By Francis Frangipane
Love, Not Law
For some reason, many Christians identify the height of spirituality not with Christ but with Israel’s Old Testament prophets, who were called by God to bring specific messages of warning and punishment to His people. Christian, listen to me: we are not Old Testament prophets; we are new covenant redeemers. Our primary pattern is not Jeremiah, but Jesus Christ, who brought grace and truth into the world (John 1:17). Our standard is love, not law. “Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10). We are the body of Christ. While we can learn much from the Old Testament, and see reflections of Christ in it, we have no purpose greater than to reveal Christ as He revealed Himself in the New Testament, as the fulfillment of the law.
Why should we pattern ourselves after Israel’s prophets when they had specific messages from God for specific circumstances? They were sent to a people under law, who did not have available Christ as Savior and who did not know the indwelling of the Holy Spirit or the full grace of God, which is now available to all sinners. Under the law, if the Jews violated just one commandment they were guilty of all (James 2:10). Although the Lord deeply loved the Israelites, they fell short of God’s glory. However, the Father’s purpose was not to condemn them, but to provide a better salvation, the free gift of eternal life through faith in Christ—redemption based not on what a man achieved, but on whom he believed.
“For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He might show mercy to all” (Rom. 11:32). The prophet’s exposure of Israel’s sin was part of the closure of the old covenant, a preparation for God’s people to embrace mercy. To pattern ourselves after the prophets is to position ourselves in a former dispensation under specific circumstances for which we have no involvement or voice.
Yet the disciples were emerging from the Old Testament dispensation. So when they sought to call fire upon their enemies, as appropriate as this seemed to them, Jesus corrected them. He did not come to destroy His enemies, but “to save them” (Luke 9:56).
“But,” you argue, “God needs to judge sinners for what they are doing.” That may be so. Perhaps the world needs a good dose of the wrath of God to wake it up. However, only One person in Heaven and earth is worthy to initiate God’s wrath: the Lamb who was slain, who stands in intercession before God’s throne (Rev. 5:6-14).
The Lamb, Not the Prophets
Consider this: the only Being in all the universe worthy to release wrath because of sin is the very One in all the universe least likely to do so, since He Himself is the sacrifice for sin. The Lamb of God, whose offering abides eternally at God’s throne, is the One to whom authority is given to open the book of divine wrath.
Jesus is the Lamb, the sacrifice for sin. Because He paid the highest price for redemption, we can be confident that He will not release divine fury until He fully exhausts divine mercy. Even then, when His judgments finally come they will continue to be guided by His motive of mercy, giving time for sinners to repent.
God’s Word tells us plainly: “As He is, so also are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Our pattern is not the prophets, but the Lamb. Our goal is not merely the exposure of sin, but also the unveiling of the sacrifice for sin. Our great commission is to bring healing and the message of God’s mercy to the nations. Until Christ breaks the seals that lead to wrath, we must stand in intercession before God as ambassadors of the Lamb.
Adapted from Francis Frangipane’s book, The Power of One Christlike Life, available at www.arrowbookstore.com.