“The Osteen version of the prosperity gospel traces its roots back to the 19th-century spiritual movement known as New Thought or Higher Thought. As the Encyclopedia Britannica explains, New Thought advocates believed in the “immanence of God, the divine nature of man, the immediate availability of God’s power to man, the spiritual character of the universe, and the fact that sin, human disorders, and human disease are basically matters of incorrect thinking. Moreover, according to New Thought, man can live in oneness with God in love, truth, peace, health, and plenty.””
In actuality, the truth is somewhere in the middle. When Jesus said His purpose was to fulfill the law, He wasn\’t making reference to His perfection in keeping all of the laws (although He did).
He was referring to the Covenants of God – things that God does not break. The \”New Covenant\” is not so much as much \”new\” as it is a fresh, new thing being done in the context of existing covenants.
In other words, the fulfillment Jesus spoke of is better understood in the view of a husband and wife daily fulfilling their marriage covenant. That covenant is not broken until one of them dies, or there is a divorce, but outside of those two events, the marriage covenant is continually fulfilled and refreshed anew every day.
The entirety of Jesus\’s life, death, and resurrection are a fulfillment of all the Covenants the Lord has made with us because God keeps His word, He doesn\’t change His mind, and He doesn\’t break His promises or covenants: which means, they\’re still in effect.
So when you read Deuteronomy 28, remember that the blessings described are a Covenant still in effect today, fulfilled by Jesus. Your job is to understand how to position yourself within those blessings.
This not the prosperity gospel nor is is a form of the prosperity gospel, but it is a truth that many Christians refuse to position themselves within, opting rather for a form of legalism that includes paying for their sins through sickness and strife, continual condemnation of self and others, and self-flagellation – to name a few.
Deuteronomy 28
“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God:
– “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the [c]country.
– “Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock.
– “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
– “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
– “The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
A Recovering Legalist 