Disturbing parallels between post-apostolic Christianity and the unfaithful and faltering Old Testament Jews
If a testament were written beyond the New Testament chronicling “the church” since 100 AD, numerous unsettling parallels could be drawn between those who named Christ and the disobedient and unfaithful Old Covenant Jews.
It is said hindsight is 20-20. And, it is historic fact that despite advantages over the Old Covenant granted by God and claimed in the post-apostolic age for the past 1900 years, many who called themselves Christ’s representatives failed to live up to God’s expectations in significant ways just as did the Jews. This article will show the root common denominator between failures in the Old Covenant era and New Covenant era, but first some qualifiers are in order.
In a previous article, two non-negotiable expectations set by Jesus Christ were shown as never having been kept by church leaders who set the tone on what it means to be a Christian – what Christians may expect of God, and what God expects of them. These were: 1) that Christians universally let the Holy Spirit imbue in them a Christ-like love for one another (Jn. 13:34,35), and 2) that they stay unified as “one” in the presiding power of the Holy Spirit, and not separate into conflicting divided subsects (Jn. 17:20-23).
Jesus repeatedly emphasized in the John 13 and 17 passages that “all” people and “the world” would know and believe such obedient, faithful, and transformed people were His disciples. This stood to form the strongest proof for His existence and legitimacy and make for a synergy that would snowball.
It is a principle that God never tells His people to do something He will not empower them to do. It is also a truism that there is strength in numbers. God of course knows this, and Jesus said “a house divided cannot stand.” Harmonious teamwork is always required to perform a grand endeavor, and the disciples were assigned no less a task than establishing the kingdom of God in spirit and truth and spreading the gospel to the entire world before Christ could return. In the New Testament, apostolic exhortations reinforce the Lord’s prime dictates of love and unity – supported in turn by a host of conditions of heart Jesus set down as required in a disciple (Luke 14:26-33). The apostles’ vision was the Lord’s vision.
Eph. 4:13-16 – 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ- 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
History shows the exact opposite of this apostolic mission statement is what happened instead, and the damage done is incalculable. So much hinged on this stated goal of maturing localized assemblies as veritable female counterparts of Jesus Christ and to be dotted around the world. God’s goal included the salvation of many lives, amplifying His peoples’ effectiveness at overcoming evil, and that Jesus be positively reflected upon as He so deserves. This was to be a work of God working in man to form a unified, holy, “special people” – not a work of man doing it by his own ingenuity and independent mind sans God. The fruit – the results – would be the test of whether those who said they stood in Jesus’ name actually obeyed Jesus and remained faithful. This is because God was determined they succeed. He keeps His end of the bargain and cannot ever fail.
To be clear, this article concerns church organizations and their congregants who officially “named Christ” through the centuries. These include those who became the Roman Catholics from 312 AD forward, Orthodox sects, and the variety of Protestant and all other sects after 1517. These have comprised the public face of the Christian faith which are the subject of history books. These are those who competed with one another saying they were “the church” and thus the representatives of Christ’s kingdom. This article excludes faithful followers or a “remnant” who walked with God in obedience. Indeed, some of these were forced underground as dominant state-run churches could outlaw them, and threaten with trial, imprisonment, even brutal execution for practicing the faith in a way not sanctioned by the mainstream church – Catholic or Protestant.
Undoubtedly many have lived lives in quiet obscurity to the praise of God’s glory. Wonderful testimonies through the centuries were unchronicled by anyone but God – and really, that is all that matters. Further, an uncounted number of Protestants and Catholics were true followers of Christ to the best of their ability despite being straightjacketed or handicapped by theological systems that blended truth with error and lacked the original apostolic vision. Many therefore are in heaven because of the truth imparted in what were mixed works of stumbling men and God who “works in all things” producing good where He could mingled with evil of men.
