(Youth Bible School 2007) a Holy Nation — Dean Taylor

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The New Testament Church as a Holy Nation

All these faces, look of excitement and expectation. I praise the Lord for that. Today, we're going to look at, following in our passage from Peter, the phrase, a holy nation. A holy nation. That's what the New Testament Christian Church is supposed to be.

A holy nation. You know, during the Reformation, lots of different people began to get the light of the Bible and the light of the Holy Spirit was coming out in different ways. And some of those we would disagree with on where they ended up.

But nevertheless, you can see the light of the Gospel coming in their life. One man, during the 1540s, his name was Francis Xavier. And Francis Xavier somehow got a burden to be a very powerful missionary in his right.

Francis Xavier and the Persecuted Christians of Japan

And while the things were going on in the Reformation in the Catholic Church, he was wanting to take missions into some far off areas, into the Asians, into the different areas. He got in. He was a missionary there in Indonesia.

While he was in Indonesia, he met with a Samurai warrior from Japan. And a Samurai warrior, whose name was Angiro, was fleeing from Japan because he was being accused of a murder charge. A Samurai warrior being charged for murder.

And he began to tell him his life and tell him everything that happened. And apparently this Samurai warrior became a Christian, accepted the Lord. So the story we read. And he begged Francis Xavier to bring Christianity to Japan.

So he did. And they planted a church there. And the church went on for about 50 years until a new emperor came in and was going to demand that everyone do it his way. And there was a great persecution.

As a matter of fact, there was a big scene where there was martyrdoms and there was people being butchered, people being put on the cross, crucified. It was a very horrible scene. And they had said and felt very proud that they had rooted out Christianity out of Japan.

And so they thought. But 250 years later, in 1850, when they started to bring in some, oh, some areas in there from different political powers was getting to get from American trade purposes over there.

They found out that in Japan here that there were these Christians living in catacombs, living in caves who were continuing the Christian faith through all this time, 250 years. Now, some of it was strange.

They came up with some different ideas. But nevertheless, these people were wanting to stand for Christ 250 years later. And so when he left that out, persecution hit again and they tried to snuff it.

But from the just the national or the worldwide witness of what was going on now at this time in 1917, they actually gave them the right to exist. And these Christians there, then these Catholic Christians there and in this place in Japan, then built this huge cathedral.

I wish they didn't. But they did. They built a huge cathedral and they finally have a right to be a Christian church there. And here they were 250 years. Hundreds of years were in in this sort of persecuted state.

And now here they were in 1917. They built this huge cathedral. Well, a little bit later, in 1945, there was two other Christians, one a Lutheran and one a Catholic, and they met one day to pray. And they had a Catholic priest and a Lutheran priest pray over them before they started their work that they were going to do that day.

Nagasaki, War, and the Witness of the Church

And in that day, they climbed into their B -29 Superfortress to take the atomic bomb to Nagasaki, Japan, which is where this church is in Nagasaki, Japan. They had only tested this atomic bomb one time before, and it was in New Mexico.

And they named that project the Trinity. That was the name of it. Matter of fact, rocks that are molded together from the atomic explosion there. Geologists have now termed those rocks still today Trinitite.

Well, you know the story. The bomber was actually told, was you start to look over Nagasaki and your scope. The one thing you're going to notice is a cathedral. And that'll be your sign to drop the bomb.

At 1102 a .m. Nagasaki Christianity, as said by Gary Knowles, was boiled, evaporated and carbonized into a scorching radioactive fireball. That persecuted, vibrant, surviving center of Japanese Christianity, all that they had, had become ground zero from two other Christians.

What the Japanese imperial government could not do for 200 years of persecutions, American Christians did in nine seconds. Wiped them out. I think of a quote from Tertullian from the early church. He says this, writing it around the year 150 to 200.

Tertullian wrote, is the military laurel of triumph made of leaves? You know, they would get this little leaves when they came in, the soldiers. Is the military laurel of triumph made of leaves or of corpses?

Is it adorned with ribbons or with tombs? Is it wet with ointments or with the tears of wives and mothers? It may be made of some dead Christians, too. For Christ has also believed among the barbarians that they're going to kill.

Our religion commands us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. What went wrong? What went wrong? As we know in the Old Testament, they had a concept of the kingdom of God and they wanted a place.

