Truth Magazine

By Mike Willis

One of the most common titles ascribed to Christians is “believers” (cf. Acts 2:44; 4:32; 5:14). The word “believer” is translated from the Greek word pisteuo which is defined as follows: “to believe, also to be persuaded of, and hence, to place confidence in, to trust, signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence” (W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vol. I, p. 116). The object in which one believes is not inherent in the word; it must be picked up from the context. Some were said to be believers in Moses (Jn. 5:46), the Scriptures (Jn. 2:22), Jesus (Jn. 3:36), and the Gospel (Mk. 1:15). The word pisteuo and its cognates occur so many times in the New Testament that one can by no means cover all of them in one lesson.

The Basis of Faith: The Revealed Will of God

Paul asserted the connection between faith which leads to salvation and the revealed word of God in the following passage:

“. . . for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord Is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him; for Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!’ However, they did not all heed the glad tidings; for Isaiah says, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?’ So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:10-17).

From the above, one can see that faith is soundly rooted in the revealed Scriptures. Faith is not a “leap in the dark,” as some infidel theologians assert. Asserting that the claims of Jesus and the existence of God cannot be proved conclusively, they believe that true faith is the leap beyond what the available evidence actually warrants. Such a faith is ignoble. It might be caused by personal preference, prejudice, or whatever, but it has no characteristics which commend themselves to us. If faith is nothing more than a “leap in the dark,” what makes the “leap” of the Christian any better than or different from the “leap in the dark” of the atheist, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, etc.? There is no virtue in the act of believing; virtue lies in what is believed. Saul surely acted on the basis of belief when he persecuted Christians; pagan idolators offered worship to false gods on the basis of belief. Both are examples of the act of believing but neither exhibited acceptable faith before God. The basis of faith is important!

Jesus asserted that one must accept as factual a revealed body of truth before he can be saved. He said, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:31-32). Statements which intimate that salvation is not conditional upon one’s knowledge and acceptance of a certain body of facts are diametrically opposed to what Jesus said. Such statements posit the virtue of faith in a religious emotion (i.e. the act of believing) instead of in what is believed.

The faith of Jesus Christ rests firmly and squarely upon the revealed word of God. One is exercising faith when he is walking in the path revealed in the Scriptures. When he is not in that path he is in darkness, regardless of how pure his intentions might be.

The Object of Faith

Jesus Himself gave the objects of faith when He said, “Believe in God, believe also in Me” (Jn. 14:1). The author of Hebrews said, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). The person who does not believe that “he is” is an atheist and, therefore, will not serve God. To believe that “He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” is to believe something about the character of God. No one would serve God unless he believed that service to God would render God favorably disposed toward him. One of the things which one must believe about God is that He is favorably disposed toward His creation (Jn. 3:16). To this must be added the innumerable aspects of God worthy of our praise, including His omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and holiness. The believer is one who accepts the right body of facts about God; the one who accepts the wrong body of facts about God is either an atheist or an idolater.

Faith must not only be exercised toward God but also toward Jesus. What one must believe about Jesus can be very well summarized in the following words: “The Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the World.” He is the Lord who possesses all authority (Mt. 28:18); He is the Christ-the Messiah of the Old Testament (Mt. 16:16). His humanity is recognized by the word Jesus; His deity is acknowledged by the phrase Son of God. His work of redemption is recognized by the confession that He is the Savior of the world. The man who disbelieves these facts about Jesus is not a “believer” and, therefore, not a Christian. Many denominational preachers call themselves “Christians” but deny everything except the humanity of Jesus. Such men are infidels and not Christians!

The Activity of Faith

(1) Trust. Faith not only involves mental assent to a certain body of facts, it also means “to place confidence in, to trust.” That the cognates of pisteuo, pistis and pistos, convey the ideas of “trust,” “trusty, faithful, trustworthy” is not to be overlooked. This shows another aspect of faith which is sadly overlooked today. Most of quickly admit that mental assent will not suffice to please God and would cite the example of the devils “believing and trembling” (Jas. 2:19) and the example of the Jews who believed in Jesus but did not confess Him (Jn. 12:42,43) as proof of it. Yet, in our zeal to add that one must obey Jesus (a perfectly legitimate activity of faith to be examined next), we have neglected the idea of trust which resides in the word “believe.”

