July 4, 2025
As they approached the town, they knew it was unfriendly territory. Nevertheless, their leader sent messengers ahead to look for lodging. When the town’s people turned them down, two of the leader’s men wanted to burn them up. The leader squelched their plan. Sound familiar? (Luke 9:51-56)
Many people today reject God and the Bible because of all the violence in the OT. Yes, it is there. While recently reading through the OT in my morning devotions and being struck with that fact over and over, my mind more than once turned to Jesus rebuking James and John for wanting to copy the OT examples.
Jesus’ Apostles Had the Wrong Spirit
The earliest manuscripts do not record Jesus’ exact words when He rebuked James and John. However, all manuscripts elsewhere relate the same truth: “For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him” (John 3:17). This verse expresses a new spirit – drastically different from God’s actions and directions in the OT.
Yes, the OT is full of judging, condemning, and killing enemies of God. From the Genesis flood to the ethnic cleansing of Cannan to David’s slaughter of Goliath, and on and on. But Jesus rebuked His apostles for wanting to follow those OT examples. Things were changing. Jesus was announcing a new age. Rather than kill more sinners, Jesus came to give His life’s blood for all sinners.
The “Son of David”
The first Gospel begins with: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David.” Knowing that God had promised the Messiah to be a descendant of David, the Jews frequently called Jesus the “Son of David.” But even His closest disciples did not yet understand that the Messiah would be a very different kind of king.
“Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7). In contrast, the Son of David slew nobody! The only blood He shed was His own! The Son of David plainly told the Roman governor, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight…” (John 18:36).
The Old
Before Jesus came, God dealt mainly with the theocracy of Israel. A theocracy combines physical and spiritual matters into one God-directed system. The Old was very much about forcing people through laws, punishment, and war. Too many believers today apply the theocratic OT principles to their views of “God and country.” We need to replace that with “God and gospel.” Let’s keep in mind that God’s overriding purpose for Israel was to bring Jesus into the world. The Old was a “tutor to bring us to Christ… But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor” (Gal. 3:24-25).
Yes, the OT is God’s Word; it contains vital, helpful, comforting, God-given, inspired messages. But “in that he says, ‘A new covenant’, he has made the first obsolete” (Heb. 8:13). Jesus spent 3½ years striving to teach James and John – and all of us – that His promised kingdom was very different from David’s.
The New
Jesus was known as a friend of sinners. He didn’t come to judge and kill. He came to seek and save. Remember Peter in Gethsemane slicing off that guy’s ear? Jesus not only rebuked Peter, but He also healed the man. The Old was passing away; the New was at hand. Today “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood… take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:12-17). That’s our weapon today.
Today, Christians of all nationalities form a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9). The United States of America never was and never can be a “Christian nation.” The only “Christian nation” is Jesus’ church. Since Jesus came, “church and state” are separate systems. “My Kingdom is not of this world… Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (John 18:36; Matt. 22:21).
In the context of discipline inside the church body, Paul wrote, “For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within? But those who are outside, God judges” (1 Cor. 5:12-13). It is not the church’s business to push for civil laws to force worldly people to live like Christians. Our business is to invite people to willingly follow Jesus.
Yes, Judgment Day is coming. But today is the day of mercy and grace. “Bless those who persecute you… Repay no one evil for evil… Don’t seek revenge yourselves… If your enemy is hungry, feed him… Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:14-21).
“What Kind of Spirit Do We Have?”
Are you following Elijah and David – or King Jesus? Oh yes, there are many appropriate ways to follow Elijah and David but punishing the wicked is not one of them. Are your heroes those who killed the British so “we” could have “freedom”? Or are your heroes those who encourage their neighbors to willingly kill their own “old man,” so that they might have true freedom in Christ?
As the book of Hebrews says over and over, the New is so much better than the Old. It offers reconciliation to God for all the peoples of the world. Let’s follow the Prince of Peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Matt. 5:9).