The Law of Liberty (30)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8.1, 2

Christians do not fear death because they do not fear judgment. They know that, in Jesus Christ, as they rest in Him and hope in Him, God will remove all their transgressions as far as the east is from the west, and He will remember their sins no more.

But how can we be so sure? In particular, how can we know that Jesus is sufficient to ensure safe passage through the judgment of God? The answer is familiar: because Jesus fulfilled all the righteous requirements of God’s Law and bore all the accumulated wrath of the Law against sinners such as we.

The Law of God is the perfect standard of divine righteousness. It tells us what God requires of those who would find favor in His eye and be acceptable in His sight (Ps. 15). But because we can never fulfill that Law, God, out of the great love with which He loves us, sent His holy and perfect Son to fulfill the Law on our behalf in exhaustive detail. We look to Jesus and cling to His righteousness as that alone which can make us pleasing to God.

But why should such a holy and righteous One as Jesus was have to endure such misery and death? Because He also took the judgment of God’s Law against us, so that, for all who are “in Christ Jesus,” the Law holds no terror whatsoever. Instead, the Law of God – fulfilled and satisfied in Jesus – is the very reason we can have such confidence in the completed work of our Savior.

In the Gospel of John, those who believe in Jesus truly, and trust Him sincerely, are frequently distinguished from those who believe in Him because they want something. These latter are said to “believe in Jesus.” On the other hand, His true followers are described as “believing into Him.” When we believe into Jesus we enter into Him, by grace through faith, and are clothed with His righteousness and relieved of the stained garments of our own sin.

When, therefore, beyond death and the grave, we stand before God to be judged, He will not see our transgressions, but only Jesus – and in Him, and us in Him, God will see His perfect standard completely and entirely fulfilled.

Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers, and The Ground for Christian Ethics, by T. M. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, click Publications, then click Waxed Tablet, and scroll down until you see these companion volumes.