Commentary on "Preparing a People"

RICHARD PEIFER

 

Day 7: Friday, October 9, 2009

 

Overview

“The Lord would have His people happy and at peace. Physical and spiritual wholeness are obtained by loving obedience to His laws of life, kind relationships with spouse and neighbors, and daily consecration of the will to the Father. This doesn’t mean that life is always easy in this sin-cursed earth, but it can be improved greatly if we seek to walk in His paths.”

 

Problems

Physical wholeness can be obtained by proper diet, exercise, stress management, and the like. Our bodies are subject to all the natural laws God created when He created the universe. God’s spelling out these natural laws to the Israelites was a gift of love to them. We do well to pay attention to them. However, even the pagans know this. Many of them are far healthier than God’s children. What a tragedy!

Spiritual wholeness never will be obtained by keeping the Law, any law. Spiritual wholeness is possible only as we abide in the vine (see John 15).

I find it sadly consistent that the summary statement above mixes Bible references and Ellen White quotes as if they are one and the same. They are not.

 

Summary

1. God provided amazing, consistent instruction to Israel. He protected them, grew them into a nation and brought Jesus to the world through them. The social and medical laws He gave have stood the test of time, their wisdom proven over and over again. The Ten Commandments, sacrifices and ordinances pointed forward to Jesus. The entire Covenant was holy, just and good.
2. We do well to study the Old Covenant, but only in the context of its fulfillment by Jesus and the New Covenant He ushered in. Both covenants are of God. Neither of them involved us as the primary movers and shakers. Rather, our role is to respond to God’s initiative.
3. As long as we keep the Old Covenant in its proper place, that is, with Israel prior to the cross and resurrection, we can learn much from it. But attempting to make it applicable today ruins both it and the New Covenant.

 

 

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