Law of Liberty

Law of Liberty

VOICE OF PROPHECY BIBLE GUIDE P.O. BOX 172-MOROGORO-TANZANIA

What if the law of gravitation should suddenly fail? We might take our next step and float off into space without any hope of ever walking on solid ground again. Or, if the force of gravity should suddenly be doubled, we would find it difficult to lift our feet off the ground.

The atom, science now knows, though infinitely small, is one of the most perfectly balanced objects in the universe. It obeys implicitly the laws which govern its unseen existence. The slightest shift in these laws could mean disaster to our world and to the universe.

The very nature of things demands that fixed physical laws control every created thing, from the invisible atom to the giant blazing suns which God has made. Unchanging physical laws are essential to the welfare of all His creation.

1. CHANGELESS PERFECTION

Just as God has physical laws to control every created thing, He has moral precepts to guide the intelligent beings He has created. God's moral law never changes. The unchanging moral law is a prime essential to the organization, welfare, and peace of God's vast universe.

God's moral law is a reflection of His moral nature, which is also changeless. Contrasting His own nature with that of fickle humanity, He says:

"I am the Lord, I CHANGE NOT."—Malachi 3:6.

The apostle James emphasizes the changelessness of the Lord God:

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the FATHER of lights, with whom is NO VARIABLENESS, NEITHER SHADOW OF TURNING."—James 1:17.

If our perfect Father in heaven (Matthew 5:48) were to change His character by so much as a "shadow," if He were to "vary" in the most minute detail, His perfection would cease. Lawlessness would replace law and order in the universe, and chaos would follow. We have but to look about us in a world where sin has tampered with natural and moral law to see proof of this fact.

Our perfect God is love—unchanging, boundless, eternal love.

"He that loveth not knoweth not God; for GOD IS LOVE."—1 John 4:8.

We owe our happiness and our very existence to an unchanging God of love. Who, then, would want Him to change His nature? Who wants hatred in place of love? Who wants uncertainty in place of eternal security?

2. THE PERFECT MORAL LAW OF GOD

A perfect God governs His universe by a moral law which is absolutely perfect.

"The LAW of the Lord is PERFECT, converting the soul."—Psalm 19:7.

The moral law is a reflection of God's character. So it is as unreasonable to assume that it can change as it is to assume that the physical laws governing nature can change.

"The works of his hands are verity and judgment; ALL HIS COMMANDMENTS ARE SURE. THEY STAND FAST FOR EVER AND EVER, and are done in truth and uprightness."—Psalm 111:7, 8.

In Psalm 19 God's moral law is called "perfect," "sure," "right," "pure," "clean," "true," and "righteous altogether." These principles are the nature and character of God. Only a heart of eternal, changeless love could perfect such a law for the welfare and happiness of His creatures.

During the period from Adam to Moses, the moral law was known and taught among men. In the time of Moses—more than two thousand years after man fell into sin—God gave His moral law in a written code of Ten Commandments. After proclaiming these commandments with His own voice from Mount Sinai, God "wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them" to Moses. Deuteronomy 5:22.

God's perfect moral law, written in the language of men, is recorded in Exodus 20:3-17. This law covers every phase of life—our relationship to God, to our homes and families, and to society in general. If all men lived by God's perfect law, we would live in a perfect society.

3. OBEDIENCE TO LAW IS LIBERTY

Who is the slave—the man who indulges in the drug habit, or the man who never permits himself to touch the debasing stuff? No argument here, is there? Who is at liberty—the man who obeys the law, or the man who breaks it? What liberty is there for the criminal? He breaks the law and loses his liberty. The lawbreaker goes to prison. The man who obeys the law is a free man.

"I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts."—Psalm 119:45.

The apostle James calls the Ten Commandments the "perfect law of liberty." James 1:25. For the moral law is not given to curtail our freedom, but to point out the road to freedom. The Ten Commandments show us that we are sinners, transgressors of the moral law.

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN."—Romans 3:20.

"Sin is the transgression of the law."—1 John 3:4.

"Call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins."—Matthew 1:21.

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."—Romans 3:24.

When we invite Jesus into our hearts, He forgives all our past sins. Then He dwells in us and gives us victory over sin from day to day. We become more and more like Him. With Jesus in our hearts, it becomes natural for us to desire to obey His commandments.

"GOD SENDING HIS OWN SON in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."—Romans 8:3, 4.

"I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."—Psalm 40:8. (See also Hebrews 8:10.)

The law is really a picture of the heart of Christ. It is not given to restrict us, but to point the way to freedom. We were created in God's image, but fell. The plan of salvation is to restore us to that perfect image. And the moral law, being a revelation of God's character of love, helps us to see how far short we now are of that image.

As we give ourselves in surrender to Christ, we grow more and more like God in character and come nearer and nearer to the pattern and to the complete and perfect happiness that He desires for us. This is real freedom.

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."—John 8:36.

