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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
A Whole New World
How would your understanding of scripture change if you knew that "heaven and earth" once referred to the temple rather than celestial realms? Join us as we challenge conventional interpretations and explore the profound implications for spiritual growth. By examining key biblical texts from a first-century perspective, we uncover new revelations that push us beyond routine church teachings and into a journey of renewed insight and understanding. Discover how these interpretations suggest that many events Christians anticipate have already unfolded, possibly altering your expectations for the future.
We continue by questioning traditional views on salvation and the afterlife, encouraging a deeper exploration of the identity we hold in Christ. We delve into the context of prophecies, arguing that the "passing away of heaven and earth" occurred with the temple's destruction in 70 AD, thereby fulfilling many prophecies in a way that might surprise you. This perspective invites you to reexamine doctrines and seek a more historical understanding, emphasizing a present reality of a new heaven and earth that fosters a more personal relationship with God.
Taking a bold look at universal reconciliation, we explore how aligning with our true identity in God can transform our spiritual journey. We highlight the transition from the old covenant to the new, emphasizing the 40-year period between Jesus' death and the temple's destruction as a generational shift that mirrors past biblical narratives. By reassessing the significance of these events, we invite you to engage with the broader biblical narrative and understand how it impacts your life today. Embrace this opportunity to challenge traditional teachings and expand your spiritual insight.
You was made for more than this. You was made for more than what we are used to and accustomed to living, and last week we spoke, and the title of my message last week was Waiting on the Past. Seems like a very stupid title and it is, but that's what we do. We're waiting on something that is past. So think about how frustrating that can be to just sit here and live our life with an expectation of something that's already happened. And that's really what we're doing Most Christians are doing every single day. We're waiting on something to come. We're waiting on a futuristic event that has already occurred. That is a frustrating place to live at. So we want to get to this place of understanding of, this place of a new knowledge, a new revelation, so that we can do what Live out, exactly the place that God told us to live in, to be exactly who he told us to be, and to realize that there is more to it than what we're living. I was made for more than just coming to church. I was made for more than just a few songs and a message and walking out, and my life never changed. I was made, I was created, for something more than that, so that song was so powerful this morning and I got a video I'm going to show you this morning too, in a few minutes, that I never would have thought that that could be a prophetic video. But you'll see it when we play it. But it's very prophetic.
Speaker 1:But anyway, last week we talked about heaven and earth passing away. We come out of Matthew and we looked at the verses in there that says the passing away of heaven and earth, and we talked about how many problems can arise in our life and how often we get so confused when we try to read a first century book from a 21st century lens. It just don't work. A lot of times we get confused, we get messed up on what's really being said and when we don't understand it, what do we normally do? We just follow somebody else. We just do and say what they do and say. We just let them dictate to us what the Word of God says, instead of diving in there, breaking it apart, saying I'm going to read this in context and I'm going to figure out what did God really mean when he said this. It's not about what this pastor or that pastor and even me or any. It's not about what I think it's about. What did the Word of God actually mean? What did God, what was His intent when he said whatever it was that he said? But we talked about looking at this thing through a lens of getting back to the point of saying, okay, what was he saying to the first century Jews? Because that was the audience in the verses we read last week. Okay, so we have to understand who the audience was and look at things through their perspective. That does not mean that's not doing away with verses and saying they don't mean anything. It's just saying if I want the true meat of that message, of that meaning, I have to look at it through. Who was the audience, who was speaking, what was happening during that time frame, to truly understand what was going on during that time and what it was trying to be, what he was trying to say.
Speaker 1:The first century Jew, we said last week and I'm just giving you a quick review, I want you to catch up with where we're going today we said that the first century Jew, if you would have walked up to a first century Jew and you would have said something about heaven and earth, they would not have thought about the place God lives and this rock that we live on. That was not what they would have thought about. They would not have understood that if you said it in those terms. When they talked about heaven and earth to a first century Jew, they thought, have thought about. They would not have understood that if you said in those terms when they talked about heaven and earth to a first century Jew, they thought about the temple. Because that was what they thought about, because that's the way the temple was set up, it's the way it was created and we talked about the outer court of the temple, the inner court and the holy of holies. And when you ask a first century Jew and the people that lived during that time, it was set up that there was the outer court and they looked at that as the earth or the sea, I'm sorry, the sea and then the inner court they looked at as the earth, and then the Holy of Holies was the heaven.
