deserve, as well as others who have received bad things they didn’t deserve.
The Mosaic covenant was a conditional agreement between God and the people of Israel that had different outcomes based upon the people’s obedience to its terms.
Consider Jesus’ words about our heavenly Father who “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). Frequently Christians read verses regarding blessings and curses in the Old Testament that were meant for the nation of Israel and attempt to apply these promises to their lives today. The Mosaic covenant (also called the old covenant; see Gal. 4:24) was a conditional agreement between God and the people of Israel that was mediated by Moses (Exod. 19–24) with different outcomes based upon the people’s obedience to its terms.
This covenant was extremely important for two reasons: 1) it showed the nation of Israel (and us) the impossibility of keeping God’s law perfectly due to our sinful natures, teaching us about our need for a savior, and 2) the Mosaic covenant provided a forum for Christ to come and be the perfect Son of Israel who would obey God’s law in all things and be the once-for-all sacrifice for sin.
The law is still a guide for Christians on how to live uprightly, but Christians are righteous before God in Christ alone.
The Mosaic covenant (or old covenant) is no longer active today because Jesus fulfilled all its conditions on behalf of every believer (Rom. 10:4). This agreement made on Mount Sinai has been replaced by God’s new covenant based upon Christ’s completed work (Jer. 31:31). The law is still a guide for Christians on how to live uprightly, but Christians are righteous before God in Christ alone—not because of their own works. Although they will do imperfectly in this life, Christians have the consequent duty as God’s children to obey their heavenly Father in thankfulness for all God has done for them in Christ.
Actions do have consequences in this world. If people are mean, they won’t have many friends. If plants aren't watered, they will die. On the other hand, a person who is driving safely might be hit and killed by a drunk driver. Cancer may strike a little child for no known reason. Both believers and unbelievers experience sorrows and joys in this fallen world.
Believers can and should always rejoice because the sufferings of this life won’t have the last say; God will.
Christians also face persecution for their faith, which can make life much harder for God’s people. We need to remember Jesus’ comforting words when facing any of life’s struggles:
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Believers can and should always rejoice in the Lord regardless of life’s trials because these sufferings won’t have the last say. God does, and his plan for his children is glorious.
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In the wake of the death and resurrection of Christ, a number of Jesus’ disciples failed to receive word that their Lord and Savior had risen from the dead. Under the impression that Jesus was dead in his tomb, the disciples walked on the road to Emmaus until a visitor joined them along the way:
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” (Luke 24:13-17)
This visitor eventually revealed himself as the risen Messiah, and Jesus began to teach them about his ministry from “the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). In other words, Jesus taught his disciples exclusively from the Old Testament.
In fact, the phrase that Luke uses, the Law, Prophets, and Psalms, refers to the three major divisions of the Old Testament. Another way of stating Christ’s point is, “The whole Old Testament points to me—Jesus!” If the Old Testament is about Jesus, then how does this affect the way we read it?
The Old Testament isn’t merely about morals, ethics, or leadership.
All too often people read the Old Testament as if its narratives set forth principles merely about morals, ethics, or leadership. Moses is an example for leadership in how he led a rebellious people through the wilderness—these “life lessons” can then be applied to a host of workplace conflicts.
The godly Old Testament saints are an example of how Christians should live their lives, and the wicked people in the Old Testament are examples of how we should avoid sin. When Potiphar’s wife made sexual advances towards Joseph, his swift flight is a good moral example of how we should flee sexual immorality.
The Bible definitely discusses questions of morals and ethics, but correctly connecting Old Testament passages to Christ is vital to a proper application of the aforementioned passages. I very much doubt that when Jesus was on the road to Emmaus he would have appealed to Moses merely as an example of a good leader or to Joseph only as a paradigm of sexual purity.
“The Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” are about Jesus.
Jesus was not in the least bit shy about claiming that the Law, the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, was about him:
“For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.” (John 5:46)
In the case of the relationship between Christ and Moses, the New Testament explains that Moses is a type, or foreshadow, of Jesus, the antitype or reality. This makes the Old Testament—the shadowlands, if you will—the land filled with shadows of Jesus.
The author of Hebrews, for example, explains that Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house but that Jesus is over it as a faithful son (Heb. 3:5-6). Moses interceded on behalf of Israel when God indicated that he would destroy them (Exod. 32), but his intercession points forward to Christ, whose intercessory work truly removes sin and imputes righteousness to the people of God. Moses points to the person and work of Christ, not merely to an example of good leadership.
We find several “types” of Christ in the Old Testament.
Joseph was also a type of Christ, in that he was brought low and entered a state of humiliation and eventually ascended to a state of glory where he ruled at the right hand of Pharaoh. Joseph’s life and his righteousness is typical of Christ’s righteousness.
Yes, Joseph models the righteousness that Christians should exhibit, but the only way we can manifest this righteousness is through faith in Christ. Joseph, therefore, is not merely an example of piety and godliness but is first and foremost a type of Christ, the one through whom believers receive the ability to manifest godly conduct.
As you consider the Old Testament, do not press the narratives into the service of application apart from Christ. First consider how Christ is organically connected to the text. How does the New Testament authoritatively explain the particular Old Testament text before you? Through the light of the revelation of the gospel of Christ, you are equipped to recognize clearly Jesus in the shadowlands of the Old Testament.
