A couple weeks ago, I posted a piece that keeps coming back to my mind. Not that I feel I was wrong in what I wrote, but that I might need to offer a bit more. My husband actually stretched my comfort zone a bit. After sharing it with him, he asked how I would respond to those who might be opposed to this position on God’s true nature rather than that which is painted differently by religion and the world. If you missed the post, please take a look: Captivating Faith
In my post, I linger a while on the Mosaic Law – it was (and is) not inaccurate in the requirements to be saved but it was incomplete because in did not offer salvation. Another way I explained is that it does not require a response in faith to God, a reliance in faith on God, and a relationship in faith with God (I called these the 3 R’s). The Mosaic Law was given in order to convince us that we could not save ourselves. We couldn’t even approach God, but had to have our sacrifices made by a priest on a certain day and in a certain way. The law required the impossible!
Scripture tells us quite a bit about the law: the power of sin is the law (I Corinthians 15:56), the law was a ministry of death and condemnation (II Corinthians 3:7-9), the law gave guilt and knowledge of sin but not salvation (Romans 3:19-20), the law made sin come alive – magnifying it and producing hopelessness – and killed us (Romans 7:9-25), and the law held us prisoners (Galatians 3:23). Those are just a few!
Again, don’t get me wrong! The Mosaic Law is not only not inaccurate, but it’s perfect! It’s only incomplete because the law requires perfection from those under it. We are far from perfect, therefore we are without hope if salvation were to come through the law. The Mosaic Law was supposed to bring us to the end of ourselves so that we could grasp the reality that we could only gain salvation through faith in Jesus Christ – the One who fulfilled the requirements of the Mosaic Law for us. The use of the Mosaic Law for that purpose – showing our need for a savior – is what it was meant for. Unfortunately, the Mosaic Law is frequently, and commonly, misused.
I mentioned in that post that my husband, when he was in his 20’s, fell off a roof and broke his leg. Well-meaning people from his church attributed his injury to God wanting to slow him down, that the broken leg was a blessing, and even some warned that he must have some unconfessed sin in his life. I’m about to make an outrageous statement: God’s blessings are not dependent on our performance. This mindset of our blessings being based on performance is wrapped up completely in the Mosaic Law being our salvation instead of faith in Jesus Christ!
Did the Mosaic Law come as soon as Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, tried to cover it up and lied about it? Nope! For over 2,000 years, God dealt in mercy and grace. He protected the first murderer – Cain wasn’t put to death as the Law required (Leviticus 24:17) and was even protected by God from others killing him (Genesis 4:15). I always considered Cain to be repulsive, but God still had mercy on him. This might ruffle a few feathers, but two of the greatest patriarchs of the Old Testament should have been put to death according to the Mosaic Law! Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12) which is punishable by death according to the law (Leviticus 18:9). Did you know that God actually blessed Abraham’s wife, Sarah (Genesis 17:15-16)? I’m going to move on to another example, but also keep in mind that Abraham lied more than once out of fear (Genesis 12:11-13 & 20:11-13), and the law is clear in saying that we are not to lie or deceive each other (Leviticus 19:11).
Let’s take a look at Jacob. I could see this as a modern-day drama/romance series with all of the binge-worthy attributes expected and often required in today’s society. Jacob falls in love with Rachel, works for 7 years in order to marry her, and when the time comes he’s tricked and ends up with the older sister, Leah (Genesis 29:15-26). He’s told that he can have Rachel after the customary bridal week (he did just get married to Leah after all) and then Rachel will be given to him also – but he has to work an additional 7 years! Being so in love with her, he agrees. Poor Leah! She’s known in the Bible as the unloved wife! Obviously this is far from being a Hallmark movie.
