Inside Out

In studying the last couple of days, I have come across some interesting web sites by Jewish people. I am always interested in their wisdom and insights in the Scriptures. On one website, a Jewish man had an article about life after death which I found intriguing, but none of what he writes on the subject is accompanied by Scripture references. I was going to email him to ask about it, but then read that they don't necessarily need any specific Scriptures to back up what they say, if it is something that is in the Oral Talmud, and simply eluded to in the Scriptures. As for me, I also need to see something in the New Testament on the subject as well. (A thing shall be established by two or three witnesses.)

On this website, they gave an outline of the time lines of human history. It was interesting - they did start out with the idea of human history encompassing 6,000 years, but added some very different ideas, like the idea that the nation of Israel's sins are keeping the Messiah from coming. This was interesting to me because of the fact that the Messiah has already come! But many in Israel (the Messiah's own people) did not recognize Him. The article on the website described the Jewish people's hope for the Messiah to come and restore their nation. I thought about how even the disciples of Jesus looked for the restoration of the nation and redemption from Roman rule. However when Jesus came, he taught things they did not expect, such as: "The Kingdom of God is within you." Also in the New Testament we are told that we are "translated out of the kingdom of darkness, into the Kingdom of Light". These concepts of a Spiritual Kingdom and waging Spiritual Warfare are more difficult to comprehend than a literal, physical Kingdom because we cannot see a literal Kingdom. But spiritual forces have a powerful impact on the physical world we see with our natural eye. We are called to exercise His authority in the Spiritual Realm. Then we will see changes in the natural realm.

One thing that has definitely NOT changed from the Old Covenant to the New, is that God requires us to trust Him - to obey Him - to live by faith (have confidence in Him). We can have confidence that He is good and His mercy endures forever. We have confidence because He proved His love to us. However, we can miss seeing His love if we look to the natural realm rather than the Spiritual Realm first. As we comprehend His love through faith in His goodness (faith works by love) we will gain confidence in Him, and our lives will be changed - inside first, then out.