The one who truly believes in God and Christ is one who repudiates every method, aside from Christ, which claims to be able to save him and appeals to Jesus for salvation. The believer is truly relying upon Jesus for salvation. Paul said, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Tim. 1:12). The salvation rests, therefore, upon Jesus’ willingness and ability to forgive and not upon my ability to perfectly obey Him. The man who believes in Jesus is one who has repudiated his ability to save himself and trusts in Jesus for salvation. (In this connection, notice that, in 1 Pet. 3:21, baptism is said to be an appeal to God for a good conscience.) The man who truly trusts Jesus should not have anxiety. The things about which most men are anxious are things which he casts upon the Lord and “`the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). The believer can have a Christianity without ulcers, without denying the faith!

(2) Obedience. Obedience is as closely tied to faith as is trust. Since the sinner is utterly relying upon Jesus for salvation (and not upon one’s own intelligence), he submits to the instructions of the One upon Whom he is relying for salvation. (Note the expression “obedience of faith” in Rom. 1:5; 16:26.) The true faith is the faith which takes. God at His word and does what He says! That involves obedience. Where man does not take God at His word and obey Him, he is not exercising faith. Because of this aspect of faith, the word “faith” or “believe” can be used to refer to the sum total of one’s commitment to Jesus. Thus, one can be said to be saved by “faith,” not meaning “faith only,” but a “faith” which takes God at His word and does what He says.

Conclusion

To be a believer implies that one has studied the revelation of God and has reached the conclusion that the facts asserted therein are true. Accepting them to be true, the believer gives up every other foundation for acceptance before God and trusts altogether in Jesus for salvation. Trusting in Jesus, the sinner obeys Jesus Christ in order to be saved. As an expression of his faith, he repents of his sins and is baptized for the forgiveness of them. All who have done this can be properly described as “believers.” Are you a believer?

Truth Magazine, XX:13, p. 9-10
March 25, 1976

By Raymond E. Harris

The desire to look into the future and to know the unknown has been with man in all lands and ages. Since this is beyond the natural man, man has desperately looked into every dark corner and superstitiously accepted absurdly foolish methods attempting to gain the fulfillment of his longings. This quest for supernatural knowledge and power has inevitably led man away from God and into idolatry. Hence, in Deut. 18:9-14 God warned, “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.” Hence, to turn to a witch, an astrologer or a diviner of any kind was and is to practice a form of idolatry and is strictly forbidden by God.

Ancient Astrology

From the most ancient times astrologers have been the “Dividers of the Heavens.” The earliest of such divisions appear to have been into the four quarters, north; south, east and west. Astrological tables of this character have been discovered in considerable numbers. This proves that the early prognosticators did not have any real understanding of astronomy. The unknowing astrologers simply functioned as priests and “Wise Men” of various idolatrous systems of religion as the planets became the objects of worship. It should be noted further that the evils of astrology were not limited to the “Heathen Nations.” Israel and Judah were both condemned for practicing such. In 2 Kings 17:16, the sin of rebellious Israel is clearly stated, “And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves and made a grove and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.” In 2 Kings 23:4-5 in the account of King Josiah’s reforms, we have the following: “And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them unto Bethel. And he put down the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven.” From this we see how extensive and brazen Judah’s idolatry had become! They had set up a priesthood for worship of the sun, the moon, the planets and all the host of heaven and had the audacity to practice such in the temple of the Most High God.

Modern Astrology?

Astrology has evolved from the crude, ignorant, superstitious worship of the planets to the present sophisticated, ignorant, superstitious worship of the planets. It all began with the Babylonians. However, the mathematical working out of the order of the planets came from the Greeks. And so in the hands of the Greeks, astrology passed from a religion into the appearance of a science. In ancient times the planets were worshiped and diviners consulted them for the benefit of kings. But with the strong individualistic tendency of the Greeks, the fortunes of the individual became the most frequent subject of inquiry. From this sprang the idea of determining the character and future of a man from the position of the stars at his birth. Greece was indeed the birth place of the Zodiac.

Modern astrology continued to evolve as the Egyptians and the Jews added their significant elements. From the Egyptians came the concept of dividing the day into 24 hours. This allowed for more precision in time keeping. And from the Jews came the seven day continuous running “free week.” This evidently worked out better for them than the 10 day Egyptian week which attempted to divide the month into 3 equal periods. And eventually all of this jelled together in Egypt. Yes, astrology was born in Babylon, nurtured in Athens, practiced in Jerusalem and perfected in Alexandria. The writings of Claudius Ptolemy, in about 130 A.D. portray a system of astrology which, though modified in details, is in effect that in use today.

The Christian

Faithful Christians have always opposed astrology. This opposition has both an intellectual and scriptural foundation. To begin with astrology is an absurdity. The planets are material and physical in nature and are not seats of power which belongs to God alone. The divisions of the heavens (the zodiac) upon which the predictions are based are purely imaginary.

