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November - December 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
An Introduction to Divine Law
by Max Mader
Few people will doubt but that we live in a lawless and
violent age where moral standards, once held sacred, are
being abandoned with impunity. Drug abuse, sex abuse,
violence, murder and rape plague our cities. Most will
agree that lawlessness is a growing problem. People are
becoming ungovernable. The rising cost of crime (for
which it is the taxpayer ultimately footing the bill) is
causing concern throughout society, and there seems
little that the civil authorities can do to curb it.
An even more sinister trend is developing in the
churches of Christianity. Here too we see lawlessness
being preached and practiced. Millions of ministers and
their congregations are now turning their backs on the
law of God, and condoning behavior which, only a few
decades ago, would have been openly condemned from the
pulpit. This is a serious trend-for the church is
supposed to teach true law and order. Yet, today we see
prominent church leaders openly attacking the
commandments of the Almighty God.
On TV, in the press, on radio, and now on the Internet,
self appointed prophets, prelates, and priests openly
admit to breaking divine commandments-held sacred since
time began. Shocking sexual misbehavior is now openly
flaunted as so-called "new light," "new wine,"
and "liberating faith" mock the sacred
commandments of the Almighty God! Millions of
Christians believe that they are ABOVE THE
LAW! misunderstanding the Apostle Paul's words
when he wrote,"Ye are not under
the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14).
Strange as it may seem, this upsurge in immorality and
lawlessness is not new; it has all happened before. What is new
is the worldwide publicity lawless churchmen receive. Never a
week passes but another "spiritual outlaw" is seen in
the pulpit or on TV decrying the commandments of God. "The
church" is in the grip of a "lawless depression" where blatant
sin is rampant.
Speaking many centuries ago, the Almighty said this
about the disregard for His law by professed spiritual
leaders: (Isaiah 24:5-6) "The
earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;
because they have transgressed the laws, changed the
ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore
hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell
therein are desolate..." Zephaniah 3:4, "Her prophets are light and
treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the
sanctuary, they have done violence to the law."
Does it really matter how people behave in private or
public? Do God's laws still exist and are we expected to
obey them-or, are Yahweh's commandments obsolete,
fulfilled and done away with by the death of His Son
Jesus Christ?
Millions of Christians would answer:"Yes, we are no
longer under the law. We're under grace! The law has
been done away with and we are no longer expected to
keep it." Is this the case? Does being "under
grace" cancel the need to obey the Ten Commandments?
This is a vital question, the answers to which will
determine how we behave and how we will stand on the
fast approaching Day of Judgement. For,
make no mistake, according to Jesus Christ we will have
to answer for all our actions-yes, for every idle
word-on that awesome day. Ignorance will be no excuse.
Matthew 12:36, "But I say unto
you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of
judgment."
Revelation 20:12, "And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books
were opened: and another book was opened, which is the
book of life: and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books, according to
their works."
Are Moral Laws Necessary?
Yes, moral laws are necessary. No society can function
properly without rules and regulations. Without laws
people soon revert to the level of brute beasts and the
"law of the jungle." Human society needs rules
and regulations. Where there is no law there is
anarchy. This fact applies on the road, in the air, the
home, the classroom, the office and the factory. To
avoid chaos, law and order is absolutely essential.
Yes, moral laws are absolutely necessary! Every
Christian, indeed every believer of all the major
religions on earth, will agree that society must have
moral standards if we are to avoid anarchy. But who
defines moral standards? Certainly we humans cannot. The
answer is that God alone has the authority to define
moral standards-because He created us.
Where does God define moral standards? The answer is
that He defines moral standards in His law. In other
words, Yahweh's law, as recorded in the
Bible, identifies the moral standards He wants humanity
to live by. If Yahweh's law didn't exist no one would
know right from wrong. The Bible says, in 1 John 3:4,
"Whosoever committeth sin
transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression
of the law."
Romans 7:7 "What shall we say
then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known
sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
Our Schoolmaster
The law of the Most High also points the sinner to the
Savior. It is a schoolmaster guiding
the guilty one to the Savior: His blood
alone can cleanse the sinner. In other words the law not
only identifies sin-that is its initial purpose-but it
also points to the remedy: Yeshua the
Messiah. He alone can cleanse and empower a
sinner not to sin again.
