And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Exodus 20.1

The Biblical worldview contained in the Law of God is a redemptive worldview. That is, it reveals the way to full and abundant life in a covenantal (grace unto faith and obedience) relationship with the living God. The Law of God does not accomplish redemption, and people do not attain redemption through obedience to the commandments, statutes, precepts, and rules of God’s Law. God alone is Israel’s Redeemer, and the redemption He provides comes to His people as a work of grace, based on His Covenant.

But the Law of God is unto redemption in that those who have known the saving deliverance of God may now expect, through obedience to God’s Law, to realize with ever-increasing fullness and power the benefits of that redemption by practicing love for God and neighbor in obedience to the Law.

The redemption God’s people knew from the tyranny of Pharaoh was merely the beginning of God’s plan for His people, a plan for good, and not for evil, to give them a future and a hope (Jer. 29.11). God intended His people to know blessings in every aspect of their lives (cf. Deut. 28.1-14), and He determined to leave nothing to chance or their sin-tainted imaginations when it came to figuring out how to obtain the blessings He had prepared for them.

Thus the Law of God came to bring life full and abundant to a people who had been redeemed by the gracious and powerful hand of the God of the Covenant. It was by spiritual power that Pharaoh was overcome, the Red Sea parted, and the Law of God was given to His people. It was on the basis of His Covenant promises that Israel – now no longer a tribal group but a considerable nation – was shown the way to greater fullness through the elaboration of God’s Covenant at Mt. Sinai and on the plains of Moab.

The redeemed of the Lord cannot know the full value of this great gift apart from seeking the Lord and obeying His Spirit according to His Word, beginning with the Law of God. The Law of God outlines the broad parameters of Covenant blessing which God intends for His people as they approach Him in fear and wonder, and go forth from His presence in faith and obedience.

If you want a better understanding of how the Law helps us to gain more of the benefits of our redemption, get T. M.’s book, The Ground for Christian Ethics (http://www.ailbe.org/bookstore/church/item/23-the-ground-for-christian-ethics) from our online store.