So, do we Gentiles need to be circumcised in order to be included in the people of God? God forbid! Acts 15:1, 28-29—1 And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” … 28 “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” Circumcision of the flesh has been done away with as a sign of a covenant. We are now no longer circumcised in the flesh, but of the heart. Romans 2:29—But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter. The signs of the New Covenant are Baptism and the Lord’s Table. These are not things which save us (as circumcision brought the Old Covenant believers into that first covenant) but rather show the world that we are in a saving covenant with God. Baptism shows that we have been declared dead to sin and alive to God (see Romans 6:4), and the Lord’s Table (instituted by Jesus Himself in Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:17-20; Mark 14:22-25, and reiterated by Paul in 1st Corinthians 11:24-25) is what we do to proclaim His sacrifice on our behalf, that we do belong to Him and His body and His blood were given for us. As Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” We are not literally eating the literal flesh or literally drinking the literal blood of Christ (after all, He said, “this wine is My blood”, not “My blood is this wine” before He went to the cross) but rather we are proclaiming to the world that we are tasting the heavenly gift, and we believe that what He did on the cross was real. This is the New Covenant that Jeremiah wrote to us about.
And this New Covenant has caused the Old Covenant to be done away with. Hebrews 8:13—In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. The word translated “obsolete” is the Greek πεπαλαίωκεν (pepalaioken, from the root word παλαιόω [palaioo, “to make (passively, become) worn out, or declare obsolete”]). The Old Covenant is no more. It is done, finished, completed, finito, fin, no mas. Whereas under the Old Covenant bulls and goats and turtledoves had to be killed for the sins of a person every time that person sinned to make atonement for that person, this New Covenant was different: when a person sins, the blood that has been spilled but once by the Lamb of God is what makes atonement for those sins! Hebrews 8:12—Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. ONCE! The spotless Lamb of God shed His blood ONCE. Then He took that blood into the Tabernacle in Heaven, offered it up to the Father as the payment for all the sins that would ever be committed by God’s elect, and that blood bought our atonement for all eternity! Whereas under the Old Covenant the high priest had to go into the Holy of Holies once every year with the blood of goats to ask for forgiveness for the sins of the people, our new High Priest has already done that. And He only had to do it ONCE. Hebrews 8:25-26—25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Morgan G. Campbell tells us
The pre-eminent thought in this section is that now in the priesthood of Christ a place of worship, unlocalized and unlimited, is provided. Wherever is found the soul who will come to God through Him, there He is as Priest, with the value of His own sacrifice, providing redemption and acceptance; and, moreover, having exhausted judgment in the process of His death, He hides from coming judgment all who trust in Him, changing the dread of that awful assize into the glorious hope of His own second appearing.
The last and final prophet God sent us is the Man we have been speaking of, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our King, our High Priest, and our final Prophet. Hebrews 1:1-2—1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. Everything the prophets spoke and wrote in the Old Testament pointed forward to Christ, and Christ pointed backward to them to indicate to His hearers that He was the One of whom they spoke. One of the first prophecies He gave was about how He would, in His body, replace the temple that Herod had spent decades building. John 2:19—Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The reactions of those who heard Him say this are a good example of why we need to read Jesus’ words carefully and to not always take them at face value. Many times He spoke to the people in parables, especially to those who stood against Him (see Matthew 13:35). Why did He speak in parables? He did so to separate those who believed in Him and who were careful in understanding what He was saying in His role as Prophet from those who simply heard what He said and counted Him a madman. But they all thought He was saying that He would destroy Herod’s temple and rebuild it three days later. This saying followed Him all the way to the cross, when it was used by His opponents to blaspheme Him (see Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:29). But He was speaking of the temple of His body (John 2:21). He was saying to them that once they put Him to death, He would rise from the grave three days later. Which He did.
