As the Israelites reached Mount Sinai, they were stepping into a whole new reality of what being God’s chosen people would look like. God gave them His Law so they could live differently from the nations they would encounter along their journey. He made a covenant with them that involved blessings for obedience and consequences for disobedience. When we study their history, we see their pattern. They broke this covenant with God and suffered the consequences as a nation. But God had a new covenant in mind for them and for us. One that would come to pass thousands of years later through Jesus, the Messiah.
God’s Law revealed His perfect way, but it also revealed our inability to keep it.
For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law – I stopped trying to meet all its requirements – so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. – Galatians 2:19-21 NLT
God’s Law revealed our need for a Savior.
Jesus’ death and resurrection ushered in God’s covenant of grace. A covenant that involves surrender, not striving. When we ceaselessly strive to be righteous on our own, we can never know with certainty if we’ve achieved it. When we try in our own strength to obey God’s perfect Law, we are only reminded of how far short we fall of His holy standard. But when we turn to Christ for salvation, we can rest in His righteousness. In Christ, we are set free from the burden of the Law, and we can obey from a heart of gratitude, empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a life that glorifies God.
“I will put My laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts.” – Hebrews 8:10 NLT
(For further reading: Exodus 19 & 20)
