MYSTERIES OF GOD'S KINGDOM. Kenneth B. Alexander
New Covenant is worth duplicating here: “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. For finding fault with them, He says,
“BEHOLD, days are coming, says the Lord,
When I will effect a new covenant
With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;
Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers
On the day when I took them by the hand
To lead them out of the land of Egypt;
For they did not continue in My covenant,
And I did not care for them, says the Lord.
“FOR this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
After those days, says the Lord:
I will put My laws into their minds,
And I will write them on their hearts.
And I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.
“AND they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,
And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
For all will know Me,
From the least to the greatest of them.
“FOR I will be merciful to their iniquities,
And I will remember their sins no more.”
When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. (Hebrews 8:7-13).
The Jews felt threatened by this for not only did they see the New Covenant as a false doctrine against the Law of Moses, but as a threat to their way of living, preaching and enforcing the law. Surprisingly many religions today still hold to codes of moral conduct as a way to measure righteousness and maintain control of a congregation. Most of the so-called “Christian church” preaches adherence to doctrines of good works and obedience to sets of rules of morality as the way to please God. God is not pleased with the righteousness that is born of good works designed to please Him and secure the doer a place in “heaven”. He is only interested in granting us grace, unmerited favor, by faith, that His Son won for us on the cross.
Church Fathers Augustine and Lactantius use the Greek word “religare” which means to "bind back" thus representing religion as a form of obligation (Unger's Bible Dictionary, p. 1072). This means religion has an element of control, “binding people back” to their way of interrupting Christ’s message. As many as the number of churches are the number of different doctrines of each church, preaching each its particular brand of Christianity. However these various doctrines or codes of morality are not based on the spiritual teaching of Christ. God is Spirit and the only way to receive the true “doctrine” is through spiritual communication with God. John said: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24).
Jesus opposed the hypocrisy and legalism of the Pharisees, as we should oppose the legalism of today’s religions. In Matthew 23:13-36 Jesus says (in partial part): “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
“You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness”. So in one sweeping accusation, Jesus accuses them of robbery, self indulgence, uncleanness, hypocrisy, lawlessness and full of dead men’s bones. He is describing religion.
At one point Jesus even accuses the Pharisees, the preeminent religious leaders of the time, that they were originated from their true Father the devil. The leaders clung to the fact that they were Abraham’s children by lineage and so justified in their religion. Jesus said:“If you were Abraham’s [the Father of faith] children, you would do the works of Abraham. Abraham was found to be righteous by faith, not works to earn salvation. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it: (John 8:39-44).
Satan’s Angelic name is Lucifer which means “light bearer” and he is referred to as "the bright star of the morning”. He is the father of religion according to Christ. Paul says: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). Today we have many such “apostles of righteousness” who are no more than ministers of Satan. They do not preach Christ; they preach bondage under the law while Christ came to free us from the law.
Jesus said further of them: “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. ‘but in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’[Quoting Isaiah 29:13] “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition” (Mark 7:6-9; Matthew 15:9).
Religion is about having a good life by following certain religious tenants and thereby living a “righteous life”. For instance Jehovah's Witnesses teach that you must call God Jehovah or you are subject to judgment. In Catholicism you won’t go to heaven unless you believe the Pope is God on earth and follow the tenants of the Catholic church; Mormons must believe the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith and the Mormon apostles or they will be denied entrance to “heaven”; Islam must follow Mohammed's strict disciplinary religious and secular laws; so called Christians must follow the tenants and doctrines of their particular religion of which there are thousands (Methodists, Calvinism, Presbyterians, Church of Christ, Lutherans etc.).
The Lord told a parable which is a perfect representation of the religious world: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get' But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14).
Religion wants to show you off as righteous by publicly enumerating the wonderful works you have done, thereby gaining the favor of men. Those who engage in such self- exaltation never realize that their perceived righteousness is not righteousness at all. "Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). God looks at man’s righteousness this way: "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; (Isaiah 64:6).
Christ showed the Pharisees that life was more than a set of rules. “A Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table. When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He [Jesus] had not first ceremonially washed before the meal. But the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of