Preaching the Gospel & Feeding the Flock

A new Standing Watch program was recorded last week, and was posted on the Web last Friday. The program is titled, “U.S., Europe and Halloween.” It discussed, among other things, the U.S. election; the recent signing of the EU Constitution and its potential consequences for the world; and the steady rise of devil worship

In your new book, "Jesus Christ — A Great Mystery," you state on page 91 that Jesus Christ became sin and a curse for us, when He died on the cross. I understand that Christ paid the penalty for our sins, thereby taking away the curse for breaking the law, but how could He have BECOME sin or a curse?

The Bible specifically states that Christ became both sin and a curse for us, when He died on the cross. Notice 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Galatians 3:13, in the New King James Bible:

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

“Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’)” (Galatians 3:13).

These two passages are correctly translated from the original Greek. The Interlinear Literal Translations renders the two passages as follows:

“For him who knew not sin for us sin he made… Christ us ransomed from the curse of the law, having become for us a curse…”

Christ became sin for us, in that He carried our sins, as Isaiah 53:6 explains: “And the LORD has put on Him the iniquity of us all.” He was the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Likewise, He became a curse on our behalf, by paying for us the penalty or curse for our breaking of the law. As the Ryrie Study Bible explains, “Christ… was made a curse for us. The crucifixion brought Him under the curse of the law, as explained in the last half of the verse (quoted from Deut. 21:23).” The New Bible Commentary:Revised adds the following thought: “Sin’s penalty was borne in a substitutionary way. He bore our curse, the curse cited from Dt. 21:23, which is equivalent to the wrath of Rom. 1:18 and 2:8.”

Some, since they can’t understand how Christ became sin for us, attempt to interpret this passage by claiming that He became a sin offering for us. Although it is true, of course, that Christ became the perfect sacrifice or sin offering, the addition of the word “offering” detracts from the full meaning of the passage. The Commentary on the Whole Bible, by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, explains:

“…sin — not a sin offering, which would destroy the antithesis to ‘righteousness,’ and would make ‘sin’ be used in different senses in the same sentence…, but ‘sin,’ i.e., the representative Sin-bearer (vicariously) of the aggregate sin of all men past, present and future. The sin of the world is one, therefore the singular, not the plural, is used; though its manifestations are manifold (John 1:29).’ Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the SIN of the world.'”

Compare, too, the Commentary’s note on Galatians 3:13: “Having become what we were, in our behalf, ‘a curse,’ that we might cease to be a curse. Not merely accursed (in the concrete), but a curse in the abstract, bearing the universal curse of the whole human race. So II Corinthians 5:21, ‘Sin for us,’ not sinful, but bearing the whole sin of our race, regarded as one vast aggregate of sin.”

The Broadman Bible Commentary agrees: “It is often thought that the opening clause, ‘he made him to be sin’ means that God made Christ to be a ‘sin-offering.’ The occurrence of the term sin in its usual meaning in the immediately following phrase however makes that suggestion difficult; and in any case there is little evidence in the New Testament to support this interpretation.”

Regarding Galatians 3, the Commentary explains: “Paul finds in this passage [in Deuteronomy 21:23] scriptural support for his claim that Christ became a curse in our behalf. In the death that he died he took the curse [or penalty] of the law upon himself.”

The Biblical teaching is inescapable: When Christ died on the cross, He became sin and a curse, on our behalf. At that moment, when God the Father forsook Him (Matthew 27:45-46), Christ personified the sin of the world, as well as the curse [or penalty] of the law. When Christ died, all those sins as well as the curse or penalty for sinning, “died” with Him — were eradicated with Him — provided, that we, individually, claim Christ’s sacrifice, repent of our sins, accept Christ as our personal Savior, and are baptized in the Biblically prescribed manner. When Christ was on the cross, and all the sin of the world had been placed on Him, God the Father had to forsake Him, because He could not look at that much evil (compare Habakkuk 1:13), and what He saw at that time was SIN. Also, we need to obtain forgiveness for what we are, not only, for what we have done. We have sinful human nature — one might say, we ARE sin, as we are the curse. Christ became sin in that He became one of us — not, that He ever sinned — but He came into sinful flesh, with human nature (Romans 8:3), being tempted in all points as we are, but without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

This is not to say that God created Adam and Eve as sinful human beings, or that He created Lucifer who became the devil, and the other angels, who turned to demons, as evil spirit beings. Adam was not created sinful — he was created neutral. But — since Adam did sin, under Satan’s influence, and Satan has been tempting man ever since, every human has sinned, too (compare Romans 3:9-20). The same is true for angels. They were not created as sinful spirit beings, either — they were created neutrally, with free moral agency, capable of sinning or of rejecting sin. Lucifer sinned (Ezekiel 28:16) — nobody tempted him to sin — and the angels, who became demons, followed Satan’s evil influence, and sinned likewise (2 Peter 2:4).

