Whole Bible Objections: Lifting Jesus Up, Not Restated

Bruce S. Bertram from The Word of God Ministries and http://www.wholebible.com addresses the last two objections to whole Bible Christianity from the book of the same title. But certainly not the last two objections made to God's Law as a lifestyle and discipleship method in a believer's life. We're sure we'll hear a lot more.

All the objections have one thing is common: hearts as hard as stone.

Lifting Jesus up is generally misunderstood. Mostly what people mean by this statement is to glorify Him. That's not really the biblical definition however. To lift Him up is to crucify Him. To lift Him up in the sense of "glorify" it is better to simply do what He says.

The fact that the Law is not restated (a third time) in the New Testament first of all would have no bearing on the legitimacy of following it. It's already been laid out fully twice. Second the Law is actually restated quite a few times, even in the New Testament.

We could go on and on with people's objections to God's Word, but enough has been presented in these past videos that we can see the many ways people question what God says, and how to get the simple answers. The Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-20 was to make disciples and teach them all of His commands. We aren't to pick and choose which commands to teach by dividing them into false categories and sitting in judgment picking which ones are "moral." After Paul was introduced to His Messiah he helped show us the way while remaining a Jew and practicing the Law he was teaching. Of course we can do the Law, or a gracious and loving God would not have given it.

The curse in the Law is death for ignoring it. It is not the Law itself. What was nailed to the cross were our violations of the Law; He died in our place bearing the sins of the world (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2). Trying to find merit in legalism then is a poor substitute for His Word, because works of law were not intended for salvation. We don't wait for God to punish, because we are too busy loving Him through obedience. In this we do not ask for pay. As humble servants we ask only that we can continue to serve Him.

Judaizing is living like a Jew meaning traditions outside of God's Law. There's nothing Jewish about the Law; it is for all His people. Traditions of all sorts, not just Jewish, have blocked access to the easy yoke of His living oracles. We groan under the weight of man-made legal rulings that do more to rob us of life than aide us in finding it. The crucifixion made big changes, helping creation in many ways, but one thing it did not change was the unchangeable Law. Even shadows from it have more substance than all the concrete opinions of man. They help us discern what is good and not good, clean and unclean, holy and not holy.

We walk in the freedom of Christ way past the salvation moment, lifting Him up and glorifying Him by abiding in steady obedience. We preach the "good news" of "God with us" with repentance and returning to His Word as His Kingdom gospel. He doesn't need to restate His Law for true believers to recognize that He wants us to live by it. The changeless God did not change His Word either arbitrarily or due to the crucifixion; He changed our hearts.

For more information our books Whole Bible Christianity: Blessings Pressed Down and Overflowing, Nicolaitan: Lords of Hypocrisy and Whole Bible Prophecy: Horror and Hope are available on Amazon.