Freedom and the Law

(Today's reading- Exodus 22-24; Matt 20:17-34)

The children of Israel had lived as slaves for hundreds of years. Think about that for a moment... their lives were not their own. They did as they were told, they went where they were told to go, they ate what they were told to eat; everything in their lives was determined by someone else. Their sense of right and wrong was given to them by a wicked ruler.

Moses comes to town and leads them out of slavery. They were still the same people, their moral compass had been established under the yoke of slavery and its' abuses. So, God gave them the Law of Moses. No longer were they to live by Pharaoh's distorted view of life, now they were to live as God intended. His law was to govern their lives and they were to be a model society for the rest of the world.

When we read theses sections of the Old Testament, sometimes it seems boring or even nonsensical to us. But, when we put ourselves in the shoes of these freed slaves, we see the importance of such a thorough legal system. They came from a place that had warped their consciences and they needed a system that would change their actions and then (hopefully) their hearts. The New Testament puts it like this... Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Gal 3:24)

Paul tells us the the Law was a tutor. Its' purpose was to prepare the Jew for a faith that was to come through Jesus. All these rules and regulations were to serve to prepare a people for a time that their lives would no longer be ruled by external regulations; rather they would live by faith. Their actions would be ruled by love, not by the letter of the law. Jesus tells us in the 5th chapter of Matthew that it is no longer about the outward action, now it is about the intent of the heart. We can hate someone and not kill them; but Jesus says we are guilty if our hearts condemn us.

God wants us to allow Him to change us on the inside. He wants us to be changed, not just obedient. The Law of Love is far superior to the Law of Moses. Paul puts it this way in Romans...For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:3) No one could ever keep the Law perfectly, so by being lawbreakers, all were condemned. And the Hebrew writer tells us...  The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7: 18-19) The Law had its' purpose, it was to prepare a people for the coming of His Son.

His people came out of bondage and into freedom. They still do. We can learn a lot from the Old Law. We can see easily what God hates and learn the things that please Him. He is the same God, so understanding conduct that shames us and displeases Him should be something that we care about. Has the Old Law been done away with? Absolutely and thanks be to God! But it can still serve as our tutor and help us to understand the blessings we have in our Savior. Dig in, read it over and over again and gain understanding of the mighty God that we serve. Let it change your conduct... and your heart.