God Gives Laws to His People

Exodus 23:1-9; Galatians 3:23-28; 5:13, 14

GOLDEN TEXT: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.”—Luke 10:27

OBEDIENCE to law is necessary among any people in order to enjoy peace and happiness. Complete freedom to do as one pleases is a workable formula only with those who are so whole-heartedly in harmony with God’s will that they desire to do only those things which please Him. With such the revealed will of God becomes the law by which they are governed and in which they delight. (Psalm 19:7-14) This is the thought expressed by Jesus in our Golden Text. Fleshly Israel had not attained to so high a standard of devotion to God, hence it was necessary to have many regulations made binding upon them. The Exodus portion of our lesson mentions a number of these.

Bearing false report, or witness, was forbidden. Doing evil, even though the majority—a “multitude”—favored it, was forbidden. Just because a man was poor was no excuse for sponsoring his evil plans to better his position. They were to deal kindly even with their enemies, helping them, when they were in trouble. They were not to take advantage of the poor. The acceptance of bribes was forbidden. Strangers within their gates were to be treated fairly and with understanding.

In this we have a rule of action which, if enthusiastically practiced, would promote the well-being of any nation. Practiced by nations in their dealings with each other, it would promote international peace and good will. To the extent that the Israelites adhered to this code of laws, as well as to the “Ten Commandments,” they were a favored, prosperous and happy people, blessed of God, and protected by Him from their enemies. But Israel teas not wholly obedient, in fact, many times they openly rebelled against God and His laws, and finally national calamity and dispersion was the result. The majority of the Ten Tribes was absorbed by the Assyrians; the remainder, together with the other Two Tribes were later scattered, when, in A.D. 70-73, Jerusalem was besieged by the Roman Army and destroyed.

Paul, speaking as a Jew, said, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” (Galatians 3:24) The law taught the necessity of the redemptive work through Christ, and also served to hold the Israelites together in a measure that they might still be a people to whom Christ could present Himself as King at the end of the Jewish age. Apart from the restraining influences of the law the nation of Israel would have gone into total eclipse long before the due time for the first advent of the Messiah.

In Galatians 5:13 the apostle says, “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” From this we learn that even our liberty in Christ is relative, that it is not a license to do as our fallen flesh might like to do. Taking the text as a whole we get the thought that we have liberty to serve our brethren—to do good unto the household of faith. In Galatians 6:10, this privilege of service is broadened out to include “all men” as we have opportunity. If we have liberty only to do good, we certainly will not speak evil of our brethren, nor in any way do them injury. In loving our God supremely, we will endeavor to do good “unto all men” as we have opportunity. What a glorious privilege!

When all the willing and obedient of the fallen race are restored to perfection, then there will be a full liberty of the sons of God. All will then know the divine requirements, and be so enthusiastically in harmony with them that obedience will be their constant delight. But until that time comes, definitely specified laws are necessary to regulate the lives of those with whom God is dealing. This is true even of the church, God’s new creation of this age. There are laws governing the footstep followers of the Master which cannot be ignored or flouted without serious spiritual loss and perhaps catastrophe.

Under the impact of increasing knowledge in this end of the age, the people of the world have been awakened from their long slumber during the nighttime of sin and death, and there is a great hue and cry for liberty. But the consecrated followers of Jesus should be on guard lest this sentiment of liberty should influence them to ignore the fact that they have been made bond slaves of Jesus Christ. As slaves of the Master we are under obligation to observe all the laws which He has given through the Word. These laws should regulate our individual lives and our associations with our brethren in Christ. These are divine laws, hence are in the best interests of all concerned. Let us not, in the name of liberty, pick and choose which ones we will obey and which ones we will not.

QUESTIONS:

Is it necessary to tell one who loves his neighbor as himself that he should not injure his neighbor?

In what way was the Law a schoolmaster?

Are there any limitations to Christian liberty?

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