4. THE MORAL LAW FROM ETERNITY TO ETERNITY

The casual reader of the Bible may take for granted that no moral law was given to man until God wrote the Ten Commandments on tables of stone and gave them to His people Israel at Mount Sinai. But even though the moral law had not been outlined by God in ten commandments, yet the principles on which these commandments are based have always existed. The law existed in the hearts of men before Sinai. In fact, the moral law was implanted in man's heart at creation. And even before creation, God's moral law was His constitution for governing His universe. (See Psalm 105:8-10.)

Sin is the transgression of the law. (1 John 3:4.) Adam sinned. (Romans 5:12.) Therefore he broke the law. It follows that the law not only existed but had authority over the whole human race.

Long before God expressed the moral law in ten commandments on Mount Sinai, Abraham kept God's law:

"Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."—Genesis 26:5.

When Jesus was charged by the legalistic Pharisees with trying to change the law of God, He emphatically denied the accusation and declared that heaven and earth would pass away before His commandments would be changed.

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I AM NOT COME TO DESTROY, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break ONE OF THESE LEAST COMMANDMENTS, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but WHOSOEVER SHALL DO AND TEACH THEM, THE SAME SHALL BE CALLED GREAT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."—Matthew 5:17-19.

Note how an unchanging God refuses to permit interference with even a "jot" or a "tittle" of His moral law. The "jot" is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and the "tittle" is a flourish which differentiates one letter from another.

The moral law has always existed. It will never be changed. According to Jesus, God's moral law expressed for men in the Ten Commandments is as eternal as God's heaven.

5. THE UNCHANGING LAWGIVER

Like His Father, Jesus Christ never changes:

"Jesus Christ THE SAME yesterday, and to day, and FOR EVER."—Hebrews 13:8.

Jesus, Son of the unchanging God, associated with the Father in creating our world and framing the laws that control the universe.

"FOR BY HIM WERE ALL THINGS CREATED, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be THRONES, or DOMINIONS, or PRINCIPALITIES, or POWERS: all things were created by him, and for him."—Colossians 1:16.

The God who gave His Son and the Son who gave His life, gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.

"There is ONE LAWGIVER, WHO IS ABLE TO SAVE and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?"—James 4:12.

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."—Acts 4:12.

6. THE CEREMONIAL LAW AND THE MORAL LAW

When Israel was brought out of Egypt, God found it necessary at Sinai to write out His moral law, the very same law that He had planted in man's heart at creation. For, dimmed by sin, man's once perfect traits of character were changed from a spirit of love and obedience to disobedience and loneliness. With great power God spoke the Ten Commandments to a people who in Egypt had almost forgotten the principles of His moral law.

But men had not only almost forgotten God's law; they had forgotten much of the plan of salvation that was revealed when man first sinned. It was necessary for God to make that plan simple and clear to the world with renewed emphasis.

To remind Israel of the plan for their salvation, God gave them the symbols of the sanctuary and its services. These symbols illustrated to them how Jesus would come to the earth as the Lamb of God and die to redeem sinners, and how men could be forgiven for their transgressions.

Detailed instructions were written in a book by Moses and given to the people, who recognized them as ceremonial laws and ordinances. (Deuteronomy 31:24-26.) The ceremonial law revealed the plan of salvation to Israel. It was given to demonstrate the grace of God, leading the people to Christ and to freedom from sin.

"Wherefore THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER to bring us unto Christ."—Galatians 3:24.

When a new invention is planned, it is usually necessary to create from the blueprints a working model to demonstrate how the finished product will actually work. The laws of ceremony were God's working model of the plan of salvation.

When the full-scale plan of redemption had been revealed in the life, sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there was no more need for the model. The real thing made a small-scale demonstration no longer necessary—faith met fact, type met antitype, symbol met reality.

As Jesus died on Calvary's cross, the veil in the temple was torn apart by unseen hands, and Jesus cried out, "It is finished." (Matthew 27:50, 51.) At the cross shadow met substance. (See Colossians 2:14-17.) The ceremonial laws were blotted out by the real sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Being "a shadow of things to come" (verse 17), the ceremonial law was no longer necessary after the cross. But the Ten Commandments are not ceremonial but moral, and as a revelation of God's eternal character their eternal concepts remained.

7. PUTTING THE LAW OF LIBERTY BACK INTO THE HEART

To be effective, the moral law, revealed to men in the Ten Commandments, must be in the heart of a man. God promises:

"I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MIND, AND WRITE THEM IN THEIR HEARTS: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people."—Hebrews 8:10.

Obeying God's law is "not grievous," but the product of love, a love-inspired delight to do.

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."—1 John 5:3.

God's commandments are the principles of His moral character that make Him a God of love. And if we love Him, we will obey these principles.

"For the love of Christ constraineth us."—2 Corinthians 5:14.

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."—Romans 13:10.

Fulfilling the law of God by obeying it is the spirit of Jesus. When a young man asked Jesus how to enter into life eternal, Christ replied, "Keep the commandments." But He went beyond outward obedience—merely conforming—and declared that in order to obey the Ten Commandments, we must love. (Matthew 19:16-19.) Later Jesus upheld obedience to the great principles of the Ten Commandments by saying:

"THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR AS THYSELF."—Matthew 22:37-39.

