THE NARROW GATE
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THE MESSAGE OF SCRIPTURE
A careful and honest look at the scriptures will reveal that this greatly misunderstood Book's real message is about a King, His Son, the Messiah, His Kingdom, its Constitution, His Royal human family, His Standard of Righteousness, and his Kingdom Mandate to his citizenry. The scriptures are not primarily about religion or religious rituals but about establishing kingdom rulership, kingdom priesthood, and the prophetic message of our King on this planet from the heavenly realm. It is about a divine project of governing earth from Heaven through humanity. In practical terms, the scriptures are about a royal family mandated to colonize earth from Heaven. This kingdom assignment is the priority of the Heavenly Father, the Creator and the object of humanity's inherent pursuit.
The different genres of Scripture are bound together not simply by a unified plot but by a unified canon and constitution. Scripture is rightly divided between Old and New Testaments around which all of the various writings fit.
The governments of other nations had their false gods of stone, wood, and clay as witnesses to their treaties. However, only with Israel (Yasharal – ancient Hebrew) was the Elohim (Aluahym – ancient Hebrew), also the head of state (government) and the emperor or "Great King." Many ancient Near Eastern treaties display common features: (1) a preamble, identifying the great king who is imposing the treaty on the lesser nation; (2) the historical prologue justifying his right as the sovereign maker and enforcer of the treaty; (3) the stipulations governing the servant nation; and (4) sanctions--the specific benefits for loyalty and judgments for disloyalty. Finally, a copy of the treaty would be deposited in the shrine or archive of the suzerain and the vassal. The Old Testament displays these characteristics.
First, there is the covenant with Adam in the Garden with the preamble ("In the beginning Elohim…"); the historical prologue in Genesis, justifying our Father's sovereignty over creation, including humanity; and the command, along with the warning for disobedience. Then there is the promise to Adam and Eve of a Savior.
Second, the historical narrative justifies our Father's sovereignty over Israel, explicitly beginning with Abraham to Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, with the promise of a new exodus. Our Creator will bring all his people back to this land (the true land) that he swore to Abraham and establish them as his righteous nation.
Third, jumping to Deuteronomy restates the constitution in the previous four chapters while the previous three chapters form the core of "the law." The core of the law spreads back into Exodus and forwards into Leviticus. The wisdom literature displays the universality of the Father's moral law. Although Israel has been given a specific constitution, with laws that mark it off from every other nation, the core of that law reflects the moral fabric of the world that our Father has made, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments.
Fourth, the Psalms are the hymnal in which we have the songs that emerged from this story of Israel. The worship commanded in Leviticus is assumed in these songs. So too are the promises that transcend the era of the Sinai law, looking forward to the greater Son of David (Yahshua).
Fifth, the prophets are our Elohim's covenant lawyers bringing his suit against Israel. They invoke the sanctions: curses for transgression and exile from our Father's esteemed land.
Nevertheless, the Abrahamic Melchizedek covenant of grace has not been set aside by Israel's failure because it is not based on the people's oath that they swore at Sinai. Instead, it is an everlasting covenant that depends exclusively on the Creator's faithfulness in sending his appointed Messiah. Prophecy and apocalyptic swirl together in the prophetic books because "eyes have not seen nor ear heard what The King has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians. 2:9). Only these genres will do because they give us intimations, sudden insights, snapshots, and the strange strains of songs from a faraway place.
The same pattern is discerned in the New Testament. In broad terms, the Good News (Gospels) gives us the preamble and historical prologue, the Epistles gives us the doctrines and commands that arise from this drama based on the Abrahamic Melchizedek Covenant Yahshua renewed and the prophetic writings which Yahshua fulfilled. The book of Revelation is our Father's prosecution of his lawsuit against the oppressors of his people and the promise of the new creation. Finally, the sanctions unfold: it is the Last Judgment.
Yahshua fulfils the prophetic scripture of Psalm 110:4
Hebrews 7:21
21 (for those priests were made without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said unto Him: “Elohim swore and will not change his mind, ‘Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.’”),
So we not only have to see the one plot unfolding from Genesis to Revelation as if it were one historical narrative, but we have to see how Israel's story--the old covenant rooted in Sinai--is, like Hamlet's play-within-a-play, distinct from the Abrahamic Melchizedek promise that also unfurls its banner throughout the otherwise depressing episodes of Israel's defiance. We have to see how Proverbs serves as a testimony to the universality of the moral code at the heart of Israel's covenant, how the Psalms form the hymnal of covenant worship.
We have to recognize the distinct lines of the Sinai covenant to see the good news (gospel) in the Old Testament and do not confuse the unique stipulations and sanctions of the Sinai treaty with those of the Abrahamic Melchizedek promise. So now we read the commands even in the Epistles from Zion, not Sinai. They are not conditions for "long life in the land," but what Paul calls "the reasonable service" that we are to offer "because of the mercies of our Elohim" (Romans. 12:1).
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