Category Archives: Restoration

Why All The Laws

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When reading the Old Testament, especially the Torah- the five books of Moses, it is easy to get bogged down in all the rules, rituals, and regulations we see. Many of us will look at them as restrictive and outdated. And, since they have no application for our life today, why bother reading them? After all, we are a New Testament church, so the Old Testament laws don’t apply to us, right?

Actually, they do. In fact, the laws of the Old Testament form the foundation of our faith in the New Testament. We need the Old Testament to understand what God is doing in the New Testament, so it is important to have a proper perspective about the Old Testament and why all the laws are there. One of the best places to start is in our understanding of the word Law. When we think of laws, we think of rules that restrict and punish. However, the Jews don’t see it that way. In the Old Testament, the word that is often translated into the word Law in English is the Hebrew word Torah. This word can mean law, but it is more often looked at as direction or instruction.

God did not give Israel His laws (Torah) to restrict them but to instruct them in a way that will allow them to experience His blessings. He was giving them guidelines on how to live in a way that will bring “shalom”: peace, wholeness, and completeness. His purpose was not to place them under legalistic bondage to rules, but instead to help them enjoy the freedom that comes from a relationship with Him. In fact, God’s goal throughout the Bible is reconciliation: to restore everything to the way He originally intended it to be.

God created man to have an intimate relationship with him forever. Sin, however, shattered that relationship, and everything God has done since then has been for the purpose of restoration. Therefore, whenever we read the rules about cleansing, purification, and holiness—especially when we read verses that direct us to be holy as God is holy (Lev. 11:44)—we need to read them with the understanding that following these instructions will help reconcile us back to God and bring “shalom” in our relationship with Him.

We may sometimes feel that God demands that we be holy because He cannot be around anything that is not holy. We might even get the impression that God would somehow be contaminated if anything unclean was to ever enter His presence as though He had an immune deficiency and had to protect Himself in a sterilized environment. However, the truth is, is that God is not requiring us to be holy for His benefit, but for ours. We, as sinful men, cannot enter the presence of a holy God and survive (Ex. 33:20). So, again, God’s instructions on holiness are not to restrict us, but to allow us the freedom to be reconciled to Him and experience shalom in our relationship with Him once again.

The same is true regarding the instructions on how we treat one another. Whenever we read passages such as Leviticus 18-19 that deal with sexual relationships, honoring parents, treating the poor and our neighbors fairly and with respect, and being honest in our business practices, we need to again keep in mind that the reason for all these regulations is to reconcile our relationship with each other. When we put these guidelines into practice, we remove conflict and bring peace to our relationships with others. We also demonstrate to the world the character of God and what it is like to live in His Kingdom.

The regulations regarding the sacrifices are put in place so that, on those occasions when we do sin and our relationship with God or man is broken, we have the means to seek forgiveness and restoration. They are there, again, to reconcile and bring us back to a place of peace in our relationships. The festivals are also intended to help in our relationship with God for they are opportunities to remind us of who God is and how He has provided for our needs. They allow us moments to reflect, refresh, and reconnect with our Lord. All the commandments, then, regarding purity and holiness, the regulations for the sacrifices, and the rituals of the festivals are there to bring reconciliation: to restore our relationships with God and with each other. The goal of them all is to bring shalom: peace and wholeness to our lives and allow us to experience the freedom that comes with living under the blessings of God. Therefore, I would encourage you to not look at the “laws” of God as rules designed to restrict and hold us in bondage. Instead, whenever you read the Old Testament, remember that these “laws” are guidelines that will bring reconciliation and freedom.

The Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail

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I’ve known for a long time the importance of reading Scripture in its context. Whenever we read a passage, we should always look at the verses before and after to understand the flow of thought. We should also research who is writing, the individuals to whom they are writing, and the reason they are writing to fully appreciate the meaning of the passage. Only when we understand the historical, literary, and cultural context—when we can see how the recipients received and understood the message, can we apply it to our lives today. However, I have recently come to realize the need to include the geographic context in my study of a passage of Scripture. It is important to know where an event took place because it can have some bearing on the meaning of the text, especially when the location is clearly noted in the passage.

One example of this is in Matthew 16:13-20. This is the passage where Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is. After listing several names, Jesus then asks them whom they say he is. Of course, Peter speaks out and makes the declaration that he is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16). Following this, Jesus says, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16: 17-18 ESV).

Of course, this is a very familiar passage of Scripture. I have read it and taught from it many times. However, I never paid attention to an important item in verse thirteen which brings a whole new understanding to Jesus’ words. At the beginning of this passage, we are told that Jesus went to the district of Caesarea Philippi. I believe that Matthew added this information because he wanted us to know that it was not by accident that Jesus asked this question at this location. He chose Caesarea Philippi as the place to make his declaration. Why?

Caesarea Philippi is about twenty-five miles north of Galilee. Just outside the city is a large cave carved out of a sheer cliff face. In the Old Testament times, this area was the center for Baal worship, however, following the conquest of Alexander the Great, it was dedicated to the worship of Greek fertility gods, particularly the god Pan. At the mouth of the cave, archeologists have found a temple, shrines, a courtyard for rituals, and niches for statues related to Pan.

Worshippers of Pan and other fertility gods believed that the cave created a gate to the underworld where the gods lived during the winter and returned to the surface each spring. To entice the gods to return each spring, the worshippers engaged in all kinds of detestable sexual acts. To these pagan worshippers, the gods traveled to and from the underworld through this cave which they called the gates of hell.

Over the years, there has been much discussion on what Jesus referred to when he said, “on this rock I will build My church.” Was he talking about Peter whose name sounds like rock in Greek? Was he referring to Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah? I admit that I was never really sure what He meant by the phrase either. But now I believe that when Jesus made this statement he turned around and pointed to the large cliff in which the cave was carved. He then declared that on THAT rock: the center of pagan idolatry, debauchery, and spiritual darkness he was going to build his church. He was stating that he was going to reclaim territory Satan had taken as his own and was restoring it to God’s original purpose for the Kingdom of God. And, pointing to the cave entrance, Jesus announced that even the Gates of Hell—all the authority of Satan—cannot stop it.

I believe Jesus was using the cliff and cave at Caesarea Philippi as a backdrop to announce to Satan that his time was up, and that Jesus was beginning the work of restoring all things. I also believe that he was giving a challenge to his disciples. Gates are defensive structures. So, when he said that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, he was telling his disciples (and us) that the church should not be hiding from evil. Instead, we should be storming the gates of hell and, through the authority we have in Jesus Christ (Matt. 16: 19), building the church in the places most filled with spiritual darkness and moral corruption. We should be reclaiming our cities for the Kingdom of God knowing that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!”