Reading the New Testament as a kid, I raced through the Gospels (especially Mark) and Acts. They were filled of adventure. But when I got to Romans my heart sank. It was theology, difficult and deep theology. I remember particularly struggling over this passage:
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
I knew I sinned. I knew my salvation was through the work of Christ. But I could not grasp how those believers of the Old Testament were saved. Christ had not yet taken their punishment.
Both Micah and Paul make it clear that the sins of the remnant were not forgiven, but rather passed over. Their removal was foreshadowed in the promise to Abraham at the thwarted sacrifice of Isaac.
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
The phrase “surely bless” is same word (bāraḵ) repeated for emphasis first as its noun form then as an ongoing verb. Paul explains this blessing in what took place in the work of Christ Jesus:
You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Praise the Lord, that we can see that now that work in the past. But please understand Micah’s joy as foresaw it prophetically in the future! The word "our" is literally "they" in the Hebrew and accurately identifies the past and present members of the covenant as the recipient of the blessing.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.
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