For example, in the post-apostolic era there have been wars and bloodshed at the hands of those who claimed to represent God who is love. Likewise, every kind of sexual impropriety and perversion has been committed and often covered up by those who were to bring glory – not reproach – upon the name of God. If that wasn’t bad enough, there have been many who preyed upon vulnerable peoples’ God-given need for Him so as to gain from the people of God social power and financial wealth for themselves. There have been those who claim special privileges from God to sin with impunity – and serve self and not the Lord they covenanted to serve, and who said die to self. And maybe worst of all, there have been those who blurred the way of salvation by confusing or changing the portrayal of God’s way of salvation. As such, countless souls are forever lost to hell after living under the noses of those who said they were possessors of the Spirit of Jesus. And, the antichrist will soon arise in a world fertilized by the unfaithful men who said they were the tip of God’s spear. That is, the world’s philosophers and thinkers rejected what they saw of the Christian way and forged new directions that shape the very society we now live in as it gears up to worship the antichrist instead of Christ. Many unbelievers today feel they may safely ignore the claims of the Christians for the above and more reasons they correctly observe. This is exactly why the apostles nearly fell over themselves trying to stamp out factions and false ways the moment they were detected. The Spirit of Jesus Christ who was motivating them knew so much was at stake! While the Bible says unbelievers may also reject Christ under the best of times, it does warn His people that they stand to turn people off who otherwise might have turned to the Lord.
That these things happened is a great abomination. It is a travesty. And it needed not be so. While the New Testament does rebuke and try to counter sins among the first century Christians, it speaks to them as capable of rising above the Old Testament legacy. For the sake of the Christians, the New Testament holds out the Jews’ history “for our learning” (Rom. 15:4). As one converted from being a high-level Jew, the apostle Paul said that the Old Covenant Jews were as children being trained. The law of Moses was the “schoolmaster” to bring them to Christ (Gal. 3:24). Paul’s statements assume the Christians are by contrast mature sons and daughters of God indwelt by Jesus’ own Spirit and can avoid many egregious ways and finally be “well pleasing” to God (2 Cor. 5:9).
But what about those post-100 AD church leaders who assumed authority in the name of Christ and said they represented the true work of God along with their congregants or members? Sadly, they more than reshaped the understanding once in the air in the apostles’ days.
1 John 5:20 – And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
Indeed the Catholics with their Mass, Mary, Pope, Priesthood, Clerical celibacy, Clergy-Laity model, Purgatory, Indulgences, Prayers to Saints, and works-based salvation obliterated the commonly held “understanding” John referenced. Then the ex-Catholic Protestants, bless their hearts, tried to patch things up as best they could. They meant well, Martin Luther’s “sola scriptura” (only the scriptures as basis for the faith) seemed intellectually honest, but the Protestants were actually fruit from the Catholic tree, and carried forward several faulty practices from the Catholics and thus did not restore to the purity of the first century apostolic understanding.
This Matters Now. A Lot
Make no mistake: this affects you, and all of us. The very theological air that we breath and understandings of truth craftily blended with error are their legacy. That error is mixed in with what many today believe is truth is a matter of simple deduction. It cannot be any other way. This is because groups contradict one another in a veritable free-for-all in which one person’s pearls are another’s anathema (curse). It is impossible for everyone to be right. Nor does God contradict Himself. That means many who think they are right must be wrong. Simple as that. Indeed, much taught today deviates subtly or markedly from what the apostles taught despite the apostles’ understandings being baked into the New Testament everywhere you look.
Matthew 7 – 13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. …
Matthew 7 – 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. …
Matthew 7 – 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
So, as was once the case for Old Testament Jews who were promised if they trust and obey, then God will come through, the Christians were likewise promised if they trust and obey, then God will come through. The potential was vast but unmet – and unintended consequences have cascaded in all directions.
God saw it coming
Just as God once told the Jews “you are well able to go in and take the land,” but they failed despite His backing, the New Testament sets out conditions needed in order to succeed centered around maintaining the apostles’ doctrine, but God did hint the church could degrade.
2 Peter 2 – But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
Acts 20 – 28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. 29 For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. 31 Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
Luke 18:8 ” … Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
Let’s first level-set a few things and take note of a few root issues.
The Standard for All Time
Christians claim they are indwelt by the Spirit of Jesus Christ and are called to the attainable goal of exemplifying the character, nature, ways and means of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29). The New Testament says Christians are to be “filled” with the Holy Spirit and are commanded to “walk according to the Spirit” as “dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:11). This transformed state of being stands to short-circuit all the evils the natural person may otherwise do consciously or unconsciously if acting independently of the indwelling Spirit. Early disciples in the New Testament prove this is not hype – even if some today may erroneously argue one such as Stephen the first martyr can never arise in the present day – as though God withdrew the level of commitment He gave the apostles.
