Chapter 126—Terms of the Covenant
If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be
a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.
Exodus 19:5
.
In the beginning, God gave His law to mankind as a means of attaining
happiness and eternal life.
The ten commandments, Thou shalt, and Thou shalt not, are ten promises,
assured to us if we render obedience to the law governing the universe. “If
ye love me, keep my commandments” (
John 14:15
). Here is the sum and
substance of the law of God. The terms of salvation for every son and
daughter of Adam are here outlined....
That law of ten precepts of the greatest love that can be presented to man
is the voice of God from heaven speaking to the soul in promise, “This do,
and you will not come under the dominion and control of Satan.” There is
not a negative in that law, although it may appear thus. It is DO and Live.
The condition of eternal life is now just what it always has been—just
what it was in Paradise before the fall of our first parents—perfect obedience
to the law of God, perfect righteousness. If eternal life were granted on any
condition short of this, then the happiness of the whole universe would be
imperiled. The way would be open for sin, with all its train of woe and
misery, to be immortalized.
Christ does not lessen the claims of the law. In unmistakable language He
presents obedience to it as the condition of eternal life—the same condition
that was required of Adam before his fall.... The requirement under the
covenant of grace is just as broad as the requirement made in Eden—harmony
with God’s law, which is holy, just, and good.
The standard of character presented in the Old Testament is the same
that is presented in the New Testament. This standard is not one to which
we cannot attain. In every command or injunction that God gives there
is a promise, the most positive, underlying the command. God has made
provision that we may become like unto Him, and He will accomplish this
for all who do not interpose a perverse will and thus frustrate His grace.
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