GOD’S PLAN FOR SALVATION
We might reasonably ask why God gave Israel the Old/First Covenant which would pass away when his ultimate plan was for them to obey his eternal/everlasting covenant (i.e. New Covenant). The answer is found, at least in part, in the first the natural and then the spiritual principle. The essence of this principle is that man, being human, defaults to interpreting and understanding everything (including the Bible) according to what he can see, hear, smell, touch and taste (i.e. five senses). God, on the other hand, being spirit, is not limited by these human, fleshly abilities. God always focuses on things that cannot be seen because the secret, invisible world is where his kingdom is and where he rules (i.e. clean, pure hearts). The tension between God and man, therefore, is that God looks at the heart, while humans focus on visible things of the flesh (i.e. what they can see and do with their bodies).

The conflict between God and men emerges when humans try to use their normal, human capabilities to understand God and his ways. Thus, religious people interpret everything they read in the Bible according to their practical experience in the natural world and social environment. Moreover, they interpret the Bible through powerful religious filters (i.e. strongholds) with which they have been intoxicated — often since early childhood. Using these senses and physical abilities (God calls them flesh) to navigate the natural world is necessary for survival. But using those natural senses is a problem when trying to navigate the spiritual world.

Man, being well trained to use his natural, physical abilities and intellect, naturally applies them in matters pertaining to God. Man therefore insists on doing religion in ways which can be seen and judged by men. And for that, men and women who are faithful to follow religious rules receive rewards from other men who follow the same religious laws.

Instead of walking by faith (i.e. in secret,  according to the spirit), religious people make names for themselves by practicing public religion so that they may earn praise of men. This practice of giving and receiving favoritism and partiality between and among members of a religious sect is glue that keeps the religion intact. It is divisive and not unified and inclusive as God would have people be with one another.

Man’s way is different from God’s way: God’s way is to judge people about their righteousness according to what he observes in their hearts. In these basic differences we have the basis for the ongoing contest between the spirit and the flesh.

STUDY TIP: See Religion is the Enemy, Gods at War, Model Warriors, and Sibling Conflict for more about the contest between spirit and flesh.

This contest between flesh and spirit comes into play because man’s natural tendency to use human intellectual (i.e. mind, emotions and will) and physical abilities are applied when religious people  interpret the Bible literally. Then, thinking that they understand what God expects from them, they confidently (but wrongly) try to act out these literal interpretations in religions that they create to replicate what they see presented in the Bible. In effect, it is “monkey see, monkey do” religion. They see it in the Bible so they do it. Or, they see another religion doing something and they copy it. Sadly, this is not what God wants. He wants his people to worship in spirit and truth — not in the flesh.

STUDY TIP: See Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2, and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3 for more about Bible interpretation.

It could be said that man and God are not playing on a level playing field. God’s laws regarding his relationship with man are written on their hearts. These are called the New Covenant. This is a covenant that leads to spiritual life. But, the laws that religious people follow to establish a good relationship with God are written in the literal words of the Bible. These are called the Old/First Covenant. This is a covenant that leads to spiritual death.

God knows that there is a big gap between what he expects from his people and what his people do. Religious people, in their self-righteousness do not understand what God knows. God knows what the rules are but his people only think they know because they can interpret the Bible literally. The people just do not understand that God’s written word and God’s spoken word are not the same.

Here is a useful way to summarize the dilemma:

God’s solution for this situation is to allow that he be introduced to man through human words in the Bible. He does this knowing full well that man will naturally want to interpret the Bible literally and that man will therefore create religion out of what he reads there. And he knows that the Bible man creates will be imperfect.

Nevertheless, God allows people to have the written word (i.e. the law) — even though he knows his people will stumble over it and create religion. He takes the risk of watching them stumble because it has always been his plan to redeem them by giving them his spiritual word spoken through prophets/messiahs/angels who teach his people how to hear his spoken voice.

This may seem to be an impossible situation to solve, but God has a strategy:

Retraining people from practicing religion to walking by faith is not easy — even for God. When it happens, it is nothing less than a miracle.

Man’s natural born tendency is to sin by creating and managing religious laws. The tendency to revert to religious laws, even after learning that religion is sin, is evidence of its toxicity. God’s plan for overcoming this tendency is to introduce people to himself through the literal law which serves as a tutor of the spiritual law.

He allows people to struggle through a season (symbolically called forty years) of training in the wilderness of obedience  to Old/First Covenant laws (i.e. religion) as he slowly leads them into the promised land (i.e. New Covenant). We learn about this struggle in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua.

