Chp.43 - No Condemnation Of Law Who Are In The Virgin's Child

Revelation 12:1–2,5-6,13-17 (NKJV) 1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

“As, then, circumcision began with Abraham, and the Sabbath and sacrifices and offerings and feasts with Moses, and it has been proved they were enjoined on account of the hardness of your people’s heart, so it was necessary, in accordance with the Father’s will, that they should have an end in Him who was born of a virgin, of the family of Abraham and tribe of Judah, and of David; in Christ the Son of God, who was proclaimed as about to come to all the world, to be the everlasting law and the everlasting covenant, even as the forementioned prophecies show." Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 216). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company. Justin previously was laboring to show how David's lineage was to bring forth the bridegroom, and how Christ is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. He has also been laboring to show how the Sabbath and all the Sabbath ordinances pointed forward to their cessation and fulfillment in Christ. But now Justin looks to David's lineage and the Prophet's signs that will mark the identity of Christ to the Lord Jesus of Nazareth. Looking at David's lineage, now we come to the woman who would give birth to the Christ and bear the sign of a virgin birth.

She is the image that represents the lineage of the kings of Israel and the "spiritual" offspring of her Child. The image of the garland on her head are twelve stars that crown Israel with the glory of this Child, who is the King of all kings and the rod of iron that rules all nations. They (the apostles) are the true fathers and pillars of the new covenant church. This is the sign of the everlasting covenant, as one of many that center and hinge on Jesus Christ. Because of this, Justin also previously got side tracked in explaining things concerning the church, but has promised Trypho that he will labor to reveal how the prophesies directly point to the certainty of the Lord Jesus as the Christ. Trypho has already confessed that he is looking for a Messiah, but does not believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the fulfillment. Justin wants Trypho to understand, that though the old covenant has been fulfilled in Christ, Christians are not lawless people. Christ is the law unto them, now, that they live by faith in Him, unto God. Christians now live to the proclamation of the Lord's testimonies and to putting to death the sinful nature of man. In other words, they have their life in this one new man of the Holy Spirit called the church, who is the bride of Christ. "And we, who have approached God through Him, have received not carnal, but spiritual circumcision, which Enoch and those like him observed. And we have received it through baptism, since we were sinners, by God’s mercy; and all men may equally obtain it. But since the mystery of His birth now demands our attention I shall speak of it." Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 216). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.

At this point in my reading of this historical conversation I find it amazingly fascinating how all this was recorded with such detail. In this generation there were no audio or video recorders to take audio clips or snapshots of this conversation. All of this was committed to memory and jotted down later. Trypho's friends may have had some way of taking notes who were on the opposing end of Justin's debate; and nevertheless all of this was carefully recorded. I say all of this, to bear in mind of the debates that surround the textual criticisms. Even in Jesus' generation there were textual debates. The scribes who safe kept the Old Testament manuscripts also had textual variations, but on Jesus' journeys throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria he would have had access to all the various manuscripts in the Jewish synagogues. Therefore, Jesus gave this promise to those who doubted in his generation: Matthew 5:17–20 (NKJV) 17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. God has given the stars as a commandment to hold fast and safe keep his eternal covenant. The woman who represents Israel is "a" sign of this fulfillment. Most likely, Jesus is referring to the "new covenant" promise in the "fulfillment" of his death; that until Israel is restored to glory in God, the heavens and the earth will by no means perish before the consummation of his second advent: Jeremiah 31:31–37 (NKJV) 31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” 35 Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name): 36 “If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.” 37 Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord. Jesus credits Israel for the safe keeping of the eternal Word and to violate "this commandment" in the least jot or tittle and teach others to do so is the gravest of sins. Israel was born out of the fear of God, and should be honored in spite of her many sins, because in her contains the oracles of God (Rom.3:2). Therefore, Jesus was not referring to the Old sacrificial system that hinged on the Sabbath(Matt.5:19), but to the safe keeping of the Lord's intents and promises contained in the whole counsel of the Law and Prophets. Therefore, Jesus is commanding us not to violate the rule of hermeneutics, that we may differentiate between the circumcision that damns and the circumcision that saves. Justin is saying we are of the Baptism. He is not saying that water baptism is the replacement of the circumcision of the flesh; rather baptism is a new commandment to make a greater distinction of faith; and that, now, even Israel must obey this new commandment to be identified in the Lord's saving grace. To have the declaration, "It is is finished," applied to the saving of the soul, one must be named among the "Baptized Body." Israel must be baptized in the name of the Son (Jn.19:30), whom the forerunner identified as the Lamb of God (Jn.1:36). Justin will go into greater detail to make the case that Jesus of Nazareth is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But for now, in this chapter, Justin looks back to all the prophecies concerning Christ's virgin birth and gets into some hermeneutical challenges with Trypho. But what amazes me is that all of this is recorded and kept for us to be reassured in our faith. Amen.

"Now it is evident to all, that in the race of Abraham according to the flesh no one has been born of a virgin, or is said to have been born [of a virgin], save this our Christ. But since you and your teachers venture to affirm that in the prophecy of Isaiah it is not said, ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive,’ but, ‘Behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son;’ and [since] you explain the prophecy as if [it referred] to Hezekiah, who was your king, I shall endeavor to discuss shortly this point in opposition to you, and to show that reference is made to Him who is acknowledged by us as Christ." Justin Martyr. (1885). Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew. In A. Roberts, J. Donaldson, & A. C. Coxe (Eds.), The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus (Vol. 1, p. 216). Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.