The bible tells us
that Jesus Christ is the good pastor. He is the way and the truth. That no one
can get to the father without Him. He is the redeemer. He brought with Him a
new way of doing things.
Yet there are certain
churches that do not understand the new laws and still adhere to old laws which
they confuse with worldly tribal practices. They do this to appease the Lord,
they say. But they are in conflict with the new dispensation…
Let us look at the
facts
Jesus Christ was brought down to the world to reconcile God
and His people and to forge a new world order after Lucifer chaotically messed
up God’s perfect, complete creation. In
His teachings Jesus emphasized that He was not doing away with certain
commandments and practices, but He guided us into a new world order and also
told us that He was the good pastor. Yet
there are denominations that still perform rituals and sacrifices in the name
of the Lord even though Christ outlawed some of these practices. On the face of
it these churches ignore the call and the authority of Christ.
So, an informed discussion is necessary: are these
sacrifices and rituals still relevant in the new dispensation of Jesus?
Churches need also to understand what following Christ means and why Satan should
be ridiculed.
It is important for the world to understand why belief and
faith in the doctrine of Jesus should be main driving force behind the
redemption of mankind. We are going to look at all aspects that will lead us
into a comprehensive understating of His role in the world and how we should
complement this role so that it will be easy for us to recognize Him as our
savior.
Jesus’s role in the world is made more important by the fact
that God brought Him on earth as an example of His unwavering love for man and
his salvation. This task, to salvage man from sin and from Satan, should be put
into context so that man must appreciate God’s efforts to complete the initial
objective for a complete and perfect creation. Secondly, man must appreciate
God’s steadfast aim to thwart Satan’s grip on man and Satan’s endless desire to
overthrow God’s kingdom and rule the world.
God loves His people and he is jealous of them. There are
many examples in the bible where God shows mankind how much He loves the world
but Satan has always tempted man away from God.
To understand Jesus’s role in the world we need to go back
to the very beginning when God’s created the world. Disregarding this episode
of creation will be doing an injustice to the discussion.
Christ’s role in the creation of the world is significant. Jesus was an integral part in the beginning.
After God created the complete, perfect world, Lucifer, disgruntled that he was
being overlooked to rule dominant over the plants and animals, caused chaos to
derail God’s plans. And so the world descended into a formless, disorderly
mess.
So when Jesus was brought as a human to deal with this mess
it was not His first encounter with the problems of man- He was always there
from the beginning. In the beginning
when God created the heavens and the earth Christ was there. In John 1:1 we are
told that the word was God. This word, we all know was, Jesus. This is also
amplified in Revelation, 1:8-11, 2:8, 19: 3 and 22:13-16, Micah 5:1-2. Although
Jesus was physically born of the Virgin Marry in the New Testament, His
preexistence is proven in some of the passages of the aforementioned books.
When creation is discussed there are two areas of
consideration here: the first, complete and perfect creation (Gen 1:1) and,
later (Gen 1:2) to bring form and semblance to creation.
After the first creation a great deal of time passed. God’s
plan of a complete and a perfect creation was accomplished, Isaiah 45: 18.
During this time Lucifer was a conductor of angels in heaven. He was one of God’s trusted servants and
served God well. Then, out of the blue, he developed an appetite to lord over
the earth, 2 Peter 3: 5-8. And when his evil plans failed he caused chaos and
God’s creation suffered. He was aware that God’s grand plan was to let man
dominate the earth. But, according to Lucifer, there was an anomaly. Man was to
be created from dust while Lucifer was created by fire. How could man, made of
dust, be more important than him, molded out of a ball of fire? This
irked him. How could he be ignored of such a majestic role? In a defiant,
rebellious and deceptive spree he proceeded to vandalise the perfect, complete
creation. The rebellion created chaos with day and night unrecognisable and
floods destroyed nature. So the duel for
man’s soul between God and Satan began.
During this rebellious streak Christ was present.
Lucifer, it must be pointed out, was the key figure in God’s
original creation plan. He was a member of the mount of congregation in heaven,
which gathered regularly to worship God. But his unrealistic ambitions and chaotic
indulgence put paid to his dream to rule mankind. Formerly, Lucifer was a popular figure in
heaven and enjoyed a significant following among the angels Revelation 12:7-12,
20; 1-10, Isaiah: 24: 21-23 and 25: 7.
When his plans to rule the world were scuppered, he was
discarded to hell, Psalm 82: 1.
Incredibly, he retained his power and his following even after he was
disgraced.
Jesus was then brought onto the forefront to reconcile man
with his creator, to resurrect mankind and to redeem the lost souls of God. He
descended to earth to introduce a new world order. But, all along He was part of the Holy Trinity all along; He
was God’s voice in the beginning and throughout the Old Testament God used Him
as His voice when He spoke to prophets. This Holy Trinity link is clearly shown
to us during Christ’s baptism by John the Baptist. The Holy Ghost descended on Christ and so He
was anointed to play a significant role in the development and redemption of
mankind, a role Lucifer spurned.
The rebellion by Lucifer was the beginning of the
anti-Christ. He proceeded to tempt people into disobedience and to turn against
the Lord. He even dared both God and Jesus in an attempt to prove that he could
control man and that man was on his side. He caused mayhem on earth and sowed
divisions between God and His people. He also tried to convince God that the
world was not perfect.
So it is left to Jesus to restore life and order and the
resurrection of God’s perfect plan for the heavens, earth and mankind.
Yet there are still churches that do not recognize the
significance of Jesus and the role He plays in our lives. These churches burn sacrifices and perform
rituals that they claim are inspired by the bible. Some of these rituals are
even not biblical but cultural practices confused with the Old Testament of the
bible. These churches purport to follow the Lord but they ignore His son’s
teachings, His declarations and His promises, the new laws He has brought and
the laws He has repealed. An early
conclusion might be that these churches are confused and lack belief in Jesus.
So it is essential that we put matters into perspective.
In the next installment we talk about belief in Jesus.
Peace be with you!
