“And God spoke all these words…”

                 In Exodus chapter 20 God began to reveal the specifics of His holy character by giving the moral law to Moses.  He began with what is now commonly called the 10 Commandments.  Later laws (the civil and the ceremonial) would follow.  This establishes the fact that God is the lawgiver, although this title is not seen here in so many words.  A better reference might be Galatians 3:21 which says, “For if there had been a law given [by God] which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.”

There are several answers to the question, “Why did God give the law in the first place?”  It might be helpful to note that animals don’t have laws to follow.  That is because they do what they do by instinct.  In other words, animals never have things they ought to do or should do.  They just do what they do because that’s all they do!  Animals don’t need to be obedient to God in the moral sense.  Not so with human beings.  With us there are always things we should do, but frequently don’t.  We are given the law to demonstrate at least two things.  First, we have a different nature than animals.  It is made in God’s image, as seen by our conscience, that intuitive knowledge of right and wrong options, and by our understanding of morality and ethics.  Second, we have a real choice to obey or disobey.  This choice also shows God’s image in us.

The religion of Islam is made up of laws that Mohammed claimed to receive from Allah. The Quran tells Muslims that they must do such and such if they hope to have any chance to arrive in Paradise at the end of time.  In other words Mohammed gave them laws that were within their power to obey.  Islam is a religion of works to gain Allah’s approval and mercy.  But any system of laws that man can obey is a system that came from man, not God.  In fact, every religion has rules and laws putting requirements on people to measure up to “God’s” standards.  However, God gave the Jews a code that was impossible to obey completely.  As mentioned earlier, God’s law is a statement about his perfect holiness and righteousness (Romans 7:12, 10:1-5) and our flawed and sinful character (Romans 3:19-20).  1,500 years of Jewish history recorded in the Old Testament have proven conclusively that they failed in both the instructive and corrective commands (the sacrifices).  The last 2,000 years has proven the world’s disobedience globally, “for the law made nothing perfect…” (Hebrews 7:19).  “[M]an is not justified by the works of the law…” (Galatians 2:16).

But what God began as the lawgiver he finished by sending Christ to be the law-keeper.  Jesus said, “I did not come to destroy [the Law or the Prophets] but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17).  In a rather heated discussion with the Jews, he asked them, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46).  They did not respond specifically to this question because they had no legitimate answer.  So Jesus did what we could not do:  “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin:  He condemned sin in the flesh…” (Romans 8:3).  He became that perfect sacrifice, the “lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:19).  Salvation is and always has been a work of God from beginning to end.  It is his terms we must comply with, not ours.  Were we to set our terms, they’d be like low brow policies of some tin dictator.  It doesn’t work that way with God.  He set his standard impossibly high.  Then he turned around and met our need perfectly and completely.

And so the picture comes full circle.  It begins with a perfectly holy God who revealed his character by requiring obedience to a perfect law.  But man could not keep that standard, so God became a man, a perfect Man, who fulfilled the requirement and forever proved that salvation is God’s gift to us, not a work we earn (Ephesians 2:8-9).  This is no religion; there is no merit for vain human efforts toward salvation.  No, this is the work of God!  For us who now face “no condemnation” (Romans 8:1), the law’s requirements are “fulfilled in us” practically when we “do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4) moment by moment.  And all the praise and honor and glory goes to our Lawgiver!

Can others see God’s standards in your life?  If not, have you blessed and lifted up our Lawgiver today?