Reverence Part II

Grace for many means freedom to do many things as they deem fit. It also means quick relief from guilt-inducing sinful acts. Grace is a bit like Panadol for quick relief from pain. “In the presence of God, there is joy. Even when you sin” so says the FB post.

My own judgement is that people who reason like this have either;

1. Not studied the New Testament scripture keenly enough or
2. Misjudged the character of God

How so you may say? Read on if you enjoy a good debate.

We start from the popular maxim; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!” This is gleaned from Hebrews 13:8. Many who triumphantly decree (yes, I hear nowadays people ‘decree and declare’) this scripture sometimes do not pause to ponder its deeper implications.

To say that Jesus is the same yesterday and today and into the unseen future simply means, well what it says; Jesus does not change! He does not change in the sense that;

• He does not get any wiser-for He is all-wise,
• He does not age-for He is eternal,
• He keeps His promises-for God cannot lie and,
• He does not change in character because He has nothing to improve on- He is perfect. His character essentially remains the same from generation to generation.

Let’s explore this further. In John 8:31-59 Jesus had one of the toughest conversations with the Jewish religious leaders of His day. In the end the debate ended rather acrimoniously;

⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” ⁵⁹ Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

“..before Abraham was born, I am. ” Now, it does sound a bit like Jesus was having some problems with His grammar, doesn’t it? “..before Abraham was born, I am. ” Ha! But even more interesting was the reaction of the Jews. It is recorded that they were so incensed that they picked up stones to lynch Jesus. Luckily He managed to get away from the angry mob. What had ticked them off so much? Were they particularly displeased by His grammar? Of course not. The Jews recognized that last phrase as a subtle claim to divinity. Jesus was claiming two things which amounted to blasphemy-punishable through death by stoning (Leviticus 24:11-14).

1. By using the term “ Iam” He was making a reference to a title only used for God.
2. He was claiming that He existed even in the Old Testament days, well before Abraham was born.

Colossians 1:16 and Hebrews 1:2 are some of the scriptures that affirm that Christ existed in the Old Testament days. Anyone who takes time to read the Old Testament will not only witness acts of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit but also see glimpses of God the Son albeit not as a man.

Now our whole argument hinges on the following point; if Christ is God and if He indeed was present throughout human history and if He remains the same yesterday and today, then it follows that the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. His instructions to men and women may change from generation to

generation as He responds to the needs of each generation but His divine attributes and the attendant demands those attributes place on us remain the same though history.

One of the divine attributes of God is that He is a mighty King-in fact the mightiest! As a result He demands respect. Nay, He demands more than respect; He demands that we recognise His unmatched power over our lives and hence live in reverent fear of Him. We shall revisit this later.

In the Old Testament Moses reminded the Israelites;

Israel, what does the Lord your God want you to do? He wants you to fear him, follow all his directions, love him, and worship him with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹³ The Lord wants you to obey his commands and laws that I’m giving you today for your own good. ¹⁴ Remember that the sky, the highest heaven, the earth and everything it contains belong to the Lord your God. Deut. 10:12-14

Then in the New Testament we witness Jesus responding to the devil when the devil promised Him all the world’s power and wealth;

 Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; ⁹ and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” Matt. 4:8-10

It is interesting that when Jesus said, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only”, He was likely referencing Deuteronomy 6:13-14 as many commentators believe. What does it say?

¹³ You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. ¹⁴ You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you…

That Jesus equated worship with the fear of God is quite telling. Why do we suppose it should be any different for us? And given that He was one of the best students of the Old Testament (Luke 2:46-48) we better pay careful attention to Him!