DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- KEEPING GOD'S LAWS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – KEEPING GOD'S LAW

God spoke to Moses: "These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.' So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the LORD commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do.'" (Exodus 19:6b-8a)

Today begins consideration of the law that God gave to His people through Moses. The rest of Exodus, and continuing into Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, lay out God's way of living.

To be honest, sometimes reading these books can become a tedious exercise, and I tend to scan through them because they don't seem to have much relevance to me. I think there are several things that will help us wade through these Scriptures.

First, we need to understand that there are various aspects of the laws that God gave. Some were moral laws that transcend the nation of Israel and apply to people of all races and generations. Laws that speak about loving God and serving Him do not just apply to Israel, but to every nation and age. For example, God says, "You shall love the LORD our God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus said that this is the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37), elevating it to a universal commandment.

Secondly, there are civil laws. They do not always apply to us, because we have a different form of government, and a different culture. But there are universal principles that are behind these laws that apply to all societies, governments, and peoples. For example, In Exodus 21, there is a section of the law that pertains to an ox that gores and kills another person. We do not own oxen, but the principle of being responsible for things under our care applies to our present day.

Thirdly, there are ceremonial laws that were given for the form of worship God required of the Israelites. We are not under those laws. We don't have a Levitical priesthood, and we don't sacrifice animals on an altar. But the book of Hebrews shows how Old Testament forms of worship are a picture of the Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus, and His sacrifice for sin. And the architecture of the Tabernacle is a beautiful picture of the way to approach God.

Fourthly, there are commandments regarding relationship that speak to holy living, sexual matters of fidelity, marriage and divorce, neighbors, and living with strangers and aliens. These rules by and large apply to all times.

Fifthly, there are health and dietary laws, and how to handle disease. These may or may not be useful today because we have ways of cleaning and preserving food that the Israelites did not have. But we can certainly benefit from observing dietary laws and cleanliness.

In all of this, we need to remember that observing rules and regulations do not get us to heaven. When the children of Israel said, "All that He has spoken, that will we do," they may have had an honest desire, but in reality, they were failures. We cannot keep all the rules. We all fall short. So we live by grace, knowing that sinless One, Jesus, kept all the laws perfectly. I heard the statement: "Our works of righteousness are what we give to God. God's righteousness is what God gives to us." What we do will never measure up to God's holy standard no matter how hard we try. So we trust in the righteousness that God has given to us. The Book of Romans calls it "imputed righteousness" (see Romans 4:13-25). Righteousness was accounted unto Abraham, not because he was always did everything right, but because "he believed God" (James 2:23). That is where our righteousness lies – not in our works, but our faith in the work of Jesus.

The purpose of the law is to show us God's standard and how far we live below His perfection. The law,then, is a teacher to "bring us to Christ" (Galatians 3:24), showing us our inability to keep God's perfect standard, but bringing us to the One who did perfectly keep God's law – the Lord Jesus.

I am so glad that my acceptance by God does not depend on how well I keep the law, but is in the righteousness that comes by faith in the Lord Jesus.

Love, Dad