The law was given from God to Moses and from Moses to the Israelites for the purpose of showing their (our) need for a Savior. For the law magnified the fact that they (we) contained no good thing within. The Israelites sacrificed doves and lambs without blemish as a precursor to the one sacrifice that would end all others. In doing so they learned blood was required to atone for the shortcomings of the law’s requirements. Still their only connection to God was through the priest, so that even if they obeyed the law to the best of their abilities they could not petition God for anything, thereby reminding them they were unholy and a veil separated them from God, which was and is holy. Today people still try to live by the law in order to be closer to God but our righteousness is as filthy rags and the more we try the more we miss the mark.
(Isaiah 64:6 NLT) We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
Yet others argue why try to keep the law at all if we are only going to fall short. As Paul said, “For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me.” But he goes on to say, “So I died to the law – I stopped trying to meet all its requirements – so that I might live for God.” (Galatians 2:19 NLT). To abandon the law is to turn from God’s purpose for mankind. You see God desires to bring us back to himself, to commune with Him as Adam and Eve once did in the garden but only He knows the way back and it begins with the law and ends with His grace and mercy offered to us through His Son Jesus Christ but why would we turn to Jesus and lay down our lives and our will if we did not understand our own need for a Savior? This is the process by which we are saved. To recognize our sin, to be drawn to that which we were created for so that when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we are made new, even though we still have the same bodies we now live by what once was dead but now alive through Christ. Our flesh dies with Christ, surrendering control so that our spirit may live, even as Christ lives! Paul says it better…
(Galatians 2:19-21 NLT) For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.
Yet Jesus said this, (Matthew 5:17 NLT) "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.”
You see once we lay down our lives to follow Christ Jesus we don’t simply ignore the law but in fact it is the only way to fulfill the law, yet we live not for the law but for Christ Jesus. Only in loving Him is the requirement of the law met! Not once does God’s Word contradict itself but it comes full circle so that we might understand He is who He says He is and He is faithful to complete the work He has begun. This life on this earth is in fact a journey and we are made not to walk it alone but with the very One who created us and gave us purpose and in return we give Him glory and honor for His mighty power to save.
(Romans 3:31 NLT) Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.
(Psalms 18:28-30 NLT) You light a lamp for me. The LORD, my God, lights up my darkness. In Your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall. God's way is perfect. All the LORD's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.