Speaker 1:So when you look at the first century Jew and you talk about the passing away of heaven and earth, they would have known exactly that that was talking about the destruction of the temple. We don't know that Because we in our mind, when we talk about heaven, we're talking about some place way off out there where God resides. At that we're going to get to one day and that's what our focus is. And when we talk about earth, we just talk about this old, nasty, messed up place down here that everybody is working so hard to try to escape, to get to that place. So our perspective is totally off. So when we look at that and we look at the passing away of heaven and earth as being something that's going to happen one day in the future, that's not even what that verse is talking about. And if you, if you talk to somebody that that lived during that time, they would not even understand our meaning of it.
Speaker 1:I said this last week if we sit down and we could sit down with the disciples or we could sit down with people during that time, and let's say you were sitting here and Peter or Paul looked up at you and said explain the gospel message to me, and we started spitting out all this stuff about salvation and escaping hell and getting to heaven and walking through the streets and pearly gates and stepping on the streets of gold and all this message that we've been taught for so long them disciples would look at you like you were crazy, because that's not the message that they taught and it's not the message Jesus taught. Now, that is not doing away with salvation, that's not taking heaven away from you. That's not doing any of that. It's just saying we've got to understand the context of what's being said. And they never taught the main focus of their gospel message Good news gospel message was not the afterlife, it was not about heaven and it was not about hell.
Speaker 1:But we have turned that thing in to. You got to do this and do this to be able to escape that and get there. And that is our goal in the Christian church Anything we can do to escape hell. Come up and I'm going to repeat this prayer with you. Come on now, think about that. Think about how many people are saved today because somebody repeated a prayer with them. And I'm not knocking that. I'm not saying that that can't happen, but I'm saying there's nowhere in the Bible, so it's not necessary. Can it be used? Not, can't happen, but I'm saying it doesn't. There's nowhere in the Bible, so it's not necessary. Can it be used as a tool? Absolutely, but we have turned it into a doctrine, a doctrine of salvation, and we have said this is the way you got to do it, and if you don't do it like this, you're going to burn in hell. We have taken a tool and turned it into a doctrine. You can't do it like this. You're going to burn in hell. We have taken a tool and turned it into a doctrine. You can't do that. There's a lot of things that can be used as tools, but they can't be made into a doctrine, and we've done that.
Speaker 1:So when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, heaven and earth passed away. We went through that. I don't want to reh, earth passed away. We went through that. I don't want to rehash that, but we went through that and we gave the Scriptures and we showed it. So if you believe that and I hope you do, because we showed last week that the Bible says that very plain, very clear, with certain Scriptures it's very clear when you read them in context what it says. So if you believe that and we should then you have to also now ask yourself another question what about the new heaven and the new earth? We went into it a little bit last week, but I didn't dive down deep into it because I knew I felt like I was going to go into it this week, but we have to ask that question If heaven and earth passed away with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, if those verses were fulfilled and heaven and earth passed away, what about the new heaven and the new earth? Because think about it now To most Christians coming up, this passing away of heaven and the new earth, because think about it now to most Christians coming up, this passing away of the heaven and earth and the bringing of the new heaven and earth is a futuristic event. It's going to happen one day when the world catches on fire and end of times happens and all this kind of stuff. That's when it's going to happen to most people.
Speaker 1:Okay, these verses challenge us to look at things differently. I've often said it, I brought it up again last week and I do not mean this negative in any way but we're never going to be a church that has 150 people in it. Number one we can't say that many people in here. Number two, everybody's not going to grab on to the message that we're teaching. I'm not saying we're better than anybody else, I'm not saying that at all. But I believe that we have stepped into getting back to the true context of who we are, our identity in Christ. Understanding because of who we are. What identity in Christ? Understanding because of who we are, what we're supposed to know and what we're entitled to. You're entitled to certain things because of who you are. I believe we've stepped into understanding and having a greater knowledge of that. Everybody's not going to grab that, and that's okay. Does that mean those people's not saved? No, does it mean they're not good people? People no, it don't mean that at all. Does it mean that we may step into some things and walk out and see some things manifest because of a greater understanding? Yes, it does.
