HOW TO LIVE FOREVER   PART TWO

Jesus, a God, ceased being a God and became an ordinary human being:

“...(Jesus), who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:6-7)

He had to become an ordinary human being in order that He could die, and thus remove death from every other human being. Jesus did die, and thus freed humans from death. And removed Satan’s only hold over humans: their fear of death:

“Since the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise partook of the same; that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death (that is, Satan the Devil), and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Hebrews 2:14-15)

Satan has been defeated, and all humans are now eligible to live forever.  But before they can take up their right to live forever, humans first have to understand how they came to have that right. That’s explained in the series of articles Why didn’t Jesus die of old age?

The right to live forever comes only through Jesus, and it is only through Jesus that the right to live forever can be taken up:

“there is salvation in no other One; for there is no other name (Jesus) under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

But Jesus was an Israelite, of the tribe of Judah, and it is therefore through the Israelites that humans can live forever. And it is through the Israelite religion that the way to live forever is explained.

Jesus was always at the centre of the Israelite religion, although that fact was unknown to the Israelites themselves. The Israelites were not aware of it, but the rituals and activities of their religion acted out, and looked ahead to, the coming of Jesus and the events of His life. The central event of which was being slaughtered by Satan’s seed as a sacrifice to remove the threat of death from human beings.

Jesus entered human life as an Israelite, of the tribe of Judah, and was raised in the Israelite religion. The religion which, He knew, was about Himself. The religion which He studied and would eventually come to understand perfectly. We see Him at age twelve, already knowing much, seeking to know it all:

“And it happened that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them and questioning them.” (Luke 2:46)

By the time of His death He would know it all. And would know all the hidden things about Himself:

“And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:27)

One of the things He learned about Himself and the Israelite religion, was that He had the authority to change the Israelite religion:

“For Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God shall raise up a Prophet to you from your brothers, One like me. You shall hear Him in all things, whatever He may say to you.” (Acts 3:22)

And as we shall see, Jesus did change the Israelite religion. Quite fundamentally.

God had intended that the Israelites would be priests to the world. That is, they would be the connection between all human beings and God Himself:

“And now if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to Me above all the nations; for all the earth is Mine.  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)

God would instruct the Israelites in His religion, and the Israelites in turn would instruct all the people of earth. The Israelites would be the gate to God.

But there was a condition. The Israelites had to sign a contract, or a covenant, stating that they would learn and keep God’s religion, and that they would behave themselves in the manner which that religion required.

God did not force the contract on the Israelites. It was freely offered and freely accepted:

“And all the people answered together and said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people to Jehovah.” (Exodus 19:8)

There were added explanations, but the heart of the contract was the Ten Commandments:

“And Moses was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread, nor drank water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant [the contract], the Ten Commandments.” (Exodus 34:28)

The people accepted the conditions, and by means of blood, the contract between God and the Israelites became binding:

“From which we see that neither was the first covenant dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined to you." (Hebrews 9:18-20)

That contract, the covenant, between God and the Israelites lasted somewhat less than seven weeks:

“And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mountain. And Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights...And the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, and the people gathered themselves to Aaron. And they said to him, Up! Make us gods who shall go before us. For this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” (Exodus 24:18, 32:1)

God became so angry with the Israelites that He wanted to destroy them all and make a new nation for Himself through Moses:

“And now leave Me alone, so that My wrath may become hot against them and so that I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” (Exodus 32:10)

Moses talked God out of that course of action, but nevertheless the contract, the covenant, had been broken by the Israelites. And God demonstrated that the contract had been broken by having Moses destroy the written record:

“And it happened, as he came near to the camp and saw the calf and dances, the anger of Moses became hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them at the bottom of the mountain.” (Exodus 32:19)

When one party to a contract breaks it, the contract is no longer binding on the other party. The other party can choose to honour their commitments to the contract, or they can choose not to.

In this case God chose to honour His commitments, and demonstrated the fact that He would continue to observe the contract by giving Moses a copy of the original covenant:

“And Jehovah said to Moses, Cut out two tablets of stone like the first. And I will write upon the tablets the words that were in the first tablets which you broke.” (Exodus 34:1)

The contract had been broken, but God chose to keep it going. But the fact that it had been broken allowed God the opportunity to make a new contract. Which He would indeed do, but not for a very long time:

“For if that first covenant had been without fault, then no place would have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He said to them, Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make an end on the house of Israel and on the house of Judah; a new covenant shall be, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not regard them, says the Lord.” (Hebrews 8:7-9)

So at sometime in the future, God would make a new covenant. A different contract. A new, written, binding contract, sealed with blood.