That is nigh to blasphemy. Jesus said, “I am with you always,” and “I will not leave you orphans,” and made many promises with no expiration date to those who would meet His strict conditions. God wanted and still wants those who call themselves Christian to aspire to be made by Him into model citizens of Christ’s kingdom, and “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4). Christians are thus called to “be holy for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). Holiness means separation from Satan’s kingdom – the “world” – and not sharing in its sins and idolatry of heart. Christians are called to “love not the world,” and it was to these people Jesus said, “let your light shine.”
1 John 2:15 – Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
In sum, the assembled believers united in Christ by His Spirit (Eph. 4:3) were to provide a tangible destination point for all people of the world the Bible calls “lost” to come to Jesus and be reconciled with the true Creator God. To get this job done, the New Testament declares “Christ in you” is the “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Immanuel, Jesus, is God with us, and God within us – enabling and empowering a Christian with the same heart as Jesus Christ had when He walked in the gospel days and delighted to do God’s will. The Christians have a “better covenant with better promises” (Heb. 8:6), and God gave them “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet 1:3).
The Christians are called to love Jesus above everything, carry their cross, count the cost, forsake all (Luke 14:26-33), and give their all to God who gave His all to them. They are called to work in concert with the Most High working in them.
Col. 1:29 – To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
This stands to exceed the greatest glory of the Old Covenant under Moses (2 Cor 3:7-11). They would have an innate knowledge of God inside them, revealed by Him inside them so that unity and harmony could be possible (Heb. 8:11). They were to stand as a living proof that the great God lives, and is with them, and backs them, so as to drive back the works of darkness, and effectively deal with the sin of fallen mankind.
Of Grace in Full
We could go on. There is much more where the above came from (the New Testament). Indeed, once your eyes are opened to what the New Testament actually says, many bold and unequivocal statements begin jumping out from its pages of God’s amazing grace that empowers Christians to do what the Old Testament Jews never could.
1 Corinthians 15 – 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
God could expect it of them because unlike the Jews, He was not asking them alone to do anything. It was no “works-based salvation” as some pouty and self-indulgent Evangelicals might like to suggest. Rather, God’s expectation in grace is sometimes called the “divine taxation of the divine life.” That is, it was God asking Himself in each person to do His will and saying He had put the will in them in the first place (Phil. 2:13) – assuming they exercised their will to obey and trust and have living faith – not static dead belief or dead religion. It was supposed to be an amazing synergy, a holy fire that could be self-sustaining, and grow ever greater. At least that was the potential, but the weak link in the equation is God trusted sinful man to trust, believe, and obey and there is an adversary, the devil.
New Covenant Expectations In Common With Old Covenant
In the Old Covenant, God commanded the Jews to obey His voice (Exo. 19:5). In the New Covenant, Jesus Christ said His sheep know and obey His voice (Jn. 10). In the Old Covenant, God called the Jews a holy people (Deut. 7:6). In the New Covenant, God called the Christians His holy people. In the Old Covenant God called them special people, a unique nation and as His representatives to all nations. In the New Covenant, God called the Christians “living stones” and His own special people (1 Pet. 2:5), and to be His representatives to all nations.
The Jews were promised a geographical land of promise. The Christians were promised to enter into God’s rest, and the kingdom of God would be within them. Their promised land, as it were, was to be their status and real experienced walk as His Spirit-filled and guided people.
The Old Covenant saints fought physical enemies and were called to take dominion with God backing them. The New Covenant saints are to fight with unseen demonic foes, tear down strongholds in the minds of humans under their sway, and take dominion with God backing them (2 Cor. 10:3-6).
1 John 5:19 – We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
The Jews were forced into the wilderness because of their unbelief. Christians also have “wilderness experiences.” Many Christians say “the church” is now “asleep” or people are “in bondage,” needing “deliverance.” Soaked into the very fabric of post-Reformation Christian culture is the sad undertone that they do not experience what the first century Christians knew. The refrain in hymnals calling for “revival” or God to “revive us again” is a tacit admission that much is not as it should be. Indeed, the great shortcomings endured now as normal are far below God’s stated normal in the New Testament.
The New Testament otherwise presents the Christians as building on the legacy of what began with Israel. The commonalities are thus no surprise but there was another thing they both had in common that became the undoing of the Christians just as much if not worse than it had for the Old Covenant Jews: The flesh and evil spirits.