Speaker 1:That's why we want to pass this along. That's why we're saying study this, don't take my word for it, study it out, because my revelation ain't going to get you nothing. Your revelation ain't going to get me nothing. It's got to become something to me and then I can understand it, I can begin to speak it and I can begin to manifest it. Now I see these things that the word talks about operating in my life on a daily basis. I'm not just preaching it. That's the point. We want to get basis. I'm not just preaching it. That's the point we want to get to. We're not just preaching it, but we're seeing this stuff begin to operate on a daily basis in our life. That's when we make a changeover just from believing these things to actually perceiving. This is who I am, this is my new identity and because of that I walk out into a new place. We have to ask ourselves that question about the new heaven and the new earth. I brought that up and I think that's so important.
Speaker 1:And again, these verses are going to challenge you to look at things in a different way than you ever have before. It's going to challenge your theology that you've always been taught. It's going to challenge your perspective on everything, because we've always believed a certain way. Can I change that? Can I recognize that everything I always believed may not have been right? Everything I always believed may not have been right. Everything I always believed may not have been understood in context? Can I open myself up and be free enough to just be honest with myself and say there's things that may not have been absolutely lining up with the Bible? It's not bad, guess what. You've just got more wisdom. Now You're growing. It's not bad, guess what. You've just got more wisdom. Now You're growing, you're maturing. You're getting a greater understanding. We should. If you're not at that point to where you're questioning things that you've always believed, you ain't growing. I mean, that's plain and simple. You are not maturing and growing. Because questions should be coming up when we read Scripture, because we want to get to a different place, understanding these verses in context. I always say that because context matters.
Speaker 1:These verses should provoke you to see a whole new world. The title A Whole New World and when I think about this, we are not stuck in a place that we're told this is the box that you're in, this is what you're supposed to be as a Christian. This is the way you're supposed to look, think and act. But see, you're opening yourself up with greater knowledge and greater understanding. You are opening yourself up to a whole new world that a lot of Christians are entitled to, just like you, but they can't see it. They're not able to look and see things, the greater picture of it. I know this message. This is hard to preach because I know how it sounds and I never want to sound like I'm saying we're better than anybody else, because that is not my intent. But when somebody has greater revelation, if you yourself, get greater revelation in the person sitting beside you. You can understand something on a different level than they can, and the goal is not to look at them and say I'm smarter than you, but the goal is to to say let me help you get to the level where I'm at. Let me help you understand this, the true meaning of it, so that we're not lost in mistranslation and believing something that the Bible never, ever said.
Speaker 1:I used to have a quote on my desk that said how long are you going to keep allowing yourself to go to places that God never intended you to be? Misunderstanding and mistranslation will take us to places that God never intended us to be at, and it can seem like a good place, but God never intended us to be there, and we get stuck. I want to play a video for you, and again, this video is I never would have thought that it would be prophetic, but I want you to just listen to the words of it and then we'll talk about it. Find the words to that song and just read them. Just read them. That is such a prophetic song when we talk about, when we talk about what Monica said we're born for more than just this.
Speaker 1:Okay, I want to get to a place, to where things are just opened up. It's a whole new world to me. That's what understanding and stepping into the realization of our identity in Christ and realizing who we are. It opens up a whole new world to us. We're not stuck in the same old, same old Christianity anymore. It don't matter about the denomination. It ain't nothing about denominations, it ain't about the church. There's some good churches out there and there's some that I wouldn't want to go to, but there's some good churches. It don't matter about the denomination. There's some good Baptist churches, there's some good Methodist churches, church of God. So it ain't nothing to do with the church or the pastor or the people it's got to do with.
Speaker 1:Am I going to open myself up to a world that I've never experienced before? Am I willing to do that and go to a place and see things and experience things that I've never experienced? So, like Aladdin right here, I want to invite you today to discover something new, a new world, if you'll open yourself up and say I'm not going to be closed off anymore because of religion or because of anything else. I'm not going to close my mind off to these things, but I'm going to open myself up. Listen, I say this all the time. You don't have to agree with me. If you hear something, you say he is absolutely wrong, that's fine. That's fine. Now, if you come and tell me that, I'm going to tell you to go study it out and let's talk about it, because I don't have a complete understanding of all this. I'm learning as we go along. There's things that I can read one week and the next week I'll read something else and say, wow, I never seen that in there.
