The Rule of Law: First Things (6)

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“And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” Leviticus 20.26

What does obedience to the rule of God’s Law yield? What benefit may we expect to gain if, properly motivated out of fear of and love for God, we take up the yoke of obedience to His Law in every aspect of our lives?

All the blessings of God’s Law are summed up in this one benefit: we will be His holy people. We will be like Him!

We will be like Jesus, as Paul explained (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

God is full of majesty, glory, splendor, might, goodness, wisdom, joy, love, life, and strength. What this can look like in a human life has been amply revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 1.3). Wouldn’t it be nice to be more consistently like that ourselves? God does not experience fear or disappointment, defeat, discouragement, setback, self-doubt, or any of the other negative affections and consequences of our sinful state. Would we not truly enjoy our lives if they could be made free of such unpleasantness?

God uses His Law to make us like Himself – holy, set apart for the purposes of eternal glory. This is the work of His Spirit within us, which work we frustrate by our neglect of God’s Law (cf. Ezek. 36.26, 27; Phil. 2.13). His Law is the gateway to His promises, by which we may partake of the divine nature, when we have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2 Pet. 1.4). As the Spirit of God leads us through the Law into the presence of God’s glory, we are there transformed, made to conform a bit more to the image of Jesus Christ, so that His righteousness lives through us, and His holiness comes to expression in all our words and deeds (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

Thus, as we grow in holiness, into the image of Jesus Christ, every aspect of our lives, even the most routine and everyday activities, become platforms for the glory of God to refract to the world around us (1 Cor. 10.31).

The consequence, therefore, of rightly submitting to the rule of God’s Law is that we become holy, as He is holy, in the holiness only He can bring out through us, so that we are blessed beyond description, and He is glorified in the world. Every believer is called to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7.1); the Law helps us to fear God and marks the path of holiness.

It would be difficult, I think, to describe a more desirable agenda for human life.

Next steps – Transformation: What does the next stage of holiness look like for you? In your time with the Lord? Your daily walk with and work for Him? What goals for bringing holiness to a higher stage of completion in your life would you like to set?

The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of the Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.