I did not wish to combine these three topics into one lesson, so I’ve decided to focus on just the law this week, while offering some thoughts regarding sin and the gospel to next week’s lesson on repentance and forgiveness.

God’s law is a transcript of God’s character. We see this when we compare their shared attributes:

God’s Character in His Law!
God	God’s Law
Righteous (Ezra 9:15)	Righteous (Psalm 119:172)
Perfect (Matthew 5:48)	Perfect (Psalm 19:7)
Holy (Leviticus 19:2)	Holy (Romans 7:12)
Good (Psalm 34:8)	Good (Romans 7:12)
True (Exodus 34:6)	True (Psalm 119:142)

Let’s look at a few of these just so we can anchor this thought in our mind, for example, holy and good.

God Is Holy & Good

Leviticus 19:2 You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good.

God’s Law Is Holy & Good

Romans 7:12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.

Why did God give the Ten Commandments to human beings?

Deuteronomy 4:37-40 NLT Because he loved your ancestors, he chose to bless their descendants, and he personally brought you out of Egypt with a great display of power. 38 He drove out nations far greater than you, so he could bring you in and give you their land as your special possession, as it is today. 39 “So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The LORD is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other. 40 If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

Deuteronomy 33:2-3 Moses said: The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran. With him were myriads of holy ones streaming along at his right hand. 3 Truly he loves his people and blesses his holy ones. They sit at his feet and receive his instruction. [translation mine]

Mark 12:30-31 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Romans 13:9-10 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Galatians 5:14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

In essence, God loves people and, because God loves people, He wants them to live good long lives! To live a good long, life means to love others as God loves us!

Again, why should we keep God’s law?

Psalm 119:129 NLT Your laws are wonderful; therefore I obey them!

What makes God’s laws so wonderful? There are too many reasons to enumerate here so let’s focus on just one because it is repeated in Scripture:

Deuteronomy 4:40 If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life….

Deuteronomy 5:16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you….

Deuteronomy 5:29 If only they had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!

Deuteronomy 5:33 You must follow exactly the path that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.

In Deuteronomy 6:2-3, 18, 24 Moses repeated this thought: it is in your own best interests and in the best interests of others for you to keep God’s law, especially the Ten Commandments! Eight times in three short chapters Moses said this.

Ellen White also communicated this many times; here is one such remark:

God’s prohibitions and injunctions are not intended to merely display His authority, but in all that He does He has the well-being of His children in view. Patriarchs and Prophets, 600

Moses seems to have anticipated ongoing questions regarding the enduring value of God’s laws because Moses oddly comments on the notion in Deuteronomy 5:

Deuteronomy 5:1-3 “Hear the laws and regulations I am giving you today….The LORD did not make this covenant with our ancestors, but with all of us who are alive today.

The chronological reference point of the passage is “today.” “Today” is always the day for hearing and obeying the Ten Commandments. Moses made this point with a great deal of emphasis in the Hebrew, which literally reads:

Deuteronomy 5:3 “The LORD did not cut this covenant with our fathers, but with us, we, these ones, here, today, all of us, living,”

Moses elaborated like this to make it crystal clear that the Ten Laws are meant for people who are alive today!

Moses also anticipated future questions regarding God’s laws:

Deuteronomy 6:20 NLT “In the future your children will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of these laws, decrees, and regulations that the LORD our God has commanded us to obey?’

Note the instruction offered regarding how to answer such a question:

Deuteronomy 6:21 NLT “Then you must tell them, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand.

This is in complete keeping with how the Ten Commandments are given in both of their versions:

Exodus 20:2 NLT “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. [Ten commandments then follow]

Deuteronomy 5:6 NLT “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. [Ten commandments then follow]

Therefore, it seems almost unnecessary to say that keeping God’s law is just as important for us today as it was for God’s people in the past. Just as God, in His great love, rescued the Israelites from their oppressive situation, so we too can say with the Psalmist:

Psalm 86:11-13 Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you. 12 With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God. I will give glory to your name forever,13 for your love for me is very great. You have rescued me from the depths of death.

Being first loved by God, being rescued by God from whatever harms us, and then being taught by God appears to be God’s normal way of treating sin-damaged people!

Why is it so important for the universe to be governed by law?

Humanly speaking, such a structure is required for us to be able to form intentions to act and to successfully carry out our acts. However, this also means that we have a lot of power to affect our world for good or for evil. By giving us such power for good or evil God shows His respect for us. God did not make us to be insignificant creatures! Plus, the law of cause and effect, for example, is part of this notion that everything is governed by law. Cause and effect lead us to believe that the right means must be employed to achieve a desired end. Which means that the notion of the end justifying the means is false!

And just like that, being governed by law does not seem burdensome! Right? Laws make it possible for us to succeed as intelligent creatures and they protect us.

Yet every law in the Bible has been altered to suit sin-damaged people.The Apostle Paul is very clear regarding this:

1 Timothy 1:9 For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders.

Don’t panic because, in principle, all other created, intelligent beings are also governed by the same laws but note my words “in principle.”

But in heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit of legality. When Satan rebelled against the law of Jehovah, the thought that there was a law came to the angels almost as an awakening to something unthought of. In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons. There is perfect unity between them and their Creator. Obedience is to them no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy. Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 109:2

I expect heaven to “feel” this way: humans will have no immediate recognition that we are still being governed by God’s laws. Why not? Because obedience will not be any kind of drudgery; our love for God will make our obedience a joy! This is a huge blessing for those of us who are authority challenged!

Here and now, because the law is a transcript of God’s character, it also operates as a mirror, as James wrote:

James 1:22-25 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Seeing ourselves in the law, that is, in a transcript of God’s character, helps us become accurately self-aware. We don’t just look inwardly; we look at ourselves through God’s law, through this transcript of God’s character. In this way the law is a blessing to us and not a burden even today!

Questions

How do you feel about being governed by law?

What good things may occur because we are governed by law?

What dangers might surface because we are governed by law?

Try answering the questions stemming from what is called the Euthyphro Dilemma:

1. Are morally good actions morally good simply because God chooses them?
2. Or does God choose them because they are—independent of His choosing them—morally good?
3. Something other than options a & b?

For those seriously authority challenged: how do you deal with being governed by law?

What does Ellen White mean in the quote below when she advises us to preach Christ in the law?

As a people, we have preached the law until we are as dry as the hills of Gilboa that had neither dew nor rain. We must preach Christ in the law…. Review and Herald, March 11, 1890, par. 3