The Essence of God’s Law

The law of God shows the difference between good and bad.  There was a time when mankind did not know evil; they did not know the difference between good and evil.   God knew the differences, so He cautioned Adam as it is written in Genesis 2:16, God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

But mankind ate from the source of “good and evil”, and from there on, we now know the differences between good and evil as well as the experience of dying.  In Genesis 3:22, The Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!”  [that is, with our sinful condition].  At the very moment mankind ate from that source, they knew the differences between good and evil because now they knew they were naked – a state of sinfulness.

Knowing the difference between good and evil is the essence of the law.  These differences we would have to experience them either first hand or see the differences in someone else’s experiences.  So in the beginning, with mankind limited knowledge of what these differences are, God told them to his followers – Abraham, Moses, and the others.  God said in Genesis 26:5,  “Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”  To pass down the laws from generation to generation, the followers of God wrote the differences between good and bad – the laws, on stones, skins, paper, etc.

Even though we have the laws of God recorded in many formats, we still ventured into evil grounds, crossing the demarcation of good and evil and committing sins on a frequent basis.  Paul said in Romans 7:22-24, he loves God’s law with all his heart, but there is another power within him that is at war with his mind. This power makes him a slave to the sin that is still within him. Our senses and desires war with our minds to cross from good to evil.  These sensations show up in our stomach, sexual desires, ego, parties, music, and many uncontrollable actions. In our minds, we really want to obey God’s law, but because of our sinful nature, we are a slave to sin.

Since we have been a slave to sin for a good portion of our lives, these habits became natural and help to erase the demarcation – the law between good and evil.  This is the plan of the Devil. When we don’t know the difference between what is good and what is bad, because we have practiced both, and have erased the laws or demarcations from our lives, then we will surely inherit everlasting destruction. God warned us in  Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” which is the method of erasing the differences between good and evil, that is erasing the law.

This fading away from the demarcation line grows faster today than before because we searched the electronic media and cannot find where God’s laws are written for some of the things we practiced today.  This God knew would happen, so he said in Jeremiah 31:31-34, “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.  “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

The law- the demarcation is not only written, but those laws and all the others are imprinted in our hearts.  So if I know by experience or inspiration that a certain practice is not good, it is the law onto me. I should not venture to that practice but should move in the other direction away from that evil practice. My inner senses that can distinguish these differences between good and evil are the new laws (coupled with the written ones).  But “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” as God said. Those that cannot tell the difference between good and evil; these are those where the laws of God are erased from their heart.

Paul asked the question and so should we: “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?”  Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Jesus said, “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance.”  The Holy Spirit will point out the line of demarcation – the law for the true followers of God.  Watch the line! Keep the laws of God in your heart!