If you go to Church you will know that preachers are famous for either putting you to sleep or annoying you relentlessly.  Teaching is rare, and when it surfaces from the morass of evangelical or Catholic doctrine we find a corrupt mix of misogyny, racism, fascist ideology, antisemitism, colonial, and sheer ignorance about the settled nature of the gospel. The annoyance  comes from the unforgivable pursuit of miracles.  Words Ike testimony,, gospel, righteousness and salvation are now part of a brand perversion scheme.  It is not a coincidence that the modern apostasy closely mirrors the priorities of the Jewish leaders in New Testament times.  Once a preacher starts talking about everything but the crucified Christ  you know the gospel is not going to be the bedrock and anchor of the homily.  Still I stay tuned, or deliberately tune out, hoping for the mention of the Anointed to jerk me back to active listening.

The crucified Christ covers the essentials and more

Of all the things people can choose to make the high points of their devotion to Christ levitical priesthood should not be one of them.  Christ is a priest and his ministry does not depend on any understanding of the levitical processes.  Before Christ died the temple in Jerusalem was desolate, empty of significance.  When Christ died he returned to Glory, far above the heavens, passed through the heavens, to be far above the heavens, and thence sent the Holy Spirit to seal the believers as his own peculiar possession.  Christian heritage is therefore higher than the heavens.  Everything that is said to come from heaven in the covenant relationship with Israel is off the chart once the glory of Israel arrives.

The essentials

• Christ died because of love
• People are saved from unbelief
• People are lost because of unbelief
• Faith to believe the gospel is itself a gift
• The gift of the Holy Spirit is irrevocable
• Believers pass from death (death row) to life
• There is no review of God’s choice
• There is no Levitical process to the salvation operation

So when we say “cross” we are not only talking about the execution of an innocent man, but we tag (a) a finished atoning sacrifice (b) the exaltation to the highest place, (c)  a fully effective intercession, and (d) the seat of honour without duties.

Ten Commandment Morality

If there ever was cheap morality it has to be the one that awards righteousness on the basis of things not done.  Following the logic of the Sinai Covenant it is clear that one can lock a person up in a dark room, put a blindfold on him, handcuff him, and assign no task to him, and the law-abiding verdict is assured. 

Western democracies flirting with the Ten Commandments as basic civic law have no idea of the corruption that they might unleash if they can convince the population that morality springs from the Mosaic instruction.  If there was a law that could save Israel Moses would have enshrined it in the golden box.  But, wait.  It was not what the box contained that made Israel free from sin or righteous.  It was the shedding of blood, supposedly.  However, everyone knows that the blood of rams, bulls and goats does not remove sin.  

The Ten Commandments have no seat in life without the statutes and judgments, and these, for the most part, are treated as ceremony and ritual, as if the Ten Commandments do not include a festival. Levitical models that we use to explain atonement effectively sever the ties to God’s amazing grace.   If Levitical processes allow for people to invent a righteous without an ever-living intercessor, then  frankly atonement is not Messianic and eternal life is a loan with human payback expected.  People are not lost because they violate the Ten Commandments, and if they are are so if everyine who claims to comply with the Ten Commandments.

Though a promise, not the law

People everywhere need salvation because they have not come to trust God to save them. They want to save themselves by (a) enduring to the end (b) by being obedient, supposedly following all the rules God ever spoke and (c) by treasuring up an impenitent heart towards others forgetting that the grace of God led us all to repentance. If you read Scripture looking for the Messianic revelation you will be all the wiser.

Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Gal 3:21-22