Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days (audio)

What exactly is Halloween, where does it come from and should Christians have anything to do with it? The roots of modern Halloween can be traced back to the pagan Celts of Britain, 2000 years ago. One of their main festivals was Samhain on 31st October marking the transition into the ‘dark half’ of the year. They believed that the veil between this world and the 'otherworld' was at its thinnest, allowing both demons and the spirits of the dead to pass into our world and mingle with the living, harassing those who don’t placate them. So sacrifices were offered to them, along with sweet foods (treats), to avoid their malevolent tricks. The Celts disguised themselves in strange costumes and macabre masks, hoping their ghastly appearance would fool the demons into counting them among their number and so leave them alone. Later, Christians replaced this pagan holiday with a celebration of believers in glory. So 1st November became All Saints (Hallows) Day and the night before, All Hallows Eve or Halloween. But the pagan roots were not fully cut off and have increasingly grown into the commercial, death-focused event of today. So modern Halloween is the direct offspring of ancient Samhain, and those who enjoy the present-day festivities are eating the fruit of an ungodly tree. Christians should have nothing to do with Halloween. In the Old Testament, all such occult practice was strictly forbidden (Deuteronomy 18:9-13, Leviticus 20:27). Likewise, Paul tells us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.” (Ephesians 5:11). Why? “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (v8). “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you” (2Corinthians 6:17). How can we honour the Lord while embracing a festival of death? Christian parents must have courage to say ‘no’ to children when it comes to Halloween. If necessary, parents and Churches could offer uplifting alternatives, with games and activities, and teaching emphasising God as the Source of light and life, in contrast to the darkness and evil in the world, and the victory of Christ over all darkness. He has liberated us from evil, darkness and death in all its forms. How much better to celebrate the Lord of life than the power of darkness!

In contrast to the false teachers who were love-bombing the Galatians for their own selfish purposes, Paul's love for them was genuine, both in their presence and when they were separated from them. His motive was not to possess them for himself, but that Christ would be formed in them. He loved them as a mother loves her children. He had originally brought them to birth through his prayers and through the Gospel, and now he was labouring again for them in intercession and in the Word, earnestly desiring to be with them again, reunited in sweet fellowship. Meanwhile he is at his wits end trying to get through to them.

Having described how God had saved them from bondage to external law and ceremonial religion, and evil spirits, and given them the liberty and inheritance of sonship (v7-8), Paul points out how foolish is it for them to desire to return to being in bondage again to external ceremonial laws, such as observing days, months, seasons and years (v9-10), which he describes as weak and beggarly elements (v3,9) – that is, they are impotent to save, and have no intrinsic value. They are not reality, but only shadows of reality, whose purpose is to point to the substance (Christ). But now we are in Christ, our faith connects us directly to His realities, so these outward observances are no longer necessary. In fact, if we believe that we must focus our lives on obeying them, the danger is that it will cause us to focus on externals, rather than on the reality in Christ. Then Paul makes a series of personal appeals to the Galatians, reminding them how much he had sacrificed and laboured among them, so they would know the truth (v11), how much he had identified with them and come alongside them, which should cause them to stop distancing themselves from him, but instead be loyal to him (v12). He then reminds them how they received him with love and honour as God’s messenger, when he came to them with the Gospel, even though he came in weakness, and with much bruising around his eyes, having just been stoned to death (v13-14, see Acts 14:19-25). He reminds them of the blessedness of their time together, when God’s love flowed freely between them, when they would have been willing to give up their own eyes for his sake (v15). Then he shames them by saying: “have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” (v16). Finally, he points out that the false teachers are making a fuss of them for selfish reasons, so that they would be able to possess the Galatians for themselves, and so control them, and cut them off from Paul and everyone else (v17), which is exactly the way that cults operate.

These wonderful verses describe how God the Father has saved us by His grace in (1) sending forth His Son into the world to redeem us (v4-5), and (2) sending forth His Spirit into our hearts to regenerate and indwell us and lead us into our full inheritance (v6-7). We discuss what ‘the fullness of time’ means (v4), and how these verses claim that Jesus is the God-man, born of a virgin (Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14), who lived a sinless life, fulfilling the Law perfectly (v4), in order to redeem us from the curse of the law, that we might be set free from bondage to external law, by being placed (adopted) as sons (‘huios’) of God. Upon this legal basis, God then also immediately sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, regenerating our spirits in the New Birth, making us actual sons of God, who cry out from our spirit: “Abba, Father!” (v6). Therefore, we are no longer slaves, but sons, and heirs of God and His full blessing of salvation through Christ (v7).

