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This Still Speaks To Us Today

Have you ever wondered why God gave the law to Israel?
Unlocking the Bible
Published Jun 19, 2014
This Still Speaks To Us Today

Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire… the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.  Exodus 19:18–19

Have you ever wondered why God gave the law to Israel? What purpose, if any, does it serve for the Christian today? The starting place is to remember that the law of God was never a ladder for unsaved people to climb up to heaven. It was always a pattern of life for God’s people who had been saved from judgment by the blood of the lamb.

Why keep the law?

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Exodus 20:2

God said these words before he delivered the 10 Commandments to God’s people. He was not saying, “I’m giving you these commandments, so that by keeping them you may become my people.” He was saying, “I am giving you these commandments, because you are my people.”

The message of the law to us today is not that we must keep these laws in order to be saved, but rather that because we are saved, we should keep these laws. The law tells us how people who belong to God ought to live.

Misunderstanding the Bible

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
Romans 6:15

Some people had the idea that in the Old Testament God tried to save people by getting them to keep the law. But then He found that people couldn’t do this, so he came up with a better way of saving people through Jesus Christ.

If this were true, we would conclude that the Old Testament is a book of law and the New Testament is a book of grace, therefore the Old Testament has nothing to do with us because we’re not under law, we’re under grace. But that’s a complete misunderstanding of the Bible.

 The grace of God

“I will put enmity between you and the women, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15

God promised a redeemer on the very day that sin entered the world. The whole Bible is a book of grace. God has one plan from beginning to end, and it all fits together. God has always saved his people by grace and through faith.

The law is specifically given to people who have experienced the grace of God and have become his people, and for this reason it still speaks to us today.

This LifeKey is based on the message (Feb 6, 2000) called: “The Law,” by Pastor Colin S. Smith, from the series, “10 Keys for Unlocking the Bible.”

Colin currently serves as Senior Pastor of the The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He is committed to preaching the Bible in a way that nourishes the soul by directing attention to Jesus Christ.

You can receive our daily devotional booklet by mail by visiting UnlockingtheBible.org/LifeKEYS and subscribing to the LifeKEYS Daily Bible Devotional BookletYou can also follow Colin Smith and Unlocking the Bible on Facebook and Twitter.  

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