From a Geographic Kingdom to a Scattered People

God made it very clear. You know, we get all this geographical explanation. This is where my people are going to dwell. Here are my people. For those listening on tape, I'm drawing a rectangle. I've divided it in half and I'm drawing a dot on the left side.

These are where my people dwell. Right here. And I want to put my name there. And we're going to defend this spot. We're going to conquer this spot. And this is where we will be, that I can put my name on a holy people here.

Everything changed in the New Covenant. Now, what we have is that it says here and through that he wants us to be soldiers and pilgrims, strangers, sojourning in the land all over. But the one thing I want you to understand right from the beginning is that it is vital to understand this, that the zeal for a nation of holy people of God is still the same.

The idea to just get along with everybody in the world is foreign to the teaching of our Lord. Just toleration of everything. Everything's okay. Just be nice to everybody. In Exodus 15 .3, it tells us that Jehovah is a warrior.

He's a warrior. Jesus said in Matthew 10 .34, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I come not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

And a man's foes shall be of his own household. He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son and daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.

I don't want you to come off pacifist after today. No. I want you to come out, as Brother Denny said, soldiers. But I want you to understand that your weapons have changed. Your weapons have changed. That the geographical understanding of this kingdom has changed.

That your motivation, your way of going about spreading this kingdom has changed. But the zeal, the virtue, as Brother Denny was talking about, has not changed. It has not changed. So this kingdom now, Jesus told us, this kingdom is not of this world.

Christ’s Kingdom Is Not of This World

It is not a geographic spot. But please don't just spiritualize that and mean, well, it doesn't mean anything. As I said, as Ezekiel was drawn up and he could look down on the earth with spiritual eyes, I truly believe that God can see this kingdom as a holy temple.

As a holy temple. It's real, even though it's not geographic. So don't put the spiritual in just this make-believe place where you put Santa Claus or whatever. It's real. But it's not a particular place.

But my kingdom is not of this world. One of the most profound things is when Jesus stood before Pilate. If you turn your Bibles to John chapter 18, it's a profound statement. In John chapter 18, here we have, if you think of these kingdoms in contrast, you have Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the King, standing before Pilate, the representation of the kingdom of the world.

Here the two kingdoms have met. John 18 .35, beginning at 33. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou a king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it of me?

It's always interesting how Jesus was concerned. Did you get this by revelation, like he asked Peter? How did you get that information? Pilate ignored that and answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me.

What hath thou done? What has caused all this stir? Jesus answered, Listen now, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight.

If my kingdoms were of this world, then would my servants fight. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence.

Well, this is just all a bunch of imagination, right? Pilate asked him. Pilate therefore said to him, Well, are you a king then? Well, does this really mean anything then? Okay, your kingdom is not of the world.

Does this really mean anything? Listen to the words. Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born. And for this cause came I into the world. For this reason I was born. The King Jesus of this kingdom.

And for this I came into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. The kingdom of God. These two kingdoms set up right there for our understanding and looking at that.

It's powerful. As we see that, and we look at it and we think about all those things in the New Testament, the question then just plainly comes to mind, how do you get from here to here? And let me tell you this, any kind of a teaching or an imagination that wants to look to the Old Testament and try to come up with non-resistant behavior, they're a pacifist.

Although I do think you see light coming out of it. You see things where God wants to prove a New Testament idea just like He does with many other doctrines in the Old Testament. You see seeds there. But the Old Testament was very clearly, in general, not non-resistant.

Jesus’ Teaching on Nonresistance

I mean, correct. Thou shalt not kill was a command dealing with justice things and it had not to do with how they were to go out with their warfares and things. How do you get from here to here in the New Testament?

I remember when I was in the army, after God had converted us, my wife and I were in a rock band in the army and my secondary job was in armor and God had first convicted me and we got out of the rock band and we were there and we were in a little valley that wasn't able to receive television for the first time in my life, so my wife and I would read the Bible for the first time.

Thank you, Jesus. And I'll never forget the night. I said, honey, it doesn't take you long to get to Matthew 5. I'll never forget the night. We had one of those little arm pillows and I leaned over and I said, let me read you this one.

Matthew 5. You can turn there. 38. I'll never forget this night. Let me read you this. God's been working on us on little things and now this one. Listen to this. Here it is, honey. You have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, notice, it has been said this way, but now I say unto you this way.

And here is a profound thing. You can write in your margin. There is a change. It has been said, but now I say. I just read it to my wife. I didn't go through all that. That ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou away.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, notice, you've heard it said this way, but now I say unto you, love your enemies. Love your enemies.

Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For He maketh His Son to rise on the evil and on the good.

And sooneth reign on the just and the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? Do not the other kingdom do that? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others?

Do not even the publicans so? Therefore, be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. I said, what did you make of that? She said, well, it sounds pretty plain. Well, I said, I know it sounds pretty plain, but we're in the army.

What am I going to do with this? I never heard of anyone who held any kind of view of non-resistance. I never heard the word Mennonite. When I first heard the word Mennonite, I thought it was another tribe of Israel.

You know, the Medianites and the Mennonites. I never heard of any of these things. Seriously. I never heard of it. And so I thought, well, what am I going to do with this? And I don't have time to go through the whole testimony, but one thing after another led us to be conscientious objectors and it was a long process, but God was filled our life during that time.

You see, there's a change. What do you do with the Old Testament wars? They're an example to us. As Brother David's been telling us about a virtue in strength. Pacifism is not what the Bible teaches, even in the New Testament, mind you.

It's not. But there's a change in how we war. Hebrews 8 .6 tells about a change. Jesus did say, I didn't come to destroy the law, but He's come to fulfill something that was in the law from the very beginning.

Hebrews 8 .6 says, but now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry. We have a ministry of reconciliation through Him. But how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with Him, He said, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

The Apostles Demonstrate the Change in Kingdom Ethics

The demonstration of those changes now. Jesus gives us teaching and then He usually gives us some demonstrations. It's an interesting thing. They're on the way to Samaria. In Luke 9, you can turn there.

And way back in 2 Kings 1 .10, there was an incident happen where some people were coming against Elijah. Elijah was a prophet of God. He had godly business to take care of and he didn't have time to mess with these people blocking him.

So what did he do? He called down fire from heaven and destroyed them. And then he got on with his business. So, these apostles are there. They're on their way to Samaria and suddenly there's some people in the way.

So, these good apostles knew their Bible and they said, Jesus, remember what happened with Elijah. It's time. Bring the fire down. Luke 9, verse 54. I think this is where they got the name, Sons of Thunder.

And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, what wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Even as Elias did. But He turned and rebuked them and said, You know not what manner of spirits ye are of.

For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. They just went around. Demonstrating this change before He was taken to the cross there in the garden.

He first told them on this next mission that they can... In the first sending out of the apostles in those 70, He said, Don't even take a change of shoes. Don't take anything. Don't take... Just go out and preach the gospel and see what happens.

The second time He understood to them that it's going to be a little longer and you need some just fundamental basic things. And one of the things that if you remember, Peter said, We have two swords here.

And He said, Yeah, that's enough. And the whole thing was to give us a demonstration. And as they had these things and the basic things that you would take to be around the city in those days or in walking through the woods between villages and there's things you had to hunt, there's things you had to use as utensils or whatever.

And there they had them. But how were they going to use them is the question. And as you remember, when they came to take Jesus, Peter got kind of excited with one of those swords, didn't he? And in Matthew 26 .51, Matthew 26 .51,.

Then came they, Matthew 26 .51, Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and smote off his ear.

Then Jesus said unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place. And he said this, For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?

He who lives by the sword will die by the sword. Tertullian quoted that again in the early church and he said, By this, Jesus Christ has disarmed all Christians for all time. Here's the principle. Here's the principle.

Here's the scene, this change in action. Put up the sword. Put away thy sword. Put away thy sword. These two kingdoms. You know, as we're here, as what I read to you about Nagasaki and all these things, when we see these two kingdoms have been confused.

As Brother John D. told us yesterday, he threw in a plug for me. This has been brought in by probably the most destruction the church of Jesus Christ and the witness of Christianity has ever seen. This mixing of the world and this particular witness of instead of being the lamb that was slain to become the slaying wolves has vexed the church of Jesus Christ for a thousand years.

Christians as Strangers and Pilgrims

And this mixture here. We were told about these two kingdoms. First Peter, we've been reading a lot of. We are told in 1 Peter 1 .1, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontius.

Do you get it? To the strangers out there. To Galatians and Cappadocia. Asia and Bithynia. Peter uses this terminology a lot in 1 Peter 1 .17. And if you call on the Father who without respect of person judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.

