Foundations are necessary but never really the end goal. I don't know much about make-up, but I recently asked some women what would happen if they only applied what they call "foundation". In unison they said that they would look like a ghost and that the they would never rely on foundation to assist their appearance. As a God laid out the law through Moses, it was a necessary foundation but it was not God's end goal.
Even though the Law of Moses was not the end goal for God, it was the foundation for how He would relate to His people and how He expected them to govern their lives. This foundation would separate the Israelites from the nations around them as God formed a people that would be a blessing to the whole world. Here in the second part of the series "Lawfully", we will observe four ways in which The Law of Moses forms a foundation for God people. This is not an exhaustive list by any means but it will help us see the good within the Law of Moses.
To begin with the Law of Moses served as a foundation for a free community. The biblical text for the provision of the law is the book of Exodus. This is the historical account of how God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. In Exodus chapter twenty the giving of what we call the Ten Commandments is recorded. In verse two of this chapter we read, "I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." This points out that as God provided the Ten Commandments He was doing so within the context of their new found freedom. In other words their law was to serve them as a free society. It should be noted here that people without law are left to their individual opinions as to what is right and wrong This will end only in bondage to the powerful with that people group. True freedom only comes when people are governed by an objective law that rules over all.
Secondly, the Law of Moses served as a foundation of understanding God as a redeemer. Again make note of Exodus chapter twenty verse two. To understand that God is a redeemer we have to understand that God redeemed after four hundred years of slavery. That means for many generations God was not seen as a redeemer but as a God that had forgotten His people. All those generations had were promises that were hundreds of years old with no fulfillment in sight. In fact many of our Bible heroes felt this way about God. Maybe you feel this way with some aspects of your life. If so, hold on to God because at the foundation of our relationship with God is the reality that he is in fact a redeemer and His promises can be trusted even if they are very old.
Leaving our second point and moving on to the third, we see that the law is a symbol of the eternal covenant between God and Israel. We discover this in Deuteronomy 29:29 which reads, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the rods of this law." The "secrete things" are interpreted as breaches in the law that are unseen by man, but are seen by God alone. Here the Israelites understand that they are responsible for living by what God has revealed and leaving what is not revealed to the governance of God. This can apply to our previous point as well. At times God reveals how and why He acts as redeemer and at other times we are left to faithfully rely on His promises.
The final point to be made here is that the law provides a foundation for pride and manipulation if improperly used. Remember Paul's words to Timothy which are the basis for this entire series. Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:8, "Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully." With this in mind the law can be bad id improperly used. This is exactly the accusation of Jesus in Matthew 23:15 when He says, "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across the see and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make his twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." What Jesus was saying here is that the Scribes and Pharisees misused the law for their own benefit by manipulating others.
After looking at these four ways that the law is a foundation, may you now begin to understand that God's law keeps us reliant on Him. As you finish reading this entry please reflect on Galatians 3:10-14 which reads, "All who are under the law are under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.' 11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, 'the righteous will live by faith'. 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, 'The man who does these things will live by them.' 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles though Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."
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