The God of Law: Did God Reveal Himself Through Law? - Further. Every. Day.
The God of Law
Introduction:
What was God's purpose for law? Why does man have laws? What makes a law Godly? Is there a connection between God's Laws and Man? What does the existence of Law reveal about God Himself?
Theology:
What 3 purposes does law serve in God's economy?
The Law:
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Serves as a mirror
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Restrains Evil
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Serves as Revelation of God's Heart
The Law Serves as a Mirror:
James I:23-25 says: "For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straig way forgetteth what manner of man he was. For whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, an continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."
Romans 3:20 states: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
So we see that the Old Testament Law is meant to provide us spiritual awareness of our condition in relation to God the Father.
The Law Restrains Evil:
Leviticus 19 is a great example of a sundry list of laws with differing purposes. Some of these are moral, others appear to deal with health issues. We even see laws that recommend the treatment of leprosy.
The Law Serves as Revelation of God's Heart:
Let's look at the laws surrounding leprosy. Why did God allow leprosy to exist? What occurs with leprosy and why did God have such definitive prescriptions surrounding it?
First, what is Leprosy? From the CDC website:
Hansen's disease is caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. The disease can affect the nerves, skin, eyes, and lining of the nose. In some cases, body parts may lose their sense of touch and pain, increasing the likelihood of injuries such as cuts and burn.
https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/about/index.html
Typically from poor sanitary conditions, Leprosy is a slow moving inward disease that eats the individual from the inside out. It is not always apparent at first, and can grow for a long time.
Does this sound at all like sin?
How did God go about treating it? The individual who is fully given over to the infection, once identified was put out of the camp until they died or were cured.
Who cured leprosy? In addition to Christ, Elisha, under the power of the Holy Spirit, also directed Naaman the Leper to bathe in the Jordan in a baptism of faith. It seems that God's laws and natural law have some very interesting coincidences, or perhaps convergence.
Philosophy:
If God built for us a picture of His World, Law and Heart in His Law, what should we as Christians think of Law?
How would Law be important to our understanding of our worldview? Is it possible that God laid out Law, Theological, Natural, and Governmental, so that we could understand the fixed position of God as an entity? Let me explain. If God is unchanging, the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, then that in of itself, is a law. If God revealed His Law to us, then we can gaze upon the Law and gaze into the nature and contours of God's very essence. This thought is sobering, when one confronts it. God's unyielding nature provides a harsh position in light of that which does not conform with His Holiness, sin. THIS is why relationship is the linchpin for our worldview. Through relationship with Christ, we can become like God and therefor fellowship with this unyielding pillar of unchanging Holiness
