We pray that God will guide you in the path of righteousness just as he did Prophet Moses and the people of Israel in those days over 3400 years ago. God still teaches us how to be his people today. He works in our lives now. We pray that the way of blessing will be opened by God for you to follow him.
SIN REMAINS EVEN WITH THE LAW
In Exodus chapter 32, we read a story of a great sin among God’s people. Moses went up a mountain to receive the words of the Law. While he was gone, the people forced his brother Aaron (Harun) to make an idol from gold. The people of Israel were afraid of what would happen to them while Moses was gone. In their fear they followed the temptation to worship a false god, an idol. They showed how humans have become weak due to sin and corruption in the world. Their disobedience was a threat to the covenant and promise. God made the ground open and swallow thousands of the Israelites. He brought great judgment down on the people to remove sin from the people in this way.
The Israelites were being guided by a great prophet, yet there was still sin in their hearts. They were being given a law to guide them, but they made a foolish decision that ruined their friendship with God. God knew the people did not deserve his love. He knew that they would not keep his law perfectly. Still, by his grace, he gave the law for guidance to keep his people holy. In this way, the Bible makes it plain that laws and rules alone cannot lead mankind to holiness. Laws, in the end, only make us all sinful by showing that we cannot obey God perfectly. The Law of God is good, but we are not able to keep it all because of the sin that has come to live in us. Here are some quotations in the Bible about how we cannot keep God’s law perfectly:
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, Romans 3.19-20
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. Romans 7.12-13
You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 64.5-6
O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you. Prophet David, Psalm 143.1-2
Laws of governments also help protect people and keep peace; however, no law can stop all acts that are against the law. Just because there is law does not mean that man will be good. Something is needed that goes deeper than laws, something that can solve the problem of sin in the hearts of men and women. Law is like a doctor that understands an illness but has no medicine to care for the illness. Laws are helpful, but they do not reach into the inner parts of man’s heart to solve the problem of evil.
Having laws from God is like God giving us a cup of water, filled to the top. Every time we sin or break his law, God will cause some of the water to spill out. After some time, we see the cup is getting empty, but what can laws do to fill the cup again? Nothing.
Law cannot change our nature, and it cannot fill the cup. Only God’s mercy and grace can fill the cup again.
Even when God gave the Law to Israel, he knew they would not keep it perfectly. Listen to his words in Deuteronomy chapter 15:
However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today…. If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.…here will always be poor people in the land. Deuteronomy 15.4-5, 7, 11
You can see how God said that if the law is followed perfectly, there would be no poor people. Then he said that if there is a poor man, they should help him. Then God said that there will always be poor people in the land. What does this show? It shows that God gave great hope in the law for holiness and justice. However, he knew from the beginning that we could not keep this law perfectly. There would always be the problems of disobedience. If law alone could solve man’s spiritual problem, then all the laws that God has given through his prophets would be enough for us. Nothing else would be needed.
A PROPHET LIKE MOSES
The Prophet Moses spoke of another prophet who would come to lead God’s people. He told the people: The
LORD said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. Deuteronomy 18.17-19
God told the people that there was to be another great prophet like Moses. This other prophet would lead the people through the promises of the Old Testament, a new kingdom, the life of a special priest, new worship, complete victory and wonderful salvation. The Bible shows us through stories and prophecy who that great prophet was. We will see the answer for ourselves as we read the holy pages.