Speaker 1:So it's not about right or wrong, it's about bringing ourselves into a place of true context of the Word. And what does it mean now? Because I'm telling you, when you understand truth, it opens up something new to you. And the main thing is looking at it from God's point of view. What did God mean here? I don't care what Pastor so-and-so said. What did God mean when he said this? So it's called the new heavens and the new earth, and the Bible is crystal clear that this is not someplace way off in the future, at the end of the world, when everything just blows up. The Bible does not say that we created that. In fact, this heaven and earth, this new heaven, this new earth is here right now, right here, right now. Most of us was raised in church so we were probably taught that the new heaven and new earth only come when everything burns up at the end. But there are some real problems with that view and you may not have those problems with it, I don't know. But the more you read, the more you study, the more you say I want the context and I want the true interpretation of this Word. It's going to bring up some problems I brought up last week. There's some problem verses. Now they're not actually problem verses. They're problem verses to me Because I may read something that says one thing and then I read a chapter or two over it and it's like it totally contradicts itself and I'm like what's going on?
Speaker 1:How can this say heaven and earth will pass away and then over here in this verse, it says earth will remain forever? That don't make sense. Somebody lied, but we know that's not the case. Maybe somebody misapplied, maybe somebody misunderstood, maybe that we didn't have the exact translation correct. And if you look at that verse from a 21st century lens, your first thing that you're going to think is these are contradictory to each other. But if I read it from a first century lens and understand what a first century Jew who was the audience at this time thought when they heard heaven and earth passing away, it makes complete sense. And I realize that I just misinterpreted that verse because I was trying to look at it through my eyes instead of their eyes. The meanings are not the same and we broke that down last week and we talked about the meanings of it. So we're not going to go back into that. But I want to take it to the next step today. What does the Bible actually say about it? And I'm talking about the new heaven and the new earth.
Speaker 1:If you read Isaiah 65 and Isaiah 66, for sake of time I'm not going to go into every one of these verses I've got them right here. If you want them, I'll be happy to give them to you, but I'm just going to talk broad right here about these verses. But if you read Isaiah 65 and Isaiah 66, you will notice that before God creates the new heaven and the new earth, god predicted that Israel would fill the measure of their sin. That's in verse 7. Now listen to this. He would destroy them. He would create a new people with a new name and then create a new heaven and a new earth with a new Jerusalem. All that's right there in Isaiah 65.
Speaker 1:When God created the new heaven and the new earth notice this and this is so important, you've got to see this Physical death still remained. People were still physically dying during this time. That's in Isaiah 65. Home construction and agriculture were still happening, people were still building stuff and they were still planting and harvesting in the field. That's important. That's in Isaiah 65. We will have you will still have descendants. The Lord will hear their prayers. There will still be sin and it is depicted as a time of evangelism when the Jew and the Gentile will be brought together. Listen to this. The Jew and the Gentile will be brought together under the banner of God. Now, why is this important? Why am I giving you those? I'm handpicking certain things out of those verses, out of 65 and 66. But I'm doing that because of this reason Because the new heaven and the new earth cannot, according to these verses, cannot be referring to some eternal state. It cannot be. It must be referring to a period in man's history. When you read those verses, you realize that it is not talking about something way off in the future, but it's referring to something that was happening in a certain time period. Okay, this is the period of the kingdom of God in which Christ rules in the hearts of believers. We've got to understand the time period.
Speaker 1:For many, the thought of living in a new heaven and a new earth right now is laughable. They will call you all kinds of names. They will tell you you are following something that you need to get away from. They will just start to say all kinds of things and really it used to make me mad. I mean I would get fighting mad about it. It don't anymore, because ignorance don't bother me now, and that's what it is. I don't mean that negative Ignorance is simply not knowing. It's not saying they're stupid or not whatever.
Speaker 1:There are certain things that I may know. They don't know why, because I studied this and maybe they hadn't than. Maybe they hadn't. I'm not any smarter than them. I've just studied certain things that maybe they haven't studied. Okay, they probably know more about certain things than I do About escaping this earth and flying away one day. They know more about the rapture than I do. You know why? Because I don't study the rapture. So they do study the rapture. So if we tried to debate on rapture, they'd eat me alive Because they would get all this stuff and I'd say, ain't nowhere in the Bible. And that's my only answer Ain't nowhere in the Bible. So what we're studying and what we're getting revelation on is where the wisdom comes at, and we should know more in those areas.
