The Hebrew people were brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand in the Book of Exodus. God was calling them to Himself; they would be His people and He would be their God. It was a covenant relationship and He made a dwelling place for himself among them. Their great calling was to be a ‘light’ to the world, the people of Israel were to go out with the message and bring conversion to the heathen nations of the world; instead – they were converted to heathenism.
In the New Testament Jesus, as promised and exemplified in the sanctuary, fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. Jesus did not do away with them. We are partakers of grace, that’s sure, but Paul also teaches us to think of the Law as a tutor or like a school master. The Law teaches what God searches for in our hearts. Consider the way of the righteous in Psalm 1: his delight is in the law[ of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Then in Psalm 19 David says:
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules[d] of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
-Psalm 19:7-10
The Law of the LORD is Perfect
In this context, perfect means complete. God is love, and His law cannot be anything less…therefore, it is completely perfect.
What David calls “the law of the LORD” we might think of more like the Word of the LORD (God). He is not just talking about a list of rules, i.e. the Ten Commandments, but rather every single word that came out of God’s mouth. James 1 says that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…” Jesus taught that just as we give our children good gifts, God knows even better how to bestow good gifts on his children. The Law does not and cannot make us righteous; we need an all-sufficient Savior for that. Man’s failure to keep the Law was used by God as a learning process to point mankind back to Himself and teach them that being apart from Him ends in disaster.
The Law is Good
Just as God is good, his Law – a reflection of Him, is good. It uplifts and with the help of the Holy Spirit we lay down our old life…we die to self. Our aim is to be love, which is selflessness. Removing self, empties the space within us to be filled with love. This is how we are able to not only love God and others, but also love our enemies…those that despitefully use us. Matthew 5:43-48.
An example of love and goodness, is when Jesus healed. He meet people where they were and started there. Some healings took place on the Sabbath day, and there were those waiting to accuse Him and the breaking of the Sabbath, in their mind was opportunistic. These people did not understand the love of God and character of God, which is found in His law. They became so wrapped in their traditions and self-righteousness that they missed the Messiah.
And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? 26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? 27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Mark 2:24-28
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Matthew 23:23
The greatest gift given is the Son of God, who in a miracle, came to Earth to be born of man. He took of flesh to defeat Satan which was done in the wilderness through the temptations, and to pay the wages of sin on our behalf defeating the second death. The law is a gift of love, it is the character of God in action. The human race violated the character of God and the Son was sent to bring reconciliation to mankind.
Describe on a sheet of paper how this gift of love has changed your life, and praise God for the results.