Pass the time of your sojourning here. That means you're a traveler. You're a passer-througher. A sojourning. As we've read 1 Peter 2 .9, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, 2 .11, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

You know, I've been to Berlin twice. Berlin, Germany. And the first time I was there, I think it was 1987. My wife, I sent her to basic training and she was out in basic training and I went to Berlin with my mother.

And while I was there, when you go into Berlin in 1987, and the picture that I have there on your paper there, it's not me, it's a little older than us, but when you go from the western sector to the eastern sector of Berlin, there's these big warnings that you're crossing over into this communist area.

And while I was there, you had to go in these dress uniform, you know, everybody had to know you were an American, very plainly. And it's like they had all these concertina wire around Checkpoint Charlie and they had these Russian soldiers and they're there with their machine guns and it's a pretty intimidating thing.

The East German guards, the Russian soldiers, and you go through all these checkpoints and you finally get to the other side. And when I was on the other side, a man, even when he was walking by, spit down at my feet.

I was there with my mother. You know, I wasn't about to do anything. And he spit down at my feet and we just went on and said, oh, what's this going to be like? And there was a very much of a tension that you are in a different land.

You're an alien here. I returned to Berlin in 1989. It was an interesting difference. When I drove up to Checkpoint Charlie in 1989 with another couple that I was there, there was this, it was at night and there was this orange glow in the air from all of the rocks and the banging on the wall that was occurring and people were tearing the Berlin Wall down.

And now those Russian guards were gone. As a matter of fact, there was holes in this wall and I'll never forget some of them were actually looking through the hole and one grabbed my hand, one of the Russian or East German guards, I'm not sure what he was, and kissed me through the hole of that Berlin Wall.

And it was shaking and saying Frieden, saying peace and all these things. I just took it all in. And the one thing that hit me as I sat and pondered that, what? What changed? Last year, I could have been called on to shoot this guy.

Now I'm kissing him through a hole in a wall. What changed? Because a couple of the world's government got together and said, now this man's your friend. Now I'm kissing him through a hole in the wall instead of shooting him in the head.

What changed? And I know it's out of context, but the Scripture in Ephesians there talking about breaking down the dividing wall and bringing the two into one, talking about the Jews and the Gentiles there, but the Lord just put a message in my heart that I have already brought down those walls.

I have brought them down. And that scattered throughout all these countries, scattered throughout all this world are My people. And you are to be there, infilling it all through there, to be salt and light through all these people.

You're not to take in that kingdom. It hit me. It hit me hard. You know, as I began to consider that and I thought about how do I behave, and as God later on was showing me this idea of these two kingdoms and the idea of being in the kingdom of God and what Jesus did with the early church and as I saw that witness through the early church, I began to change me drastically.

And I started to understand this division in my mind between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. There's a Scripture in 2 Timothy 2. I recommend it. 2 Timothy 2, verse 3. We're not pacifists.

Spiritual Warfare and the Christian’s Weapons

In 2 Timothy 2, verse 3, it says, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now, there's a good one for Brother Denny's message. Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

That's not at ease in Zion. Endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now listen. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

What's he saying there? He's saying this. Let's say right now I'm going to muster all the troops here up and we're going to go and we're going to take Brickerville. Okay? That's where it is. We're going to take Brickerville.

And we're there. I'm going to say, Okay, troops, we're going to get together and you're going to go into Brickerville and when you're there, we're going to take it over. But if you were to get to Brickerville over there and start to get involved with this and get involved with that, it would mess up the whole campaign.

And he's saying that when you who has called you to be a soldier of Jesus Christ, and he's called you as a soldier of the Lord, don't get yourself involved in all the politics and all the things and all the things that constrain you in this world.

Here's the way it was. My wife and I, we were in the army. We were living in German. We were living in an off-base in a German apartment. We paid our utilities with German. We many times shopped in a German grocery store.

And praise God, I couldn't get American television, so if I ever did turn the bell, all I got was German. And I was surrounded there, but yet I was fully aware that I was an American. Okay? I wore an American uniform.

I paid American taxes. I sent them back to America. I paid my American taxes. In those times, I voted in American elections. I might have known who the chancellor of Germany was at the time, but if I did, it was just by osmosis.

I didn't know. And I certainly couldn't run for local burgermeister. I couldn't. I couldn't get involved in those things. I was clearly an American in Germany. God began to put in my heart, that's exactly what I want you here in the Kingdom of God.

