Integrity- People of God

Some people make no distinction between the Old Testament and the New Testament as two different covenants, contracts or promises. Some people believe the Old Testament is just historical names and events. The Bible says it is for our example, for warnings and admonishments that we may know God and how He operates in the lives of people and how we are to live before Him. The New Testament is for us to know Jesus as our King, Messiah, Savior and Lord. In the four gospels we see the life of Jesus displayed as the Son of Man, The King of kings and the Lamb of God who took on the sins of the world. 

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. NKJ

If people do not make a distinction between the Old and the New Testament they will tend to operate in the old ways of living, such as an eye for an eye, when God has given us a new way of living, which is the love of Christ.  That is what Jesus was referring to when He spoke of adding new wine to an old wine skin. The old wine skin would burst causing the loss of the new wine.  There is the same type of confusion when we try to mix or incorporate the old covenant laws of performance with the new covenant of God’s forgiveness and love in Christ by faith. 

Mark 2:22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”

In the Old Testament we see a Holy and Just God dealing with mankind according to their sins and iniquities. God in the beginning covered mankind’s sin with the blood of the lamb in the garden, making an atonement, an amends and restitution for their sins at that moment. This was pointing to the time when Jesus the Lamb of God would come and not only cover their sins but to forgive sin and to make payment in full for forgiveness of all sin for all eternity. 

1 John 2:2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

1john 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

In the Old Testament we see a Holy and Just God pronouncing judgement and punishing sin. The wages of sin is death and death is the taking away of the lifegiving source, which is in the blood. When mankind sinned against God in the garden they deserved death but God in His mercy, His compassion and His grace toward mankind allowed the death of the lamb to become, at that moment, a substitution for mankind foretelling of the time when Christ the Sacrificial Lamb of God would shed His blood for all mankind. 

God accepted the blood of the lamb as a covering for sins and gave this practice as a

covenant between God and Israel, foreshadowing the time that Jesus the Lamb of God would shed His blood for the remission and the removal of sin. No longer would the sins of men be covered just for a season, but through the blood of Christ the payment was made in full.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Leviticus 17:11, 14 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.’

John1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

The blood of all living creatures is important to God, it is their lifegiving substance which comes from God and He had commanded mankind not to drink the blood but it was to be poured out. It is God’s respect for the blood, which is the lifegiving source of all creatures, that He did not allow mankind to eat it. This caused some people to misunderstand, thinking God wanted a blood sacrifice.  God has a great respect for the blood, which is the source life and knowing it was required of all who sinned. God has now made a way for all sins to be paid completely by faith in the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. 

This is not a God who is seeking vengeance or the blood of His enemies, it is a Merciful God who allowed the blood of animals to be a substitute and a covering for mankind as He prepared a Body for Christ to come and redeem humanity back to Himself. What a merciful God, what a compassionate God, what a loving God, He is one who forgives the sins of those who by faith in Christ receive His Grace. He is also Just and Righteous and must punish the guilty, those who refuse His gift, the payment made by Christ on their behalf. 

Exodus 34:6-7 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” NKJ

As an Upright and Honorable God must judge sin and for those who choose to hate Him and refuse His Precious Gift of life through the Blood of Christ, their sins rest on them. Their death is not just for this natural time on earth but in refusing Christ they choose an eternal separation from God, The Lifegiving source of all creation and this is the second death. 

Revelation 20:13-14 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  

In the Old Testament with the old covenant, we see God dealing with mankind in His Judgement in His Holiness and in His Mercy. When their sins could no longer be covered by the blood of animals, God’s righteous indignation and outrage pronounced judgement and they paid the price for their disobedience and iniquity against God. 

In the New Testament we have a better covenant and promises from God. Through Christ our sins are no longer covered but forgiven and we are adopted into the family of God, joint heirs with Christ.

Romans 8: 14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. NKJ