THE ISSUE: The Fallen and Sinful Flesh
This is it, the crux of the matter. The “flesh” and its sin nature are the root common denominator between stumbling Jews and stumbling Christians. In common to both is they are equally human and products of the fallen race of Adam and Eve.
Romans 7 – 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
The flesh has several synonyms – the old man, the natural man, the carnal man. It is defined as the raw human self apart from the power of Christ. In the Old Covenant the Jews were all “in the flesh” because they had not Christ, and their bodies were not declared the “temple of God” as were those of the Christians. But the Christians were also warned not to “sow to the flesh,” to “put off the old man,” and so they had a dual nature of flesh and spirit in bitter conflict within them.
The Religious Flesh
The “religious flesh” is a term for when a person seeks to serve God with their natural capabilities and not with His empowerment. Jesus said “abide in Me and I in you” (Jn 15). Paul said, “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5) and it bears repeating this speaks of the power of Christ to suffuse a person with God’s power to overcome the works of the flesh (Rom 8:1-4).
The religious flesh is what the Christians who failed had in common with the Old Testament Jews – that and demons who were more than ready to coax along and even teach new doctrines.
1 Timothy 4 – Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron …
2 Cor 11 – 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
The term “flesh” in total speaks of the natural soul – the mind, will, and emotions of a person. It is what makes up them – it is like their software or programming. It is their understanding and feelings and it is – like the Jews – well capable of reading, yes even delving into and slicing and dicing the lessons of the Scriptures – and independently reasoning, conjecturing, and getting fired up over what they think. The apostle Paul identifies “heresies” – false teachings – as a work of the flesh (Gal. 5:20).
Col. 2:18 – Let no one cheat you of your reward … intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
Paul was so clear on the uselessness of the flesh and how it was actually “enmity with God” and “cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7,8).
1 Corinthains 2 – And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Paul said true knowledge of God was directly imparted by the Spirit. If this included reading scripture, the Spirit was there to keep one from jumping to false conclusions, and keep them on the “narrow way that leads to life” that “few find” (Matt. 7:13,14).
2 Corinthians 2 – 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, … 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. … 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. … 14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
In 1 Corinthians 3, the apostle Paul rebuked the Corinthians for being “carnal” and not “spiritual” meaning they were living their Christian lives “in the flesh” and not by the Spirit. In Galatians 3 Paul also rebuked Christians, saying “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”
“It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing …” said Jesus in John 6:63.
Galatians 5 – 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5 – 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
You can take it to the bank. The works of the flesh were evident throughout Christian history. Some of them specifically deal with religious schismatic behavior – “hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy …”
At this point, many a Christian might protest and say all people are sinners and start to make excuses and claim grace. That was already dealt with, but again, undoubtedly all people are sinners. Undoubtedly grace is a factor. But what does the New Testament say? It is replete with injunctions stating the power of Christ is so great that sin need not be the operating principle for the Christians as it was for the Jews, those “slaves of sin.”
Romans 6 declares Jesus made the Christians free, and no longer slaves of sin.
Romans 6:6 – knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
This is like an atomic bomb in its effect and an advantage the Jews never had, but to actually get it, one must meet conditions of being born anew, willing to do God’s will, surrendered, as a little child, and meeting Jesus’ requirements for him to open your eyes.
Luke 14:26-33 – “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— 29 lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? 31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Deliverance from the law of sin as Paul taught in Romans 6 was bought and paid for by Jesus Christ, not of works, but one must be in a place to have their eyes solely on Christ, or it will be as a vapor, an empty declaration without power. The New Testament otherwise makes amply clear that despite this basic killing off of the root sin nature in a person, there remains in the person the sin nature always ready to raise its ugly head out of the grave.
The New Testament otherwise shows deliverance from sin is a powerful principle of life for those who may enter in. But to enter in, it takes having eyes that see what God has specifically done for His people. It takes unconditionally surrendering to God. It takes faith and obedience. It takes letting Him change you. It is a choice, and “where your treasure is,” said Jesus, “there your heart will be also,” and you will reap as you have sown.
The Record Stands
Again, God’s promises were always conditional. This means He expected a proper response from those He covenanted with. If they obeyed and were faithful, He promised blessings. If not, He said curses, failure, and worse would fall upon them (Deut. 28).
