ON POINT, II
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (September 25, 2015)
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith...For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” (Romans 1:17; Ephesians 2:8, King James Version [God's wrath against sin; By grace are ye saved])
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus, Our Lord And Savior,
My brothers and sisters, there is a point that needs our continued understanding. Therefore, let us discuss ON POINT: Why did Jesus die? Jesus died for the sins of man. What made sins---a sin? The law made sins---a sin.
Is there punishment for sins? According to The Epistle Of Paul The Apostle To The Romans (6:23, KJV), Paul said, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” According to Apostle John, the author of the fourth gospel, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (St. John 5:24, KJV). However, Apostle John said in The First Epistle General Of John (I John 3:14, KJV): “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”
Howbeit, Apostle John thought not of how the sons of Jacob asked their brother Joseph to forgive them even in The First Book Of Moses, Called Genesis, “So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him” (50:17, KJV). Therefore, the fourth gospel, Apostle John (St. John 1:1, KJV) stated, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Christ Jesus was with God from the beginning, in spirit.
So, the death of Jesus fulfilled the law---Jesus' death fulfilled the death sentence given to sinners under the law---the Mosaic law. Who gave us the law? Moses received the law from God. In a much better understanding, our ON POINT discussion, brings us to the understanding that Jesus' death paid the debt---the sentence for the transgressions (crimes) of sinners---going back to the fall of Adam. Therefore, Jesus' death fulfilled the law means the blood of the lamb offered up for the death sentence given man fulfilled the same death sentence given to man under the law of Moses [“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28; Matthew 26:28; Romans 5:15, 6:10; I Peter 2:24, 3:18; I John 3:5, KJV).
Our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus death served all of mankind, going back to the fall of Adam [“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:” (I Peter 3:18, KJV)]. Hence, the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, served to stand to die in order to fulfill all the death sentences of all the sinners [“And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (I John 3:5, KJV)], going back to the fall of Adam, for Christ Jesus, was holy, is holy, was righteous, is righteous, and the collective payment, that only a God-man could stand to pay, satisfied the collective debt for Israel, for each and all the members of the one body of Israel (the church)---the debt which was a death sentence was paid----to save man [“For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (St. Matthew 26:28, KJV)]. With that said, we understand Jesus established the law. For the death of Jesus---which fulfilled the law----the death sentence given to all sinners going back to Adam, let us all know that God's law was in fact, in place, for us all to obey and that there was a
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penalty---punishment for sins and that the punishment was death under the law of Moses, which Moses received from God---so the sin is against God [“But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death” Proverbs 8:36, KJV [Wisdom]) and God demanded a sentence of death for sins against him, for He gave us the laws [“For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion... Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth” Romans 9: 15,18, KJV [Paul's sorrow for the Jews; The calling of the Gentiles]. But the mercy of God sent us the second Adam, Christ Jesus, to pay the debt---the death sentence given under the law.
Jesus fulfilled the law, he did not destroy the law [Romans 3:27, KJV [law of faith] . Therefore, the law established by the death sentence of Jesus, remains as the Law of Moses but those God gave to Christ Jesus exist in grace [“But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Romans 5:15, KJV)]. According to Apostle John (St. John 8:51, KJV), Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” Hence, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (St. John 13:34-35, KJV).
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you....These things I command you, that ye love one another” (St. John 15: 12, 17, KJV). According to, The General Epistle Of James, “If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (2:8, KJV). Accordingly, The Third Book Of Moses Called Leviticus (19:18, KJV), said, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another” (I Thessalonians 4:9, KJV). Did the commandment of Christ Jesus have roots in the Laws of Moses?
Jeremiah, The Prophet prophesied in The Book Of The Prophet Jeremiah (31:34, KJV) about Christ's new covenant, “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, in The First Epistle General Of Peter (1:22-23, KJV), said, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
Accordingly, in The Epistle Of Paul The Apostle To The Romans (chapter 9), Apostle Paul addressed the issue of the Gentiles to the Jews: “...As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God...” (Romans 9:25-26, KJV).
