So - DO you believe that "God's word" includes ALL the promises written in Leviticus, and Exodus and Deuteronomy? And do you keep the?
You are asking if I believe in the Word of God which became Flesh? Yes, Like Paul, I believe all that is written.
Acts 24:
14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they (Mainstream Preachers of Paul's time) call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
You obviously don't, and the Pharisees didn't either. I think this is a pit you have fallen into and I am trying to help you out.
Do I strive to be an obedient son now that Jesus shed His Blood for my past rebellion and disobedience, Absolutely. Do I follow your words or some "other religious voice" like Eve did? No, I strive against God's definition of sin, not religious mans. Am I perfect? NO. I'll use Paul's words to describe the race that the Christ set before me.
Phil. 3:
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Why does Paul and those who he is teaching, press toward perfection? For me, it’s because my Savior, who purchased me, gave me the command.
Matt. 5:
48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Shall I choose to reject these Words along with Leviticus because some religious voice tells me to do so? I think not!!! Can I follow this Jesus' instruction without God? I think not!!!
The laws that were given to the Hebrews at Mt Sinai, through Moses, were for those who had been rescued from Egypt by God. That might have included some who wanted to convert to the faith - Egyptians who wanted to escape the final plague, trusted in the God of Abraham and put themselves under the protection of the lamb's blood. But Gentiles were not under God's law and included as God's people unless they trusted in the One God and converted to the faith.
I, personally, have no Jewish ancestors. I am connected with Judaism in that the Lord Jesus and the early church were all Jews; that's it. But as they taught at the council of Jerusalem, Gentiles did not have to convert to Judaism before they could find salvation in Jesus.
You obviously don’t understand Paul when he said the Law was Spiritual.
Just as the law regarding oxen was Spiritual and made “for our sakes no doubt”, and the Word's of Jesus requiring that we "Must" eat His Flesh before we can enter eternal life is Spiritual, so also is the story of the Exodus. You are not taught this in the religions of the land, but Jesus and Paul did understand and teach this.
Egypt represents sin that has captured men and made them slaves. God sent His Prophet Moses to free them from this slavery of sin and deception, a yoke of bondage that snares men. He started by showing them the power of the God of Abraham, then HE prepared a sacrifice for them, as Paul says “While they were yet in sin” (Egypt)
Every man starts here, most never leave this servitude, but for those who have faith in the Christ of the Bible, there is Hope.
This "Exodus from sin" is the same Spiritual journey Abraham followed.
Gen. 12:
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And Abraham believed in this God.
4.
So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him
This same Lord became Flesh and dwelt among us and said the very same thing to us.
Mark 8:
34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
The Exodus we all partake of and are "grafted into" is detailed in the Law and Prophets that you are so eager to omit. But Paul knew better, that is why He told all men, Jew and Gentile, that "ALL" Scripture is inspired by the same ONE God.
I don't understand the question.
Do you mean Zechariah? If so, which one; the prophet? The father of John the Baptist or one of the other 26 men, apparently, in Scripture who bear that name?
Why are you asking about Zechariah when you quoted from Isaiah?
Whoever this person is, what have they got to do with the Pharisees?
The following explains my question.
Luke 1:
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
My question was, what do you see as the main difference between Zacharias and the Pharisees according to the scriptures. Why did Zacharias know Jesus when HE came, but the High Priest and Pharisees didn't?
I'm not sure that you have any support for your belief that it was included; just assumption that it must have been.
I suppose you may be right. I do assume Jesus is true, and that HE means what HE says, both as the Word of God, and the Flesh the Word of God became in the person of Jesus. I assumed that since HE quoted from Leviticus as the place where God wrote the 2nd greatest commandment, it was still a trustworthy source for instruction in righteousness. I assumed when HE said the Law and the Prophets will be here till heaven and earth pass, that this would also include Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
When HE said;
John 5:
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
I assumed HIS intent was not to exclude Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
When HE said;
Luke 16:
31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
I assumed His intent was not to exclude Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
So you are right. I do "ASSUME" that Jesus Word's are truth, both as the Word of God, the as a flesh and blood man. I don't apologize for that.
Exactly.
So are we, who are saved by, belong to and told to live in the new High Priest - Jesus himself - bound by the laws of the Old Covenant, which as you said, changed?
Not everyone who says they are saved, are saved. This is simply Biblical Fact. Jesus said those who "endure to the end" shall be saved. Shall I not believe Him?
We are not bound by the Levitical Priesthood, the Covenant God made with Levi on Israel's behalf for the administration of God's Laws and the atonement of sins, that was "ADDED because of Transgressions". Nothing else changed. As Paul confirmed when he was explaining one of God's Laws you claim have become obsolete.
1 Cor. 9:
9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?
10 Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.
Well as I don't have an oxen, that makes it a very easy word to obey.
I never said any of these laws were stupid, I was asking if you believe we are bound by them. I don't.
Paul said it isn't about Oxen. Why don't you believe him?
No idea - it's one of the laws in Leviticus that you seem to think we need to keep.
