Was Israel Forgiven Temporarily?
Thank you and everyone who is a part of this ministry. I’m learning more about Biblical truth through your podcasts and YouTube videos (never having been Adventist) than from any Protestant/Evangelical church. To be fair, I probably wasn’t seeking true Biblical knowledge or following the right pastors. Ugh!
This question is not just for my Adventist friends, but for me, also. I was talking to my Adventist friends about “works” on this side of the cross, and my friend said, “No one was ever justified by the works of the Law,” but would you mind explaining the mechanics of justification, righteousness, and salvation regarding The Mosaic Law?
I know that The Law exposed sin, and Abraham was justified by believing God before the Law, and that it was about heart posture, but maybe I’’m confused because my friend followed up with, “People were justified only after they sacrificed a spotless lamb,” which is my understanding of works.
I also read that The Law could never save, but if you could clarify the mechanics of how that worked under The Mosaic Law in the Old Testament, I would truly appreciate it, and thank you for your time.
Do I understand it correctly by saying the Israelites were never “justified” under the Mosaic Law, but were provided temporary forgiveness?
I am going through Romans with y’all. I started Romans with y’all multiple times, but stopped short of chapter 9 because I would start over. Ask me how much I retained, lol! I absolutely love Romans.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: The Mosaic law was not just the “law” as we think of it morally but also God’s covenant constitution which He made with Israel. It was their “law”, their national constitution, that defined their relationship with God.
Romans 3:21–26 defines WHY God didn’t simply destroy humanity when Adam sinned. Here is what Paul says:
But now apart from the Law [the] righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even [the] righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. —Romans 3:21–26
Notice that I highlighted the end. There Paul explains that God “passed over” the sins committed before the cross (previously committed) in order to demonstrate His perfect righteousness in the death of the Lord Jesus. Jesus’ death was the sufficient and just atonement for sin for ALL humanity, both before and after the cross. God would have been justified in destroying all the human race when Adam sinned, but His eternal purpose was to take the punishment in Himself—within the Trinity—and to atone for sin through God the Son becoming human and thus being able to shed human blood for human sin.
The sacrifices established in the law were reminders—shadows—for Israel that their sin was fatal. Their sin demanded death, and they lived within a system of continual animal slaughter for the purpose of offering blood sacrifices to cleanse them.
The animals, as Hebrews explains, could never take away their sins, but they kept Israel reminded of the hopeless fatality of their sin, that God demanded death. Yes, He provided a way for them not to die each time they sinned, but they had to be reminded with physical blood that their sin was that bad. It was a fatal death sentence, and an innocent animal took their place each time they sacrificed.
If the Israelites had refused to comply with the law and refused to sacrifice, they were placing themselves OUTSIDE their covenant with God. Outside, they had no protection from Him. There was no provision for even the shadow of atoning blood.
Those who believed God, as did Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and David, and many others, were justified/counted righteous by their BELIEF in God. They believed their sin was a death penalty, and they also believed that God could forgive and provide LIFE—even raising people from the dead if necessary, as Abraham realized when he was about to sacrifice Isaac (see Hebrews 11:17-19). These people who believed are the ones whose sin is atoned by Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice.
The law was required to contain Israel and to give them shadows of how serious their sin was and how consistent God’s provision and demands are: sin brings death, and if one refused to take that declaration and the provision of sacrifices seriously, that person placed himself outside the covenant terms God made with Israel, and their was no provision for forgiveness for them because they refused God’s covenant terms with them.
All people who’ve ever lived and believed God have been justified by Jesus’ shed blood. It wasn’t that Israel was temporarily forgiven. Each person is credited with God’s righteousness or not on the basis of their faith in Him. What is important about the law is that it never was intended to be the source of justification. It wasn’t a system of righteousness being credited on the basis of the works of the law. Rather those who trusted God and believed that He told them the truth were the ones whose worship and covenant-honoring flowed from a heart that already believed God.
Belief has always been the issue. People who believe and trust God and act on His word are counted righteous and justified. People who don’t—remain in their sins.
Yes, the new covenant has brought us into a more personal relationship with God: the new birth with the indwelling Holy Spirit is a new covenant phenomenon. Yet Abraham is our model for how people are saved, and that salvation has always been on the basis of Jesus’ blood, the blood of the eternal covenant (see the last verses of Hebrews 13). Jesus’ blood is eternal and works “backwards and forwards” in time. All are saved on the basis of His blood through faith and belief in God, no matter when or where they lived in the timeline of history, and faith/belief is the response we give when we see who God is.
Should I Say “Happy Sabbath” to an Adventist?
I have listened to all of your episodes of Former Adventist Podcast over the last year and now am binging the Former Adventist Fact Check episodes. I look forward to Tuesdays now to hear the weekly episode.
I have heard you speak about how you feel about attending a Seventh-day Adventist church and running Saturday services to reach out to Adventists, but what answer do you given to responding to “Happy Sabbath” from Seventh-day Adventists ? My best friend is a Adventist and greets me with this greeting on the weekly Sabbath. Before I knew what I know now about Adventism, I didn’t have a problem participating in the exchange of this greeting.
Knowing what I have come to know about the Sabbath and Adventism, it is difficult to honestly say “Happy Sabbath” in response. Sometimes I have said “Happy Sabbath in Christ” in order for me to feel comfortable saying it, but it still feels like I am being evasive.
God bless the FAF ministry. As a born again Christian who only later in life came to know about Adventism, I can say that the work that you, your husband and your co-host do for the Kingdom really matters and is effective.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing. Am I correct to assume that you are not an Adventist yourself? Have you been going to church with your friend?
I agree with you; I don’t say “Happy Sabbath’ back to an Adventist. If you haven’t told your friend your concerns about Adventism, perhaps you need to do so. Your response, “Happy Sabbath in Christ”, is a good one if he knows where you are “coming from”. If he doesn’t, he won’t grasp what you are saying.
Have you ever sat with him and told him the true biblical gospel? Or have you spent any time studying the Bible with him? Just from your email I am deducing that you might be reaching a point where you need to have a frank discussion with your friend so he understands you and what the gospel actually is. I know that is a daunting prospect—but he does need to understand why you will not be worshiping with him and accepting his Adventism as a version of Christianity.
The fact that you feel uncomfortable suggests to me that you need to go below the surface and explain you convictions to him.
The Lord is in this; He will give you the words, and remember that the Lord has put you in your friend’s life for his good and for God’s glory! †
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