Returning to the question at issue as to how Christ could BECOME sin and a curse; sometimes we just have to accept the Word of God in these matters. Exactly how all this was done–even why in the greater framework of God’s purposes–involves the deeper aspects of God’s work.

Clearly the Bible says that Jesus gave up His existence as a godly Spirit being, to come into this world as a man. The Bible also clearly states, as has been pointed out, that Christ “bore the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12); that “the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6); that “He shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11); and that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus did not die because of His righteousness. He died for our sins! He alone, as the Creator of mankind, through whom the Father created everything (Hebrews 1:1-3; Colossians 1:16), was able to pay the price of the sin of all of mankind. He assumed our guilt, and He died in our stead. Now, as Romans discusses, we, through His obedience, and through His life in us, are also being made righteous (Romans 5:19, 10)–also spoken of as the “gift of righteousness” (Romans 5:17). We believe this, because God is the Author of these things. We may not be able to fully understand all the “how” of the matter, but we must accept, in faith, God’s Word.

Certainly, a great deal of faith is required, when it comes to the life and death of Jesus Christ. It is hard for the average person to believe that:

1) Christ was very God;

2) Christ gave up His divinity, to become physical man (John 1:1, 14), just as we are physical man;

3) Christ emptied Himself of His position as a glorified God being (Philippians 2:5-8), and of His godly relationship with the Being we understand to be the Father, for our benefit, to come to this earth in the flesh;

4) As a human being, Christ was now capable of sinning — when He had never known sin, personally, in His life before — but through His own choice and will, and with the help of God the Father, living within Him through the Holy Spirit, He never sinned while in the flesh;

5) Christ was willing to take our sins upon Himself, thus offering us forgiveness and giving us the potential to put on perfection in our lives (Matthew 5:48) — if we would let Jesus Christ live in us through the Holy Spirit –, even though while in that state on the cross, Christ was totally cut off from God, the Father;

6) By being sacrificed on that stake, and receiving the beating He received, we, through that sacrifice, could not only be forgiven all our sins, such that we have a chance of becoming members of the Family of God; but also, while in the flesh, we can be healed of our physical infirmities (Matthew 8:16-17);

7) God, the Father, was pleased with all that Christ did, and has now received Him back into the Godhead (Philippians 2:9-11), the First of the Firstfruits; and both now await the next step in this whole process, whereby we, too, will become Firstfruits, with Christ, at the resurrection of the just; we become then without sin, totally, just as the Father and Jesus Christ are today, and the Father and Christ will not remember our sins anymore!

It’s all a matter of faith! If we believe all of this, why should we not believe that Christ BECAME sin and a curse? God has inspired it to be written — therefore, it must be true.

Your Relationship with God, Part 2.

On Saturday, November 6, 2004, J. Edwin Pope will be giving the sermon, titled, “Your Relationship with God”, Part 2.

The services can be heard at
www.cognetservices.org at 12:30 pm Pacific Time (which is 2:30 pm Central Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

Preaching the Gospel & Feeding the Flock

A new member letter was sent out this week, showing from the Bible that the Church of God has an ongoing duty to preach the gospel as a witness into all the world. You can find the member letter at “Letters to the Brethren.”

We received the following note from the Philippines: “Thanks for the booklets. By next week we’re going to photocopy all your booklets for distribution in our area.”

What does the Bible say about cremation as opposed to burial? Is it proper for a Christian to practice the ritual of cremation?

Originally, the Church under Mr. Herbert Armstrong was not sympathetic towards cremation as a form of burial, as there doesn’t seem to be any Biblical examples, as will be explained herein, where holy people of God actually chose this method of burial. The Church later, under Mr. Armstrong, changed its stance on the matter, realizing that the form of burial today differs from the form used in Biblical times. Cremation was not known in Biblical times, as it is known today. In ancient times, one would have only had a funeral pyre which did not burn bone, but only tissue. The bones would still need to be buried much in the same way as the body, making the procedure rather pointless. Today, we only have the ashes in a small container which then can be “buried” in a vault or in the ground, if so desired. In addition, the Church rightly concluded that it is not a matter of salvation. In certain instances, cremation might be the only kind of burial which some families can afford. On the other hand, we must be careful that we do not unnecessarily offend family members and friends who might be conscientiously opposed to cremation.

