God’s Covenant With Israel
At Mt. Sinai, God wrote His covenant and His Moral law on tables of stone: “So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone” (Deuteronomy 4:13). And God placed these tables of stone inside His holy Ark (Exodus 25:16; 40:20).
And the Lord also gave the Mosaic law which was written in a book: “So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished… “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you” (Deuteronomy 31:24, 26). Note that the Mosaic law was placed beside (outside) the Ark.
Heart Religion
The Israelites were satisfied to have these laws simply as surface rituals and their keeping a matter of external obedience. God offered His people the experience of a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26), but they were content with only a surface religion. God did not desire that His laws should be thus kept.
When the Jews rejected Christ and crucified Him, “the kingdom of God” was taken from them and given to a nation that will bear the fruits of righteousness – the New Testament Church (Matthew 21:33–43). And the Christian church or spiritual Israel (Jews and gentiles) became the recipients of God’s covenant, promises and responsibilities that once were given to the literal nation of Israel.
Paul wrote, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26, 29).
The Lord intended that His laws should be written on the hearts of the people. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Hebrews 8:10). The Lord wanted a heart religion based on love to Him.
Under the New Covenant, men’s hearts and minds are changed: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
Victory Through Christ
The Bible teaches full transformation of the believer (Matthew 5:48; 2 Corinthians 7:1; etc.). The purpose of the plan of Salvation is the restoration of man to God’s image (Genesis 1:26,27). God sent His son and “He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Romans 8:3,4). God requires perfection of His children, and the perfect life of Christ is God’s guarantee to the Christian that by His power he too may be empowered to do His perfect will.
Believers can keep God’s moral law by His power (1 Corinthians 15:57). Paul declared, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Men can have victory over sin, not by their own strength, but because Christ dwells in their hearts, living out His life in them.
Believers that are born of the Spirit will bear the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23). For God “puts” His law in the hearts of His followers as they daily submit to Him (Revelation 22:17). Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