Speaker 1:But this would be laughable to a lot of people. This is because many imagine it as something different than it really is. So let me do what the song was talking about. And you know, let's go on a little magic carpet ride and say what does this concept that we're talking about, this reading it in context and the finished work and kingdom and identity what is all this really talking about? And it's almost like a magic carpet ride because that's what some people think. There's no way that can be real. There's no way what you're saying can be biblical. And that's a good argument until you take them to the Bible. But you good argument, until you take them to the Bible.
Speaker 1:But you know, when you take them to the Bible, they say, no, you're reading that wrong. Why? Because it said the people who don't understand it and have a revelation on it will see it as foolishness. They will see it as foolishness. They will look at you and they'll call you a fool because maybe they don't have the same understanding of something that you have. So let's take a little look at this.
Speaker 1:Let's begin with a definition and then we'll unpack a couple of things and be ready to get out of here. I'm trying to keep it. I want to keep this brief. I want to keep it short because I want you to grab it. I want to keep this brief. I want to keep it short because I want you to grab it, because next week we're going to step into something else that's going to attach and connect to this. But let's begin with the definition and then we'll unpack some things.
Speaker 1:The new heaven just think about this. New heaven, new earth. Keep that in your mind. New heaven, new earth. This is biblical language. Okay, new Earth. This is biblical language and it describes how God forever interacts covenantally with people. That's as simple a definition as you can get how God interacts covenantally with people in the new covenant kingdom. We're kingdom people. We're new covenant people. We're kingdom people. We're new covenant people.
Speaker 1:We're not doing away with the Old Testament. I'm not, anyway. Jesus did, but we're not saying it's done away and gone and not important. We're just saying we don't live there anymore. There's things we can learn from it. There's things that we can pull out of it. There's great stuff in it. But I don't live in the old covenant anymore. I'm a new covenant believer. I live in a new kingdom covenant. So we have to look at it from that perspective. So when we're talking about heaven and earth, that's what God is talking about here when he's referring to that. That's what God is talking about here when he's referring to that. So here's the new world that's available to you.
Speaker 1:We said the message a whole new world, and it is a whole new world to a lot of people. When you stand up as a new covenant kingdom, minded, understanding my identity in Christ, finished work, believer, and somebody looks at you and says tell me about this new world that you have the ability to live in, it's where and how god, how heaven and earth connect. Because the temple that was built and destroyed in AD 70, the only purpose of it was heaven and earth to connect. The only way you connected with God was through the temple and everybody didn't do it. You went to the high priest, high priest, went into the Holy of Holies. He connected. So it was a connection between heaven and earth. God now says you are the temple of God. So it's a wonderful world in which God made His tabernacle in man. It's not a building anymore that we have to go to, it's in man. It's how he relates to us through the gift of righteousness in the new covenant.
Speaker 1:I don't have to get somebody and tap them on the shoulder and say can you go talk to God for me? I have the ability now. Why? Because I'm born again and I know who he is and the Holy Spirit resides on the inside of me, not because I'm perfect, but because of His righteousness. And he gives me the gift of me, not because I'm perfect, but because of His righteousness and he gives me the gift of righteousness. The Holy Spirit resides on the inside of me. I can talk to Him every single second, even when I mess up, because some people say, yeah, but look what you did, that's right. And look what the Bible says. He'll never leave you, he'll never forsake you. When I slip up, he's still there, and I don't mean he's happy with me, but he's still there saying that ain't who you are son.
Speaker 1:Get back to your true identity, turn around, repent, change your mindset, come out of that distorted place. Because when you stand in a distorted place with a mindset that is not of God, you're going to do some stupid stuff. It's going to happen. That ain't the sin. The sin is the distorted thinking. Those other things are just what comes out of it, because it's always going to come out of it. I'm going to manifest something, and if I operate in that mindset, I'm going to manifest those types of behavior. So I've got to come out of that place.
Speaker 1:This is where God relates to us. The Holy Spirit relates to us through the gift of righteousness in the new covenant. So what do I tell people about my new world? I don't have to have anybody to do it for me, I can do it myself. It's also where he has reconciled us to Himself, and not only that not counting our sins against us. He's not looking and saying oh I'm glad you're coming now, but I can't forget what you did back then. Like the church is he's saying I'm not even counting those sins against you. When I see you, I can't see that. When I see you, I see the child I created. I see you in the image and the likeness of myself. And if you get into that place, I'm simply going to say repent, turn around, get your mind back in the right place and get back to who I created you to be.