To use another analogy, we might say that Yahweh's law
is like a signpost on the highway of
life, pointing the way to the Kingdom of
Heaven. Once you know what sin is, repent of it, and
receive God's power to keep from sinning, you no longer
need to constantly look at the signpost to tell you the
way-because you now know the way.
Knowledge of the way, however, does not do away with the
signpost. It is still there should you or others begin
to sin again and get lost . Removing signposts and
attacking schoolmasters are serious crimes against
society. The Bible says, in Galatians 3:24,
"Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be
justified by faith."
Are Yahweh's Laws Imperfect?
The simple answer is No. Every one of the Eternal's
Commandments is perfect. All are Spiritual, pure, good
and complete. They are all faultless. It is unthinkable
that the Most High even wrote one imperfect
instruction. To harbor such an idea is unworthy of a
true believer.
Here are a few texts about Yahweh's perfect Commandments
which we would do well to study and remember-because
blindly rejecting or attacking the law of the Almighty
is courting disaster-to say the least.
Romans 7:12, "Wherefore the law
is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good
..." verse 14, "For we
know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold
under sin."
Psalm 19:7-8, "The law of the
LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of
the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes
of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the
commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the
eyes."
Yahweh's Laws are Multilevel
This means that the high Spiritual realities (to which
God's laws point) are prefigured by low-level shadows,
illustrations, models, and dramas. At their high-level,
every single Commandment of God is eternal. (More about
this point later.)
At their low level, some Divine laws are limited to
periods of time called "dispensations." When a
dispensation expires, then, in some
cases, the physical low-level illustration, the
blueprint or model of the high level
principle, which the law is teaching, is no
longer needed: Just as a signpost is no longer needed
when you have arrived at your destination. In a similar
way, a schoolmaster is no longer needed when you have
learned the lessons he was teaching. But the "spiritual
requirement," the "high-level principle" to which the
shadow points, continues to be in force throughout
eternity. ... Allow me to explain this twin-level
concept with the help of an example....
Animal Sacrifices
The book of Leviticus contains scores of passages about
various sacrifices and offerings made in the worship of
the Most High, such as the following: sin offerings,
meat offerings, peace and thank offerings, trespass
offerings, meal offerings and wave offerings. Every
transgression, however small, called for some kind of
offering to gain forgiveness. All those rituals-and they
were obviously expensive and time consuming-pointed to
the enormous price the Almighty paid for the redemption
of mankind. Those sacrifices of lambs, rams, he-goats,
bulls, pigeons, etc., all pointed to our
Savior's death.
Since His death, we believers do not need to sacrifice
animals to gain forgiveness from sin. The death of
Jesus Christ cleanses the repentant
believer from sin. This means that the low-level
requirement of the law (the blueprint, the model, the
illustration-the part which involved the slaughter of
farm animals) is no longer necessary: it has passed and
is over. It has fulfilled its instructional purpose in
pointing the sinner to the Lamb of God and in teaching
him/her how costly (to Yahweh and His Son) the ongoing
process of redemption really was.
The high-level requirements of the sacrificial laws,
however, are eternal. They still apply. When a person
sins in this day and age he/she must still come to the
Almighty with the blood of a sacrifice, for "without the shedding of blood there
is no forgiveness of sin" (Hebrews 9:22). This
mandatory parameter (that without blood there can be no
forgiveness) is the very reason why those commandments
concerning animal sacrifices were given: They were given
to teach mankind that the penalty for sin is death; and
that forgiveness is only possible if the sinner comes to
God with the blood of a substitute. Prior to the
Savior's death, literal lambs, goats and bulls were
slaughtered to prefigure our real substitute-Jesus
Christ. Those practical lessons mean that if a repentant
sinner wants forgiveness from sin, he/she must approach
the Almighty with the blood of a sacrifice.
