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The
Meaning of
Christ
in the Law
The
moral law cannot have mercy on the sinner. Did Christ therefore remove the
keeping of moral law as the requirement of heaven? Is the law without mercy
itself and deficient in that sense? To answer these questions we must look into
scripture with prayerful dependence.
The
law teaches mercy and teaches the sinner to look to God’s mercy but it
cannot itself offer its life in the stead of the sinner. Note how the law teaches and requires
mercy……
Mat 23:23 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.
The
law cannot pardon but this is not the same as saying the law is without mercy.
It cannot pardon for only the Lawgiver can do this. This is not because the law
is mean, or without the principle of love. God forbid..
it is holy..holy means full
of God’s character and love……God’s law is centered and
originates from the principle of love. There is no law against mercy for the
law of God, designed by God, was so designed to allow for mercy that is legal.
In other words the law is satisfied by mercy and sees no violation in it. In
this way we see that the law is “not against the promises of God”.
There is no law against the fruits of the spirit. The Spirit expresses the law
in us and the fruits, including mercy are expressed. These are actually the
fulfilling of the law. This is in the deepest sense how Christ fulfilled the
law in human flesh and made it so that the righteousness and fruits of the law
might dwell in us. See Galatians 5 and Romans 8:4
The
law cannot pardon the sinner for some of the same reasons that I cannot pardon
the whole human race. It does not have the capacity and was never intended to.
It is a transcript and not a living being that has life eternal in its
possession. This should not cause us to look at it in the dispensationalist
light as something therefore that has been replaced by a better way. It was not
the law of God that was replaced, but the stony heart agreement of the old
covenant that was replaced by the agreement in the heart of Christ’s
divine human life. Same core law…different covenant, better promises.
The moral Law of God and its many expressions and
teachings are a transcript of His character. Psalm 119 and other passages make
this clear. Yet we read also in scripture that God is love. Using the method of
line upon line we can see here that the law therefore teaches that God is love
and mercy and justice and judgment and that all these combined teach what His
love is. Mercy therefore must be an expression of what His law teaches us about
Him. Jesus expressed it this way when asked about the greatest
commandment…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul
and he said the second was like unto it….love thy neighbor as thyself. He
said “on this hangs all the law and the
prophets”. In other words in these words the whole character of God is
expressed. But it took the law embodied in Christ for man to understand more completely the
difference between the letter that kills (sinful man’s distortion of the
law) and the Spirit (or real intent) of God’s law. It is written of
Him…”(Psa 40:7) Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume
of the book it is written of me,(Psa 40:8) I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea,
thy law is within my heart. (Isa 42:21) The LORD is well pleased for his
righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.” And (Psa
119:10) With my whole heart have I
sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.(Psa
119:11) Thy word have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against thee. By all this we can see that to be
merciless is to sin not only against God, but against His holy law for His law
of love teaches us to extend mercy.
This
can mean no other than that all Jesus did in mercy was an expression of the
character of God, the government of God and the law of God. Spirit of Prophecy
asserts that the gospel was the law unfolded. Some read this to merely refer to
the unfolding of the sacrificial service as showing the plan of mercy. But to
limit it to that and to exclude the moral law as the expression of mercy and
justice and judgment and truth is to miss Jesus former statement. …. Love
they neighbor as thyself….on this hangs all the
law and the prophets.
Jesus
life was an unfolding of this principle to a degree that had never been known
to created beings. He showed the merciful and loving intent in God’s
government and law. It embodies the principle of selfless love..that same love constrained the Son of God to die for us..to love us with the preference that fallen man would
naturally love himself with. Paul states Jesus second commandment summary in
this way after the cross. Esteem others better than yourself. Look not only on
your own things but also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. See Philippians 2. And Paul goes on to explain Jesus
sacrificial death. Jesus showed us what the law of God teaches by living example.
It teaches selfless devotion to one another through the supreme love of God. If
mercy is not contained in this principle I do not know where else it is. It is
this gospel truth that dispensationalism destroys
when it says that once people were saved by law obedience but now they are
saved by grace. The truth is that people have always and only ever been saved
by grace and never by law. The purpose of grace was not alone to forgive but to
bring the obedience that Jesus wrought out for us in flesh and to place it in
reality in the believers life. The requirement of
heaven has not changed. “If you will enter into life” says Jesus,
“keep the commandments.” But dispensationalism,
among other things, teaches that grace takes away that requirement as a final
test of those who profess to receive the grace. It teaches that law is harsh
and Christ is sweet. It cannot teach that in Christ the law is sweeter than
honey and the honeycomb. Such an idea might also use the phrase that the law is
without mercy and thus teach that Jesus has provided a way to be saved the abrogates that strict and restrictive law that has no
mercy. But in that thought is woven the sophistry of the
enemy of souls who brought accusation against the law of God in heaven as an
unjust unrealistic and unmerciful code. One enlightened author states.
The
Lion of Judah, so terrible to the rejecters of His grace, will be the Lamb of
God to the obedient and faithful. The
pillar of fire that speaks terror and wrath to the transgressor of God's law is
a token of light and mercy and deliverance to those who have kept His
commandments. The arm strong to smite the rebellious will be strong to
deliver the loyal. Everyone who is faithful will be saved. "He shall send
His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matthew
24:31. {AA 589.2}
God
is our Lawgiver and King, and parents are to place themselves under His rule. This rule forbids all oppression from
parents and all disobedience from children. The Lord is full of lovingkindness, mercy, and truth. His law is holy,
just, and good, and must be obeyed by parents and children. The rules which should regulate the lives
of parents and children flow from a heart of infinite love, and God's rich
blessing will rest upon those parents who administer His law in their homes,
and upon the children who obey this law. The combined influence of mercy and
justice is to be felt. "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness
and peace have kissed each other." Households under this discipline will
walk in the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.
Many see the law as only dealing
with Judgment an see mercy as being an entirely alien
concept to it. Let us again reflect on the text. Mat 23:23 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.
Who
will be in heaven with Christ? Here are they that keep the commandments of God
and have the faith of Jesus. Rev. 14:12. In Christ Jesus we can obey the spirit
of God’s law which Romans 2:13 states is a requirement in order to be
justified to enter the heavenly Canaan. This is the central theme of the
3angles message. Rev. 14:6-12. See also Romans 8:3,4.
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