Speaker 1:And there's still people out there every day that's thinking God is looking down here and all he's seeing is the negative. He's getting ready to throw a lightning bolt down here every time you slip up and I can use their own Bible against them and say listen, even if that's the case, let's not even argue with them about identity stuff. Even if that's the case, let's go on your belief system. Did Jesus not step in the way? Is Jesus not there saying no, daddy, I got this, I covered this for them, I covered this, I covered this for them, I covered it. Don't look at them, look at me. They say they believe it, but then we've got an angry father who's ready to just take us out and I have to ask the question where's Jesus at in the picture? Was what he did not sufficient? Because if it was, then I don't have to worry about it, because Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Speaker 1:So he has reconciled us to himself, not counting our sins against us and issuing a call to each one of us to be reconciled. Listen to that. So he's not just doing, he's issuing a call to you To be reconciled to him. This is where this is the break and I don't want to get into this. But this is the difference. When people are looking at us and they'll say, oh, he's a universalist, I'm not a universalist, okay, by any means. When people are looking at us and they'll say, oh, he's a universalist, I'm not a universalist Okay, by any means. I believe in universal reconciliation. Every single person done what he said right here. He has reconciled us to himself and he is not counting our sins against us and issuing a call for us to be reconciled to him. We preach the whole message on reconciliation.
Speaker 1:I believe in universal reconciliation, why? Because he used the word all, if all died with Adam, and nobody argues that point. Everybody agrees all died with Adam. So you're telling me that all died with Adam. So you're telling me that all died with Adam, but all can't be raised with Christ, that all can't go through everything that Christ went through. Why was Adam so powerful? And it was so powerful then, but it can't be with Jesus. See, all don't change. You can't say all died but all have not risen. You can't say all sinned but all are not saved. That's a that's a hard message to teach, because the number one thing people say is oh, he's just saying everybody's saved, everybody's saved, you ain't got to do nothing. No, that's not what we're saying.
Speaker 1:And I struggled when we started really getting in there. I struggled with that. I really struggled with that because I knew what people were going to say and I wanted to try to find out how do? What's the, where's the line that separates us? Because I'm not a universalist. I believe there is a point that we have to accept something, okay. So I want to know that fine line there. And I was able to talk to Jamie Englehart and different ones and he explained it. He said everybody is universally reconciliation. You can't argue that Biblically, you cannot argue that.
Speaker 1:Hold another subject. It's also where he convicts us of the root problem. Think about this, the root problem of unbelief. I'm going to stick with that one word Unbelief, because that's what he talked to so many people about, talked to His disciples about Unbelief. He would sit there and I'm just putting it in my own words. I can picture him sitting there and he's doing all this stuff and he's teaching them, he's telling them this is what's going to happen, and then he goes to sleep and they wake up and he's like why can't you just believe? Why can't you just take? Take what I just said and believe it?
Speaker 1:So he talks about the unbelief of people and the disciples, and that unbelief is what leads us into a place of distorted thinking. Distorted image Leads us into a place of sin. That are results of unbelief. If I don't believe something and I'm having an identity crisis I don't know who I am and I don't know what I represent and I don't know all this other stuff then I'm going to get out here and I'm going to start believing something that the Bible never said. I'm going to start believing something that is not true about the Word of God or about God Himself. And when I start believing that my thinking is distorted, that is not true about the Word of God or about God Himself, and when I start believing that my thinking is distorted, I'm a sinning. It's not lining up with the Word of God, and then I will start acting out certain behaviors because of that. So it's also where we are transformed. We always talk about transformation, but in this understanding heaven and earth, it's where we're transformed, not into the image of the law, but into the image of Christ, as we acknowledge our identity in Him. It's where we are blessed. This is what I love.
Speaker 1:Keep it simple with people when they say what do you have that I don't have? What is this new message bringing? And it's not new, that's the word they use. New, it's not new, it's going back to the original. It's really old, but it's new to a lot of people.
Speaker 1:So when they say what is it about this new thing? And you say I'm blessed, I'm accepted, I'm loved, I'm forgiven, through the finished work, it's where God overcomes evil with good. He blesses those who curse Him. He loves His enemies until they can't stand it. His justice is redemptive instead of punitive. It's the realm in which there is no curse and no wrath. He's not out to get us, he's not ready to just bring the hammer down on us.
