Erster Einblick in unsere Teammeetings

We want to give you a short insight of what we discover in our team meetings. I tried to structure it a little bit by adding some headings to make it easier to read. I am always encouraged in our meetings as I learn something new every time or I see something, I have never seen before. Dive with us into this adventure of getting to know our Creator God in order to walk in alignment with his purposes for our lives and to serve him with everything he has put in us.

Exodus is the journey of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. It is a journey where God reveals himself to his people and leads them into their place of rest, the promised land. That is where we wanted to begin with our team meetings, but God took us back to understanding law and God's original plan with mankind.

Understanding the law of God

What is law

God cannot lie. Whatever God says is true. Therefore, every word that comes from God is a promise, it is a law. Whatever God says, he cannot change it. When God says something, it is law. When God says you are going to die, you are going to die. God is faithful and he must be faithful even above his name. He put his word above his name. That means, God will never ever violate his word. Because when he speaks, he must keep what he says, even to himself. Whether you agree with him or not. He cannot change what he spoke.

The purpose of the law of God

Hebrews 10:1-9

¹The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ² Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. ³ But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. ⁴ It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;
⁶ with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you were not pleased.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
    I have come to do your will, my God.’”^[a]

⁸ First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. ⁹ Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.

Hebrews says that the law was a shadow. It says the law was not real, but it was a copy of the reality itself. It says year after year the Israelites had to perform these rituals, but the rituals were only a reminder. In fact, the Israelites killed animals and sacrificed them for their sin day in and day out. The Bible says it was a reminder that they were sinners. They were in bondage of sin. As you read to the end, it is quoting psalms 40. It says, but Christ when he came, he said God did not require all those things. It was just reminding people every day that they were sinners. But here, when Jesus Christ came, he said, a body you prepared for me oh Lord to do your will. This body was prepared for Jesus Christ to do the will of God. Then the question arises what was the will of God through this body that was prepared for him?

The Bible states very clearly that Jesus existed before everything came into existence. In other words, he existed but he had no body. But he existed. That is why we read in the Bible that he was with God and he was God. Everything was created through him. There was nothing that was done without him (John 1).

The importance of the body

In the beginning God created man. In Genesis 1:26 God says, let us make man in our image, in our likeness, let them rule over the fish and everything. God created man for earth, to rule the earth and everything. And here comes the interesting part. He does not include himself in the ruling part. I want us to understand why Jesus says, “a body he prepared to do his will”. Because after God said let us make man and let them have dominion over everything, God was no longer accountable of what was going to become of what he created. He handed it over to humankind.

But remember, whatever he said, is what he said. He must keep what he said. He cannot change what he said. We must understand this law. When Paul addresses issues with the Hebrews regarding the law, he is trying to pinpoint them to the essence of the law. Because they thought by performing those rituals and sacrifices, and acting on those laws, they were saved and righteous.

But this law was just a reminder. Every time you kill an animal as a sacrifice, it is just reminding you that you are a sinner. The law was just a reminder that you deserve to die but something else is dying in your place. No matter whether you are killing a bird or a sheep or a bull, every time you are sacrificing an animal, it was just a reminder that it should be you. It should be you that is being slain. So, the law was just a reminder.

The evil in the world

God was not ignorant of what was going to happen on the earth. He was not ignorant of the evil that was already orchestrated by somebody that God also put in charge. God was not ignorant of that. He first created the heavens and then he created the earth. Thoughtfully he put everything in place. He knew that one of the elements that he created in the heavenly realm had gone bad – Lucifer to be specific. He already knew when he placed Adam and Eve in the garden what the devil had planned. Nevertheless, God did not say to Adam and Eve: “Hey, I created an angel, his name is Lucifer. Please, when he comes, do not listen to him. He is a liar.” He could have said that. He could have warned Adam in the garden and been specific about Lucifer. But he did not want to reveal Lucifer to Adam.

He gave man a command. Do not do this, do that. Don’t do this, do that. And you will recall that when God comes into the garden, he finds that Adam and Eve have disobeyed his word. What is important that it came out of Adam’s own mouth. Lucifer was not there. It was only man and God. Adam realized that he was naked. When God is calling Adam, “where are you?” Adam answered by saying, “I heard you coming so I hid myself because I was naked.” Now listen to God’s question: “Who told you that? Who told you that you are naked?” And the next thing he was asking: “Did you do that, which I commanded you not to do?” Do you realize that we are not discussing the enemy here? This is what happens, when somebody knows the truth and he does something wrong and blames it on the devil. This is exactly what happened. You know the truth, and you still go ahead with your evil plan. Paul writes in the book of Hebrews about this saying (Hebrews 6:5), “if somebody has tasted the goodness of the Lord, how can you – and this person has gone astray – bring that person back?” You cannot. Because this person is very wicked. So Adam knows the truth, but he wants to hide. And so Adam says, “the woman you gave me, gave me from the fruit and I ate.”

The second Adam

God had put another law. He said to Adam, “the day you eat, you will surely die.” The day Adam disobeys God, he must die. Who will kill him? The one who said that he will surely die. Who said that he is going to die? God. Who should make sure that he is going to die? God. He must keep his word. Remember, he said Adam will die. And if God said that Adam will die then God will have to kill Adam. That is why they call Jesus Christ the second Adam. And the second Adam is the one that God kills. So, the second Adam is this body that God prepared. Because if this body was not prepared, you and I will have to be killed and die. If the Adam who begotten us, would have been killed, there would be no me and you. If the Adam that sinned was killed at that time, there would have been no Abraham, there would have been no promise and no Moses… nobody. So that first Adam had to receive what we call mercy.