Be in the Kingdom of God amongst these people. But don't let their things infiltrate you. That holiness unto the Lord. You see why I felt the importance of putting the holiness of the Lord to this whole thing?

I want a people. And here's my people. And I want soldiers. And I want you to do it in this way. I want you to do it in this way. Now, every good soldier, every good soldier has weapons, right? We've got to have weapons.

God tells us about our weapons. Now, in the Old Testament, we hear a lot about their weapons that they used. And yes, we saw how God, even there, gave us a little light that I don't want you to trust in your chariots.

And when they did, they got in trouble. And I don't want you to trust in your shields and all this, but I want to win these fights for you. But in the New Testament, as Jesus did with so many other things, I want you to radically take this in.

And He says to us here and gives us different weapons. Turn to Ephesians 6 .12. I wrote both these verses down in your little handout. Ephesians 6 .12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Brother Denny has a sermon I heard once on we wrestle not.

That's our testimony sometimes. That's the testimony of a pacifist. We wrestle not. It's not where Paul ends this. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Is that clear enough for you? We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

But we do wrestle. But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Don't you Christians do anything? You think you can just sit and let everything go on and just take all the benefits of what we're doing for you.

Oh, no. As I think it was quoted early on this week, the early church knew very plainly. Tertullian, in origin particularly, wrote the emperor in his time in the early church and says, listen here. Let me explain to you why you have peace.

It's because we are praying in your kingdom. He said that very boldly to the emperor. And this is it. We have a fight against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Now, it's true. If all you're doing is living a worldly life, taking upon all the world has to offer and going through all those things, but then just saying, yeah, but I don't want to fight. And it is a bit hypocritical.

It is. But if you take what Jesus and all that He has in the kingdom of God and realize what fight you have, it's a powerful battle. Turn to 2 Corinthians 10. It talks about our weapons again. In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3.

2 Corinthians 10, verse 3. It says, for though we walk in the flesh, for although you're here in the flesh, you're here, we're not in some spiritual world. It's real. You're here in the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.

Is that clear enough? For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. We do not war after the flesh. We do not war after the flesh. Although, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal.

They're not made of flesh, but mighty. Through God, through the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

Let me ask you, young men. Do you have any captives? Where's your captives? It says here that you are here, but mighty through God through the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Can you show me your captives? Can I go into your prisoner of war cell this morning and you can show me some of the captives that you have victory in your life over these thoughts that used to vex you, but now you have victory?

Do you have captives? Ladies, do you have captives? Can you show me? Can we go there in a minute here and go into your prison cell and you say, here's my prisoners of war. This one used to get me, but now I've brought it into captivity.

That's what it says. That's our battle. The captivity. Every thought. Every thought. We look through these things. You know, some people bring up some different things. John the Baptist. Interesting story about John the Baptist.

John the Baptist, Soldiers, and the Old Covenant

I'll just throw in here real quick. John the Baptist had an interesting thing in the New Testament where we get to see that some soldiers actually went up to John the Baptist and say, okay, so what do we do?

Alright, you're saying repent. What do we do? Alright, here's your chance. People bring this out on both sides and it's a little funny. Here's the way I take on it. In Luke 3 .14, we get the story of John the Baptist.

In Luke 3 .14,. "...and the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, and what shall we do? And he said unto them, do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages.".

Sometimes people take that and say, well, here, he said do violence to no man. I'm not convinced he's in a New Testament understanding of non-resistance here. He's just saying be a good soldier. Well, then what do you do?

Here's your chance. You have the New Testament. Here's John the Baptist, the prophet, and he's not saying we'll get out of the army. Okay, what do we do? Here it is. Now, I just want to throw this in real quick here.

What is John the Baptist? He was the very last prophet of the Old Covenant. The very last one. As a matter of fact, Luke 16 .16 says, "...the law and the prophets were unto John. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.".

Verily, verily, I say unto you in Matthew 11 .11, Verily, verily, I say unto you, among them that are born of woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. And I have to throw this in. It's beautiful.

Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. The New Covenant. Now, how is that possible? If I can go on a side here just real quick. Wait a minute. You're saying that John the Baptist was greater than Elijah?

Yeah. Greater than Moses? That's what it says. Greater than anybody? That's what it says. But you're saying that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. How? By the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

In the New Covenant, one drop of blood makes you more righteous in the sight of God than Abraham, Elijah, Moses, all the way to John the Baptist. The righteousness of Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was the last of the Old Covenant.