Volume 2, Issue 1

"Preparing Servants for the Nations"

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Don't Move The Ancient Boundaries

Rev. Lawrence "Buddy" Martin
Senior Pastor
Christian Challenge

Proverbs 22:28, says, "Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set." In the natural this speaks to the land divisions that were set in antiquity. To move a boundary was an offense against God. Each tribal inheritance was a sacred trust. God Himself put the boundaries in place.

There is another set of boundaries that were put in place by God Himself. We are warned not to move them. These boundaries have to do with Messiah and His blessedness. The fathers who set these boundaries were God's servants, the prophets. No believer ever has a right to preach or teach anything that is not taught in the Scriptures. We can expound on the Scriptures by way of opening them up, but we must never exceed them.

Paul is an example of how the apostles stayed with the boundaries. Making his defense before king Agrippa, we hear him say, "So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." (Acts 26:22,23)

Paul said that he stated nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place! Can we say that with regard to our preaching and to our testimony? We had better learn this lesson well.

A weak point in preaching today is that of preaching of denominational doctrines. This is exactly what the Pharisees were doing when they taught their 'traditions of the elders.' Yet we are warned in both the older testament and in the new covenant not to do this. The scribes and Pharisees were robbing the people of truth. It is truth alone that makes us free.

The sage said, "I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him." Eccl3:14

And again, "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn." Isaiah 8:20 This Scripture is better understood by this translation; "To the teaching of God, and to the testimony! If they do not accord with this Word, they are a people for whom no morning dawns."

But it was the Lord Himself who set this precedent in place for new covenant preaching. In one of His resurrection appearances, Jesus says to the disciples, "'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures." Luke 24:44,45

Notice two areas: 1st That which is to be fulfilled are to be found in the writings of Moses, of the prophets, and of the Psalms, not in some other writings. Paul later tells the Corinthian believers that we must learn 'not to exceed what is written.'

The 2nd thing we see is how Jesus opens their minds to understand the Scriptures. This is often the missing ingredient today. If God's people are little acquainted with the writings of the prophets, how can their minds be opened to understanding the Scriptures?

Thus we see why many Christians today are famishing for a true understanding of all that which pertains to God and His Messiah. What are many receiving in return? They are hearing strange teachings. Scriptures are being manipulated beyond their intent. The ancient boundaries are being removed.

But there is good news in all this. We are in a time where God's people are seeking a restoration to Biblical Christianity. And Biblical Christianity is not built upon the creeds of men or denominations. Biblical Christianity is built upon the word of truth alone.

Actually there are two things happening simultaneously in the earth. One is what I spoke of, in that there is a move among Christians for a restoration to Biblical Christianity. This is why you hear so much about a return to our Hebraic roots. But the other thing that is taking place is among our Jewish kinsmen, and in particular in Israel. Jesus is being reclaimed into Israel's history.

Perhaps I should add that a third thing is also in place. Many of the old Christian denominational barriers are beginning to disappear. The prophets spoke of these happenings. For example, God said through Jeremiah, "And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh." Jeremiah 11:19

This prophecy had to do with the Jewish restoration to the land. Of course we know that a new nation called Israel was reborn in 1948. And if you will take note, Christians and Jewish peoples are moving closer together with every breath. In fact, Israel's dependence links to the strongest 'Christian based' nation on the earth.

God Himself spoke of this. Paul said, "For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" Romans 11:15

My point is that God's whole program of redemption is recorded in the prophets. The apostles knew this. They knew that their role was to take up with the prophets and then to give understanding to the people. This is why they refused to preach anything that was not in the boundaries that had been set by God.

This is not to say that the apostles had an inferior role to the prophets. It's really quite the contrary. The prophets spoke towards the coming of God's Messiah, and laid out things that were to come. The apostles spoke from the reality of God's Messiah and reaffirmed all that the prophets spoke.

The apostles completed the message and were given the job of presenting it to the world. This is why Paul said that the church is built on "the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the corner stone." Ephesians 2:20

Where does this leave us? It leaves us on safe ground. God's people are learning the lesson of searching the Scriptures for themselves. The day is hastening where 'speaking heads' will no longer dominate what God's people are to think.

The prophet said it well enough, "And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his neighbor, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." Hebrews 8:11,12

Have you been walking the land lately? Just stay with the boundaries. You will do well, they are set in place by God.

Bro. Buddy and his wife Betty founded Christian Challenge in 1976 after having pastored and evangelized for several years. He serves as Senior Pastor and General Overseer. Bro. Buddy and Sister Betty have 3 children and 9 grandchildren, all of whom worship at Christian Challenge.