Part 3 - The Fall and the Restoration
The Place of Restoration
Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till
heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from
the law till all is fulfilled" (Matt. 5:17-18). Although Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4),
the ministry of Jesus as Mediator between a holy God and sinful man does not
annul the law. Jesus took the burden of the requirements of the law upon
Himself and fulfilled them. He has taken the burden off of those who come to
Him so that it is not through the law but through Christ that one is
reconciled to God. But the law is good and is summarized by something that
will never be removed: love. Loving God
A scribe came to Jesus and asked what was the
greatest commandment. Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments
is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love
the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the
second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There
is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:29-31). An irony
in religion is that those seeking the hardest to fulfill the law through
works are oftentimes the most unloving people. Yet the fulfillment of the
law is to love God and fellow man. The problem comes from the self-centered
nature of fallen man. Those seeking righteousness through works are seeking
self-righteousness. They are trying to establish themselves as being
something contrary to Jesus' declaration that "the flesh profits nothing." A
natural result of self-righteousness is to compare oneself with others. It is to
set a relative scale and to despise those that one considers lower on that
scale. It is to envy and to be threatened by those one considers to be
higher on that scale. The result is opposite to that of love,
self-centeredness. The law was designed to show fallen man his actual
place: the bottom of any scale. When the law does what it was intended for,
it removes that which inhibits love by placing all at the same level. It causes one to look
to God and to glory in who He is. Glory in Yahweh
Paul the Apostle writes in 1 Cor.
1:30-31, "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from
God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; that, as it is
written, 'He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.' " The restoration that
Christ Jesus has brought to the redeemed is one that is totally His work. All praise and glory can
only go to God. The cross of Christ puts an end to the natural man and his
self-centeredness. Paul had the book of Jeremiah in mind when he wrote this
passage.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 states: "Thus says the LORD: 'Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man
glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he
understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,' says the
LORD."
The first four of the Ten Commandments are a model of a restored
relationship with God. The next six show that love for fellow man that
results from a right relationship of love to God. The four essential
elements of a right
relationship with God are summarized in Jeremiah chapter nine, verses
twenty three and twenty four. These elements are contained in Jesus' summary
of the greatest commandment:
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your soul.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your mind.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your strength.
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