Much is said in the Holy Scriptures concerning the disposition of a body after death. Solomon wrote these poignant words in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter six: “If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say, that a stillborn child is better than he” (Ecclesiastes 6:3).

In the book of Deuteronomy, God commanded His people Israel: “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God” (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

Even in such a case, unless God pronounced a specific curse on an individual or nation because of their abominations, He required their burial in the ground to be in an expedient manner.

In one case where God was extremely angry with certain people because of their gross disobedience to His Way, He inspired Jeremiah to write out what God said to him concerning these matters, in Jeremiah Chapter 16: “The word of the Lord also came to Jeremiah, saying, ‘.concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them and their fathers who begot them in this land; They shall die gruesome deaths; they shall not be lamented nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth.’ For thus says the Lord: ‘Do not enter the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan them; for I have taken away My peace from this people’ says the Lord, ‘lovingkindness and mercies. Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them . Nor shall men break bread in mourning for them, to comfort them.'” (Jeremiah16:1, 3-7).

In the case cited above, God was angry because of the evils being performed by these people in their disobedience to His commands. The curse He pronounced upon them was in the form of their not being allowed to bury their dead.

A proper burial was a blessing from God and according to the New Bible Dictionary (page 171), the “Lack of proper burial was a great misfortune,” pointing to 1 Kings 13:22, which says, “‘but you came back, ate bread and drank water in the place of which the Lord said to you, “eat no bread and drink no water,” your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'”

“It was customary for successive generations to be buried in the family tomb; thus Sarah, (Gen 23:19); Abraham (Gen 25:9); Isaac and Rebekah, Leah (Gen 49:31); and Jacob (Gen 50:13) were all buried in the caves of Machpelah, east of Hebron. Individual burial was sometimes necessitated by death at a distance from the family tombs; so Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, was buried near Bethel (Gen 35:8) and Rachel on the road to Ephrath (Gen 35:19, 20), their tombs being marked by an oak and a pillar respectively” (page 170).

Again, according to the New Bible Dictionary (page 172), “Jewish practices in New Testament times differed little from those described in the Old Testament . The corpse was washed (Acts 9:37); it was then anointed (Mark 16:1), wrapped in linen garments with spices enclosed (John 19:40), and finally the limbs were bound and the face covered with a napkin (John 11:44).

The discussion continues by stating that “Cremation was never a Jewish practice .” (Page 172). We need to add, here, that neither the use of coffins during burials, as is customary today, was a Jewish practice.

According to Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Page 158), “Interment in Bible times followed soon after death, as is evident in the narration of the burial of Sarah (Gen 23:1-20), Rachel (Gen 35:19, 20), and Rebekah’s nurse (Gen 35:8). The Hebrews did not normally cremate, as in the case of Saul and his sons (1 Samuel 31:11-13). Neither did they generally use coffins or embalm. Joseph’s burial in a coffin (Gen 50:26) and his being embalmed, as was his father, Jacob (Gen 50:2, 3) are to be explained as due to His eminent position and station in the land of the Nile.”

Whether or not the fact that Jacob and Joseph were embalmed was due to their eminent position and station, we point out that the Bible does not condemn them for using this procedure.

Moses, a faithful servant of the Lord, was apparently buried by the Lord Himself, or by His angel, in the land of Moab. You can read of the account of this event in the last book of Deuteronomy: “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day” (Deuteronomy 34:5-6).

The evidence is, in most cases, people called of God whom we are familiar with in the Bible, where they had a choice, chose burial as the method of disposing of their bodies upon death – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Deborah, Leah, David, Solomon, Job, Lazarus, Stephen, and many others, plus, of course, the greatest example of all, Jesus Christ. It is true that they did not choose cremation or the use of coffins, as commonly used today in our Western society.

Does this mean that anyone not buried according to the ancient Jewish and New Testament custom, but embalmed, placed in coffins, or cremated and the ashes placed in a container or vault, or being scattered or dispersed into the ocean, has lost his or her opportunity in the first resurrection? What about those lost at sea, eaten by fish or wild animals? What about those who were, or will be, evaporated during atomic blasts or nuclear holocausts? Have these lost their opportunity for salvation?

No, absolutely not! We have a gracious and all-powerful God Whom we look to in these matters. He has all power and the ability to resurrect any He chooses. And He is faithful to those who are faithful to His way in this life.

