Wilderness Wonderings

Wilderness Wonderings

Kingdom

A New Journey

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Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for taking the time to wonder through the wilderness with me as we study God’s word as it pertains to the Kingdom of God. Your encouragement over the last several weeks has been invaluable and greatly appreciated. I am humbled by the response and look forward to providing more content to you in the near future.

Over the next few weeks, Sara and I will begin a new journey as we are relocating to Ft. Worth, TX. Starting in January 2021, I will begin attending seminary at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, pursuing my Masters in Theological Studies degree, majoring in Cross-Cultural Missions. This is the fulfillment of a lifelong pursuit that the circumstances of the last year have finally made possible for us. God has been so good to us this year and look forward to the next year and beyond with much anticipation of what He will continue to do in and through us going forward.

As such, due to the demands that will be required of us for this relocation, I will be taking a break from writing on a day-to-day basis in order to be a proper partner to my bride and work towards focusing on our relocation efforts, and all of the little tasks that come with that. I may occasionally report on different things or write a short article as time allows, but we will pick back up in November with more consistent publication schedule.

Additionally, I will be preparing a new podcast series that we hope to begin production on in December to plan for release in early 2021. I’m really excited about what God is teaching me in my studies about the Kingdom of God and what it means for the Church at large and how we can mobilize to be more effective for the Kingdom, especially in these trying times that we face.

In the meantime, rest assured that I will continue to pursue my own personal study of the Scriptures as I have time marked out every morning, dedicated to seeking the heart of our Father as revealed in His word. Additionally, know that if you have any prayer needs, I am always available to approach the throne of God with your petitions on your behalf. You can submit any prayer requests you have here.

In conclusion, I encourage you to open the Scriptures for yourself on a daily basis. Study them and seek the heart of the Father. Examine the word not for what you can get out of it, but for what God wants to reveal to you about Him. And remember, the overarching theme of the Scriptures is that He loves you and is always seeking a way to draw His people back to Him.

Grace to you, my friends. For the Kingdom…

The Comfort of the Kingdom

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Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7
mother holding a child’s hand, close-up hands, nature in background.

During my childhood growing up in the 1970s and 80s in southeast Louisiana, it wasn’t that uncommon that my mother would take me to the store with her every other weekend. Occasionally, we would drive all the way into Baton Rouge and visit the former Cortana Mall. Once situated in one quarter of the cloverleaf intersection of Florida Boulevard and Airline Highway, Cortana Mall was essentially the place to go when you went to the city. Across the highway used to be a bowling alley that my church youth group would frequent, where I once bowled better than a 200 (but only once.)

Being as we lived about 30 minutes away in the country, these trips to town back in those days often felt like a huge treat to get to experience a different side of life that we didn’t experience daily in our quiet, serene lives in Pine Grove. On rare occasions as I got older, my mother would “release the leash” and let me roam the mall by myself or with a friend who was invited along in order to cure my boredom with perusing the giant clothing outlets.

However, as a younger child, I wasn’t allowed to stray far from my mother’s sight. And if I somehow wandered off and got lost, I would become fearful and cry out for her. Sometimes a store employee would see me and offer assistance with a kind smile in the hopes of calming my fears and anxieties until my mother could be located, usually only a few feet away.

Just as my mother was nearby and I was not out of her sight, in spite of my own blindness, our Abba Father is always near – His eyes ever watching and His hands ever guiding and comforting. Even when we can’t see Him, He sees you. He rejoices over you in your victories and offers comfort in the midst of your pain. Just because you don’t see Him in the midst of your darkness doesn’t mean He shut off the lights. And when you experience pain and disappointment and discouragement, He is there offering a gentle hand of peace.

But all too often, because we become fixated on our circumstances, we lean on our own pride and humanity to pull us up by the bootstraps and push through the pain and the circumstances. Yes, it is true that God gave us a brain to use and think and reason with our situations, but sometimes, we reach a breaking point where the circumstance is beyond our competencies. Our natural response is to respond with fear or frustration or anger, which blind us to the comfort that is waiting for us if we simply stop and breathe Him in.

