...Continued
John 8
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
To expand on what being free means, let's see the result in the old Testament and, then, in the new.
Israel left, came out of, Egypt and followed God through His servant Moses. The teaching they received was not to return to depending on Egypt for resources that amounted to nothing, but to depend on God for things that had substance, which carried over to the world to come, with whatever was needed in this world added to them. God taught this by showing them signs and wonders, producing results that were not dependent on effort on the part of Israel.
You can see a common theme in the life of Christ. He left dependence on earthly sources, followed the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, was exposed to the teachings of God the Father, was obedient, held to the teaching, and finally, was fruitful. Since He was obedient, He emptied Himself of His Godhood, and laboured as a man. We will see how He was the Seed, and what rest means in a subsequent post.
Compare this with Abraham, Moses, Peter, and the believers of the early church.
However, not all held to the teaching. Scripture says that even though all of Israel ate of the same spiritual bread, not all benefited, and with whom God was not pleased, and they left their bones littering the wilderness. Similarly, some held to the teaching of God and their faith was fulfilled, made perfect, shown by their giving up all dependence on earthly sources, when they laid them at the feet of Peter. Simon the Sorcerer believed that same teaching, that earthly treasure was not worth the effort, would perish, was even baptised into growing into the new mindset, but slipped back into his old ways, because he did not think it through, of the aspect of what power meant in the kingdom of God. A very common mistake, to believe the main principle, but not consider how it affects different aspects of a person's life.
Here, then, is a sequence, to trace again in the lives of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Peter, all freed men, and then Korah and Simon the Sorcerer, and Ananias and Sapphira, slaves to their old selves, working for selfish gains, that would perish and rust.
- Coming out of Egypt
- Receiving teaching
- Holding on to teaching (or not)
- Being freed from the cares of the world (or not)
- Being recognised by God as being born again (or not)
- Being a blessing to the world, the person responsible for in turn, rescuing another soul out of Egypt (Isaac, Joshua, Rahab, Peter) because God was with them, as seen in the works they did, and the knowledge they revealed.
This is a very profitable, enlightening, revealing exercise to embark on, to learn how God fulfilled His promise to Abraham.