Love, this same great principle of obedience, was exactly what Old Testament Israel had been taught when the Ten Commandments were first given to them:

"And THOU SHALT LOVE THE LORD THY GOD with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."—Deuteronomy 6:5.

"THOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR as thyself: I am the Lord."—Leviticus 19:18.

When a man loves God with his whole heart, it becomes natural for him to obey the first four commandments of God's moral law which define man's relationship to Him. When a man loves his neighbor as himself, it becomes natural for him to obey the last six commandments of God's moral law, which govern man's relationship to his fellow men. That man's service is a joy forever. The law that seemed so hard to obey, now becomes a law of liberty, and obedience to it a pleasure. How much we need that love in our hearts!

8. UNDER LAW? UNDER GRACE? (Part 1 of 3)

No one can be saved by keeping the law. Salvation is a gift of grace. And grace is God's favor—His kindness, unearned, undeserved. Grace is God's loving mercy extended to the sinner who does not deserve it. "God so loved the world that He gave" (John 3:16)—that's grace.

"Saved by grace" is the story told in both the Old and the New Testaments. To meet the emergency in case man should sin, the promise of grace was given "in Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Timothy 1:9. Adam and Eve could escape their deserved punishment for disobeying God by accepting God's promise of grace—a coming Saviour. (Genesis 3:15.) Noah (Genesis 6:8), Moses (Exodus 33:17), Israel (Jeremiah 31:1, 2), David (Psalm 84:11)—like everyone saved in the Old Testament (Romans 5:20, 21)—were saved by grace.

And in the New Testament salvation is a love gift, unearned, undeserved—a gift of grace:

"For by GRACE are ye SAVED through FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God."—Ephesians 2:8.

Grace is the hand of God reaching earthward. Faith is the hand of man reaching up to take hold of God's hand. The saving dynamic is the grace of God, available in all time to all men who accept it by faith.

The very fact that today we have grace is proof enough that we also have law. For if there is no law, there is no sin and no sinner, for "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. And if there is no lawbreaking, no grace is needed. But there is a law, and we are sinners breaking God's law, so grace is needed. And when we accept Jesus as our Saviour, through His grace, God cancels our debt of sin.

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace."—Romans 6:14.

We have two conditions pictured: First, we are "under the law"—that is, condemned by the law we have broken. Second, we are "under grace," delivered from the law's condemnation.

8. UNDER LAW? UNDER GRACE? (Part 2 of 3)

The grace of God has brought us salvation. We have accepted it. It has changed us. Sin no longer has "dominion over" us, no longer rules in our lives. We are no longer under the "condemnation" of the law, because God has forgiven us, and His grace brings us into harmony with the principles of His moral law. (Romans 8:3, 4.) Love motivates our lives, and we obey the law of God not to earn salvation, but because we are under grace. The more grace, the more obedience, just as Jesus Himself taught: "If ye love me," you will "keep my commandments." John 14:15.

"Do we then make void the law THROUGH FAITH? God forbid: yea, WE ESTABLISH THE LAW."—Romans 3:31.

A murderer who has spent years serving a life sentence in the penitentiary receives a pardon from the governor. After his release he again commits murder. He is arrested, brought to trial, and proved guilty of this second murder. Before the judge pronounces sentence, he turns to the accused man and asks if he has anything to say for himself.

"Your Honor," he says, "I have done no wrong. I am not guilty of murder. I am under the governor's grace. He pardoned me from murder. I therefore, as an innocent man, demand my freedom."

Can you imagine the judge's agreeing with him? Will the criminal get his freedom by such an argument as this? The governor's grace in no sense exempted him from the law forbidding murder. The law still stands. Obviously, grace forgives one's past lawbreaking; but it does not change or do away with the law.

James illustrates the purpose of the law by comparing it to a mirror:

"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, this man shall be blessed in his deed."—James 1:25.

A mirror reveals dirt on the face, but it does not remove that dirt. To break or throw away a mirror because it reveals the dirt, will not make the face clean. Soap and water are needed for cleansing. But after we have washed we still need the mirror to assure us that our face is clean.

8. UNDER LAW? UNDER GRACE? (Part 3 of 3)

So it is with law and grace. The law is the mirror that points out sin. It reveals our uncleanness. It shows us what we are like in comparison with the character of God. We cannot break the mirror of God's law and say, "Now I am clean because I have done away with God's law." We turn instead to the cleansing stream of Jesus' blood, and He makes us clean. Says the Word:

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."—Isaiah 1:18.

We need the law of God to show us our sin. We need the grace of the Lord Jesus to cleanse us from all sin and unrighteousness. He washes us and makes us clean with His purifying blood. What a wonderful Saviour! Have you allowed Him to cleanse you from sin through His power? Are you living a life of surrender to Him? Are you allowing Him to write the principles of obedience on your heart?