Jacob was embalmed according to the customs of the Egyptians. Yet the Scriptures tell us that Jacob will sit with Abraham and Isaac in the Kingdom of God (Luke 13:28). Joseph, a man of God, was also embalmed according to the customs of that day in the land he was in (Genesis 50:26). Jonathan, son of Saul, was cremated and his bones and ashes buried (1 Samuel 31:11-13). There were others who were martyred in their efforts to observe this Way and received no burial. No matter the final state of a person’s physical remains, whether ashes, dust, or whatever trauma they may have encountered, the promise to the faithful in this Way, will be in the first resurrection (Acts 24:15; Revelation 20:4).

Upon final analysis, God will look upon the way we live our lives based upon the knowledge we have and upon those criteria, we will be judged based on what we do in this life (Matthew 16:27; Romans 2:6; 1 Corinthians 3:8).

Correction:
In our last Q&A on “Fruit Trees” (Update #163), the last two paragraphs of the Answer were inadvertently omitted. The complete Q&A has been posted, as part of Update #163, on our Webpage (www.eternalgod.org).

Balanced Christian Living

On Saturday, October 23, 2004, Norbert Link will be giving the sermon, titled, “Balanced Christian Living.”

The services can be heard at www.cognetservices.org at 12:30 pm Pacific Time (which is 2:30 pm Central Time). Just click on Connect to Live Stream.

Preaching the Gospel & Feeding the Flock

The newest booklet, “Jesus Christ – A Great Mystery!,” was distributed to those attending the FOT in both England and the U.S. Also, copies to those on our mailing list have now been sent.

How are we to treat our fruit trees during the first five years, and during the Sabbath year, at which time the land is to rest?

Leviticus 19:23-25 prescribes what we are to do with newly planted fruit trees. This law, which is still valid today, states:

“When you come into the land, and HAVE PLANTED all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised (or: unclean). Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the LORD. And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the LORD your God.”

These verses prohibit the consumption of fruit from a NEWLY PLANTED fruit tree for the first three years. The Ryrie Study Bible explains: “When they came to Canaan, they were not to eat fruit from the [newly planted] fruit trees [for a certain number of years].” To abstain from eating the fruit from the newly planted fruit trees for the first three years allows the trees to become established, and what little fruit may be produced during the first three years of a new tree, should be allowed to fall to the ground and to serve as manure or fertilizer. The passage refers to the AGE of the tree — not to the number of years it has borne fruit. We are to begin counting, when the tree is planted or rooted, or when it comes up.

In the fourth year, the fruit is to be used to praise God. In ancient times, the fruits were given to the Levites, together with the tithe. Today, the fruit could be given to the minister, or the equivalent of the wholesale value of the fruit — in the fourth year — should be sent to the Church. (In that case, the individual is of course permitted to eat the fruit during the fourth year). In the fifth year, and all following years, the fruit belongs to the individual — but the individual is of course still obligated to tithe on the increase.

This law only refers to newly planted fruit trees that bear fruit. It does not refer to existing fruit trees, which are older than three or four years. This means, if one plants a three-year old fruit tree, one does not start counting that year as year #1. Rather, it is already year #3. Further, this law does not refer to shrubs, bushes, grapefruits, or olive trees. Those “trees” are described in the Bible as field crops, as they have a different production cycle.

The distinction is shown in the law of gleaning (Leviticus 19:9-10; Deuteronomy 24:19-22). It is also shown in the law of the Sabbath rest (Leviticus 25:3-5; Exodus 23:10-11). Notice carefully that the law of gleaning and the Sabbath rest does NOT refer to fruit trees.

Although some have forgotten this important distinction, it is clearly revealed in Scripture, and it has been the long-standing teaching of the Church.

For further information, how to apply the law of the Sabbath rest today, please read our Q&A on Leviticus 25:1-7, in our Update # 72 (dated December 20, 2002).

A related question was recently asked of us — whether it is within the Biblical injunctions to mow down the hay on our land and to let it lie for green manure, during the Sabbath year. The person asking the question was wondering whether this might violate the principle not to prune our trees for the purpose of producing a better harvest.

Leviticus 25:3-4 instructs us not to sow our field, nor to prune our vineyard during the Sabbath year. (Again, this passage does not refer to fruit trees.) We are also told, in verses 7 and 8, that the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for us and our livestock and other beasts during the Sabbath year.

While we must replace grain when we mow it down, this is not the case with hay, as hay will grow back the next year. Whether hay is mowed or not, it goes back “as manure” into the ground in either case. To mow hay and let it lie on the ground is not the same as pruning our vineyard (note the distinction in Scripture) and does therefore not fall under that same kind of prohibition.

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