Now there’s the competition of which wife can produce the most sons, because that will force Jacob to love that wife the most. Leah takes the lead early on with a score of 4-0, but is still considered unloved. Rachel, who is barren, gets so jealous that she offers her maidservant to sleep with her husband! A proxy pregnancy – that has Hollywood written all over it! Her maidservant provides 2 sons (so this wasn’t a 1-time occurrence). This helps put her on the board, but then Leah decides to do the same in order to keep her comfortable lead and also gives her maidservant to Jacob. This also provides 2 more sons (again, not a 1-time occurrence). Leah eventually has 2 more sons of her own (and a daughter). God shows mercy to Rachel and opens her once barren womb and she ends up having 2 sons of her own (SPOILER – Rachel died in childbirth). In all, between 4 women, Jacob had 12 sons (the 12 tribes of Israel)! You can read this drama (and more) through in Genesis 29:15-Genesis 35:20.
Jacob and his wives were breaking the Mosaic Law all over the place! Leviticus 18:18 says it’s against the law to marry sisters! If this was done, the violators were to be cut off from their people (Leviticus 18:29). They were far from being cut off – Jacob was part of the 42 generations that formed the lineage of Jesus! God’s blessings are not dependent on our performance! Before the Mosaic Law, Abraham wasn’t considered righteous (in right standing with) based on following the law. He was considered righteous because he believed God (Genesis 15:6 & Galatians 3:6).
Even though Abraham married his half-sister, they were blessed – He’s called the father of many nations. He lied about his sister-wife and was even given gifts of livestock, slaves (not my word – the Bible isn’t always PC), land, and silver – given to him by the very person he lied to! Jacob, before he ever took two sisters as wives and additionally bore children through their maidservants, he conned his older brother out of his birthright and then deceived his father for his brother’s rightful blessing (Genesis 25:29-34 & Genesis 27:1-36)! Yet Jacob and Abraham were both blessed by God, not based on their behavior lining up with the perfect standards of the Mosaic Law. Scripture states that sin is not taken into account when there is no law (Romans 5:13), and the Mosaic Law didn’t come about till more than 2,000 years after Adam and Eve sinned!
I felt a great deal of guilt and condemnation as a child, teenager, and through my late-twenties. Like everyone else, I wasn’t perfect (still not!). I made mistakes that I was fully aware of and even some that I didn’t know were mistakes (take those thoughts captive!). I also had a huge misunderstanding of God. If my blessings were based on my performance, then I had no hope! Abraham and Jacob did not live under the Mosaic Law, and we’re not supposed to either.
“For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.” Galatians 3:18 (NIV)
We stand justified before God because of our faith in what Jesus did and not what we’ve done or failed to do. We have the promise of the Holy Spirit because of Jesus’s redemptive gift of salvation – not because we did the impossible and upheld the whole law perfectly (Galatians 3:11-14). The mixture of law with grace is a denial that salvation is by grace through faith – it’s a statement that Jesus’s sacrifice wasn’t enough or wasn’t sufficient.
Once the Mosaic Law was introduced, there was a priesthood put in place. They were to teach the law, officiate in the Holy place, maintain the Tabernacle and Temple, inspect the ceremonially unclean, make judgments in disputes, and offer sacrifices (I may be missing a few tasks). Needless to say, even though they had assistants, they were busy! And the job couldn’t just go to anyone – you had to belong to the right family and you had to be blemish-free and defect-free. It was an honor, but it was a lot of work! They were to be the mediators between a Holy God and a sinful people. They had to go through very specific processes in presenting sacrifices, as well. The animals to be sacrificed were to be sacrificed in a very specific and humane way. Blood was to sprinkled at certain times, on certain things, and even sprinkled as the priest came and went. It was a lot! All under the Mosaic Law.
The sacrifices made, year after year, could never save us. Hebrews 10:1-10 tells us that the law was only a shadow of what was coming – being made holy through Jesus’s sacrifice. The Mosaic Law was (and is) so impossible to uphold that there were always sacrifices to be made, always maintenance to be done, always lessons on keeping the law to be taught, and always disputes to be settled (can’t we all just get along?).
“But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12 (NIV)
He. Sat. Down. He didn’t rush off to make another sacrifice, or gather his notes for his next sermon, or refill the anointing oil. He sat down! Another three words that come to mind is: It is finished. We, like Abraham and Jacob, receive blessings based on Jesus’s performance, not ours. And, guys, He so thoroughly completed everything that He sat down.
“Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 1:13-14 (NIV)