Unscriptural Expressions

The word “harlot” is the scriptural expression for lawlessness. Its opposite is the term “bride.” Many expressions are being used that are completely unscriptural, but which the harlot has so impressed upon people that they accept them as scriptural; and when you point these out to them, they get furious and cry out in alarm, just like the silversmiths in Ephesus did in former times. Acts 19:28.

There are three expressions in particular that the harlot has managed to make people believe are biblical, and with these she bewitches them. They are: “At the foot of the cross,” “under the blood,” and “the finished work of Calvary.” Where do we find the apostles using expressions like these in their preaching? They sound so innocent and true; but since they are not biblical, you may rest assured that there is an underlying lawlessness in them—and to a frightening degree, at that! If in this area we could put the lamp firmly in the lampstand so that it might shine for everyone in the house, then the harlot—the mystery of lawlessness—would be shaken to her very foundations.

The harlot sings and speaks about coming to the foot of the cross, where full salvation can be found. “He died for us so that we might not have to.” Can you not hear the tone and the spirit of the mystery of lawlessness in all these fine-sounding words? Can you see how the covenant in the blood of Jesus is being erased?

Now you shall hear the apostolic preaching: “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Pet. 2:24. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Gal. 2:20. “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Gal. 5:24. “But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Gal. 6:14.

Can you hear how the new covenant is emphasized in the preaching of the apostles? Can you rejoice in it, or does it make you indignant and evil? Continue to listen to the apostolic preaching, and how clearly the apostles emphasize the new covenant. The concept “At the foot of the cross” doesn’t exist in their preaching.

“This is a faithful saying: ‘For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.’” 2 Tim. 2:11-13.

But the harlot knows how to take care of such clear scriptures in order to do away with the new covenant. She says, “It is a good thing that He is faithful, even though we are unfaithful.” With these few words she has bewitched the people, making them think that they will live with Him without dying with Him, that He shall not deny them even if they should deny Him, because all this is covered by the grace that is in Jesus. Can you recognize the voice behind all this?

If we are unfaithful and deny Him, He is not unfaithful to acknowledge us in spite of that. Not at all; He abides resolutely by the covenant, and we will experience that He will deny us. Compare this with Jesus’ words in Mark 8:38.

Just as God has kept His covenant with the Jews in the old covenant and let the curse come upon them when they were unfaithful, so the apostle, as we have previously seen, makes it quite clear that the same thing is no less true of the new covenant.

Let us look at the expression “under the blood.” An explanation that I have heard at least two “pastors” use, expresses what is meant by it: “Suppose a stone, lying in a brook, gets dirty; the running water will wash it clean immediately. Thus the stone will always be clean.” But in this illustration the dirt would have had to come with the water. But is there any dirt in the blood of Jesus? This is just an illustration, yet notice how contrary it is to what Peter writes: “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Pet. 1:17.

Only if we walk in the light, does the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanse us from all sin. 1 John 1:7. You cannot stand under the blood as you would under a waterfall. When the Israelites applied blood to the doorposts, they could not stay in Egypt and rely on the blood. No, they were commanded to leave in haste. Ex. 12:7-14. Only two of those who were more than twenty years old entered the Promised Land.

We often hear the phrase, “The finished work of Calvary is sufficient!” Most people assume that it was on Calvary that the work of Jesus first took place. Did He not do a work in Nazareth? Perhaps we should even call it the “work of Nazareth”? “But He died for us on Calvary,” you say. Yes, but the thieves died there too. Jesus’ death on Calvary would not have been of any benefit for us whatsoever if He had not watched and prayed and done the Father’s will all His life. Jesus inaugurated a new and living way. He had learned obedience, and was perfected. He left steps for us to walk in. He was tempted as we are, yet He was without sin. He finished His work on Calvary. There He was offered up as a blameless lamb.

“But then there can’t be anything wrong in calling it ‘the work of Calvary,’” you say. Just be careful that the spirit of lawlessness does not deceive you. Isn’t it best to be on the safe side and keep to the expressions the apostles used?

Wherever you go you hear mostly about Jesus’ death on Calvary. You seldom hear about His resurrection—except on Easter Sunday! Yet it is through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that we are born again to a living hope. 1 Pet. 1:3. Of what significance would His death have been to us if He had not risen again? Then we would still be in our sins! 1 Cor. 15:17. That is why the apostles put the greatest emphasis in their preaching on Jesus’ resurrection, and only mention Jesus’ death occasionally—which is the exact opposite of what we hear in our days.

This shift of emphasis is also a fruit of the mystery of lawlessness. In Jude’s epistle we read that they denied Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Master. Many want to have Jesus as their atoning sacrifice but not as their Lord. Don’t be deceived! If you are not willing to have Him as Lord, then neither can you have Him as an atonement however much you claim “the finished work of Calvary.”

“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” Col. 2:6. He can only save those who obey Him. Heb. 5:9.