LIFE AS GOD SEES IT
The life of Jesus, instructive as it may be as a model for our lives, is an incomplete view of what God wants for us. Consider the following:

From this list, Christians should conclude that they need more than the New Testament to understand God. And Jews should conclude that they need more than the law. The truth is that understanding of God can be gained only by studying both parts of the Bible. To understand what constitutes our spiritual life it is first necessary to look beyond the literal interpretation of all scriptures to understand their symbolic meanings.

As always, we begin by looking at the definitions of the Hebrew and Greek words from which Bible translators have translated as “life.” From these words, chay in Hebrew and psuche and zoe in Greek, we find definitions of life that we would expect to find regarding the condition of being physically alive. We also find definitions that include the following aspects of life that are more than physical.

God brings all these abstract images of life into focus in the following verses where he makes it very clear that the ideal life is tied to obedience to his commandments:

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 “For this commandment which I command you this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

COMMENTARY: The essence of this scripture is that God’s spiritual laws (i.e. commandments) are in the hearts of New Covenant disciples. We know that God’s commandments are in the hearts of New Covenant disciples because his laws are written on their hearts.

We also know that God’s laws/commandments are not in the hearts of Old/First Covenant religionists.

15 “See, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.

17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you this day, that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

God conveniently and clearly summarizes his expectations regarding the life his people should live in these verses:

Deuteronomy 32:45-47: And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Lay to heart all the words which I enjoin upon you this day, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no trifle for you, but it is your life, and thereby you shall live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

What God is saying through Moses in the above scriptures, and in several other locations, is that real life is found by following his commandments. This can be compared to the “abundant” life referred to in New Covenant scriptures. This life, of course, is the life that is available through Jesus who spoke God’s words and who’s words fulfilled God’s spiritual laws..

True followers of the spiritual Jesus are New Covenant disciples who fulfill (i.e. obey fully, embody) the law. It can be said also that people who claim to love Jesus and/or God will (or should) live according to the law. That means that God’s laws are written on their hearts and that they do not simply follow rules and regulations prescribed and proscribed by RELIGION — including Judaism and Christianity. Conversely, it can also be said that people who reject or dismiss the law are not true followers. Their claims of loving God and Jesus do not agree with their actions. They are hypocrites.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Despite the fact that God says many times in many places that we should hear and obey the law, and despite the clarity of Matthew 5:17 and Romans 3:31, most people dismiss the law as being something archaically Jewish and not applicable to Christians. The way we see it, this is totally wrong thinking that causes a lot of trouble for people who disobey the law. That God might punish people who say they love him is a hard concept to grasp, of course, but God confirms his willingness to bless those who are obedient and punish those who are disobedient to the law in Deuteronomy 28.

People whose religion allows them to discount or outright reject Old/First Covenant scriptures will be edified to know that several New Covenant scriptures very clearly say that the law is relevant to followers of Jesus. We cover this issue extensively in Covenant, The Law, The Law is a Stumbling Block,  and The Third Commandment.

God confirmed the life-giving qualities of the law when he sent Jesus who said that he was the way, the truth and the life. As the living word of God, Jesus fulfilled every aspect of the Law of Moses, and he made it possible for all who love God to obey God’s commandments in the law.

Considering all the above, we conclude that your life is a big deal to God. We also find that life in Jesus is not as abstract as we might have thought it to be. It is not as simple as having Jesus in your heart or believing you will go to heaven when you die because you said the sinner’s prayer. To the contrary, the kind of life God wants to see in his people is graphically portrayed in the life of Jesus. It is all about living according to The Law just like Jesus lived according to The Law. (This should be an interesting fact to Jewish readers). And, since the life Jesus lived — and continues to live through the Children of Abraham — is the perfect fulfillment of The Law as it is detailed out in The Law of Moses, those who say they are followers of Jesus should join their Jewish brothers and sisters in following instructions for living found in the first five books of the Bible. But they should not obey the literal law of Moses as represented in the Old/First Covenant. Rather the should obey God’s spiritual law written on their hearts according to the terms of the New Covenant. They are not the same law. One leads to death, and the other leads to life.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: See the links below for detailed differences between the Old/First Covenant and New Covenant laws:

Not wanting to be un-biblical, Christians commonly reduce The Law down to the Ten Commandments. Strongly advocating for these brief summaries of The Law, while effectively dismissing or overlooking the details that explain it, they take pride in their righteousness based on their limited understanding of what The Law really involves. It is dangerously misleading to evaluate righteousness with respect to the simplified terms of the Ten Commandments. Doing so amounts to subtracting from the law.

It is also dangerous to regard any part of the written law only literally as many Christians advocate. God warned about literal application of the letter of the law when he said “the letter kills but the spirit gives life.” The way we see it, there are several reasons why a rigid literal interpretation is as wrong as dismissing scripture altogether.

The way we see it, people who subtract from the law or who take a purely literal approach to it are double minded as well as disobedient. They do not consider that they are in effect subtracting from God and Jesus. Their claims to believers in God are empty. What they believe is what they read and can understand with their intellectual mind. They do not believe nor do they have faith that they can actually hear God’s voice.

With these cautions in mind, is critical to remember that God speaks in mysterious language that requires serious study and discernment if it is to be understood. Only New Covenant disciples have the ability to understand this language. To Old/First Covenant religionists, this mysterious language is only babbling (i.e. talking in tongues.)

Gaining understanding of mysteries is not an issue of hard intellectual work. Rather, it is a spiritual process in which God opens the spiritual eyes of people who have willfully chosen to quit religion. If being a follower depended only on intellectual understanding, all anyone would need to do would be to simply read scripture. But reading alone will not yield understanding. If simply studying the Bible was all that was necessary, there would be more New Covenant disciples and fewer religionists in the world.

Bible study yields some understanding, but even intense study of selective scriptures in either the Old or New Testaments is not enough to achieve a healthy spiritual life. What is critical is that people also quit interpreting the Bible literally and start listening to God’s voice instead of listening to false prophets.  This does not imply, however, that the written Bible has no value, because the written law serves as a tutor to lead people to the spiritual fulfillment of the law which is exists in the New Covenant.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: Check out Study,  Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2 and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3 for concepts that are critical to understanding all scriptures.

Admittedly, there is a lot of material to study and comprehend for those who are serious about understanding life as God sees it. Nevertheless, God has made it available to teach and guide us to New Covenant faith.

The way we see it, becoming a New Covenant disciple is not accomplished until the law is written on your heart. Indeed you can try to understand the New Covenant by reading about Jesus in New Covenant scriptures, but that provides an incomplete picture. Keep in mind that while Jesus is the living word of God, Old/First Covenant scriptures are God’s word to us also, and that all scripture is given for training in righteousness. That is why God commands us to study and obey the whole Bible.

Having studied, we then need to apply what we have learned. We do that by serving God as true prophets, angels, messiahs, high priests, witnesses, and warriors who teach people how to hear God’s spoken voice.