We can rejoice in knowing, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, the Lord is near, waiting for us to crawl into His lap to comfort us as His child. While our circumstances may exceed our competencies, His peace is capable of overcoming that beyond our own understanding. When we begin with the realization that the Lord is always near, we can stand in confidence knowing that even if we don’t understand what is going on, His peace is readily available. He will help to guard our hearts and minds and remind us of the grace and love that He has for us as citizens of His Kingdom and Princes and Princesses of His realm. He will never abandon you in your pain. In fact, He comes running to our aid, pleading for you to cling to Him.

Let His peace reign in your heart and mind. Rejoice in the presence of the King of Creation! For you are a prince or princess of the Universe and He adores you. If you don’t know Him, I urge you don’t delay. He is waiting for you on pins and needles, longing for you to lift up your eyes and see Him for the truth that He is. While the door to the Kingdom is narrow, and path to the gate is difficult, the door is open to anyone who would walk through it. The rewards of Kingdom citizenship far outweigh the riches of this world.

If you want to know more about what it means to be part of the Kingdom, I’m just a quick click and an email away. There is nothing more important to me in this world than knowing that you know my Abba. If you don’t know Him and want to know more, don’t wait. Run! Peace to you, my friends, from the Father of all Creation.

The Establishment of the Kingdom

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So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Acts 1:6-8

Three years have passed since Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount in which He proclaimed everything that the Kingdom of God would be like. While it is widely believed by many scholars that the Sermon on the Mount is actually a collection of topical teachings that Matthew compiled and set into a single delivery, it does not change the fact of the truth that He proclaimed everything that Father expects of His children. And in the end, because He spoke with such authority – more so than the established Scriptural experts of His day – the crowd of observers stood in awe and amazement, their minds quite figuratively blown away by this carpenter teacher from hicktown Nazareth.

Now three years later, after Jesus has invested His life into His closest allies, endured the betrayal of His friends and the shame and humiliation of the cross that took His life, He has once again risen in victory over death, Hell, and the grave. For forty more days, Jesus appeared to His followers and continued to teach them and prove to them that He had indeed been resurrected by the same power that had performed miracles for the previous three years. And He continued to declare the Kingdom of God and explain their part in it (Acts 1:3).

As once again, He stands on a mountainside outside of Jerusalem, overlooking the great city of God’s immense affections, the question arises: “Is it now that You are restoring the kingdom of Israel?” And it is painfully evident that they still didn’t understand. Israel has been oppressed under the boot of the Roman Empire and there was nothing they wanted more than freedom and restoration of their homeland. Now that Jesus had fulfilled the prophecy of a king riding into Jerusalem on donkey, they waited expectantly for the deliverance that was promised. Yet, the deliverance that was promised, was not the deliverance they expected.

“It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.” (Acts 1:7) Israel would indeed be restored as an independent kingdom. This prophecy was indeed fulfilled on May 14, 1948 – a little more than 1900 years later. Israel would struggle back and forth for centuries between the Romans, the Byzantines, Christendom, the Mongols, and the Muslim Caliphates. In 1920, the British unfolded their plan to increase Jewish immigration to the Promised Land following World War I, and in 1948, Israel finally won her independence. But this was not the Kingdom that Jesus was speaking of.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) The Greek word for “power” here is “dynamis”. It is the root word for many words in Latin and in modern English like “dynamite”, “dynamic”, and “dynasty”. It is often referential of power in numbers or strength and influence. But its most common use is as a form of inherent power – a power that resides within by virtue of individual nature or temperament. It is referential to authority, more so than ability. This explains Luke’s use of the word “martys” for Jesus’ characterization of His disciples as “My witnesses.” The word has carried with it some interesting connotations over the years, the most notable of which is being the root for the word “martyr.” In reality, it is a legal term to describe someone who appears in court to testify to what they have seen.

Ultimately, yes, every one of the Apostles suffered persecution for the sake of God’s Kingdom – a Kingdom that demands repentance and submission to God before the kingdoms of man. All of them were killed for their faith, except for John – who was boiled in oil and miraculously survived to be exiled on Patmos, where he received the final Revelation.

The Kingdom that Jesus has been teaching about all along was a Kingdom that is borne within the hearts of the repentant – the reborn. Jesus answered him [Nicodemus] and said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) It takes new eyes and new ears to see and experience the Kingdom of God. It requires a renewed Spirit within us to guarantee our citizenship in the Kingdom. It requires God’s stamp of approval and His empowering of us to be His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) in this world.

