Have you ever wondered why the Law came through Moses? Let's stop and think about this for a minute. Abraham was given a most wonderful promise (Gen 12:1-3) which extended to Jesus (Gal 3:16) and ultimately to those who believe (Gal 3:22). But between Abraham and Jesus, the law was given through Moses. Does anyone besides me find this peculiar? God gave a promise to two specific people filled with certainty based on what he himself had chosen to do according to the counsel of his will. It was free to the recipients. Between these two is something that appears counter because it appears to run counter to the whole concept of promise: God gave commandments, statutes, and precepts that required a certain response. The Law does not fit with the promise, so the question remains: why introduce it?
Thankfully, the Lord told us through Paul why the Law was given:
To rectify the ignorance and more fully reveal what divine character was truly like, the Lord proceeded to give the people 10 commandments broadly defining the person's relationship with God and man. He then proceeded to give hundreds of laws detailing how these were to be carried out, which they would certainly fail to perform—an affront to the Most High. To account for sinful conduct, a series of sacrifices were established to cover sin. For approximately 1200 years, the people of God worked under this system: a very long time period but necessary to prepare the people for the one "to whom the promise had been made"—Jesus, the Christ.
To summarize Galatians 3:22-26, the effectual work of the Law was to demonstrate our inability to meet God's righteous demands and hold those under it in a benevolent captivity and imprisonment as a guardian until the necessary sacrifice for all sin should be made by Jesus. Being now freed from the Law, we are justified by faith: not being baptized into Moses, but being baptized into Christ.
The promise given to Abraham was never rescinded or altered, but we needed to see the sinfulness of our sin. My abhorrent nature needs a Savior. The "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Is 53:3) has covered that by giving his soul as an offering for sin being crushed and put to grief by his Father (Is 53:10). What a thought, that one holy and spotless would die for me!
Thankfully, the Lord told us through Paul why the Law was given:
Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. (Gal 3:19)Some of you might be underwhelmed with this revelation, but bear with me. The promise given to Abraham was generous beyond imagination with the hope of land, seed, and blessing—and that blessing to the entire world. The only needed response was to believe it. The problem is in how that belief was worked out. Their efforts in life though influenced by the promise were governed largely by the societies they lived in and what had been handed down from their ancestors. Beyond that, this nasty condition called a sin nature was manifesting itself through these early want-to-be Promise Keepers. Daily, they sinned and transgressed against God but were unaware in what ways.
To rectify the ignorance and more fully reveal what divine character was truly like, the Lord proceeded to give the people 10 commandments broadly defining the person's relationship with God and man. He then proceeded to give hundreds of laws detailing how these were to be carried out, which they would certainly fail to perform—an affront to the Most High. To account for sinful conduct, a series of sacrifices were established to cover sin. For approximately 1200 years, the people of God worked under this system: a very long time period but necessary to prepare the people for the one "to whom the promise had been made"—Jesus, the Christ.
To summarize Galatians 3:22-26, the effectual work of the Law was to demonstrate our inability to meet God's righteous demands and hold those under it in a benevolent captivity and imprisonment as a guardian until the necessary sacrifice for all sin should be made by Jesus. Being now freed from the Law, we are justified by faith: not being baptized into Moses, but being baptized into Christ.
The promise given to Abraham was never rescinded or altered, but we needed to see the sinfulness of our sin. My abhorrent nature needs a Savior. The "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Is 53:3) has covered that by giving his soul as an offering for sin being crushed and put to grief by his Father (Is 53:10). What a thought, that one holy and spotless would die for me!
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