In this study, we see what God did for us, when we received Christ as Lord and Saviour. The key phrase is ‘in Christ.’ God made the promise of salvation to Abraham and His SEED, who is CHRIST (v16). Christ received the full Blessing of Abraham on our behalf, and when we trusted in Christ, we were baptised into Christ (v27, Romans 6:3-7). In Christ (through our union with Him) we became sons of God (v26), clothed with His righteousness (v27). Moreover, all believers in Christ, whatever our race, status or sex, are ONE (literally, one entity), for if we are in Christ (v26,27,28), we are Christ’s (under His headship), forming part of Abraham’s SEED (v29), who is CHRIST (He is the head and we are the body). This agrees with 1Corinthians 12:12-13: “By one Spirit we were all baptised into one body (Christ), whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” Since in Christ, we are now the Seed of Abraham, we inherit the Blessing of Abraham, which includes our full salvation, as a free-gift of His grace (v14,29). In Galatians 4:1-7, Paul restates his previous argument from 3:23-25, proving that when we trust in Christ, we are no longer slaves (under the law), but sons, who are free. He points out that any potential heir, while still a child, is under external restraint (law), like a slave, until the time appointed by the father (4:1-2), for him to be raised into the position of mature sonship (as a ‘huios’), when he is set free from bondage to the external law, and is able to enter into and enjoy his inheritance (v5,7). Likewise, before our salvation, we were in bondage to the Law, described as the elementary principles of religion, that is, the Ceremonial Law (v3), but now through Christ we have been redeemed, set free from slavery to the Law, adopted as sons and heirs of God, and given His Holy Spirit to dwell within us (v5-7).

In these verses, Paul continues to describe how the Law serves the purpose of preparing man to receive salvation through faith in Christ. The Law of Moses consists of (1) the Moral Law, which revealed His absolute righteousness, (2) the Ceremonial Law, which revealed what Christ would do to save us, and (3) the Civic Law, which revealed that God’s justice demanded punishment when laws were broken. The Moral Law proved all men are guilty, under sin, so that our only hope of salvation is through faith in Christ (v22). The Ceremonial Law acted like a tutor, governing the life of Israel and keeping her separate from the nations, preserving her from corruption, as well as the truth with which she had been entrusted by God (v23). For Messiah to come and perfectly fulfil the Law, He needed to be born into a nation where the Law was honoured as God’s Word. The Ceremonial Law, as a tutor, also pointed to the way of salvation through Christ, so that men would be justified by faith in the coming Messiah (v24). But now that Christ has come, and we have put our faith in Him for salvation, we are no longer under the Law (v25), for it has now fulfilled its preparatory role in our life. Just as a child is kept under external supervision, until he becomes a mature grown-up son (‘huios’), able to choose for himself, so likewise we lived under law, until we became a son (huios’) of God, which took place when we put our trust in Christ (v26). Just as a child is set free from external supervision when he becomes a ‘huios’, so we were set free from the Law, when we became sons of God through faith in Christ, for we no longer need an external tutor to control our behaviour, because we are now constrained by the love of Christ within us (2Corinthians 5:14).

Previously we saw that God established His way of salvation by grace through Abraham, so that when He introduced the Law through Moses, He never intended it to be a means of salvation. So, the question naturally arises: What then is the purpose of the Law? We see that one of its main purposes is to reveal the fact that we are sinners, who cannot save ourselves, so that we will welcome the Gospel of salvation by grace. The Law lifts the lid off man’s respectability, revealing what he is like underneath, by turning our sin into transgression, making us law-breakers. Thus, it exposes our sin and reveals its nature and sinfulness, that it is rebellion against the will and authority of God. The Law also imprisons us, and restrains and modifies our behaviour, but it has no power to forgive us, change us from within or save us. But the Law does PREPARE us for salvation through Christ, (1) by revealing our need for salvation, and (2) by pointing beyond itself to Christ, through the types and shadows (especially the sacrificial system), the true source of forgiveness and salvation. So, the Law also illuminates and confirms the Gospel. Paul also points out the inferiority of the Law to the Gospel, by pointing out that the Covenant of Moses between God and man was mediated through angels and Moses (a fallen man), creating an imperfect connection between God and man (so that there was still a separation between them), and was therefore temporary and preparatory by nature. On the other hand, the New Covenant of grace is perfect and everlasting, having been made between God the Father and God the Son, and God is One (2 perfect Persons, who are One), so that when we are put in Christ (through His human nature), we come into a perfect, unbreakable union with God on the basis of an everlasting Covenant, established in the precious Blood of the God-man Jesus Christ, our eternal Mediator. Thus, in Christ, we are one with God, all separation between us and God having been removed forever, in fulfilment of Christ’s high priestly prayer for us in John 17:20-23.