Secondly, Christians of more modern times have had the benefit of science to fortify what they had always known from the Bible. With the discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler, it was shown that the earth is a tiny planet moving around the sun and that in fact our sun itself is but a small star among the myriad stars in the sky. Hence, our earth is not the center of the universe as astrology claims. This knowledge makes it all the more ridiculous to suppose that the relative positions of the sun, the moon, stars and planets at the exact moment of ones birth could dictate and control the lives of every person on our mini-planet earth! With the discovery of new planets such as Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, astrologers have been further embarrassed, but they refuse to concede their errors that so obviously identify them as practitioners of a false religion and a pseudo-science.

However, the Christian’s contempt for astrology comes mainly from his knowledge of God’s word rather than from the discoveries of astronomers and scientists. The child of God knows full well that the sun, moon and stars are the creations of God and not the source of some strange mystic power that molds and controls every living person. Not only do Christians understand that to turn from God and to any other source for supernatural guidance is idolatry, but they remember well how God’s men cried out against divination and enchantments from Moses to Daniel to Paul. In 1 Cor. 10:14, Paul briefly but clearly warned, “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.” Hence, the child of God realizes that astrology, which is idolatry, is a work of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21). He realizes astrology is an abomination to God and so he will leave it alone. Astrology should no more be looked upon as a joke or a light hearted and innocent pastime, than should witchcraft or spiritualism.

Remember, through the inspired word, God has provided for us doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness, that we may all be perfect (mature), thoroughly furnished unto all good works: Conversely, the stars are but material creations of God and they are not sources of wisdom or insight into the future.

Truth Magazine, XX:13, p. 8-9
March 25, 1976

By C. W Scott

The church of the New Testament was planned by the Lord to be a most glorious institution and one that should ever challenge the attention of men and women. Jesus Christ gave Himself in death upon the cruel cross on Calvary’s brow that He might purchase and gain for Himself a bride-the church, holy and unspotted by worldly things. Paul wrote to the Ephesian saints (chap. 5:25-27), “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” And Timothy was admonished and warned, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves . . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away” (1 Tim. 3:1-5).

On the one hand we view the beautiful bride of Christ, his church; it is a glorious institution, without spot or wrinkle, holy and unblemished by sin and its damnable influence. Then we behold the “perilous days” when men would be infatuated with worldly pleasure and thereby crowd God’s and heaven’s ways out of their hearts. They have “a form of godliness’ but deny the power and radiating influence of a righteous and godly church of Christians-the Lord’s righteous servants. The former picture is pleasing and acceptable in the sight of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ but the latter view of desertion and apostasy is most damning, to the souls of men and most grievous in the eyes of the Lord. Therefore, only those who have been sanctified and cleansed “with the washing of water by the word,” and who “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness,” may expect eternal redemption and communion in the heavenly home with God the Father, Jesus Christ and all of the redeemed of time.

The writer is aware that there is no such thing as “little sins and big sins” with God but more than a half century of personal observation forces me to proclaim that worldliness is truly one of the greatest of evils and a most challenging problem confronting Christian men and women along with young people today. The purity of the church in too many places is being corrupted and its pristine identity is being destroyed by pleasure-mad and thrill-seeking members. It is not a rare thing to find preachers condoning and even engaging in practices that have destroyed the spiritual life and power of so many Christians. Regardless of whether or not the writer can convincingly-establish the cause or causes of this harmful and calamitous condition, it is nevertheless a fact, an unquestionable fact, that the church of our Lord, in far too many places, is being overrun by pleasure-seeking worldlings who are unhindered by the united opposition of both elders and evangelists. Loyalty to Christ and zeal for the salvation of lost souls should awaken every faithful child of God to militant action against all sin in order that the children of God may no longer be hindered in their march of righteousness in conquest of everlasting life.

Worldliness is the Carnival of Death

Worldliness has been designated the “Carnival of Death” and Judas Iscariot in both his fall and tragic death justifies the title. “Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, And said, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him (Christ) unto you? And they convenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver” (Matt. 25:14-15). It is the ugly picture of Judas selling his Lord and Savior. Silver looked very good to him and his worldly lust prompted him to trade off Jesus for thirty pieces of silver which would be today about half as many dollars. From that day to this the name Judas and “traitor” have become synonymous and men and women the world over have been made to despise his wicked actions. The name Judas no one choose to wear today. And his carnival in life ended with suicide as he hanged himself! How sad and how tragic an end to experience instead of victory in righteousness.

Reader, is there something in your life that’s drawing you away from Christ? Think and search your heart and life carefully. Are you engaging in pursuits and pleasures that are of the world, rather than those things that prepare you for the world to come? Brother or sister, are you seeking gain for time instead of for eternity? If this be true, is not the thing that is leading you apart from “the way of holiness” your selling price?

