His Glory Blog

The Bible, God’s living and breathing Word. The Bible is a gift from God that shows who He is, what He desires, and how He glorifies His name through the Old Testament. God wants to have a relationship with His children but wants that relationship to be a choice individual to each believer. By giving mankind free will He allows His creation to love Him back if they desire Him, as they are desired by Him. The Old Testament shows God creating man and then leading them through the turmoil that comes from the freedom of choice He allows for His glory. God protects His chosen with laws that protect them from the world and at the same time points to Him, so that the world doesn’t blind humanity to the Creator. Laws established artificial relationship. The laws were divided into moral, ceremonial, and civil. All were meant to protect the lineage of the coming Messiah. The Messiah that would fulfill (complete, bring to a designed goal, or realize a divine plan, purpose, or promise) all of these laws.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

This Messiah would come to fulfill the moral laws by teaching the moral standards represented by the 10 commandments, living that morality in the flesh, and then redefining the moral law into only two commandments: Matthew 22:37-40  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the great and first commandment.And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” He shows us that following these two commandments covers the moral law.

The Messiah would at the same time fulfill the civil law by creating the Church, which was a replacement for the theocratic (system of government where priests rule in the name of God) state called Israel. The Messiah was the High Priest and the leader of the New Covenant Body of Christ, meaning His leadership and message was the fulfillment of the order established by civil law.

Ultimately the Messiah would fulfill ceremonial law by becoming the sacrifice established by ceremonial law that would once and for all reconcile God’s people to back to Him. God established ceremonial laws to atone for sin and more importantly keep the attention of creation on the Creator. This attention created awareness of the sinfulness of man and the need for reconciliation because of how sin divided man from a perfect God. The Messiah would lay down His earthly body as a final atonement that would draw all of God’s chosen to Him. John 12:32 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

The Old Testament shows the fallenness of man created by first sin in the garden and allowed by free will. Free will is a gift of God that glorifies God. Creation is given free will to return God’s affection and live in relationship with Him. That free will also allows sin to flourish in those who chose to ignore God’s love and His provision. People question how God would “allow” bad things to happen and forget that the same free will that allows sin and evil to exist in the darkened heart of man is the free will that allows followers to join Him in live and eventually for all eternity in Heaven. God’s reaches out to us and only asks that we reach back and walk hand in hand with Him. We are not always meant to understand His plan and His ways, but our God assures us that His love will bring about what’s best for us now and in eternity.

God has worked since creation to glorify Himself in His children. He established laws to protect lineage of the Messiah from the darkness of the world and the darkness in every heart. He then loved His children so much that He look on human form and made His Word flesh so that all of the laws would be fulfilled and brought to their intended purpose which has always been reconciliation into relationship with Him. Even to the point of becoming the final sacrifice for all sin. The laws were fulfilled in the words of the Messiah: “It is finished” on the cross. God created a new and final covenant where salvation existed in Him and Him alone, through a relationship established in love and faith. Laws created an artificial relationship with God, but our Savior established a true connection.  A relationship where the Messiah was a perfect example of our new perfect covenant, available through the fulfillment of the laws. Laws that lead us to God, and His blessing in fulfillment through Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.