| Christian Life and Doctrine | February 1981 |
The Law of God
“O how love I Thy Law! It is my meditation all the day. … I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy testimonies are my meditation.” —Psalm 119:97,99
SUCH was the admiration of David for the law of God, and such were the benefits he received from meditating upon the testimonies of God—“more understanding than all his teachers.” If David could receive such rich blessings from meditating upon God’s law, it should be well for us to do likewise. By the word “law” we understand a rule of conduct or action prescribed, and enforced, by a supreme authority.
We read in Psalm 89:14, “Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne.” In these qualities are reflected and mirrored all of God’s attributes: his love, his wisdom, his justice, his power. It is of utmost importance, as well as of great interest, that we, as members of the divine family, have a good understanding, a thankful appreciation, and an admiration for his law as it relates to all his works. For, as we increase in our discernment of the ways of our God, our love for him increases, and with it our desire to walk more fully in the path of his light. Let us dwell, therefore, upon God’s law as it exhibits him; his law as it covers man; his law as it rules the universe.
When we study the universe, we are at once impressed and awed by the tremendous size, the enormous distances of the heavens. On a clear night man can observe with the naked eye about 7,000 stars in the whole sky in both the northern and the southern hemispheres, and with telescopes we observe many millions. It has been stated on good authority that there are in the galaxies within the range of our present-day telescopes not less than one hundred million billion suns, differing greatly in size, temperature, and density.
Many of them are of enormous size, which would dwarf our earth into a speck of dust by comparison. All the stars, whose course astronomers have been able to observe, move in an orderly fashion, each at a never-varying speed in set orbits through the heavens. The planet Earth travels in its orbit around the sun at a speed of eighteen and one-half miles a second, or 66,600 miles per hour. At the same time it rotates around its axis, completing one revolution every twenty-four hours; while the moon speeds around the earth once every month. Their speed or course never varies.
From the movements of the earth and the moon, man obtains his units of time—the day, the month, the year. For accurate time he sets his timepiece by astronomical observation; or, knowing the correct time, mariners in a similar way can determine their position. While the enormous distances in space, the immense size of the stars, and the tremendous speeds at which they travel, may not prove anything in itself, the accuracy of their movements through the heavens proves that they are governed by certain laws and that their movements are orderly.
Now let us consider the other extreme. The smallest things known to men are the electrons and neutrons. Certain combinations, according to their number, order, and arrangement make up various types of atoms. The number of neutrons and electrons varies according to the type of atom. There are, for example, hydrogen atoms with one revolving electron, carbon atoms with six, iron atoms with twenty-six, gold atoms with seventy-nine, all the way to the heaviest material known, uranium atoms with ninety-two revolving electrons to each nucleus.
Atoms are called the building blocks of the earth. All things earthly—the water we drink, the air we breathe, the soil, the plants, the bodies of animals, and our own bodies, are, in the final analysis, made up of combinations of atoms. The structure of all things, whether atoms, or molecules, or plants, or animals, is not haphazard, but systematic in their nature. And they are wonderfully made and marvelous to behold.
All living things grow from a single cell. Into that tiny organism, smaller than a pinpoint, are packed the blueprints and the ability to develop accordingly into a full-grown plant or animal consisting of many billions of living cells, each group of which, making up the roots, stems, leaves, or flowers, as in plants, or the different structures and organs, as in animals, will perform its proper specialized function necessary to maintain life in perfect coordination and harmony with all other groups.
All living things may be pictured as machines designed and constructed to carry on certain processes, such as the absorption of food, the changing of food into new chemical substances required by the organism, respiration, growth, repairs, elimination of waste material, reproduction, and so on. Living things are as machines, which apparently build and maintain themselves and manufacture cells which form wood, leaves, flowers, seeds, as in plants; or bones, muscles, flesh, blood, skin, hairs, feathers, and so on, as in animals.
Even the simplest living organism is infinitely more complex than the most intricate machine man has ever been able to build. A critical study of all these facts discloses the overwhelming and indisputable evidence that the universe and life are the result of a high degree of thought, intelligence, and order.
The whole arrangement, all the activities of the universe, are highly complex, and in accordance with certain fundamental laws and rules. These laws always function perfectly. They never fail. Why? Because they are established by our God, the all-wise and powerful Creator of the universe. Only thus is it possible for such complex organisms and matter, as we know them, to exist. No sequence of various complex activities, necessitating cooperation and coordination with other complex activities, can be produced by chance even in a single instance—much less so when we consider that such complex activities go on around us continually, all over the earth, in an astounding number of varieties of life.
From whatever angle we consider any part or action of the universe, we come to the conclusion that its creation and its activities are the result of laws made by divine wisdom and enforced by divine power. Without divine guidance, without divine laws, the universe and life could not have been developed nor continue to exist.
Man can plan profitably because of the dependability and constancy of these laws; he can rely on the uniformity and constancy of the material with which he works. He cannot change these natural laws according to his fancy; he can accomplish things only by complying with and taking advantage of these laws. He can build bridges or skyscrapers because he knows that a steel girder of a certain size and quality will support a certain weight, and any other girder of the same material, size and quality will support a like weight. Man cannot violate these laws without harmful consequences.
It is quite evident, therefore, that if man wishes to make the best of life, he must learn these laws of the Creator and use them as his guides. Do we not see here a wonderful illustration? Here are the laws of a great Creator, our God, and all things are the result of his wisdom and his power. His laws and rules extend even to man and his behavior; and only the acceptance of these laws will bring the blessings man so much desires—eternal life and happiness.
Matter performs only in conformity with certain fundamental laws and rules made by the Creator. All forms of life on earth (lower than man) similarly have implanted within themselves a certain amount of instinct, causing them to perform all the functions necessary to preserve life according to the will of God, and to carry out the purpose of God.
Man is the supreme creation in the material world of the universe. He was made in the image of God. He is as superior to the solar system as he is to the atom, because he possesses life and conscious purpose, the ability to think. He alone is a free moral being, having the privilege of doing good or evil, the privilege to keep the law of his Creator or to disregard it. The fearful conditions existing on this earth are convincing proof that mankind has chosen not to live in harmony with the law, the principles of his Creator. As a result, man is reaping the consequences of his disobedience—death. “The wages of sin is death.” “Dying thou shalt die.”—Rom. 6:23; Gen. 2:17, margin
We might ask the question, what is this law of God which man has failed to observe? Plainly and simply stated, it is love for God—love for his Creator. Our Lord himself summed up God’s law, saying, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” (Mark 12:30) Such love implies reverence for him, obedience to him, a recognition of the fact that God’s authority is supreme; a recognition of the fact that man cannot violate either his laws covering the material world of the universe, or the laws concerning God’s intelligent creation, without suffering harmful consequences. If we can but hear its voice, then, the natural world is preaching to us a constant sermon in regard to God.
If a man constructs a bridge or a building without sufficiently strong supports to carry the load intended for it, such a structure will surely collapse. Nor can any man transgress against the spiritual law of God without harmful consequences, even as we read: “The wrath of God is revealed … against all … unrighteousness.”—Rom. 1:18