Page 241 - Our Father Cares (1991)

Basic HTML Version

Terms Of The Covenant, August 10
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.
[206]
237