I don't have a beard, personally, so it's not a problem.
So in your religion, the Word of God that became Flesh created Laws only designated for Oxen, cloth, and facial hair of men with a certain DNA. Doesn't that seem a little odd to you?
You tell me.
You are arguing that when Jesus said we should believe every word that God spoke, that includes Leviticus. One of the commands in Leviticus is that you shall not trim the end of your beard; I'm asking you, as a believer that Leviticus has to be kept today, if you keep it.
Yes, I am agreeing with Jesus and Paul and Peter and Moses, that God's Word are written for my sake, for my admonition. I am disagreeing with yours and other religious voices who would have me believe God's Word is only about oxen and facial hair of men born of a certain DNA. I know that God speaks in parables for this very reason. To place a difference between those who would judge His Words as beneath them, and those who believe in this God and Study in Faith, in the hope that HE will reveal to them the Spiritual reason behind the Words, as Paul did regarding threshing out the grain.
Rom. 12:
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
I am assuming Paul is not excluding God's Words in Leviticus and Deuteronomy from the Law and prophets he said he believe all that was written in.
I don't understand what you mean by that.
What I have been asking all along is, when you say we need to keep every word of God, does that include ALL the laws in Leviticus?"
If so, do you keep them - including the one abut the beard?
I didn't say to believe Moses, the Jesus of the Bible did, I just quoted Him and I believe Him. I didn't say to "Live by" Every Word of God, the Jesus of the Bible did, I just quoted Him and I believe Him. I know God isn't interested in facial hair or oxen, that HE speaks in parables, and that HE wrote these Word "for my sake no doubt". I don't think we should throw His Word's away just because we may not understand them.
This law, offering animals as sacrifice for sin, is explained in Leviticus; a book of the Bible which you seem certain we should keep.
If I only read one chapter of the Bible, or listen to some preacher somewhere, and judged the rest of the Bible as beneath me, and unworthy of my respect, then I might believe God only wants Sacrifice. But because I listened to the Jesus of the Bible, I am studying Every Word of God. In following His instructions, I learned that the sacrifices were only in place "till the Seed should come", which has already happened if one believes the Holy Scriptures. So why would I still partake in Sacrificial Laws that God Himself Prophesied in the Law and Prophets, would come to an end? Yet this same God prophesied in the same Law and Prophets that HIS Laws and Sabbaths, He made for man, would still be here after He comes back?
So there ARE parts of God's word that we don't keep?
Yes, but not Duet 24:
4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. As Paul taught this and he also said; "Let us therefore keep the Feast".
But the Levitical Priesthood with it's atonement laws did change, and become obsolete.
Heb. 7:
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.
Heb. 9:
3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
By Law, only a Levite could become the High Priest. Jesus wasn't a Levite. So before HE could become our High Priest, the Law regarding the Priesthood had to, by necessity, change. God's desire for obedience, not sacrifice, is taught throughout the Law and Prophets. His promise of the end of these things is promise as well.
The Mainstream preachers of Jesus Time didn't believe this, and neither do many who come in Christs name today. Nevertheless, it's right there in your own Bible.
Not always; in Abraham and Moses' day, another organ of the body was involved.
Only those who don't believe the Law is Spiritual, don't believe that circumcision is always of the heart..
I don't need to understand it.
I'm not a Jew and Jesus is my High Priest.
If you are convinced you don't need to study to show yourself approved, that you "don't need to know", then there you go, what more can I say?
I really don't understand the rest of your post.
You seem adamant that as we have to obey EVERY word of God, there is no reason why that shouldn't include Leviticus. But then you say that sacrificial laws are obsolete and we have a new high priest and the old covenant its obsolete - as well as asking questions about why God is concerned with beard length.
Again, Jesus as the Messiah, and as the Word of God, are the ones who told men over and over and over and over and over, to listen and obey God's Words. You keep attributing this to me when it wasn't me who authored the Words. Why do you do this? It was the God of the Bible who said HE didn't desire Sacrifice for sins, but obedience , and it was HIM, not me, that foretold of a time when the sacrifices would end. I just believe Him.
It was Paul who said God's Laws were spiritual, that He is concerned about men, not oxen or beard length. It is you who can't seem to understand these things, not me. I'm just trying to show you what is written.
It's quite simple - Leviticus (and Exodus and Deuteronomy) is either included in the every word from God which we are to keep, or it isn't. And if it is, that means EVERY word - you don't get to pick and choose from the laws in there, and you can't say that half the laws are obsolete.
I am not saying half of God's Laws are obsolete. God Himself foretold of the end of animal sacrifice. I am just believing Him. God Himself inspired it to be written that He speaks in Parables, not me. I just believe Him. Paul said God wrote His Laws in Duet. and Lev. "for our sake's no doubt", not me. I just believe him. Paul said God is not concerned with oxen but with man, not me. I just believe Him.
It appears you don't. And we know the mainstream preachers of Paul's time didn't either. I am simply promoting the idea that maybe the Scriptures are truth, and it is religious man, who doesn't believe His Word's, that is the problem.