New life- Righteousness of Faith

God Gave The Righteousness Of Faith Before The Law

Which one is easier to follow, faith or law? Faith.
The apostle Paul said that God gave us the righteousness of faith from the beginning. He gave it to Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Seth and Enoch,Noah, Abraham, Isaac and finally to Jacob and his twelve sons. Even without the Law, they became righteous before God through the righteousness that came from the faith in His Word. They were blessed  and given rest through the faith in His Word. 

Time passed and Jacob's descendants lives in Egypt as slaves for 400 years because of Joseph. Then, God led them out through Moses into the Land of Canaan. However, during the 400 years of slavery, they had forgotten the righteousness of faith.

So, God let them cross the Red Sea through His miracles and led them into the wilderness. When they reached the wilderness of Sin, He gave them the Law at mount Sinai. God gave Moses the Law which contained the Ten Commandments and the Law of Sacrificial System. He gave the Law so that they would have the knowledge of sin Romans 3:20 20 For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [ not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character].

All the people of Israel who had been enslaved in Egypt crossed the Red Sea. They had never met the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. While they were living as slaves in Egypt, they have forgotten the  righteousness of God. Therefore, they needed to find their God again and meet Him because they had forgotten His righteousness. We have to bear in mind that God gave them the righteousness of Faith first and then gave them the Law, after they had forgotten the faith.

His purpose in calling them is to let them know that He had existed by establishing the Law and secondly, to let them know that they were sinners before Him. God wanted them to come before Him and become His people by being redeemed through the sacrificial system that He had given them through Moses. The people of Israel were redeemed through the sacrificial system of the Law by believing in the Messiah Who was to come. 

Aaron Laid His Hands On The Scapegoat

The righteousness of God was demonstrated when all the sins of this world were expiated through the faith in the ordination of the Old Testament and the baptism of the New Testament. In the Old Testament, all the yearly sins of Israel were atoned through the High Priest, who laid his hands on the head of a live goat without any blemishes. Leviticus 16:21-22 21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.

This is how they were atoned in the days of the Old Testament. To be redeemed from daily sins, one brought a lamb or a goat without blemishes to the tabernacle and offered it at the altar. He put his hands on the head of the offering and then his sins were passed on to the sacrifice. Then, the sacrifice was killed and the priest put his blood on the horns of the altar. There were horns on the  four corners of the altar. These horns symbolizes the Books of Works written in Revelation 20:12.12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sacrifice's remaining blood was sprinkled on the ground too. The ground represented the heart of man because man was created from dust.

To Redeem Us All

What's the meaning of Jesus? The saviour Who will save His people from their sins. Matthew 1:20-22 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His nameJesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 
Our Father in Heaven borrowed the Virgin Mary's body  to send His Son to this world to wash away all the sins of the world. Then how did Jesus save all of us from sin? The way Jesus took away all the sins of the world was through His baptism at he Jordan River. When John the Baptist baptized Him, all the sins of the world were passed on to Him. Matthew 3:13-17. Thus, it was fitting to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and right at that moment according to the scriptures, all the righteousness of God that redeemed our sins were fulfilled. We must believe in the redemption of Jesus provided through His baptism, death and ressurection which contains the righteousness of faith to be saved by grace.

God had first promised Israel that all the sins of the world will be washed away with the laying on of hands and the sacrifice of sin offering. However, as it was impossible for everyone to lay hands on the head of goat individually, God consecrated Aaron to be the high priest so that he could offer the sacrifice for all people. In the same way, God raise John the Baptist form the Aaronic household who could lay his hands on the head of Jesus and pass on all the sins of the world on to Him. John the Baptist represented all human kind before Jesus Matthew 11:11 11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

This is what happened when He was baptized. The gates of Heaven opened up when He was baptized by John the Baptist and took away all the sins of the world. Matthew 3:13-14, Matthew 11:12.