When reading through the history and testimony we have in the Old Testament, I think it is important to start with what we have recorded. It is easy to assume that because these people had a degree of communication with God, they had an exceptionally profound relationship with God that we might discover and embrace ourselves if we study carefully what was recorded. They might have had a closeness with the Lord that is greater than what is recorded, but we really need to rely more on what we do know, than what we would like to know or what we would have liked to see happen. For example, if I were to ask Noah to tell me about the Lord while he was building the ark, what would he say to me according to the record we have? He might say something like, "Well Aaron, God feels really bad about what people have done with the good things He has created. He seems to feel as if He has some responsibility for the evil being perpetuated, so He has decided to make a correction to what He has done, and flood the earth to kill everyone." Has He shared anything else with you? "Besides the instructions of how to build the ark and what to put in it, He just hasn't been so talkative. Maybe when I finish the work He gave me to do He will open up and tell me more about what's on His heart, or maybe after He kills everyone, but until then I am just going to stay focused on my part in all of this." God spoke with Noah shortly after it was all over, but we don't know if Noah ever heard from the Lord again after that.
The New Covenant did not go into effect until after Jesus died and rose from the dead, so no one was saved through being made spiritually alive through the restoration of the Holy Spirit. We don't have enough information to know the specific criteria God used to permit entrance into His kingdom before the New Covenant. However, knowing that Jesus testified about people being in the kingdom, who lived during the history of the Old Covenant and before, a decision was made by God that gave people a place with Him. It is my opinion that He used the same criteria of our recognizing that our right standing with Him would not be established by our works, but only by His grace and mercy. On this basis, I have confidence that the condition of our hearts today to embrace salvation, could have been the same as the people's hearts generations before Jesus, and our God would embrace them as He does us, knowing He would be doing His part in the future as the Messiah. This is as close as I can get to having an answer to this kind of question.
The Holy Spirit of God did not indwell people before the resurrection of Jesus. The Spirit did come upon people, but no one was resurrected and made into a new creation. The closeness we are able to have with the Lord is very different from what people were able to have before the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For example, we are children of God individually, He is present with us and participating in our daily lives on a personal level, His presence gives us perfect love and acceptance knowing that He will never leave us. We can ask Him questions in our daily lives and occasionally He will answer in a still small voice to give us wisdom, understanding, and perspective through His eyes and ears. This is a closeness and intimacy that was not possible before the complete forgiveness of sins. Our God can certainly share with us additional insights concerning the events of the past when we study the Old Testament. I always encourage people to continue to do so, just as I do, and to ask the Lord questions like, "What were you thinking, feeling, seeing, and what can you share with me about what happened that will help me understand the world I am a part of?" This is a relationship that is very different from the relationship our God had with people before the New Covenant.
Aaron Budjen
www.livinggodministries.net
No comments:
Post a Comment