(032) – THE TRUE AND THE FALSE

 

When the true thing is unknown, the false thing takes its place. The false thing is the imitation of the true thing. For every true prophet there are a thousand false ones (2 Pe. 2:1).

Let us analyze the false and the true existing inside the Bible, that is, the true spiritual values and the false spiritual values. For example, in 2 Cor. 3:14 Paul declares that Jesus abolished the Old Testament. If it was abolished, it is because it was not true, for if it were true, it would not have been abolished. As the history of a people, the Old Testament is true, but as spiritual value, it is false.

We are going to prove this: If Jesus Christ had not been made flesh, there would not be salvation, as Peter says, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The Old Testament has never saved anyone, so, it is not true in respect to salvation. If anyone raises an objection mentioning that there was salvation in the Old Testament in the case of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Moses, Joseph, etc., the Bible says that they were saved by Jesus after the resurrection. Here are verses that prove it: Gal. 4:4-8; 1Cor. 15:17,18.

On the other hand, if the Old Testament did not exist and Jesus came in flesh and blood, salvation would be warranted, because Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of the faith (Heb. 12:2). Jesus does not need the Old Testament in order to save men, but the Old Testament, without Jesus, is the covenant of death and of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:6,7). The logical conclusion is that the Old Testament has but a historical value, while the New Testament has both transcendent and historical values, for in it there is eternal life, given by the Father through the cross of Christ. We may do well to stress that, if salvation is possible in Christ only, this salvation of Jehovah, in the Old Testament, is a false one, for there are not two saviors. Jehovah saved Noah and his family in the flood, except that they died afterwards. So, this salvation was not a true one. Jehovah declared himself the savior of Israel “For I am Jehovah your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior” (Is. 43:3). In fact, Jehovah had saved Israel from the Egyptian captivity, but then he killed them all in the desert. This salvation, obviously, was not a true salvation, but a false salvation. We read about it in the New Testament, “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that Jehovah, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5). Someone may say: Jehovah, though, only destroyed the ones who had not believed. And I will answer: If this salvation came before faith, it was a false salvation, for in the Gospels faith comes first, then comes salvation (Mark 16:16).

In the Old Testament, there are other false things. Let us look at them:

1.   We read in the letter to Titus: “the faith…is according to godliness” (Titus 1:1). The words of Jehovah were issued in passionate wrath and fury, so we conclude that they were not true. Read Jer. 25:15.16; Nah. 1:2; Ps. 7:11; Deut. 32:22-24), etc.

2.   Jesus Christ sent a true Spirit. (John 14:15-17; 16:13; 1John 5:6). Jehovah, at times, sent the spirit of lie, and this spirit is a false one (1 Kings 22:23). Now, the false cannot proceed from the true.

3.   Peter declares that Christians are the kingly priesthood, and the Church was made up of people of many races, therefore, the levitical priesthood was not real, but fictitious and false, and for this exact reason it was changed: But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood…” (1Pe.2:9). “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:27-28; Heb. 7:12).

4.   The Old Testament justice was not true justice, for the Father did not consider just those who obeyed it rigorously and sincerely “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works…” (Rom. 9:30-32).

5.   Jeremiah says that Jehovah is the truth (Jer. 10:10). “Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness” (Ps. 119:142). If the law was changed, was truth changed? (Heb.7:12). John also says, “…I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true…” (1John 2:8). “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17; Heb. 7:18-19).

6.   “ and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). If the law of Jehovah was the truth, why were they not set free by it? Was not the Old Testament that they knew the truth which could deliver them? Jehovah called himself God and Father, and how could he create a law that would not set free, and establish a covenant that did not deliver his people?

7.   Job said that he walked through darkness by Jehovah’s light (Job 1:9). Solomon said that the law is a light in Prov.6:23. The psalmist affirmed that Jehovah was his light (Ps. 27:1). And John declares that Jesus is the true light, which enlightens every man that comes into the world. That is equal to say that the previous light was false.

8.   In his first letter, John writes that Jesus is the true God (1 John 5:20). This declaration exposes to suspicion the God who revealed himself before Jesus.

9.   The people of Israel used to go to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah in the Temple, and Jesus said to the Samaritan woman that they did not know whom they were worshipping (John 4:19-24). Were they worshipping a false god? (1 Sam. 1:3; 1 Cr. 16:29; Ps. 29:2; 96:9; Jer. 7:2; Zach. 14:17).

10.   Jehovah planted the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:8-9). Jesus affirms that he is the tree of life, which the Father has planted (John 15:1). It seems as though that tree is a false tree.

11.   The priests were anointed, as well as kings and prophets (Lev. 21:10-12; 1 Kings 19:15-17). John said that there is a true anointing, and that it teaches all things (1 John 2:27). Would the Apostle John be revealing that the anointments of the Old Testament were not true? That is what it is written there, and that is what he seems to be saying.

By Pastor Olavo Silveira Pereira

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