Speaker 1:And it's still baffling to me sometimes how you can tell this message and so many people run from it. Why would you not want to live in a world like that? There's a lot of debate over grace and law and the difference of what it really means what the Bible really teaches. Because you know, they always say, when you're teaching the grace message and the finished work message that you're teaching that greasy grace you can just go out and live however you want to live, you can do whatever you want to do because God's already forgiven me anyway. That's not what we're saying. That's not what the Bible's saying. I'm already saved, I'm already going to heaven, so it don't matter how I live. That's not what it's saying.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of debate over the grace and the law, and much of it's because of fundamental misunderstanding of what to do with specific passages in Scripture, because there's Scripture that you can read that indicate radical grace and people will jump on that grace bandwagon and say this is the only way to go. And then there's others that seem to demand that there has to be some form of Christian law and there has to be a punishment before God, and they'll tell you this is the only way to go. So now you're torn. If you're a new believer and you're just coming in and you're saying I'm trying to figure this thing out and you got this one over here saying this and this one over here saying something totally opposite, and you're like forget them, I ain't even going, because it becomes confusing to new people. That's why we can't get new people in the church, because they don't know what to believe, because the churches are so different in what we're teaching. See, here's the thing, though Both of these grace, grace and law was both in the New Testament.
Speaker 1:Hold on now, because I'm going to get into this next week. We're talking about the finished work. Next week we're going to finish it up, but we're going to go into what our finished work really really means, because there was more than one finished work that was said, more than one. So these scriptures seem to confuse us a lot, and they were both in the New Testament, simply because there was a 40-year transition. This is so important, and if you just explain this to people, just give them a base to start from a foundation and say, listen, there was a 40-year transition period where the law was fading away I'm going to show you in a minute there's scripture for that, so you're not making that up. The law was fading away and the new covenant had not fully been established yet. It wasn't like boom, he dies, he takes his last breath. He said it's finished and old is gone and new is here. I've taught that before and I'll stand up here and tell you today I was wrong on how I taught that, because I've learned something more and I said, okay, this makes sense right here. I can't believe I taught that.
Speaker 1:So the author of Hebrews makes this plain. Look at this verse with me Hebrews 8 and 13. I want you to see this with your own eyes. In that he says a new covenant. New Means one that ain't never been here before. A new covenant. He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming? That word right there, becoming, not has been made, but is becoming obsolete and growing old, is ready to vanish away. It is becoming obsolete. Okay, just like there was a 40 year transition period between the giving of the law and the entering of the promised land, if you go back and you look, he said this is yours, this is what it is, this is what it entails. You are free to go there, and a 12-day journey took them 40 years, a whole generation. 40 years is a generation. So, just like the 40 year transition period between the giving of the law and the entering of the promised land, in the new as well, there was a 40 year transition period. He said it is becoming obsolete. It is not obsolete yet.
Speaker 1:Jesus said multiple times that all these things which ended with the destruction of the temple, but all these things would happen in this generation. Okay, this, I'm not an English teacher, but I think that's called a demonstrative this, this. He didn't say that generation 2,000 years from now. He said this generation. So the logical question has to be okay, what generation was he talking to? You've got to go back and look at the generation that he was talking to, because he said in this generation things would happen and it would come to an end. It's the one that was alive when Jesus was speaking, the generation that he was speaking to during that period. In fact, if you really want to dive into it even more and look, jesus died in 30 AD. The complete destruction of the law and everything connected to it the priesthood, the sacrifices, the temple happened in 70 AD. Let me do the math for you 40 years Generation. That is exactly 40 years. That's exactly one generation. He said it would pass away in this generation, not during that time, not on the cross in 30 AD.
Speaker 1:We have taught, I have taught that as soon as he died on that cross and said it is finished. And he gave that last breath and boom. I have taught that as soon as he died on that cross and said it is finished. And he gave that last breath and boom, he was gone. That it was a total switch. Even the Word says it was progressive.
Speaker 1:There's a specific thing that happened when he said it is finished on the cross. But you know, before the cross it was also stated it is finished. Remember when he prayed he said it is finished on the cross, but you know, before the cross it was also stated it is finished. Remember when he prayed he said, father, he said everything you gave me to do on the earth it is finished. That part was finished. That was one step. He goes to the cross. This part was finished. That's another step. Now there's a 40 year gap to be finished to end the final step with the destruction of the temple. We're going to get into that next week, but I want you to. You got to see that there's 40 years there.
