In the midst of a global pandemic and racial uprising, you may ask whether God's Law is still relevant. Why should it matter to us today? To find out, let us explore the Word of God.
In Exodus 31:18, Moses is given the Law of God on two tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God, but in his anger over the golden calf, Moses broke those tablets. Two chapters later, in Exodus 33 and 34, Moses makes two pleas to God: first, to accompany the Children of Israel from Mount Sinai, and second, to “show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18). God promises to do both, but He first instructs Moses to carve out two new tablets of stone, that He may re-inscribe them with His Law. Then, in chapter 34, verses six and seven, God reveals His glory to Moses by proclaiming His name and character: “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
God’s glory is His character, but before it can be revealed to Moses, he must have tablets ready for God’s Law to be written on. Those tablets represent the assurance that God will go with His people.
The story of Moses on the mountain illustrates the tightly intertwined relationship between God’s glory, His character, His Law, and His presence.
God meant for the Children of Israel to be a light to the world, an unusual people that would reflect Him to other nations. If Israel would obey His commands, Yahweh would be known around the world as a loving, kind, and just God. Psalm 19:7 states, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.” God’s Law transforms our lives.
Like Moses, we cannot see God’s face, but we can see His character in His commands, just as we saw His character in Jesus on the cross. That is why Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17–18). Jesus fulfilled the prophecy made by the Law when He demonstrated God’s character in the ultimate sacrifice for mankind.
This same prophecy exists today. God will not abandon us, just as He refused to abandon the Children of Israel after their worship of a golden calf. The glory of His character is still present for us to see in His commands, full of justice and mercy, discipline and love. “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89). All God’s commands are sure and fast, forever and ever. They are a safeguard, a gate that protects us and transforms us, placing us in close relationship with our Creator and our Savior. As the world becomes more chaotic, we need this fellowship with our heavenly Father all the more.
God's Law is an everlasting expression of His love.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
