To draw near to God is to draw near to Fire. Who among us is willing to follow Jesus into the midst of the Consuming Fire; into the bosom of God?

When we maintain we are not under the Law but under grace, and that Christ is the end of the Law, we must understand that attaining to the goal of the Law, which is the possession of Christ Himself, is made possible by the grace of the new covenant.

The demands are infinitely stricter, the enablement is infinitely greater, and the result is far more glorious than has been true of any previous covenant.

The purpose of the Law of Moses was to put some controls on sin until the Seed, to whom the promises of God have been made, was sent down to be among us.

Now that God has provided such powerful grace through the Lord Jesus, sin no longer can maintain its dominion over us.

A Comment

Perhaps we should add a word that might help the Jewish believers.

In many Messianic congregations there is confusion concerning some of the traditions, such as the keeping of Passover or the mikvah cleansing. Some Christian Jews, becoming disgusted with the Christian errors and lack of righteousness, are returning to the Orthodox synagogues and are observing the Law. Others are not ready to go to this extreme but still are undecided concerning the relationship of some of the Jewish traditions to Christianity.

The answer to this confusion is the new creation. God is bringing forth a new creation through Christ. Our old adamic nature is to be crucified with Christ. The new nature is created from the body and blood of Christ, and then filled with the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit.

Circumcision, the mikvah bath, the keeping of the Sabbath—all such commandments and traditions govern the adamic nature. They have no part in the new creation.

If someone desires to circumcise his baby son, let him do so. But this has nothing to do with the new creation.

If someone desires to observe the Sabbath, let him do so in faith. But this has nothing to do with the new creation.

If someone desires to keep the feast of Passover, let him do so with rejoicing before the Lord. But this has nothing to do with the new creation.

If a woman desires to observe the cleansing of the mikvah, then let her do so in faith before God. But this has nothing to do with the new creation.

The problem with observing the Jewish traditions, such as the Passover or the Sabbath, is that they tend to take the believer's eyes off the Lord Jesus. Instead of looking continually to Jesus for salvation, the believer is looking part of the time to Jesus and part of the time to the Law of Moses. Also, more time is spent discussing the observance of the Law than is occupied with prayer and worshiping the Lord.

Let no one despise the believer who keeps the Law, and let not him who keeps the Law despise the believer who looks only to the Lord Jesus.

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3:7-9)

For those who are strong in faith, let them follow the Apostle Paul, the Orthodox Jew, who said: "Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ." For the Jewish believer who can accept it, this is the answer to the question of whether Jewish believers should observe the traditions.

Every observance of a tradition of the Law tends to be our own righteousness and therefore is loss for Christ. In this case, the faith of Christ no longer is deemed to be sufficient for our righteousness, our salvation. We are attempting to add our own righteousness to the perfect righteousness of God in Christ.

To not be under the Law of Moses but under the grace of Christ means that the righteous demands of the Law have brought us to God's Christ. Christ then assumes responsibility for us and proceeds to change our personality so our behavior pleases God.

Meanwhile we are kept under His holy blood covering. Because of the blood of atonement, we remain without condemnation so that God is able to hear our prayers for grace to help us in our struggle against sin. (from Not Under the Law but Under Grace)