Joel M Bradshaw

1On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, 2for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.–Nehemiah 13

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise (Galatians 3:28-29).

“Do not think that I [Jesus] have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17).

1. As soon as I read this morning’s verse in Nehemiah, I thought of Galatians 3.
2. This illustrates a key tension of the Bible.
3. Does the New Testament get to interpret or apply the Old Testament?
4. Because if so, then if an Ammonite or Moabite accepts Christ, then that new identity in Jesus is more important than their old one when it comes to how God views them.
5. Some people hold that the Old Testament has to stand on its own and has to be fulfilled literally on its own.
6. This presents two different paths of fulfillment (be it end times or otherwise) instead of one.
7. Jesus is the main point of the entire Bible. He is the Son of God. All has to make sense in Him and be ultimately fulfilled through Him.–JMB