In the Old Covenant, the Jews failed to obey God’s voice. In the New Covenant, Christians failed to know the Master’s voice, and even argue what this “voice” is supposed to be. In the Old Covenant, the Jews went after abominable idols. In the New Covenant era, the Christians practiced idolatry in a few ways: 1) By the Catholics setting up images and icons to bow down to and send prayers to. 2) By Christians of all stripes loving the things of the world and pursuing things in their hearts above the love of God.
In the Old Covenant the Jews fell short of God’s highest commands. In the New Covenant, the Christians most certainly fell short also. As noted, Jesus Christ’s two non-negotiable injunctions to His people were they love one another as He had loved them (Jn. 13:34,35), and remain as “one” (Jn. 17:20-23), unified in doctrine and Spirit.
In the Old Covenant the Jews represented the gateway to the true God and salvation. In the New Covenant, the Christians represented the Door, Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Him.
The apostle Paul said he was “free from the blood of all men” (Acts 20:26) because he had obeyed God and “not shunned to give the whole counsel of God.” For a Christian to do less than what God requires is to have blood on one’s hands.
The post-apostolic Christians have had blood on their hands not just by neglect, but by willful acts of departing from the apostles’ doctrine. It started in 312 AD with what quickly became the merger of church and state, “the world” with Christ’s kingdom,” and the harlotry of what was supposed to be a chaste virgin bride. By the mid 400s emboldened by Augustine’s teaching, they jettisoned the apostles’ doctrine of non-resistance and pacifism and began justifying reasons for war. Soon other bloodshed followed as justified by their new teachings including producing Christian martyrs among those who would not submit to their view of the faith. The Protestants carried on this legacy wholesale.
As noted, it is sure that billions of people have been born and died through the past 1700 years under the noses of those who said they were the representatives of God and never came to Christ. Many were even members of the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant sects and themselves were but Christians in name only, thus also never came to Christ.
To not come to Christ is to have no place in heaven. This is a working definition of blood on the hands over and above actual blood spilled in the name of the Lord who said, “love your enemies.”
Many “churches” now have such watered-down pictures of what it means to be a Christian and allow for worldliness among their followers while upholding the people as OK. This is just like the Old Covenant era false prophets who contended with the true prophets of God and gave false assurance to apostate Israel, saying “peace” and “God is happy with you,” and you are blessed, and all is well.
Is This Too Harsh?
No doubt some will say it is, but again this is not in denial of grace, but rather upholds grace – in its full meaning as it upholds the full intent of the New Covenant itself.
In short, the Christians through history did have grace, but grace is not an unlimited license to sin (1 Pet. 2:16, Rom. 6:1). God had very high expectations of those who would assume to act and do in the name of Christ.
Please recall that in order for Christians to have the privileges they do, God the Father had to send His Beloved Son Jesus to die on the Cross, Jesus Christ had to give His life – “the Just” died for the “unjust” (1 Pet. 3:18). God who is love wanted a people united and moved in a holy synergy of love imbued By His Spirit (Rom 5:5).
God who is love would “suffer none to perish,” and needed His people to have a witness and testimony that is congruent. They were not to have a spotted record. They were told the power of God was so great in them that they need not succumb to sin and the flesh.
Christians Have Less Excuse Than Jews?
If the alibi for the Old Testament Jews was they were as children, without God in their body, what is the excuse for those who claimed they possessed the Messiah’s own Spirit residing in them as mature sons and daughters?
How grace factors in is unclear. This is up to sovereign God who is the wise Judge and the New Testament says, “judge nothing before the time.”
So the ultimate answer will be by God, but the New Testament says so many failures never needed to be so because of the many great endowments God promises to those who obey His whole counsel.
The Remedy
All will answer to God at the Judgment Seat of Christ. We are not responsible for the sins of those who came before us. But let us not carry on in the traditions that made for failure.
Jesus’ remedy is come to Him and make direct contact with Him. His whole solution was an assembly of believers sharing the same powerful doctrine and pulling in the same direction.
The presence and power of the Holy Spirit cannot be over emphasized. He is the originator and builder of all that is valid, the doer in each willing person, the one who puts love in our hearts and makes actual unity in the body possible.
May the Lord bless you.
