Daily EncouragementSample

God introduces his law with the reminder that he who speaks “all these words” is the Lord who has redeemed his people.

The law as it is recorded in the Old Testament and more particularly as it is interpreted by our Lord in the New Testament presents a perfection to which man cannot attain. It not only discourages us by holding before us an ideal beyond our reach, but it also condemns us, for “through the law we became conscious of sin” (Rom. 3:20).

Nevertheless in the law the pattern of life which is pleasing to God is revealed. It is the true believer who declares, “I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law” (1 Cor. 9:21). A person proves that he is building his life upon the law by exhibiting that law through the way he lives. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mind and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matt. 7:24).

The enigma is solved through redemption. Only the redeemed can walk in “the way of holiness” (Isa. 35:8-9). Thus the ancient law is prefaced by reference to the redemption out of Egypt, and the Sermon on the Mount by the beatitudes, which portray the characteristics of the redeemed.