The Law of God Still Exists
By Cyrus Simmons
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. No. 5.
The Law Magnified and Made Honorable by the Gospel. The Law and the Gospel are Co-existent. THEY were both before the first sin and the first death, and they are both everlasting. Provision was made for the redemption of the fallen before they were. The Saviour is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8. The Gospel sprang into being when the Lamb was slain; therefore it existed “from the foundation of the world.” To Abraham the Gospel was preached. Gal. 3:8. The Gospel, or the power of God to save thru faith, was as effectual before the incarnation as it has been since. Before Christ came to the earth, the Lord asks, “Is My hand shortened at all, that it can not redeem?” Again He affirms, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it can not save.” Isa. 50:2; 59:1. The manifestation of the Gospel, or of the power of redemption, in the person of Jesus Christ, God saw fit to make in these last times. Because this power was subsequently manifested does not gainsay its prior existence. We are redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.” 1 Peter 1:19, 20. “The mystery of the Gospel,” or the mystery of godliness, “which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints,” “is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Eph. 6:19; Col. 1:26, 27. Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58. He lives, He lives to live in the heart of every believer that ever lived or ever will live. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Heb. 13:8. The Gospel not only existed from the foundation of the world, but it ever will exist; for it is “the everlasting Gospel.” Rev. 14:6. As the Gospel existed before it was manifested, so the law existed before it was given on Mount Sinai. It existed before the first sin, and before the first death. If it had not existed, there would have been no sin and no death; “for sin is the transgression of the law;” and “the wages of sin is death.” 1 John 3:4; Rom. 6:23. The one is a resultant of the other. The law was in heaven before the tabernacle was built on the earth. The tabernacle on earth was the pattern of the one in heaven. It was to be like the original in “all things.” “For, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.” Heb. 8:5. The tabernacle on earth would not have been a true copy of the one in heaven if the law of God had not been in both places. The revelator saw the temple of God in heaven, and he saw in the temple the ark of the testament, called also “the ark of the testimony.” Rev. 11:19; Ex. 40:3. It received this name because the testimony, or law of God, was put into this ark. “And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.” Ex. 25:16. Therefore the ark of the testament, which John saw in the temple in heaven, contains the Ten Commandments, as the pattern on earth did. The Law of God Still Exists.
“Until the law sin was in the world.” Rom. 5:13. That is, from Adam to Moses, or up to the giving of the law, “sin was in the world.” “But sin is not imputed when there is no law.” If sin was in the world until the law was given on Mount Sinai, it is evident that the law existed as long previous to that event as there was sin in the world. “But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin.” Gal. 3:22. Therefore the law was in heaven before the first sin, and of course before it was given on Mount Sinai. The evidence is cumulative. “Death reigned from Adam to Moses.” Rom. 5:13, 14. The law, evidently, was in existence as long as death reigned. The giving of the law on Mount Sinai was not to prove its existence nor to date its beginning. “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions.” Gal. 3:19. “For by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Rom. 3:20. If Paul proved the preexistence of the law before it was given to Moses by the presence of sin and death, then its present existence and condemnation are equally convincing, because both sin and death are now in the world. The law not only exists, but it will ever exist, because it is part of the everlasting covenant. “They have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” Isa. 24:5. The law is a contractual part of the everlasting covenant; it can not be transgressed without breaking the covenant. The law will exist till heaven and earth pass away. “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matt. 5:18. The law will be in the new heaven and new earth, for the Sabbath will be observed there. Isa. 66:22, 23. The Law Magnified by the Gospel.
The law stands fast forever. Ps. 111:7, 8. To magnify the law of God and make it honorable is to fulfil it. This can not be done by disobeying the law, nor by repealing it, nor by doing away with it, nor by ignoring it. “The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21. This promise, remember, is made by God. “He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.” When Christ was on earth He fulfilled the law. In referring to this the Saviour thru the psalmist says: “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Ps. 40:7, 8. That none may think that Jesus came to release any from the obligations imposed by the law, he says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Matt. 5:17. Because Jesus fulfilled the law when living as our example, are His followers absolved from doing likewise? Does that do away with its righteous requirements? Jesus tells us to follow Him; and if we follow Him, we must do as He did. If He had the law of God within His heart, and fulfilled it, then all who follow Him must have the same law within their hearts, and fulfil it also. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” Luke 9:23. Jesus came to do the will of God. In order to do this will of God, the law of God was within His heart. Let us repeat the text: “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.” What kind of people are saved? What kind really enter into the kingdom of heaven?—Those who do the will of God by having His law within their hearts. “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but He that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 7:21. Behold the covenantal promise made by God to His children: “I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.” Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10. It behooved Jesus, our Pattern, in all things “to be made like unto His brethren.” Heb. 2:17. He became incarnate in the likeness of sinful flesh, to reveal to fallen humanity the possibilities attainable through faith in the power of God. The selfsame power that kept the law in Jesus will keep it in every believer. “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.” Rom. 8:3, 4. But how can this be done? It is impossible for man in his own strength to keep God’s law. This very weakness shows the necessity of a Saviour, the necessity of the power of God accessible to man, the necessity of the Gospel. Every child of God thru faith has the Holy Spirit, or the power of God, working and dwelling in him, fulfilling the righteousness of the law in him, and thus magnifying it and making it honorable. Christ while on earth(100)did not fulfil the law for us so as to release us from doing likewise; but He does fulfil the law for us and in us if we will only let Him, and take Him at His word.