The Three Laws of God
The Time is At Hand
We’ve recently been through a major presidential election and it has certainly been the most interesting one in my lifetime. I don’t know if any of you can relate to this, but I’ve just begun to notice how much politics can turn me against someone I don’t even know, just by being on the opposing side of an argument. I guess in reality that is what politics are all about.
According to Merriam Webster, the meaning of POLITICAL is “of or relating to government, a government, or the conduct of government.” Well what it seems to me that politics is really about is POWER. How to get power and keep it so you can be the one that makes the decisions for everybody else.
Now that I think of it, isn’t that how we get into the trouble that brings us to the harsh partisan differences we now see between the two main political parties? In reality, it’s all about Power and the Spiritual Laws introduced in the Bible!
There are three primary Laws mentioned in the Bible that always stand out to me as very revealing. The first one is, “The Law of Sin and Death” mentioned in Genesis 2:16-17:
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
I sometimes think about the poor ‘apple’ which has often been designated as the culprit fruit that tempted our first ancestor to risk it all and test God. However, having tasted just about every variety of apples over my lifetime, from the McIntosh, the Golden Delicious and the Granny Smith (my general favorite), I can’t say that the apple carries that much temptation power with it.
Though Johnny Appleseed might disagree with me if he were alive today, I doubt that apples had anything to do with the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’ story from the Bible.
I think it was more likely the word “No!” that had the power to trip Adam up than it was any actual tasty looking fruit hanging on a tree limb. In my own experience there is something about doing what we are told not to do that stands out as the natural force that took Adam down that day, and has continued to do so to us humans from generation to generation ever since.
The Second Law is “The Law of Good and Evil.” After man started tasting death through disobedience that fateful day in the Garden, God later gave us a warning shot across the bow when the finger of God carved the Ten Commandments into stone tablets which Moses delivered to the Israelite’s camping in the desert below Mount Sinai.
God, in His Mercy, softened the blow of death by giving man laws to live by that would separate the obedient from the disobedient and distinguish the Israelite’s as his chosen people called to walk in the way of obedience and have peace with God.
Still, man continued to find pleasure in disobedience and, as a final testament to his merciful kindness, God sent his Son Jesus, to become a human, to live a life of perfect obedience, and then to sacrifice his life on a wooden cross to pay the price for man’s disobedience and sin.
The result of this incredible act of Love is the Third Law, “The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:2). About this Law Romans 8:11 Scriptures declare: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
This is what being ‘Born Again’ is all about. We are reinstated to the relationship that man lost in Eden through Adam’s disobedience to the Law of Sin and Death, and we receive Life through the death of God’s Son Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary.
Once we are Born Again, we can again communicate with God freely, and He will respond to us with guidance, provision, peace and love. Ephesians 1:6 says we are “made acceptable in the Beloved” Jesus Christ. He then gives us the power we need to live in this relationship through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
With that Power comes the supernatural ability to love even those who hate us, as Jesus commanded us to do in the Scripture. (Matthew 5:43,44.) So in Christ we are freed from the first two laws and given the invitation to have a living relationship with God the Father through the sacrifice of His beloved Son Jesus Christ.
If you have not already accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, do it now. I promise you it will not be something you regret doing. If you have already done so, but you have left off serving him, rededicate your life to Christ and get back on the road you should be on.
It’s not only about you, it’s about others you may influence in this life. Whether you know it or not, others are watching you and looking to see if you believe what you have told them you believe. The salvation and freedom of others may very well depend on you demonstrating your faith in your daily walk with God.
Craig Marlatt