Another early prophecy He gave was about the gathering of Gentiles with the physical sons of Isaac in the Kingdom of God, while those who depended on their familial lineage would be cast out. Matthew 8:11-12—11 "And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." We have already seen from Romans that we Gentiles are now counted as being among the people of God. And here, Jesus was saying this after He healed from afar the servant of a Roman centurion. And this would happen again in Acts 10, when Peter was sent to the house of another Romans centurion. He feared entering the man’s house, with Cornelius being a Gentile. Acts 10:28—“You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation.” It was not considered lawful for a Jew to enter the home of a Gentile. “Where does it say that?” Well, it doesn’t. There is no Scriptural prohibition against this. Peter had still not learned the words of our Master when He said to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees (see Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1). For He said to His disciples about these Pharisees, “'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'” (Matthew 15:8-9; Mark 7:6-7). This was another place where they substituted their own thoughts for the commands of God. They despised the Gentiles and forbade them from entering the house of a Gentile. And Peter, a devout Jew, got carried away in this hypocrisy (see Galatians 2:11-13). But this episode with Cornelius was an early fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy about Gentiles entering the Kingdom of God.
Now, think about it. With all these prophecies, from Moses and from Isaiah and Jeremiah, and others given by Haggai and Obadiah and Nahum and Agabus (Acts 21:10-11) and so many others including Jesus—prophecies which foretold the judgement of God on the people for their insolence and disobedience—how can anyone stand on a stage today and simply proclaim good things and health and wealth and peace and safety? It is because there is no fear of God in them. They do not fear the wrath of God because they do not believe in the wrath of God. They don’t care. All they want is to see the money rolling in from giving people some treacly, watered-down, easy-on-the-ears feel-good story about how God will do for them if they command Him to do so. They don’t see God as God, they see Him as an ATM. He does not exist for His glory; He exists to give them handouts and morsels. These self-appointed “prophets” will not speak out against injustice and oppression; they will not decry immorality; they will not cry and moan against those who mock God, because they would be crying out against themselves. In short, we do not have prophets as the ones we read about in the Old Testament. “But what about Ephesians 4:11 and 1st Corinthians 12:28? Where it says that God gave some to be prophets for equipping the church?” That is true. God gave some to be prophets in the Church. But what does this mean? That there are some who speak from God only good, smooth things? That they only speak peace and safety? No friend, the true prophets today do not speak words that those hearing will rejoice over (although they may). They speak forth (the meaning of the Greek προφήτης [prophetes]) the word given to us in Scripture. Now, if there be one who speaks harsh words things that are hard for the hearer to hear, and if they speak things that line up with the word and character of God, then that one is speaking by the gift of prophecy. But telling people that if they send the “prophet” money and God will rain down wealth into their lives? That is not prophecy, that is borderline blasphemy.
God…has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. Jesus was our last true prophet (see Deuteronomy 18:15-19), although the gift of prophecy still exists today. But one should be careful in exercising this gift. Deuteronomy 18:20—20 “‘But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’” The one who presumes to speak a word from God—a word which God has not commanded him to speak—that one was to be put to death. Today God does not put these “prophets” to death immediately; He allows them to store up their sin for the Day of Judgment. For those who speak words not given to them by God as if they were given to them by God, and which do not come to pass, impugn the righteousness of God. For if they presume to speak from God, and that word does not come to pass, then they make God a liar, and who will trust Him? 2nd Peter 2:1-2—1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. But if one speaks a word which aligns with the character of God, and they do so through the gift of prophecy given to them by God, then they will speak true words and they will glorify God and edify the Church. 1st Corinthians 14:3—But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. Why is this? Because true edification and true exhortation and true comfort are found in Jesus Christ our Lord. Do we have eternal life? We do if we know and follow Him. Will we be able to endure persecution? Yes, because He ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to lead us. Can we be sure that we are saved? Of course! Jesus told us that none can snatch us out of His hand and no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand (John 10:28-29). Speaking forth these truths and others found in the very words spoken to the writers of Scripture by God, and warning others to listen to these words and teaching them to follow Christ and His commands to love God and love our neighbor—that is true prophecy.
The Church will always need the gift of prophecy, and those who speak as prophets. That is what keeps the Church on the narrow way. But if one takes the mantle upon themselves and speaks presumptuously words not given to them by God, they risk destruction for bringing shame to the name of God. If we do prophesy, let us do so carefully and tread lightly when we do so. Let us not be as the false prophets that Peter warned us about and bring swift destruction upon ourselves. Let us speak those words which will bring to mind the love and grace of our Lord, keep the church focused on Him, and bring glory to God.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.
