Ramon Arias | July 20, 2015
In time it will become more evident to those who want to know the truth about life and the world, that there are only two perspectives: Humanistic law, “justice” and subordination, versus Biblical law, justice and subordination.
The first perspective is in constant change because it highly depends on the emotional trends of people. In a nutshell, the humanistic law is based upon man’s interpretation of life and the world. Their brand of “justice” doesn’t accept any challenges and it seeks to destroy all those who oppose their social agenda of creating a utopia. There comes a time in history that subordination to their system is not an option, and by sheer force, people’s freedoms are eliminated. This perspective always collapses and must start all over again to repeat the same cycles over and over again. The humanistic system always produces men as the saviors of societies. However, it is the people who must elevate these demigods to that position, but then it is also the people who replace them when the facts of their inability to deliver on their promises reaches the high point of disillusionment.
People are the ones that ultimately determine to follow this humanistic culture that promises a brand of freedom, which in time proves to be far from realistic.
The second perspective never changes. It doesn’t depend on the emotional trends of people, but rather on the use of their intelligence to compare apples to apples. In a nutshell, Biblical law is based upon God’s own interpretation of life and the world. He doesn’t have to second-guess how everything should function to perfection. His brand of justice is truly just, it deals with people by encouraging them to come to their senses and forsake their misconceptions of life. He is loving and merciful and allows enough time for people to accept His conditions, but when generation after generation rejects His offer, God has no other alternative except the one He uses as the last resort—judgment. Out of their own freewill, people become subordinate to God’s will because they are convinced it is the best option for a meaningful life with earthly and eternal purpose. He is totally trustworthy and His system never collapses; it is constantly moving towards its fulfillment in time and history. His will is being done on earth as it is in heaven, no question about it; history is the best authenticator of these facts.
It is up to humans to make the right decision as to whom they will follow. These choices have been there since the dawn of the human race. Adam and Eve had a choice; they made the dreadful decision to exchange the original plan for their lives and the world for something that would bring them death (Genesis 2:17-3). Noah had a choice to follow the perverted trends of his time or to be faithful to God (Genesis 6-9). Abraham had a choice of either remaining in the decadent culture of the Chaldeans or to accept God’s offer of greatness and blessings (Genesis 12:1-3). The people of Israel had a choice to remain in slavery in Egypt or follow freedom (Book of Exodus). Israel received the Standards for living from God through Moses; they knew the consequences of rejecting them. The first generation of Israelites refused to obey God’s orders to possess the Promised Land and was negatively sanctioned. The next generation was to occupy the land and Moses reminded them to be wise and choose God’s ways:
“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (ESV)
The history of Israel as God’s chosen people resembled a rollercoaster in the eyes of God. At times they chose to follow Him and at other times they followed other ideologies. God constantly called Israel back to return to their senses and to embrace life and prosperity, but their history reveals there were more periods of rejection of God’s offer for right living under Him. Joshua, Moses’ successor, asked them to choose whom they would serve (Joshua 24:14-15). Then came the period of the Judges and the prophets, or social reformers, who were sent by God to call rebellious Israel back to right living, to no avail. Elijah better explained to his generation the choice they had before them:
“And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ And the people did not answer him a word.” 1 Kings 18:21 (ESV)
Humanistic culture is one that picks and chooses what they “think” works best at the time, regardless of the consequences. Biblical culture does not leave it up to us to make the selections of what we want to believe and act upon from the Bible. Christians, just like old Israel, learned the hard way that God’s ways are non-negotiable. America has a biblical foundation; we may still have time to reconsider and dump the humanistic culture. Did I say, may? Yes, I did. We can’t keep going down the cultural highway of perversion indefinitely thinking we can outsmart God’s justice, which is preposterous and suicidal. Let us take to heart the warnings that do not change with the whims of people’s erroneous cultural appetites:
“Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.” Isaiah 59:14 (ESV)
“No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.” Isaiah 59:4 (ESV)
“Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just,’ when it is their own way that is not just.” Ezekiel 33:17 (ESV)
“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil.” Ecclesiastes 8:11 (ESV)
“This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, so that I will remove it from my sight because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them persistently, they have not listened to receive instruction.” Jeremiah 32:31-33 (ESV)
Jesus didn’t change one single aspect of God’s justice, not one. This means Christians must not continue to make the radical and costly mistake of thinking there are distinctions between the Law of God given to Moses and the Law of Christ. The new covenant in Christ doesn’t change God’s absolutes, it did change the ceremonial law, and that is it!
Whom we choose to follow as a nation will be manifested more and more as time unfolds. Let us pray and walk toward a Biblical Reformation.