Lest any be deceived by the wily and crafty way of Satan, I desire to pull aside the curtain that your eyes may behold the scenes in the Carnival of Death to Spiritual Life. First, we behold Earthly Desire with its excessive longing for riches or the stuffing of the body to the starving of the soul. Riches are all right when used rightly but when “sumptuous living” is our main goal in life we are headed for certain destruction.

We are counseled by the Great Teacher, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (necessities of life) shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33).

“A certain rich man” lusted for worldly earthly ease. In anticipation of his new and larger barns being filled to overflowing spoke to himself saying, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21). The rich man, also, participated in a carnival in life unto death. Beware! It does not pay to center one’s thought wholly upon worldly gain and carnal pride.

Look at the merry-go-round of Fleshly Desire of the Carnival of Death. The depraved lust, passion and appetites must be satisfied! Beer, whiskey and tobacco are main items in the daily menu of some professing Christians. One may hear them profess that they are saved but those hearing the claim really feel like replying, “Saved from what?” Father drinks the intoxicating beverages and “the weed” provides him with the opiate rest from the pain of dissipation. Mother follows his conduct with the endorsement of so-called “good society.” How can we expect anything good or worthwhile from the children of such a union?

The Holy Spirit and the apostle Paul warmed against such carnality in language no one can misunderstand. Will you carefully read and consider with me again the following words? “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption” (Gal. 6:7). Hear another of the apostle’s admonitions! “Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man–(read it again) If any man defile or destroy the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Cor. 3:17).

Fellow Christians, Worldliness is the Carnival of Death to spiritual life! Let not the carnal and fleshly things of the world turn us aside from our high and holy calling in Christ Jesus. (Continued next issue)

Truth Magazine, XX:13, p. 6-7
March 25, 1976

By Cecil Willis

With this tenth lesson on the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we bring to a close this particular series. Together, we have studied numerous statements showing that Christians are not governed by the Law of Moses, nor will we be judged by the Law of Moses, but by the Law of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “the words that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last great day” (Jno. 12:48). One can go only to the New Testament as an adequate source of authority for worship in this era. But when one learns that he is not bound by the Old Testament today, he might get the idea that the Old Testament is of no value for us. Hence this week it is our purpose to study the “Usage of the Old Testament Scriptures.” God preserved them for us, so they must have a very definite value.

Proof of the Divinity of Jesus

First of all, the Old Testament Scriptures may be used as an evidence of the divinity of Jesus Christ. One of the strongest lines of proof of the divinity of Christ is that He fulfilled the many prophecies made in the Old Testament. Scholars have estimated that there are 333 messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. Each one of these statements tell us something describing what the Saviour would be like. Then, when we view Christ in the light of these prophecies, we learn that He is, indeed, the Son of God with power. To my mind, this is one of the strongest proofs of Christ’s deity. The next great proof would be the works that He did.

Take for example, the prophecy of Isaiah, in which it is said, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). Then we turn to the New Testament and learn that Jesus was born of a virgin, thus establishing beyond doubt that He is the One of whom Isaiah spoke. Furthermore, Micah told us the city in which He was to be born. He said, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). Isaiah predicted Jesus’ virgin birth; Micah predicted His village birth. And on and on we might go showing how Jesus fulfilled all of these prophecies. The Old Testament is therefore of great value in establishing the divinity of Jesus.

On one occasion, our Saviour found a man named Philip, and said unto him, “Follow me.” Philip immediately went to Nathanael and told him who he had found. In Jno. 1:45 we read, “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” The fact that Jesus fulfilled the statements in the Law and the Prophets enabled Philip to recognize Him as the Son of God.

On the day of Pentecost, when Peter was trying to persuade a group of murdering Jews that they had killed the Lord of Glory, he quoted two or three passages from the Old Testament which unquestionably indicate that in Jesus they have their fulfillment. He even pointed out that David had predicted that Jesus would be raised from the dead, so that His flesh would not see corruption. These statements are found in Acts 2.

Just before Jesus’ ascension back to the Father, He told His disciples that He fulfilled the Old Testament statements. In Luke, He said, “These are my words which i spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me.” Jesus said these passages establish His identity.

While Peter preached to Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, he said, “To him bear all the prophets witness, that through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43).

Jesus further used the Old Testament Scriptures as a proof of His identity in Jno. 5:39. He said, “Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me.” The Old Testament Scriptures bear witness of Christ. Paul often went into the Jewish synagogues and argued that the Old Testament prophecies proved Christ’s divinity. Hence one reason why we shall ever need the Old Testament is as an additional proof of the divinity of Christ.