The Kingdom of God is established in the hearts of His followers and evidenced by the authority of the Holy Spirit living within us. It is demonstrated by our submission to His authority resulting in repentance. And it’s an eternal battle – a battle that we cannot win on our own and by our own strength.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

The only way we can be a disciplinary force for change in society is to begin with ourselves. We must first “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” Then and only then do we have any right or authority to speak on behalf of the Kingdom of God in order to exact change in our world. To use the ways of the world to advance the mandates of the Kingdom of God is foolishness. Instead of using violence of the flesh to bring about a change of heart, we must learn the rules of engagement in spiritual warfare. Then and only then can we advance God’s Kingdom in this world.

The Treasure of the Kingdom

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Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroys, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart is also.

Matthew 6:19-21

What is your most prized possession? What do you value more than anything in this world? For many years, for me, it was my baseball card collection. While it did not hold much monetary value, there were certain cards in my collection that had the potential to explode in value in the distant future. Rookie cards for such great childhood heroes like Craig Biggio, Mike Scott, and Ken Griffey, Jr. Late career cards for other heroes like Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Tom Seaver, Cal Ripken, Jr., Bobby Bonilla, and many others. And cards for the notorious Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Pete Rose, Roger Clemens, and more.

The value of these cards would fluctuate over time, but in most cases they would only rise – perhaps pennies per year. Cards that were printed with errors often would fetch a higher price. Some of my favorite rookie cards, however, would take a huge hit when Jose Canseco published his shocking expose “Juiced”, where he admitted to using steroids his entire career. Then the BALCO steroid scandal of 2005 broke out, tarnishing the careers of such All-Stars as Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, McGwire, Sosa, and Curt Schilling. All of these were in my prized collection as I grew up playing the grand old game and their value diminished overnight. Ultimately most of them were lost in 2011 when we moved from Alaska back to Texas. I still have a handful tucked away in a small binder, but their value to me has been reduced to mere sentimental value.

Scandal and corruption destroys value. They destroy reputation. But the root of scandal and corruption comes down to the desire to lift yourself higher than you ought to be by artificial means. The desire to be greater than you rightfully are. The treasure of fame and fortune is elevated over integrity and honor. Ultimately, such treasure is fleeting, for it is simply temporary. As long as you keep yourself on top of your game, and don’t get caught cheating, the fame remains. As Billy Joel once put it:

“I am the entertainer
The idol of my age
I make all kinds of money
When I go on the stage
Ah, you’ve seen me in the papers
I’ve been in the magazines
But if I go cold I won’t get sold
I’ll get put in the back in the discount rack
Like another can of beans.”

The Entertainer, by Billy Joel, (c) 1974

One of the great commodities of the Biblical period was olive oil. In fact, olive oil, due its difficult extraction process and wide use for cooking, bathing, lamp fuel, and many other uses, it quickly replaced salt on the top of the commodities trade in the Roman Empire. Olive oil was often shipped in large clay jars call amphoras, that would have two round handles on the top for carrying. These amphorae were also highly fragile as earthenware and would easily break if not handled with care. A testament to their fragile nature can be seen at Monte Testaccio, an artificial hill in Rome made up of broken shards of amphorae pottery, measuring 115 ft high and a little over half a mile around the base. It is widely believed to be the largest garbage dump in the ancient world, measuring over 220,000 square feet with a volume of over 580,000 cubic meters, containing the remains of an estimated 53 million amphorae. A short distance away is the east bank of the River Tiber, where the Roman government would store their olive oil reserves in the late 2nd century AD.

At one time, the Pope used to use the hill to commemorate Good Friday remembrances, representing the hill of Golgotha in Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. The Pope would lead a procession up the hill and place crosses there to represent Jesus and the two thieves that were crucified there. To this day, there is still a cross on top of that garbage heap.

The Cross of Monte Testaccio

During the 1st century AD, a major shipping port and exporter of olive oil was the settlement of Corinth. And Paul alluded to the value of this commodity when we wrote to the Corinthian church:

For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.