In closing, his mercy endureth forever. However, the experiences of the Romans against the disciples kept Apostle John wanting more to share the reality of the harshness of the law even though Christ Jesus dwells in the midst of Israel, perhaps because he walked with Christ Jesus and witnessed the arrests, beheadings, imprisonments, and scourgings. The First Epistle General Of John (I John 3:9, KJV [Exhortation to love God]): “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” In today's reality and in perceptions of our daily reality, sins are everyday
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occurrences and prayer draws us closer to God as we examine the strength of our conscious when things happen [“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10: 22, KJV)].
In a vision, my brothers and sisters, you could not even imagine how many of my neighbors came to me, in spirit, two of them were actively engaged in lust and theft, another one of them was deeply engaged in contemplative thought and others just at the door, behind a sheriff with sunglasses on, and I was lying on the floor inside the house, appearing to be dead. Interestingly enough, today I received a letter from a master prophet telling me people from everywhere were at my door. I think my neighbors came in spirit to my door because the truth upset them and threatened the lifestyles they live and I think they felt because they were in Christ Jesus they could do whatever they wanted to; if that is truth, then do you think Apostle John lost his mind and forgot about grace or is it his provocative nature to compel Christian folks---true believers, to examine their conscience to see whether they are in sin or not, each day. I am not standing before you saying I have no sins to confess of late---I know my thoughts do sway from time to time---at times because hate is practiced in the neck of woods I live in. Maybe that is why Apostle John told the Jews and the Gentiles (I John 2:7, KJV) that he did not have any new commandments for them, “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.”
Most importantly, if Apostle John lost his mind from the seclusion on the island and from witnessing the brutality of the Romans, pray tell, why did Apostle Paul in The Epistle Of Paul The Apostle To The Ephesians (chapter 5, KJV), state before his death (beheading):
“...But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, ...that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, ...For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret...see that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil...be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God...”
(5:2-31, KJV).
Was also Apostle Paul then, given to slipping in his mind as Apostle John, do we think, from all the brutality they experienced from the Romans because as you might recall Apostle Paul was once commissioned by the Levite high priests, to unjustly persecute Israel---the Jewish people under Roman rule and authority. Perhaps do you think Apostle Paul wanted the Law of Moses still to prevail? I think not because Jesus always said, “Ye of so little faith,” to his disciples---his apostles---the sent men, when their faith waned---when they could not heal the people. Moreover, are these forewarnings about obeying the law, only meant to get the attention of the people to make them stay in line and walk toward holiness---the perfection of, which is the will of God. I think both Apostle Paul and Apostle John were in their right minds to keep the people walking in the light [“Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers of them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)” Ephesians 5:6-9, KJV].
In the same vision, there was a man who loved to steal and whenever he was in the homes of friends or strangers his eyes twinkled as he looked at everything---all the stuff they had. He touched everything
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with his hands, knowing many years ago, hands were taken, in some countries to mark the thief so that all could know, perhaps he stole and it was not an innocent loss of hand. It was his secret joy to take and touch with his hands. One day, a friend that he took many things from received a gift of a rooster and the rooster stayed inside the house and perched at night on a wooden beam in the loft.
The man came in spirit thinking his friend whom he took from could not see him in spirit and he planned to take the rooster. He did not think the spirit of the rooster could courageously defend and out-maneuver him but the spirit of the rooster grew in faith. The battle that started at the threshold of the door but on the inside of the house rumbled and tumbled to the outside of the house. The rooster's size grew so large that the rooster was as large as the man and beat him down with his beak and body size, winning the battle.
The man tried to get away from the rooster but the rooster held on to him, whipping him down to the ground until he gave up the battle. The rooster crowed with joy as the victor for it is the nature of the rooster to rule the roost. This time the man could not take the gift his friend received. Things happen.
To God be the glory. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. May the Lord be with you. Amen.