Exemplifies Principles of Righteousness

A second continuing usage of the Old Testament Scriptures is that they exemplify principles of righteousness. We can study the Old Testament to see the kind of character God approved and therefore strive to mold our character, in accordance with New Testament teaching. In Hebrews 12, Paul said, “Therefore let us also, seeing that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfector of our faith” (Heb. 12:1,2). Paul’s argument was that because we are compassed about with such a great cloud of witnesses, we ought to strive harder to live right. This great cloud of witnesses had just been enumerated in the previous chapter. Heb. 11 has been called the “Honor Roll of the Bible,” for in this chapter we read how by faith Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by faith Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by faith Abraham offered up Isaac, by faith Enoch walked with God, by faith Moses forsook the treasures in Egypt, by faith the city of Jericho was taken, and on and on. In view of this great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside the sin which besets us, and run with patience the race that is set before us. The Old Testament exemplifies the great men of righteousness.

We read a great deal about Abraham in the Old Testament. When one thinks of Abraham, he automatically thinks o# his faith. We need to emulate the faith of Abraham, so that we are willing to perfect our faith by letting it direct us to do whatever God commands.

Another great character of the Old Testament is Job. We often talk of an individual as “having the patience of Job.” We mean by that, that he is able to endure with steadfastness. You remember how that, in a brief period of time, Job was reduced from one of the richest men in the east, to poverty, shame, and pain. Yet he said, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah taketh away, Blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). We need to have the patience in suffering that characterized Job.

In 1 Kings 18 we read about a prophet of great courage, Elijah, the man of God, challenged 450 false prophets to a duel. They were to select a bullock, and then he would choose one. These 450 prophets were to cry out to their idolatrous god, Baal, and Elijah would entreat Jehovah, and the people were to worship the one who answered by fire. While the false prophets called upon their god, and received no answer, Elijah ridiculed them, so that they cut themselves, and Elijah said, “Cry louder. Perhaps your god is asleep.” It took courage to stand in the midst of so many and keep an unwavering faith in Jehovah and His Law. Yet this is exactly the attitude of Elijah. The Old Testament is of great value in giving us these lessons from the lives of the men of God.

From the Old Testament, we may also learn the lesson of obedience. In 1 Kings 15, we find that God commanded King Saul to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites. Saul went down, killed the people, and part of the cattle, but the fattest of the cattle and King Agag, he kept. He did not obey God. He only did what he wanted to do of that which God had commanded him. For his disobedience, he was rejected as a king over God’s people, and ended his life in miserable suicide. So a second usage of the Old Testament is that in it are exemplified the principles of righteousness.

Hope

In the third place, the Old Testament gives us hope. In Rom, 15:4, Paul said, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope.” The things written aforetime refer to the Old Testament. So Paul is saying that the Old Testament should give us hope. From the Old Testament we learn that Jehovah cares for His people, makes great promises to them, and then keeps His promises. “Blessed be Jehovah, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised by Moses his servant” (1 Kings 8:56). And in what may be called his farewell address, Joshua said, “And, behold this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which Jehovah your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, not one thing hath failed thereof” (Joshua 23:14).

When we read statements like this in the Old Testament that declare that God did everything that He ever promised to do, we should take courage, knowing that He is faithful that promised (Heb. 10:23) and that God cannot lie (Titus 1:1,2). So the Old Testament is needed, for it gives us hope.

Warms Against Disobedience

Finally, the Old Testament may be used, and is needed, for it warns us of the consequences of disobedience. We have already cited the disobedience of King Saul, and how we are not to emulate that way of life. In Acts 7:53, Stephen, the inspired evangelist, said that the Law was ordained by angels. Notice in the following passage that the Law is spoken of as the Word spoken by angels. Notice that none escaped who violated this Law: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them. For if the word spoken through angels proved stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation” (Heb. 2:1-3). The implication is, since those under the Law were without exception punished when they disobeyed God’s command, we likewise shall not escape.

Again in Heb. 10:28,29, Paul said, “A man that hath set at nought Moses’ law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace?” Here again we see the consequence of disobedience.

Once more, in 1 Cor. 10:8-12, Paul said, “Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us make trial of the Lord, as some of them made trial, and perished by the serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyed. Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

Conclusion

So friends, even though we are not living under the Old Testament Law today, it is not useless. (1) It is an evidence of the divinity of Christ; (2) It exemplifies the principles of righteousness; (3) It gives us hope; (4) It warns us of the consequences of disobedience.

Truth Magazine, XX:13, p. 3-5
March 25, 1976