Speaker 1:What does this have to do with the new heaven and the new earth? Let me look at this last verse and we're getting ready to end right here, this last verse that we talked about last week in Matthew 5, 17 and 18. Look what it says. Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophet. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For surely I say to you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot, one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled, that means until it's finished. The law is still in effect. Until everything is finished. You got to see that the law and the prophets must remain until all of it is fulfilled. When was it all fulfilled? In 70 AD. So from the time of Jesus' death to 70 AD. The law. That was still a new covenant, but the law was still in effect.
Speaker 1:Okay, jesus did not fulfill the law and the prophets at the cross. That will mess some people's theology up, because we think and we say and this is not diminishing anything that happened at the cross, but we got to understand this the total fulfillment that he's talking about here, that it would not all this would not pass away until it was fulfilled. The total fulfillment that he's talking about did not happen at the cross and we're going to walk through that later on. I know we were taught that. I know I've taught that. I know I've taught that. I know other people teach us that. Instead, jesus told us in Luke 21.
Speaker 1:Last verse I want you to see here Luke 21, verse 20 through 22. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by army, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and let those who are in the midst of her depart and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these he's talking about in the first century, these are the days of vengeance. We're still waiting on that vengeance to come. We're still expecting that one day we're going to go before the judgment seat and he's going to bring down holy heck on us. He said these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written, may be fulfilled.
Speaker 1:Now either Jesus lied or we are misinterpreting, because he said these things that are written will be fulfilled. They wasn't fulfilled right then. There was a 40 year period, and I'm telling you that's so important. If you get that concept of things happened in generations, when you understand that and see that in here, this stuff makes so much more sense. It really does. In fact, when you read if you read Deuteronomy 32, you ain't got to go there. Deuteronomy 32 is the law you discover many scriptures that the writers of the New Covenant quote as being fulfilled in their life and ministry.
Speaker 1:I'm just trying to get you to see this is a process that happened by 70 AD. All of them were fulfilled, all of them. So, with that being said, I've said it already, but I don't want you to miss please come back next week. If you're here today, please come back next week, because I'm going to go in depth into the phrase that we so often use. It is finished. I gave you a little teaser today, but I want to go into it a little bit deeper. The cross was not the only place that these words were spoken. We're going to look at when Jesus said this on the cross, when he said it before the cross, and how both of those connect to what happened at the temple in 70 AD.
Speaker 1:If you have questions, come on Wednesday night. If you walk out of here and said, you know something he said absolutely made no sense to me write it down. If you don't come on Wednesday night, email it to me, text me, send it to me ask a question, because this email it to me, text me, send it to me. Ask a question Because this is so important to understand, because it's kind of progressive. When you get this, the next step makes a lot more sense, and when you get that, the next thing makes a lot more sense.
Speaker 1:You can't understand the new heaven and the new earth if the new heaven and the new earth, if the old heaven and the old earth has not passed away and it's going to one day I mean, think about that If it's still here and hasn't passed away, then by common sense says the new heaven and the new earth is not here. So one belief system messes both of them things up. So if I don't understand what we mean by that new heaven, new earth passed away, the new heaven and new earth is here now. The temple was destroyed. Now we are the temple. If that don't make sense to me, these scriptures ain't going to make sense to me and you're just going to keep living a life waiting on one day, one day instead of now, instead of here now, and that's okay for some people, some people's content in doing that, and that's okay. We're not going to's content in doing that and that's okay. We're not going to argue with them.
Speaker 1:But if you want more, if you truly say I was born for more than just this, you've got to dive into this. You've got to comprehend that there's more to it than what we've always been taught, and you've got to be willing to open your mind up and say you know, there's times I might have been wrong. I just admit it to you. I've taught this. I've always taught finished work. It was complete. It was absolutely complete at the cross.
Speaker 1:But it wasn't, and that was Jesus' plan. It could not have been finished at the cross. It had to go on to the destruction of the temple, and that happened 40 years after Jesus died. So if it finished at the cross, then we're basically saying that the destruction of the temple meant nothing, and any Greek scholar, any scholar, biblical scholar, anybody who studies those times, will tell you that destruction of the temple was so important in history. You can't just throw it away and say it meant nothing. You can stand. We are done. We are done and I'm serious about that. If you have questions, please ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll get with somebody that does. I'll find out the answer. I'll look for it. I'll find it or I'll get with somebody that can help lead me in the right direction. But it's so important that we understand some of these, some of what we call basic things, but it is because it leads us to the next step.