Law, Liberty and Grace

Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven

Liberty in the Lord is like when one is given a blank signed check but was instructed not to misuse the money and must not let whatever you purchase with the money hurt anybody. The inhabitants of Heaven once received this blank check, they live righteously within the parameter of the law of liberty. They honor God in all aspects and bow to His precepts. That is why there is no pain in heaven. It is joy, joy, joy!

God wants a relationship with us, a relationship that takes its root from His divine love, because He created us in His image. We can think, we can reason, we can choose to live righteously and we can as well choose to do otherwise. In order that this relationship may continue, God gave us an instrument of our relationship. Some call this law. Some described it as limitation of freedom that God gave man. Some on the other hand, described it as a line that we must not cross. If we go back to the Bible and study the relationship of God with man, stage by stage, we will see that God has been giving man commandments or laws to follow so that we may continue to dwell in His liberty.

In His dealings with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God gave man a law and a choice. At the cool of the day, (Genesis 3:8) the Glory of God would fill the garden and our foremost parents would fellowship with the Creator. But man disobeyed the law of God and failed the test of choice. They chose to die instead of living.

In the age of the Fathers, God gave them instructions and blessing.

• Enouch walked faithfully with God. He did not see death. Genesis 5:24

• Noah followed the instructions of God to the last letter. He witnessed the end of a wicked generation and God established a new one through him.Genesis 6:9, 14-16Genesis 6:9, 14-16
  9. This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.
  14. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.
  15. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.
  16. Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.

• God instructed Abraham to get out of the land of Ur of Chaldes and go to the land He will point to him. The blessing of God was attached to this instruction. Abraham honored the instruction and God honored His promises in the life of Abraham.Genesis 12:1-3Genesis 12:1-3
  1. The Lord has said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
  2. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you be a blessing.
  3. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Moses was called on Mount Horeb amidst the burning bush to lead the Israelites out of the bondage in Egypt to the land of Promise. Exodus 3:3-8Exodus 3:3-8
3. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up."
4. When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."
5. "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."
6. Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7. The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
8. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey . . ."

God gave him the law and blessing that accompanied its compliance and also revealed the wrath for its non-compliance. God taught him for eighty (forty apiece) days and nights Exodus 24:18; Deuteronomy 9:25 so that Moses could live and lead by example among Israelites His people. Moses was said to be a meek man of his generation. Numbers 12:13 He taught and led the Israelites but he did not see the Promise Land because he fell short under the law of God. Only Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun were the only two adult that made it to the Promise Land. Numbers 26:64-65Numbers 26:64-65
64. Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai.
65. For the Lord had told those Israelites they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Josuah son of Nun.

Jesus Son of God, God incarnated, left His glory in Heaven and came to this world in human flesh. He revealed the understanding of the Law of Moses in His teaching and its fulfillment. Matthew 5:17Matthew 5:17
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. He was going in and out with sinners teaching them the ways of Heaven. He did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. He also brought redemption and sacrifice. He performed many miracles to establish in the mind of man that His teaching is from God. The great men of His time - the Pharisees and the Sadducees - rejected him but the lowly ones - the sinners - found favor in His sight and they received deliverance. He became the last sacrifice for the sin of man.

We hurt the feelings of our Father in Heaven if we do not live according to the instrument of our relationship with Him. Jeremiah 32:33Jeremiah 32:33
33. They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline; Isaiah 1:2-4Isaiah 1:2-4
2. Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: "I rear children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.
3. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand."
4. Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him. We are also denying ourselves the blessing of God if we fail to live according to His law and commandments.

Reflect on this:

Your life, like a blank signed check, is a gift from God. Whatever you do with it is a gift of your appreciation unto God. Can it be said of you that you live a life worthy of emulation like the righteous men in the Bible? You can still deal with that 'self ' in you that is called 'flesh' to submit to the highest authority. I pray for victory for you in Jesus name!