I want to back up to 2 Timothy 2 again and use more of the text. Starting with verse 11;
"This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers."
(I must admit sometimes we go back and forth about words and nobody profits)
15: "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaesus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is past; and they overthrow the faith of some."
(Here is where false methods of interpretations should be inserted, such as a failure to recognize the difference between Israel and the Church, or that the overthrow of Jerusalem in 70 AD was the fulfillment of the 70th week of Daniel. Jesus said in Matt. 24:29-30; "IMMEDIATELY after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give it's light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Where is this recorded in history? Why would God write Revelation in 95 AD to describe the things that were supposedly past already?)
19: "Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows who are His,' and, 'Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'"
23: "But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will."
(Even a believer who does not understand the Scriptures, or someone who through pride, or someone who has been convinced of wrong doctrine, is caught in the snare of the devil. We're not all correct, so God help us to examine ourselves.)
Chapter 3
1-7: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
So why do we read and study the Bible? I suppose there can be many reasons put forth. Some may be to learn about God, or to learn how to get to heaven. Some may read it because it is a challenge to understand and full of wonderful imagery. I won’t go on with the reasons but I hope you get the drift, here is the question: Why do you read the Bible? Stop and consider this carefully, I think your answer carries more implications than you may first think. To start with we must acknowledge that we read the Bible to understand our dependence on our Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t study Scripture to elevate our pride. We study Scripture to know the will of God. We study Scriptures, “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Tim. 3:15) All other issues or reasons become secondary to the revelation and exaltation of the most perfect person, the Lord Jesus Christ. God put His Son on display “in the fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4) for a reason, if it were simply a matter of providing a redeemer, which only God can do, why didn’t He send Jesus as soon as man sinned? God has reasons for all that He has done, and our failure to be careful to recognize and understand these things will affect how God deals with us.
In Ephesians 1, Paul tells us some reasons for Scripture. In verses 9 & 10 we read; “..having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth-in Him.” Reason tells us that if there was a gathering together, there must have been a separation.
My point being that some would contend that there is essentially no dichotomy between the Old Testament saints and those since the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This view skews one's total understanding of the plan of God to glorify His Son. In my previous post I linked to an excerpt from Lewis Sperry Chafer's book "Salvation: God's Marvelous Work of Grace", how can anyone compare the distance, rigidity, and need for repetition of Judaism to the completeness, nearness, and assurance of those of us in Christ Jesus? When one uses the word "church" as evidence of a sameness, they fail to use the verses that use the very same word in it's broadest sense.
Another way to look at this is to ask the question if the Old Testament way is essentially the same, why does the writer of Hebrews go on at length to convince them that we now find our hope in Christ? If there were really no changes except that the need for repeated sacrifices were no longer needed why be redundant and go over things they already possessed?
The fact of the matter is that there IS a huge difference being in Christ. But when you want to make the Church (the Bride of Christ) a common thing you use scripture to say what you want it to say and ignore the literal meaning of words and spiritualize all that doesn't support your views.
Consider some things that cannot be said of Old Testament saints and were never included in any covenant to them:
We have a mediator who intercedes on our behalf as individuals. (who is without sin)
We can boldly approach the throne of grace. The veil of seperation being removed.
We are washed by the blood eternally, not temporarily covered yet waiting for the better.
We are joint heirs with Christ, holy brethren, not servants.
When we are in Christ we are a new creation.
We have better promises.
God is our Father, not Abraham.
In the end my being right in my understanding is not what is important, but to recognize my complete and total dependence on Jesus Christ and His work on my behalf is what's needed, He knows my heart and that's all that matters. With a literal fulfilment of past prophesies, I cannot see why that pattern would not continue so I have confidence in a pre-milenial rapture of the Bride of Christ, a literal fulfillment of the 70th week of Dainiel's prophesy (time of Jacob's trouble) following the rapture, and a literal 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth to follow that.
