Old Testament reading: Psalm 110-115
Psalm 110 is yet another distinctly Messianic Psalm. Two of the first four verses are quoted in the New Testament, and verses 5-6 are pictured in Revelation 19:11-21. But the phrase I found intriguing is in verse 3, “Your people shall be volunteers in the day of Your power, in the beauty of holiness.” This marks a stark contrast of His people yet to be manifest and those of Israel. A man was an Israelite by physical birth. He did not choose to be God’s child. Conversely, those who are God’s children today are so of their own volition, by exercise of their free will. Jeremiah spoke to this point in Jeremiah 31:34, when he foretold that God’s people would be taught first and become children afterward, unlike the then current state of Israel wherein one was born an Israelite and afterward had to be taught God’s law. God’s army today is entirely made up of volunteers!
New Testament reading: Acts 15-16
All men, both Jew and Gentile, are saved by grace through faith. This is the message of Peter when confronted by the Judaizing teachers in Acts 15:5. First, we note that Peter said all men must hear the word of the gospel before they can be saved (15:7). This precludes any form of predestination, which says all men were saved or lost before the world began. Second, those who hear the word of the gospel must believe it. Third, their hearts are purified by the faith (15:9). Not one standard translation includes the definite article preceding “faith,” but it is in the original text. Thus, this text does not teach salvation at the point of faith or by faith alone, but through the system of faith known as the gospel (cf Acts 6:7; Rom 1:16). Finally, Peter says both Jews and Gentiles are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said that whoever believes the gospel and is baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:15-16). The first Gentiles to hear the gospel in Acts 10 were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (v 48). The first Jews to hear the gospel in Acts 2 were commanded to be baptized in the name of Jesus to receive remission of sins. Thus, when one responds in faith to the hearing of the gospel and is baptized, he is saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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