July 24, 2015
The Smallest Letter
I wrote an
article and the computer spell checker allowed sheriff to be spelled “Sherriff.”
After publication a friend pointed out the error so I did an online search and
found that the spelling Sherriff is old English. So even though the spelling
was right, it was wrong. It was surprising to me that four different sets of
eyes read and re-read the article and no one picked up on the spelling. Yet
another reason to be impressed with the scribe’s efforts in transcribing God’s
Word without error. Jesus said, “I tell
you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not
the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished” (Matt 5:18 NIV).
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Gail;
-----I remember happening upon a very good friend and brother in the Lord one day while I was in a store. He and I always did dive into pretty deep discussions together. This afternoon was not different. But I could quickly tell his religious bent was bending even more towards the recent thought he’d been following. An honorable and admirable America having submerged itself into a sea of debauchery and corruption over the last half century, where pretty much the entire Western world was swimming and awaiting her, has seemed to brew up much interest in holiness through a new Seventh-Day movement. Not only have there become more and more of these believers, but like my friend, they are honing in more and more upon that “Time is short, man is worsening, so get holy through the Torah” mentality.
-----Now, having come from the union of a Baptist with a Seventh Day Adventist, by the time I was thirty I had necessity to do some real deep and serious thinking about what all this “If you love Me you will keep My commandments” stuff meant and how it did or did not apply to the commandments in the Torah. And, of course, I am a man of reason. I am sure Our Father is also. He invited us to come reason with Him. And He gave a very reasonable and information packed writing for us to reason out what He has to say regarding matters. So, when the import of God’s Word showed the reasonable conclusion that we Gentiles were not to be bothered by the burdens of the Levitical Law, as Paul and the elders worked out at Antioch with the specifically proclaimed guidance of the Holy Spirit, then concisely commanded in a letter carried to the churches, I too found myself relieved of those laws given to the physical descendents of Israel. Yet, in my studies of the Word up to then, and especially in all the years following unto now, I have noticed the plush fullness of the insights and understandings available through celebrating the Jewish holidays.
-----So, I thought my conversation with this friend would roll off quite amicably. I was surprised. His insistence upon keeping the Jewish celebrations would not be satisfied with my heartfelt admiration for them and what keeping them can do for their participant’s understanding. Oh no! For sure, according to him, you did not love the Lord unless you celebrated the Jewish holidays. After all, “…not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law…”
-----It still amazes me how an entire adverbial clause has “passed away“. These adverbial clause things are called “modifiers” because they narrow and more specify the concepts to which they attach. That is like the author doing it, you know. And that means, like maybe, we ought to give them as much notice as we give the concept they modify. Like, that’s what the author wanted it there for, you know. And this “passed away” clause says that the “not passing away” state of the small letters and pen strokes would last until everything is accomplished. Maybe that modifier would not have passed away had Jesus added an “only” to the “until” as in: “…will by any means disappear from the Law only until everything is accomplished…” But then, oh well, what would it matter even if the clause had not “passed away“. For does it refer to the “It is finished” pronounced upon the cross, to the kingdom of earth becoming the kingdom of the Lord at the seventh trumpet, or to the casting of Satan, his follower angels and humans, and all of death into the lake of fire after which no one clinging to the Lord will ever experience imperfection again? Whatever. The clause is yet there.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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