Law and Order (part I)

During the recent ongoing “Grace Awakening” the biggest obstacle I see (especially in the pastorate) is a fear of completely letting go of the Law. I struggled with this as well, wondering why God would introduce something so pivotal for a brief period of time and then seemingly cast it aside as if He’d changed His mind regarding its significance. After all He is the same yesterday today and forever.

As I searched for an answer, two foundational truths have guided my study. 1. Who God is; His attributes and His principals will never change. 2. God’s ultimate purpose for mankind will never change. My next several postings will build on each other, I pray that you will meditate on God’s Word as He leads you to seek greater revelation into His person!

Righteousness and Justice are the foundation of His throne. (Ps 97:2) For God to righteously establish justice, He must be righteous and just. For Him to govern righteously and justly He cannot rule arbitrarily based on a whim. God holds himself to a standard! You may say, but He is sovereign! GOD has set the standard that He will hold Himself to thereby maintaining His sovereignty. (We will discuss sovereignty, justice and righteousness in later postings) This standard is LAW; God is a God of Laws! Don’t let this scare you, it actually offers us assurance!

God is not above the law, He has established the Law, and He operates legally within the confines of the Law He has established. Think about it: when He created, He simply spoke laws into place that man later discovered, and actually had the audacity to name some of them after himself. ie. Newton's Law of Gravity. There are laws of physics; laws of electricity, mathematical laws, there are even laws that govern the English language.

God spoke laws into chaos and the result was order. That’s because a law governs. Each law carries with it governing actions that bring about an expected outcome. Each time the law is followed the outcome will be the same. The only way to render a law inoperational , is to put a law into place that overrides the existing law, either permanently or temporarily. (I hope you see where this is going!)

Some have concluded, (in error) that since we are no longer under the old “covenant of Law” but under grace that everything now is just willy nilly, loosey goosey, and we never know what God will do because it is after all based on His will and who knows what that is?  But God has given us imagery in the bible (yes in the new covenant) that contradicts this theory.  Jesus spoke of a Kingdom that is within us, and  a kingdom is established based on rule and law and government.    The bible speaks of warfare and armor (Eph 6, Acts 17, II Cor. 10) The military’s very foundation is rule and discipline, not to mention rank!

So are we under law in the new covenant or not? If so what is the rule of law we are subject to? Who are the powers that be? What is the hierarchy? What are the principals that govern this kingdom?

Please hunt for answers to these questions before we meet again, and please come back for part 2 of Law and Order.