4 Things Christ did on Earth

When Christ was on earth, He did a lot of things for a lot of different reasons – most importantly offering Himself as a perfect sacrifice and becoming the mediator of the New Covenant – but I want to examine this question in more practical terms. Where did He go, who did He talk to, and what actions did He take during His life on earth? All of these questions are great starting points for in-depth study, which I encourage everyone to do. For the present time, though, here is a summary of some of the highlights, given by Christ Himself:

Matthew 11:4
Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

The Second Commandment – Is it Different from the First?

It occurred to me that the 1^st and 2^nd of the Ten Commandments are redundant if you do not have the proper understanding of what each one means. Read them and think about it:

Exodus 20:3 – You shall have no other gods before Me.

Exodus 20:4 – You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them…

Depending on what you believe about how these two commandments are interpreted, they may appear redundant. The 1^st commandment says that you should have no other gods besides the true God. Some mistakenly assume that the 2^nd commandment is exclusively talking about idols. If so, then it is redundant, since an idol is a false god, and is therefore prohibited by the 1^st commandment. This begs the question: is the 2^nd commandment simply an elaboration on the 1^st, or is it addressing a separate issue?

Unfulfilled Aspects of God’s Law: Trumpets

The previous article (What Does God Want?) touched on the fact that God’s law must be fulfilled – that’s why Christ is our sacrifice, so that the laws concerning sacrifice can be satisfied. I’d like to further develop this principle that God’s Law (all of it) is in effect today because it must be fulfilled. A fundamental scripture to this concept is found in the sermon on the mount, where Christ said:

Matthew 5:17

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Most Christian denominations teach that Christ fulfilled the entire Law, making it unnecessary for Christians today to observe God’s laws, such as the Sabbath and Holy Days. However, this interpretation is not consistent with the above verse, which clearly says that the law must be in effect today because heaven and earth have not passed away and because not everything has been accomplished. Unfortunately, many people read this verse and disregard all of that, latching on to the word “fulfill,” and say that the entire Law has been “fulfilled” once for all by Christ, making it unnecessary for us to follow it. Even with this reckless overlooking of what is actually being said, they are still wrong – Christ has not fulfilled the entire Law… yet.

What Does God Want?

Hosea 6:6 

“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” 

We are given record of Christ quoting the first half of this verse on two occasions: both times He was speaking to Pharisees, and both times He emphasized that we need to understand what “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” means. Some people believe that Christ was speaking against the Law in saying this, indicating that God is not (or was not) pleased with observances of the Law, such as the sacrifices and burnt offerings mentioned. This is one of many scriptures that people twist to try to invalidate God’s law.