2 Corinthians 4:6-12

So I ask you again, what do you treasure most? Is the a material wealth of this world? Or is the surpassing glory of God that overcomes the world? Is it the shekels of men or the shekinah glory of the Father? Where do you invest your time and talents? Do you spend your time on worthless and empty pursuits or do you invest in others and building up the Kingdom of God “on earth as it is in Heaven”? Are you more invested in seeking Warhol’s “fifteen minutes of fame” or seeking the honor and approval of eternity?

When my time comes, and I pray that it is still decades from now, the only thing that will matter is what I have built for the Kingdom of God. Everything else will pass away. The corruption of this world will ultimately destroy the wealth of this world. That which is valuable today will lose its value tomorrow. Placing your faith in the corruptible will ultimately corrupt your faith. But placing your faith in the incorruptible glory of Almighty God will withstand the passage of time and beyond into eternity. It will define your legacy more than any bank account or measure of passing fame will.

The Oath of the Kingdom

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Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

Matthew 5:33-37

I’ve heard it said through the years that if you have to preface a statement with “I promise…” or “To be honest…”, odds are you aren’t. We use phrases like “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or “On my ancestor’s grave…”. It used to be that a person’s word was their bond, that you could take a person at their word without hesitation, because a person’s reputation rests upon their ability to keep their word without the necessity of extra persuasiveness. Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case so much in the world today.

In Old Testament times, a covenant was often sealed with an oath and a sacrifice. The oath or pledge was a declaration of the responsibilities of both parties in the covenant. The sacrificial element of the covenant was representative of the punishment that would befall whoever would break the covenant. In today’s vernacular, this is similar to legal covenants in which there is a financial penalty imparted to the person that breaks the covenant.

To break a vow was the equivalent to breaking the commandment to not lie or bear false witness. To swear an oath by Heaven or by Earth is to suppose that Heaven or Earth are yours to sacrifice in the event of the breaking of the oath. In reality, Heaven is the throne of God and Earth is His footstool. While these are metaphors, the meaning to the listeners of the Sermon on the Mount and to Matthew’s audience is clear – you cannot offer up sacrifice that is acceptable that doesn’t belong to you – that would have no impact upon you directly if you break the covenant. Put simply, Jesus is telling us when you say you are going to do something, do it without the necessity of extra reassurances. Let your actions fulfill your words.

We can take this a step further when you consider the full contextual meaning of Exodus 20:7: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” In light of this context as the third of the commandments of God, this statement is in fact a declaration of the seriousness of the covenant that God was making with His people. God had just declared in verses 5-6 that He will not only visit the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Him, but He will show mercy and kindness to those who love Him and keep His commandments.

To seal this covenant as part of the tribe of Israel was to “take the name of the Lord your God.” To take His name in vain was an attempt to have all the benefits of the covenant (mercy) without the responsibilities of the covenant (obedience). The term “vain” is best described as “empty” or “meaningless”. This is the root word for “vanity” that is used throughout Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes to describe the emptiness and worthlessness of life under the sun, compared to the riches and glory of God Himself. The second part of Exodus 20:7 makes it clear that God will not withhold the covenant prescribed punishment from those who do not keep their word to the covenant – a covenant that demands repentance.

Now, let’s be very clear here. Eternal salvation is granted by the grace and favor of God Himself, not a result of our obedience itself. This is clearly explained by Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9 when he writes “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” But Paul doesn’t discount the value of obedience as he continues in verse 10 with “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Our works of obedience are still important and are a demonstration of our repentance that is inspired by God’s grace. When we come to Christ and become a “fisher of men”, we make a public declaration of this covenant through the sacrament of baptism. If you have not truly surrendered your heart to the covenant relationship with God through Jesus, then your baptism was nothing more than you getting wet. Baptism does nothing mystical, it is simply a symbolic gesture of taking of the oath to follow Christ in your daily life.

If you say that you are a Christ follower, then let your life show it. Live the dictates of God’s Word. Learn the responsibilities of the covenant that you have sworn to uphold. You can trust God at His word because He has proven Himself true time and again throughout history. If you truly examine yourself, can you honestly say that God can take you at your word?

