(Exo 16:4 KJV) Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
Laws are designed to create and maintain order. This order is entirely dependent upon the perspective of the lawyer or law giver. In a dictatorship laws are imposed to ensure a uniformity of behaviour that pleases the ONE Dictator; In a democracy laws are made to ensure a uniformity of behaviour that pleases the MANY in the Majority.
Going back to Genesis we see that the only ‘laws’ given to Adam were dietary.. ie: you may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden except the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The rest is chaotic human history, as nation after nation has tried to fix the consequences of “original sin” with rules and regulations.
The imposition of laws is only necessary for those things which are out of control. The laws of life are implicit in creation, they do not have to be taught or learned. The only reason they needed to be taught or learned is because they became lost when we did.
Biblical Law was given as a means to guide and correct the lost, unfortunately written law occupies the parchment and the mind, it does not reside in the heart. Such laws are easily ignored or disobeyed. Missing the heart of the law, which is love (the unity of being), is our real crime.
Am always amazed at how many people know the written commandment… “Though shalt not kill”, yet so few know the written consequences of breaking the law… “death”.
Without consequences… all Law is ineffective and pointless. Without consequences Law is disregarded, like a Lion without teeth. What is the point of employing police to chase criminals all day only for the judge and jury to set them free to commit further crime later??? When I worked for the police it was well recognized that most criminals are recidivist (repeat) offenders. It is futile and foolish for humanity to adopt the Ten Commandments, without the consequences that uphold them. In this regard the legalism of Islam is correct, but in so many other ways it is misguided and dangerous, lacking the mercy and compassion of the very God it is supposed to represent.
Without law there can be no order. Yet existence by its very nature has implicit laws - these laws exist whether men point them out or not. For example the ‘law of gravity’ existed long before Sir Isaac Newton and likewise every other natural law. The realization of a ‘natural law’ is just the mental recognition of a consistent pattern observed in nature, which one has obviously been ‘blind to’ or ‘ignorant of’…. previously.
Jesus’ policy of ‘forgiveness’ can only work in a world that embraces ‘the way’ of Jesus. It cannot work in a secular or religious world, ruled by the laws of men. Let’s not forget, nearly every prophet was stoned to death and even Jesus was crucified by the laws of men, so until the world changes, all those who adopt ‘the way’ of God and Christ must expect the same and trust God for salvation, because you will not receive it at the hand of sinful men.
(John 10:33-34 KJV) The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
LAW & ORDER
Continued