My church had its Bible study last night. We’re going through The Unbreakable Covenant: God’s Covenants with Abraham, Moses, and David, with Michael Rydelnik. We did Session 4, which is entitled “Faith, the Future, and Jesus.”
On the DVD, Michael Rydelnik argued that the Torah itself was about
faith, not just works, citing (among other things) God’s rebuke of Moses
for not having faith when Moses struck the rock rather than obeying God
and speaking to it (Numbers 20:1-13). Rydelnik also contended that the
Torah does not just point to the past, but also to the future itself,
for there are places in the Torah that speak of the last days.
Moreover, like the Book of Acts, Rydelnik interprets the prophet like
Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 to be Jesus Christ. Rydelnik said that
other prophets spoke God’s words, as was said about the prophet in
Deuteronomy 18:15-19, and Rydelnik there may have been addressing
(albeit not explicitly) the scholarly argument that Deuteronomy 18:15-19
concerns the prophetic office, not a specific future prophet. But
Rydelnik ultimately thinks that Deuteronomy 18:15-19 is about a specific
future prophet like Moses, namely, Jesus Christ. Rydelnik referred to
Deuteronomy 34:10-12, which states that a prophet has not arisen like
Moses, and Rydelnik mentioned the scholarly argument that this passage
was put into Deuteronomy long after the time of Moses. Rydelnik also
cited Numbers 12:6-8, which distinguishes Moses from other prophets,
saying that other prophets have visions, whereas God spoke with Moses
face to face. The other prophets were not like Moses, Rydelnik was
arguing, whereas Jesus Christ was, for God spoke with Jesus
face-to-face. The prophet like Moses of Deuteronomy 18:15-19,
therefore, is Jesus, according to Rydelnik.
In terms of the group’s discussion, there was some question about
whether or not all prophets except for Moses received their revelations
through dreams or visions. Abraham had a vision in Genesis 15, but did
everyone who heard from God hear through a dream or a vision? The text
doesn’t always say! I think there is good reason to believe that
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 is talking about the prophetic office in general,
for the prophetic office would meet Israel’s desire for an intermediary
that is mentioned in that passage, plus other prophets in the Hebrew
Bible appear to be modeled on Moses, on some level: Moses parted the Sea
of Reeds, and Elijah in II Kings 2 parted the waters.
The group was somewhat struggling to understand the difference
between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. People were agreeing
with Michael Rydelnik that the Torah was pro-faith, yet they were also
saying that the Torah was based on works and law, whereas the New
Covenant was based on faith. I can understand their point of view,
since there are times that Paul seems to make such a distinction between
the covenants. There were faith, grace, and works under the Old
Covenant, so how was it different from the New Covenant? Well, Rydelnik
referred to Deuteronomy 30:6′s circumcision of the heart so that Israel
would love God, God under the new covenant writing God’s law on
Israel’s heart in Jeremiah 31, and the new heart in Ezekiel. Perhaps
that’s the difference: God in the New Covenant internalizes God’s law in
people’s heart, whereas God did not do that to the same extent (if at
all) under the Old Covenant.
Other than that, we talked about such hot-button topics as climate
change, homosexuality, whether the Hebrew Bible truly prefigured the New
Testament, and the list goes on. I was pretty heated, sad to say, but
the discussion near the end amounted to us listening to each other with
respect, even if we disagreed. I felt a need to be honest about my
thoughts on issues. People were giving authentic testimonies, and I did
not feel that I could give a canned testimony. Yes, there was a time
way-back-when when I felt a conviction of sin and accepted Jesus Christ
as my Lord and Savior. But I never felt authentic sharing that with
people. I feel more authentic when I share honestly where I am now
religiously, with my doubts and struggles. I don’t want to be
disruptive about it, though.