The Law of the Kingdom

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“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:17-20

In order for a Kingdom to exist, there must be a King. In order for a King to have any authority, there must be laws that undergird that authority. Otherwise there is chaos and anarchy, with every man for themselves. And if every person is a law unto themselves, then what happens when you have mutually exclusive, opposing moral compasses? How then would we know who is “right” and who is “wrong”? By necessity, that would require a standard that is external to ourselves in order for it to be equally applied to everyone.

Unfortunately, there are many within the Kingdom that ascribe to the idea that because we are under grace, that somehow the Old Testament law has been done away with – that somehow, the Law of Moses is no longer valid. As Jesus said Himself, He did not come to abolish or do away with the law, but rather to fulfill the law. The word here for fulfill literally means to make it complete.

The Old Testament law required payment or sacrifice for breaking the law. There was a prescribed punishment or offering required depending on what the law was that was broken. Typically the sacrifice was of apparent equal value to that which was lost as a result of the sin. If you stole from your neighbor, then restitution would be required. This would also mean that if you commit murder or a crime of violation against another of God’s image bearers, then often that would mean equal dismemberment or even death.

And Jesus said the standard of the law of Moses has not changed. His standard for our behavior is still the same. And the prescribed penalties are still in place, except with one difference. Jesus fulfilled this prescription. “For the death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.” (Romans 6:10) The writer of Hebrews made a clear case for Christ as the substitutionary payment for the our sin of breaking God’s law in chapter 10: “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. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…Then he adds: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.” (Hebrews 10:8-10, 17-18)

Now grace and forgiveness do not mean we are given free reign to go back and continue to live a life characterized by sin and not in keeping with God’s law. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is evident even as far back as the time of the prophet Samuel:

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He has also rejected you [Saul] from being king.”

1 Samuel 15:22-23

Contextually speaking, Saul had disobeyed God by taking spoils from the victory over the Amalekites, specifically against God’s orders. Saul then decided to take those spoils and offer them in sacrifice to God as an act of worship. Let me rephrase it like this: Saul offered the very act of disobedience as an act of worship on the altar of God. How much more blasphemous can one be? And the worst part about it is even when he was confronted with his sin, he blamed the people instead of taking responsibility for his own disobedience.

Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.”

1 Samuel 15:24

Well, you might say, “I would never do such a thing.” But do we not? Do we harbor grudges against our brother/sister as we enter into worship? Have you ever wished harm to someone in the name of “justice” for the sake of our own self-righteousness? Do you judge the appearance of the person sitting in the pew next to you, or decide instead to sit on the other side of the sanctuary to avoid them? Do you sit in worship and ignore the sermon in favor of following your social media feed? Have I relegated my tithe to the end of my budget, giving God only a portion of what remains, instead of the first fruits of my harvest? Do you give your offerings expecting a blessing from Him in return, as opposed to expecting to be a blessing for the Kingdom? Have we ever done an actual honest assessment of our heart in the midst of our ritualism?

It’s not the sacrifice that God desires, even though the law prescribes it. It’s obedience. He desires our obedience to His word. But not obedience out of blind obligation. Not obedience out of ritualistic incantation. To do so reduces the name of Jesus to an act of witchcraft – which is blasphemy of the highest order.

Jesus wants our heart. He wants our devotion. We obey His word because we know that He loves us and He proved His love for us by taking the punishment that we deserve. That doesn’t mean that we escape consequences for our sin that we commit today, even though we are forgiven. Consequences are still inevitable.

The very idea that there is a moral concept of “right” and “wrong” is evidence of a natural, moral law that we are all bound to. If there is a natural or moral law, then by common reason there is a moral law giver. A law giver who has given us a guide by which we as His people are called to obey.

And Jesus challenges us in our obedience. Our righteousness must “exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.” These scribes and Pharisees were keepers of the law. They knew the letter of the law down to the smallest mark. And they followed it to the letter, but did not hide the spirit of the law within their hearts. They followed the law out of a spirit of ritualistic obligation rather than heartfelt devotion to the God who delivered Israel from the bondage of slavery to Egypt. But God desires our devotion – that we follow the law out of reverence and humility, as opposed to vanity and pride. Then and only then will our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees for it will be a righteousness that is imparted to us by Him through the Blood of Christ due to our faith in His word.

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