Spirituality of the Law
41
whispered about that His teaching was in opposition to the precepts
that God had given from Sinai. The Saviour said nothing to unsettle
faith in the religion and institutions that had been given through Moses;
for every ray of divine light that Israel’s great leader communicated to
his people was received from Christ. While many are saying in their
hearts that He has come to do away with the law, Jesus in unmistakable
language reveals His attitude toward the divine statutes. “Think not,“
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He said, “that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets.”
It is the Creator of men, the Giver of the law, who declares that it
is not His purpose to set aside its precepts. Everything in nature, from
the mote in the sunbeam to the worlds on high, is under law. And upon
obedience to these laws the order and harmony of the natural world
depend. So there are great principles of righteousness to control the
life of all intelligent beings, and upon conformity to these principles
the well-being of the universe depends. Before this earth was called
into being, God’s law existed. Angels are governed by its principles,
and in order for earth to be in harmony with heaven, man also must
obey the divine statutes. To man in Eden Christ made known the
precepts of the law “when the morning stars sang together, and all
the sons of God shouted for joy.”
Job 38:7
. The mission of Christ on
earth was not to destroy the law, but by His grace to bring man back to
obedience to its precepts.
The beloved disciple, who listened to the words of Jesus on the
mount, writing long afterward under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
speaks of the law as of perpetual obligation. He says that “sin is
the transgression of the law” and that “whosoever committeth sin
transgresseth also the law.”
1 John 3:4
. He makes it plain that the law
to which he refers is “an old commandment which ye had from the
beginning.”
1 John 2:7
. He is speaking of the law that existed at the
creation and was reiterated upon Mount Sinai.
Speaking of the law, Jesus said, “I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfill.” He here used the word “fulfill” in the same sense as when He
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declared to John the Baptist His purpose to “fulfill all righteousness” (
Matthew 3:15
); that is, to fill up the measure of the law’s requirement,
to give an example of perfect conformity to the will of God.
His mission was to “magnify the law, and make it honorable.”
Isaiah 42:21
. He was to show the spiritual nature of the law, to present
its far-reaching principles, and to make plain its eternal obligation.