1 / 12

GOD THE LAWGIVER

GOD THE LAWGIVER. Lesson 6, February 11 2012. THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW. How did God give us the Ten Commandments?.

coye
Download Presentation

GOD THE LAWGIVER

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. GODTHELAWGIVER Lesson 6, February 11 2012

  2. THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW How did God give us the Ten Commandments? “Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly” (Exodus, 19: 18) “For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore” (Hebrews, 12: 18-19)

  3. THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW What was the reaction before the enactment of the Ten Commandments? “Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”” (Exodus, 20: 18-19) “And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling” (Hebrews, 12: 21)

  4. THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW Why did they react like that? When they heard the Commandments, they felt their sinfulness. They realized that they had violated the Law of God. “The people of Israel were overwhelmed with terror. The awful power of God’s utterances seemed more than their trembling hearts could bear. For as God’s great rule of right was presented before them, they realized as never before the offensive character of sin, and their own guilt in the sight of a holy God. They shrank away from the mountain in fear and awe” (E.G.W., Patriarchs and Prophets, pg. 309, 310)

  5. THE ENACTMENT OF THE LAW Why did God enact the Ten Commandments? Topointout sin. “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”” (Romans, 7: 7) When God points out our sin, we realize our need of salvation. Just after enacting the Law, God taught the people how to be saved from sin through the Sanctuary, which represented Christ’s redemptive work.

  6. THELAWBEFORESINAI Cain was accused of homicide because he killed his brother (Genesis, 4: 9-10) Jacob asked his family to get rid of idols in order to go and worship God in Bethel (Genesis, 35: 2-3) Noah was told, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed” (Genesis, 9: 6) V VI VII VIII IX X I II III IV Sabbath was blessed in Creation (Genesis, 2: 1-3) Job talked about homicide, theft and adultery (Job, 24: 14-15) When God gave manna to Israel (before Sinai), He gave twice as much as they gathered daily on Sabbath, “that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not” (Exodus, 16: 4) Abimelech scolded Abraham because he lied (bearing false witness) when God told him not to commit adultery with Sarah (Genesis, 20)

  7. THELAWBEFORESINAI We can judge the rectitude of the people by using the Law as the moral rule. If there were no Law before Sinai, how could God have said that Job was “a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job, 1: 8)? Abraham lived centuries before Sinai, and God said that he “obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis, 26: 5). That refers to a complex system of laws, covering much more than the Ten Commandments. When Moses came back to Egypt, he started a spiritual reform among the people of Israel. That reform included observing the Commandments. Pharaoh accused Moses and Aaron of “Sabbathizing” the people (Exodus, 5: 5)

  8. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AND THE LAW Israel never understood the Law as a means of salvation until the pharisaic extremism in Jesus’ time. They understood that salvation was by God’s grace and the Law was (and it still is) a reflection of the divine character. If one understands the word law to encompass not just the Ten Commandments but the whole body of Old Testament teachings, especially the first five books of Moses, then you understand that what was loved was the message of salvation, of grace, of redemption. They loved the “truth” as it was revealed to them and as they best grasped it. It wasn’t a love of rules, per se, but a love of a set of guidelines and principles that, if kept, would have opened the way for many blessings and promises, because all that God had given them was for their own good and well-being.

  9. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AND THE LAW “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm19: 7) “Your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; for Your law is my delight”(Psalm119: 77) “Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea” (Isaiah, 48: 18)

  10. YOU SHALL LOVE GOD ABOVE ALL THINGS AND YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF JESUS AND THELAW Does the summary of the Law (Matthew, 22: 37-40) declare the Law null?

  11. THELAWAFTER JESUS Both the apostle Paul and James declared several times that if a believer loves his neighbor, he should observe the Ten Commandments. “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans, 13: 8-10) “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well… For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law” (James, 2: 8, 10-11)

  12. THELAWAFTER JESUS In the Bible, Law and love are intimately related. One could argue that love transcends the law, in the sense that one who truly loves God and others reveals the ultimate principles of the law. But this is no excuse for negating the law. On the contrary, love fulfills the law; love is the law expressed in its purest form. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John, 5: 2-3)

More Related