STUDY TIP: When reading all books of the Bible it is necessary to imagine ourselves in the situations that Bible characters are in. If we read the Bible as though it is only history, we miss the opportunity to be trained in our personal righteousness. We must always remember that Israel’s story is our story. The mistakes Israel made are the same mistakes we make in our own efforts to remain faithful to God’s covenant. See People for understanding of how Bible stories should be applied to our personal lives.

Entering the promised land is a process that comes through faith in things that are not seen (i.e. read) in the literal law. God’s strategy for restoring his people to relationship with him has always been to allow them to afflict one another with religion that enslaves, abuses and oppresses them. His desire that all men would learn from this tribulation that religion does not contribute to their best interests or to God’s best interests. He allows religion to exist to teach people that, in choosing to follow religious rules devised by men, they have made a covenant with death. Then he requires that his people voluntarily die to religion (i.e. repent) before he restores them to life in New Covenant faith. Voluntary crucifixion of fleshly religion is the necessary “death” step that precedes “resurrection”.

STUDY TIP: Old Testament stories of blood sacrifices are hard to understand in these modern times. Since there are so many stories that deal with blood, however, we must understand their symbolism if we want to know what God is trying to teach us through them. Here is how to interpret difficult scriptures about blood sacrifices:

Unfortunately, neither religious leaders nor their followers know that this is God’s strategy. Because they read the Bible literally, they are deceived into believing that all God wants from them is their religion.

The spiritual strategy of transforming hearts cannot be learned by reading the literal words of the Bible without spiritual illumination by the spirit of God. Not knowing that the laws they follow are only preparing them for something better (i.e. faith), they wrongly think that their religion is faith. They do not realize that they are actually dying and need to be healed from the curses of Old/First Covenant religion and set free from bondage to religion.

These truths are lost on religious people who think they have perfect sight and faith because they can read the literal words of the Bible and obey, more or less, what  those literal words tell them they must do to spend eternity with God. Thus we have the blind leading the blind in Old/First Covenant religion until faith comes to New Covenant disciples. Being thoroughly deceived, both Christians and Jews fail to grasp the most important difference between the Old/First Covenant and the New Covenant: God’s Written Word is not the same as God’s Spoken Voice. Thus they are deaf to hearing God’s voice as well as blind in their ability to hear spiritual meanings as they read the literal words.

By emphasizing the written word and effectively ignoring the fact that God expects to speak directly to his people, both Jews and Christian prove that their religions are Old/First Covenant and not New Covenant. They also confirm their status as Old/First Covenant religions by emphasizing the role of teachers in their religious organizations and practices. Thus they are at total odds with the New Covenant principle that God teaches by his spirit when his laws are written on the heart of New Covenant disciples — all without the help of a human mediator/teacher/pastor/rabbi.

Jews and Christians have always had key religious leaders who claimed to have the ability to hear from God. Believing that claim, religiously inclined people give these leaders authority to be spokespersons for God and to be their shepherds. Each religion and its various subdivisions has its own preferred authorities to whom such authority has been given. Those leaders are fixtures in the organizational structure of both religions. They are always available to function as a prophet who speaks for God by interpreting his word for the instruction of those who do not understand that God want so speak to them directly, without the help of a human teacher, and will speak to them directly if they would only stop listening to false prophets and start listening to God.

Both the religious leaders and those who follow (i.e. listen) to them are held in bondage to the Old/First Covenant religious paradigm. Leaders cannot imagine that God could function without them, and the followers insist on having kings who will lead them. This entire religious system is an affront to God because it assumes that he is not able to speak to, comfort, and protect his people himself. When we stop to think, it is an absurd idea to think that God is so incapable. No wonder God is so opposed to false prophets and no wonder he considers religion to be his enemy.

Leaders and followers believe that this long-standing religious paradigm is God’s idea. This thinking derives from their literal interpretations of the Bible. No Jew or Christ can imagine trying to relate to God without religious leaders. Jews fell into that pattern because it is presented in the Law of Moses. Christians followed willingly because it was the pattern they observed in Judaism and seemed to be affirmed in New Covenant scriptures.

This history proves that everyone has stumbled over The Law: A Stumbling Block. Having stumbled, religious people feel safe and secure in their strongholds of thinking about what religion should look like and how they should act. They can read with their intellectual minds but they can’t hear the truth because they don’t listen with their hearts for spiritual wisdom and understanding that comes from the spirit of God (i.e. his voice). And because they have only the literal truth of the Bible, but do not have the spiritual truth that will set them free from religion, they remain slaves to religion. They may have the intellectual truth of the literal Bible in their minds, but the spiritual truth of the Bible is not in their hearts.