Forty Prophecies in Forty Days: #7 Misusing Scripture and its purpose

What is the purpose of scripture? This is an area in which the church needs a drastic paradigm shift. As we face the fork in the road that is here today, understanding the proper use of scripture is paramount to walking boldly forth in the plan God has for our day and time. The big shift that so many prophecy and speak of will demand that we change the way we view scripture. How you ask? We must learn to view it exactly as Jesus did and exactly as he taught his first century followers. One of the things that the early church fathers did that has proved to be destructive to the redemptive plan of God is to ignore Jesus teaching on scripture, and instead adopt the Scribes and Pharisees teaching.

What did Jesus teach about the purpose and use of scripture? He taught a completely redemptive view of scripture. He said that its sole purpose was to point to Him as Messiah and provide eternal life. John 5:39-40:  “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.  (40)  And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” Jesus stated clearly that the sole purpose of scripture was to point to him and the redemption that He was bringing humanity. You can also see this in other places in the gospels. Luke 24:27 & 43-45 are important in showing that Jesus taught his followers a different way of looking at scripture. Luke 24:45 explains that he opened their understanding so that they could understand the scriptures. This shows you that the Pharisees DID NOT understand them! It is also obvious that the Pharisees did not understand the scripture because so few of them came to Jesus for life (John 5:40.)

This will take more than one day to establish but it is necessary that the church be confronted with how badly they use the scripture, and how they twist it against what Jesus taught. Paul says the Law was good as long as it was used lawfully (1 Tim 1:8.) Unfortunately, much of modern evangelical doctrine uses the Law unlawfully!

How did the Pharisees, under the Old Covenant view scripture? The answer is they viewed it as a legal constitutional document. Does that sound familiar? Does that ring a bell for you? The bulk of modern, evangelicals, fundamentalists, Pentecostals and charismatics, you name them, look at the scripture as a legal constitutional document. Viewing it that way is the source of many of the problems that we face today. Jesus taught that it was the story of redemption. He taught that it was a love story about a God that loved the world so much that he had redeemed it before he ever created it. Yes my friend, that is precisely what Ephesians chapter one teaches. God had purposed Jesus and redemption before the foundation of the world which means that redemption was His first purpose in creation. God created the world to redeem it. Isn’t that something? These prophecies will show over time that Jesus also redefined the word of God from the Old Testament to the gospel. There is so much to say about this, but I assure you that it is true, and easily seen with a slight paradigm shift. I am purposefully making these entries short (therefore, easy to read) so I implore you to follow this forty day prophecy all the way through till the end.

I will tie together the redemptive purpose over the next few posts and will show that “the gospel” is the Word of God for the New Covenant era. Let me leave you with this though for now. In Revelation, we are told that the testimony of Jesus (the gospel) is the Spirit of Prophesy (Rev 19:10.) Please stay tuned and share… this is going somewhere that will help you with the next phase and the shift that is ordained by God. More to come tomorrow!