Last Sunday we sang a song begging God to remember His people, remember His promise. It struck me how very Old Covenant those sentiments are, and how completely inappropriate for Christians to sing.
People of the Old Covenant from Noah to David, Isaiah and beyond were always asking God to remember them, remember His covenant with them, remember their sins no more, etc. Which, to be honest with you, I'd find a little obnoxious if I were God. In fact, He says so in Isaiah 49:15. "Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I WILL NOT FORGET YOU." The only thing the Word says He doesn't remember is our sin.
In the Old Covenant, God was separate, outside, 'up there.' And His people were separate from Him, bound by a cause and effect covenant. If they followed His law, they were blessed. If they disobeyed, they were cursed.
He was not in them, or part of them in anyway. They were not born of God--reward and punishment were the only things they could understand. Even the few whom He anointed as prophets, priests or kings were mere men with the anointing poured on them--smeared on, to be exact--for the appointed task.
The New Covenant
But ours is a new and very different covenant. When we receive Jesus as our substitute sacrifice, we--the real us, the spirit--actually dies with Him, is buried and raised up together with Him in heavenly places. We are reborn...born of God, One Spirit with the Lord.
But ours is a new and very different covenant. When we receive Jesus as our substitute sacrifice, we--the real us, the spirit--actually dies with Him, is buried and raised up together with Him in heavenly places. We are reborn...born of God, One Spirit with the Lord.
We are not separate from Him, nor can we ever be, because we are One with Him. We are born of Him, seated in Him in heavenly places. There's no need to remind Him to remember us, or His Word, or His covenant with us.
In fact, what this kind of Old Testament thinking does is to reinforce the deception that we are still separate from Him. Yes, all of the promises of God are yes in Him [2 Corinthians 1:20] and yes, the stories in the Old Testament are examples for us [1 Corinthians 10:11]. We can learn many wonderful, instructive and comforting things from Genesis to Malachi, particularly from the prophetic and wisdom books...but NO, we do not have the same covenant, and NO, we are not separate from Him as they were.
We have died and our lives are hidden with Christ in God! [Colossians 3:3] We are One Spirit with the Lord, and we are the temple of the God [1 Corinthians 3:17]. Jesus told us in John 14 that He, the Father and the Helper would come and abide, or live, in us!
Error
Unfortunately, there is much error in the everyday doctrine we're exposed to through songs, books and sermons...and it keeps us from truly understanding who we are in Christ Jesus. Even our secular culture reinforces these errors. And until we understand who we are, we can never really do the works that He said we'd do...the works that He did, and even greater works! [John 14:12]
Unfortunately, there is much error in the everyday doctrine we're exposed to through songs, books and sermons...and it keeps us from truly understanding who we are in Christ Jesus. Even our secular culture reinforces these errors. And until we understand who we are, we can never really do the works that He said we'd do...the works that He did, and even greater works! [John 14:12]
Don't worry. God is not going to forget you, nor His wonderful promises, given that we might partake of His Divine nature [2 Peter 1:2-4]. By His doing, we are in Christ Jesus, Who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption [1 Corinthians 1:30].
BY HIS DOING! It was His plan all along!
Don't worry...He can't forget you, because you're One Spirit with Him! You're in Him, and He's in you.
