“Pay attention to Me, My people .. for a law will go forth from Me, and I will set My justice for a light of the peoples.” (Isaiah 51:4) The Hebrew word for “law” is “Torah,” which we usually take to mean the laws of God beginning with the law of Moses in the first five books of the Bible. Though the law of Moses had been given hundreds of years earlier, the Lord indicates through the prophet that “a law will go forth from me.” This “law” is a part of God’s promises to the people, along with “justice” that will be a light for the people, “righteousness” that draws near, “salvation” which will also go forth.
51:5 “My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth. And My arms will judge the peoples; The coastlands will wait for Me, And for My arm they will wait expectantly.”
While the law of God includes God’s commands, precepts, and statutes, the prophet’s words indicate that the law of God represents something bigger than the system of rules that became the highly refined system of 613 specific commands that was a central part of religious devotion by the time of Jesus.
As referenced in BC #19, the arm of God represents the activity of God in the world. Likewise, the law of God represents the ways of God in our life and in our community that create God’s justice, righteousness, and salvation. Ultimately, this way of life, this light of the people, is Jesus Christ, our example, our teacher, and our savior.
Isaiah 42:2 “He will faithfully bring forth justice, He will not be disheartened or crushed until He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.” Jesus showed us that the law of God is not fundamentally a set of rules that we fear to break, or that we aspire to as a means to piety. Rather, the law of God is a way of life in which we place our hope; the kingdom influence in our communities for which, in faith, we work and wait expectantly; a way of life that embodies God’s justice and righteousness in all of its fullness. This law is in the heart of God’s people. (51:7)
Of the law, Jesus said ..
“However you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (7:12)
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.’ The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (22:37-40)
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17)
Monday, June 20, 2011
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