“For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.”
(Hebrews 7:18-19)
We live at a very strange time in the history of the western world. In addition to all the deception, moral decline, and outright insanity that plague us, a certain “cancel culture” philosophy has pervaded our land as well. This involves a hyper sensitivity to things said and done by others, sometimes decades ago, that supposedly call for the their complete castigation and effective removal from anything close to the public square. This philosophy is not only unduly harsh and calloused, it is without any empathy or the slightest attempt to understand the thoughts or feelings of others. This bitter and unfair philosophy has effectively destroyed both the professional and private lives of many. We can only pray that God will remove this and other manifestations of “woke” insanity from our land. When we turn to the pages of Scripture, we see another kind of “cancel culture.” This one involves, not the inane thoughts and opinions of fallen men and those they’ve arbitrarily chosen to erase from public consciousness, but God and His opinions, values, perspectives, and plans as they relate to His redeemed community, the church. Today’s verse passage speaks to us of the Law given at Sinai. This Law—as law—and its associated Covenant have been completely set aside by the Lord and the New Covenant established with His blood. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that there has been “a disannulling of the commandment” (the Sinaitic Law). The word translated “disannulling” is the Greek “athetēsis,” which means “a cancellation.” In Christ the Law is canceled; “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Romans 10:4). This kind of “cancel culture” was totally unacceptable to the Jews, who sought desperately to establish their own righteousness through the keeping of the Old Covenant Law (Romans 10:3). Praise God this hardness and blindness in Israel is only partial and temporary (Romans 11:25); they will recognize their promised Messiah one day (Zechariah 12:10). As we traffic through this life, let us strive to be part of yet a different kind of “cancel culture,” one in which you and I work towards getting ourselves “canceled.” We care nothing about the attitudes and opinions of the unregenerate towards us and whether or not we get canceled by them of course. Rather, we strive to cancel ourselves, to have Christ live in us and through us instead. Paul described this blessed condition: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Thanks be to God who has canceled our sins, the Law that condemns us, and even death itself on our behalf (2 Timothy 1:10).
God bless you, dear saints,
pastor john
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