The Prophet and His Law
June/Training for Mission
15 June 2010
Who has ascended Mount Sinai to speak with the Lord…save Moses, judge of the people of Israel?
– Columcille, Altus Prosator (Irish, 6th century)
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen…”
– Deuteronomy 18.15
Only one stanza of Altus Prosator deals with events on earth – this one. The focus is on the giving of the Law and the authority of Moses, an authority ultimately passed down to Jesus, Who perfectly fulfilled the Law – for our redemption (Matt. 5.17-19) – and Who prescribed the Law as the way to love God and men (Matt. 22.34-40).
It’s almost as if Columcille is saying to his disciples, “When it comes to things here on earth, all you have to know is, pursue holiness in the fear of God.” This is the essence of Kingdom-seeking. We pursue holiness by resting in Jesus‘ finished work. He alone provides the righteousness we need to be acceptable to God.
But we also pursue holiness by walking in the steps of Jesus (1 Jn. 2.1-6), learning from His Spirit (Ezek. 36.26, 27), and finding in the Law not a burden to break us but a luminous path of liberty and life (Lev. 18.1-5). And when we find that, by the grace of God alone, we are actually able to keep the Law in the power of the Spirit, we will be quick to acknowledge that it is “not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but to Your own Name be glory!” (Ps. 115.1)
Christians are called to holiness; the Law of God is holy (Rom. 7.12) and the Holy Spirit teaches us by that law (Jn. 16.8-11). We cannot take up the mission to which we are called without underscoring and infusing all our conversation, works, and relationships with the holiness and love of God’s Law. This is the foundation of mission, as of all the Christian life. If we listen to Jesus, the Prophet Moses foresaw, we will obey and teach the Law as central to our calling to follow Him.
Today in ReVision: The False Hope of Politics
This Week’s Download: Faithfulness in Ministry
Get a copy of John Nunnikhoven’s Voices Together and start learning to pray the psalms, as the saints of old did. Go to the book store today.
T. M. Moore, nacurragh@aol.com
