The Law – A Devotional

When talking with fellow Christians, and dealing in my own life, I think understanding God’s law and it’s purpose can be the most confusing.  It’s not just what God asks of us, but WHY God asks it of us.  If we are not saved by works, but through faith in Jesus Christ, than does the law even have a purpose?

I grew up, and have remained an evangelical Lutheran.  Lutherans are big into the “Law and Gospel” when it comes to theology.  Growing up, I had it divided into the “bad and good” parts of the Bible, at least mentally.  The law was bad, and I did not like the law.  The gospel saved me, and I liked the gospel.  Now, I’m pretty sure that is not what my church taught, but it’s how I interpreted that teaching.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to love the law.  I’m so grateful God did not abolish it, but fulfilled it.  I think about it often, and I dwell on Psalms like 119 that goes on and on about how good the law is, and how good it is to meditate on it.

How can we reconcile the law and gospel?  How can the law be good when it condemns us.  Do we cling to legalism, as if it could save us?  It cannot.

As I’ve dwelt on this thought, I’ve been given a picture of the whole law/gospel situation, that I’d like to share with you.  It’s more like a vision, or parable.  I don’t want to put too much weight on it, as it is extra-biblical.  Like all allegories/stories, there will be holes I’m sure.  It’s just a thought I’ve been dwelling on.

Let’s imagine we are in darkness.  We are separated from God because of our sin.  Let’s make this place a deep mine, under the ground.  It’s so dark that we cannot see our hands.  We are utterly lost.  In this desperate state, we start to see these air shafts come to light.  Burrowed down from heaven, God created these shafts to bring us light, and hope.  Each shaft that forms gives we who are in the dark mine a glimpse of heaven…and a glimpse of God Himself.  Light floods the area of each shaft.  He calls these shafts “Law.”

We peer through them, and see unattainable beauty—beauty that we’ve never imagined.  The jewels glimmer…the light flickers against the gold.  We see a place of no sin…no selfishness…no greed…

complete holiness.

We see a world and a God we are separated from.  We try to climb through the shafts, or “Laws” and stumble out.  We cannot do it.  We fall.

Some wish the Laws never came and that we’d be better off living in the darkness.  How much worse is it to see paradise, and not be able to get there?  Others try multiple shafts, trying to scale each one, in a tiring, exhausted way.

Then word comes that God in heaven sent his Son down to the mine, and made safe passage up for us.  He came down in our muddy hole, and found a way out for us.  He rescues us from our mine.  We each have an invitation in hand to go up with Him.  We now wait for our name to be called.

The wait changes things.  Now this God we have seen through these air shafts has made us a way…has given us a promise.  He’s given his Word.  Do we think him a liar, and try to climb out through the air shafts again?  No.  Do the air shafts disappear?  No…God made them, and nothing can destroy them.  They remain.  He leaves them for us to study Him when we ache for heaven. 

As we wait for our name to be called…for that moment when we get to leave the mine, and breathe in the fresh air of heaven for the first time, and smell the smells, and feel sunlight all around…we wait.  We wait in faith in the one who made the promise to bring us there when the time was perfect.

What do we do during this wait?  Do we sit in a corner of the darkness?  No!  We cannot stand it anymore…especially knowing where our home is!  This news is so transforming that we run under each air shaft to see it more…see it better.  This is our future home we are seeing…this is our God.  Some sit under an air shaft, and paint what they see.  Some just sit and stare.  Others sing songs about the glory.  Heaven is on the brain, and it is evident with all who see it.  It becomes evident in behavior who has spent time looking through the laws, and who ignores them completely.

We look through the law and try to understand God better.  We know He is our Master and Savior and we just want to know Him.  We look through these light holes and study Him.  Often, we try climbing these shafts to try to just get a better view, and are reminded every time that this is not the way.  We can not forage our way up  there through our strength. 

Over time, we find our favorite laws to stand under and stare.  We form groups under each law, and some even start to declare “Our law is the most important.”  “Our law has the best view.”  “You can see God best through our law.”  We get confused…because all of the laws God made are from Him.  Even more importantly, we should all know that our salvation is not coming through these laws, but through the passage made by Jesus Christ.

Some start to condemn the laws, saying we should ignore them until our name is called.  They only divide.  They only discourage.  They start to call these laws “evil.”  They call those who live under them, “legalistic.”  Which is a bit of a stretch because the proper definition of “legalistic” in this imaginary world, would describe the people with the climbing gear trying to scale the miles of shafts up to heaven.  They block the light in their efforts, and fall every time.

No, those who spend their days studying the law, and soaking in the light of the law are not legalistic.  They are simply full of hope…and they cannot get their minds off of this heaven, and this God.  While they wait for their name to be called, they want to spend every moment soaking in the rays of heaven.

I suppose what I’m trying to explain is this: God gave us the law as an image of His character.  It is His standard, and though we cannot reach Him through it, it is not evil.  It is His character…His unattainable standard.  We will live this standard in heaven where there will be no tears, no death, no sin, no selfishness…just worship.  If we hate the law, and disregard it as meaningless in a life where Christ has made the way for us…isn’t that disregarding the world and God in whose presence we will enter?

My purpose in writing this is not to convict those who feel oppressed by the law.  My purpose is not to make people “more good” because that is not possible.  I do not want people to try to climb to heaven this dangerous way.  My purpose in writing is to encourage and inspire my fellow Christians that: to study the law is good.  To love the law is good.  It is full of encouragement and hope.  We as a generation should not push it aside, and wait in darkness.  The law is not the past…something old that makes no difference.  The law is our future.  It points to heaven, and the One who created the law, and called it good.

Granted, some of the laws, such as sacrifices, have been fulfilled through Christ.  Studying them as well teaches us more about God.  There will be no sacrifices in heaven.  It’s part of God’s story, though, and we should value it.  There are many parts of the law, and categories of the law.  It is a journey to see how each of them points to the character of God.  I fear sometimes that my own generation casts the law aside, saying it’s old fashioned, and it no longer applies, and the gospel (aka New Testament to many believers, although the gospel is found just as freely in the Old as well as the New Testament) well, the gospel is the only “important” part.

I make no claims that we are saved through the law.  I will always stand behind this, though: if it comes from God, then it is good, and it should not be cast aside as meaningless.