The legalistic false teachers based their doctrine on Moses, saying that our conformity to the Law of Moses was the way of salvation. Paul goes back 430 years earlier to Abraham, when God revealed the true way of salvation, based on promise (grace), not on law (works). He then uses the human example of a WILL, which, once established, promises and legally guarantees the inheritance to the seed, as a free-gift. He points out that once it is confirmed, it cannot be annulled, especially after the one who made the will has died. In the same way, God made an unchangeable covenant (will) with Abraham, promising that in him and his seed all the nations will be blessed (receive the inheritance of salvation), on the basis of the death of Christ, which was an established fact in the mind of God, from the foundation of the world. Therefore, this way of salvation by grace must still be in force, and that therefore the Covenant and Law of Moses did nothing to render this promise void. Thus, the Law was never meant to be a substitute way of salvation, replacing the Abrahamic promise, for if salvation was by the law, then it would no longer be through the promise (faith), and that is impossible, because God gave Abraham an unconditional, unchangeable promise of this inheritance (the blessing of Abraham), and God is always faithful to keep His word.

Galatians 3:13-14 are foundational verses, upon which we can establish our faith that (1) Christ has delivered us from every curse, and that (2) the blessing of God is ours now in Christ. Thus, these are vital verses for our spiritual warfare, enabling us to stand against curses and deal with them effectively. They are also great verses to stand upon for healing, for they affirm that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of sickness, having become a curse (sick) for us on the Cross, that we might receive the blessing of healing through faith. We complete our study of Galatians 3:13-14, by exploring some Types of Christ in the Old Testament, which shed extra light on these vital verses, including taking a closer look at the Type of the Bronze Serpent on the pole (Numbers 21), which provides an important Old Testament background to these verses, since it reveals Christ becoming sin and a curse for us when He was lifted up on the Cross, in order that we might receive the blessing of life through faith (John 3:14-16). Also, we see how the dramatic Ceremony of Blessings and Curses at Shechem, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerazim (Joshua 8, Deuteronomy 11 and 27), pictures Christ (1) taking our curse through His sacrificial death, and then (2) releasing His blessing to us through His resurrection. We also discuss the 3 dimensions of blessedness: (1) the Blessor, (2) the Blessing, and (3) Blessings (the manifestations of the Blessing).

To be in relationship with God requires us to be justified by God (declared righteous in His sight). This provides the legal basis for us to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, who brings us into dynamic fellowship with God, through which we experience His abundant and eternal life. All of this is included in the Blessing of Abraham. How can we come into a right relationship with God, receive His Spirit and experience His life? There are only 2 possible ways to be righteous before God: (1) The way of WORKS, in conformity to God's law (the works of the law) - trying to establish our own righteousness by our own works, by trying to keep God's law in our own strength (man's way of pride). (2) The way of FAITH, trusting in the work and righteousness of Christ, which He gives us in His GRACE. These two ways lead to 2 destinies. The way of works always results in us coming under the curse of condemnation and death, because the law requires total perfection all the time, which no one can achieve (except Jesus). So, the only way to be justified before God and live under His life and blessing is to submit to God's way of grace through faith. Jesus made it possible for us to be delivered from the curse and for us to come under God's blessing, by taking our place on the Cross and bearing our sin and becoming a curse for us - taking the punishment we deserved for breaking God's laws. So, if we believe in Christ and receive Him as our Lord, we are put into Christ and receive His righteousness and the blessing of life through his Spirit within us. We discuss the relevance of the law to the unsaved and to the saved, especially pointing out that the ministry of the law is to reveal sin, not to be a means of salvation. We also ask: What is the Blessing and what is the Curse? We also look at the typology in Deuteronomy 21 that Paul referenced in Galatians 3:13, and point out how Christ fulfilled all the requirements for removing the curse from us through His death and burial, before receiving the blessing of God for us, and releasing to us in his resurrection. We also take an initial look at the Type of the Bronze Serpent on the pole (Numbers 21).