Been a while since I blogged, but wanted to bring the next chapter in "The Order of Worship." May not make quite as much sense without the context of previous blog.
It’s pretty amazing to think about life after the Garden of Eden. No law. No guidelines. No restrictions. No “eat this, not that.” The only command Adam and Eve had been given was not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Although, after Cain murdered Abel they understood that God was not pleased with Cain’s actions, and the concept of sin was known among the people (Gen 4:7).
However, it seems apparent that outside of the garden the people lacked the ability to perceive God’s righteousness, and could not understand how to relate to Him. Lamech murdered a man and a boy in retribution for being struck, and according to his judgment, if Cain was avenged sevenfold for cold-blooded murder he will be avenged seventy-sevenfold for provoked murder. And so as man begins to measure his relationship to God based on his comparison to other men, the downward spiral of corruption continues until the flood when God destroys the world and starts over again with Noah.
You might think when Noah and his family get off the ark to their new world this would be a good time for God to go ahead and establish his law. Tell Noah what’s a sin, what’s a good deed, and how to live holy. But God only gives Noah a blessing, and a covenant. He says “be fruitful and mulitply,” fill the earth, rule over it. Only condition: don’t kill anything with blood. That’s the only commandment. Of all the things that God could teach Noah about how to live righteous he gives Noah nothing but blessing, and promises Noah His favor.
Then Abraham comes along, the Father of the faith, the Father of many nations, the first of the chosen people. Now here it comes, God’s going to give the law and tell Abraham what his descendants need to do, and/or not do in order to live holy and righteous. This seems like the right time, why would God not start setting the standard of holy living beginning with Abraham? He was the chosen Father, and the world was again corrupt.
The law was never God’s best. God never intended man to relate to Himself through the law of Moses. God’s covenant to Noah, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was this: “I make promises, you believe them, I credit you righteousness.” That’s it. “You trust me, and trust in my character, and I will bless you.” Before Moses there was no standard of right living. There was no law, there was no code of conduct. Before the law men who sought the Lord and trusted his promises were given righteousness as a gift. The law came because the Israelites refused to trust God. They wanted a contract. They wanted God to be obligated to fulfill His word, not because it was in His nature to uphold his word, but because their behavior had warranted a reward. They wanted to earn the blessing. They wanted to achieve righteousness. Finally God gives in and says, “you really want to relate to me based on righteous living? You really want a system of rewards and consequences? Here you go...”
The law came so that sin might become utterly sinful. We were never intended to relate to God based on works of righteousness or abstaining from sin. God’s covenant with those outside of the Garden of Eden is this: “I make promises. You believe them. I credit you righteousness.” Now that through Christ we died to the law, the law of Moses not only has no authority or jurisdiction over us as Christians, it has no blessing. Since it is no longer God’s covenant with man, fulfilling the requirements of the law no longer contains a promise. The new covenant is this: “He is our promise. Believe in Him. I credit you righteousness.”