In this dispensation (since the Savior's death) all that
we need to obtain forgiveness-by faith-is the blood of
the Lamb of God. In other words, before
you can find forgiveness from sin, you need faith in the
cleansing power of the blood of Jesus Christ. You cannot
receive remission (forgiveness, pardon, acquittal,
absolution) for your sins in any other way! This is what
the Bible teaches.
In short, the high-level reality of the law on
sacrifices (that we need faith in the blood of the
Messiah before forgiveness is possible) still exists. It
hasn't been done away with. Hebrews 9:22, "And almost all things are by the law
purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no
remission." Colossians 1:14, "In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."
Psalm 111:7-8, "The works of his
hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are
sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in
truth and uprightness."
New covenant believers do not
need to sacrifice a lamb, a goat or a bull to gain
forgiveness. All that they are required to do is to
repent, confess their sins to God, and ask forgiveness
in His Son's name. The blood of Yeshua the
Messiah (the only born-again Son of God)
cleanses us from all sin. Therefore, the law, which
states that forgiveness is not possible without blood,
still stands: it is still in force; it is eternal, and
it applies today. If you want forgiveness now, you must
still go to God the Father with faith in the blood of
the substitute-Jesus Christ the Son.
Yahweh's Laws Are Eternal?
At their high-level, every one of Yahweh's laws is
eternal: they will all last for all time. Unlike the
animal sacrifice laws, of Yahweh's Commandments still
apply on both levels. For example, the law forbidding
adultery still applies on the physical as well as the
spiritual level. Physically sleeping with another man's
wife is as wrong today as it was before the Savior
died. On a still higher plane that same law forbids
"mental adultery," and higher still, "adulterating truth
with error." These acts are high-level adultery.
Other examples of laws that still apply on both levels
are these:
"Thou shalt not bow down to
graven images."
-
Low-level: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image....
-
High-level: Do not worship man-made systems,
pagan gods, or alien ideologies-because they are as
lifeless as stone or metal images and cannot help in
times of real trouble.
Honor thy father and thy mother.
-
Low-level: Honor your earthly father and
mother....
-
High-level: Honor your Spiritual, Heavenly
Father Yahweh, and His Church, the mother of all
believers.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy.
-
Low-level: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy. In it thou shalt not do any work....
-
High-level: Remember Yahweh's Sabbath is His
everlasting covenant sign of sanctification, rest and
true prosperity. It prefigures the Rest of God in the
ages to come.
Psalm 111:7-8, "The works of his
hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are
sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in
truth and uprightness." Matthew 5:17-19, "Think not that I am come to destroy
the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but
to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments,
and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in
the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven."
When the Almighty writes His perfect law on the minds of
His followers, it will be for all time, never to be
forgotten.
Hebrews 8:10, "For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into
their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will
be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people
..."
Conclusion
Lawlessness is a growing problem throughout the world:
That is so in the streets, in the classrooms, in the
workrooms, and alas, even in the churches! Many
Christians incorrectly suppose that Paul taught that
Yahweh's law is obsolete and that the Ten Commandments
are a thing of the past. This monumental misconception
is currently resulting in lawlessness throughout
society. The church is no longer leading the fight
against lawlessness; thus, it has
become lawless itself-and violence is sweeping society.
The truth is clear: Yahweh's laws are necessary; they
identify sin; they convert the soul! They act like
signposts or schoolmasters pointing the way to the
Savior Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah). Without God's
law no one would know right from wrong.
Yahweh's laws are all perfect-every one of them.
Moreover, His laws are eternal. The
high-level principles they embody will be inscribed on
the true believers mind and will be instinctively obeyed
throughout eternity.
This is what the Scriptures teach. That is what every
true Prophet, Priest, and Apostle of God taught in days
gone by. So, let no one foolishly attack the law of the
Almighty-the Commandments He wrote with His own hand.
The thought of the fast approaching Day of Judgement is
not something to be lightly dismissed. I end here by
quoting two of the wisest men who ever lived: Solomon
said, (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) "Let us
hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and
keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of
man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with
every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil."
Jesus said, (Matthew 19:17) "... if thou wilt enter into life,
keep the commandments."
TSS
November - December 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
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