THE BRIDE AND THE LAW

        THE BRIDE AND THE LAW

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

{Song: Rock Of Ages by Rev. Augustus Montague Toplady 1775 The gospel magazine}

²³ But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

²⁴ Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

²⁵ But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

²⁶ For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.{Galatians 3:23-26}

The law, its essence and its duration must be fully understood by the church. What is the groom’s idea about his bride and the law? Is it his desire to subject his bride to rules and regulations and for how long?

It is true that the law was given to man by God through the hand of Moses and it must be noted that the law was pure and holy but a misunderstanding of its essence and to whom it was given will keep the church far from her groom.

 To fully comprehend the essence of the law lets look at Romans 3

¹⁹ Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

The law was given to make the world guilty before God. I don’t think there is any groom who will derive pleasure in making his beloved bride guilty. To make her feel guilty will be to make himself feel guilty too because they both are one body now. I therefore will like to think that the law was not for the bride but for those who are under the law {the Jews, the sinners, the world}.

⁶ But these teachers have missed this whole idea and spend their time arguing and talking foolishness. ⁷ They want to become famous as teachers of the laws of Moses when they haven’t the slightest idea what those laws really show us. ⁸ Those laws are good when used as God intended. ⁹ But they were not made for us, whom God has saved; they are for sinners who hate God, have rebellious hearts, curse and swear, attack their fathers and mothers, and murder. {1Timothy 1:6-9 TLB}

The laws are not for people who are saved but for sinners. The laws are not for the saints. Justified people do not need those laws. The church has been justified by faith.

 To further see the essence of the law we must consider Galatians 3

¹⁹ Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.

The law was added because of transgressions but it was only to last till a certain time”Till the seed should come”. Jesus Christ is that seed who came and died for us so that we can now be justified by faith. The law ended when Christ showed up and died on the cross.

 Again it says this in Romans 7

¹² Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.¹³ Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

The law was added to make sin appear sin and that sin might become exceedingly sinful. It doesn’t seem to me that any groom would want to expose and magnify the sins of his beloved bride. I would rather visualize the groom cleansing and covering up the weaknesses of his beloved bride and not exposing her shame. Again I submit that the law was therefore not for the bride.

Again the law was brought to give life but instead it brought death. I wonder if any man would subject his bride to that which kills. That would be wickedness of the highest degree.

9   For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.¹⁰ And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.{Romans 7:9-11}

The law can never give life. It slays whoever is subject to it and kills that which once had life. The law came to revive sin and kill man. I would rather my bride alive than dead and therefore will never subject her to laws. For if there was a law that could give life righteousness would have been by that law but there was no such law.

²¹ Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.

²² But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. {Galatians 3:21-22}

It is clear from the above verses that the law could not deliver its purpose. Why should anyone hold on to that which is ineffective! The church must not hold on to laws for the law is weak and cannot make her righteous. Now hear what Paul had to say about the weakness of the law:

³ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:⁴ That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.{Romans 8:3-4}

Now sin has been condemned in the flesh. Christ came to our rescue because before we became his bride we could never keep the laws. We broke them over and again no matter how hard we tried. We continually committed sin because of our flesh which was a tool through which we were held captive by the law. No wonder we were filthy and unrighteous, forsaken by all our lovers. In fact we were married to the law and enslaved by it. The more we tried to be righteous by obeying the laws the more unrighteous we became.

The good news is that now we have been rescued by our groom. We are now righteous and have divorced the law to marry Christ our groom. Being the bride of Christ now imputes into us the righteousness that we never had because in Christ the law is fulfilled by us without practically obeying the law.

 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

² For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

³ So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

⁴ Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

⁶ But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. {Romans 7}

Sadly, many Christians are still married to the law. They love the laws of Moses more than they love Jesus. They are more conscious of the law than they are of Jesus and His free gift of righteousness to us. Our union with our groom makes us dead to the law. The law was fulfilled when we died with our groom for verily the groom came not to abolish the law but to fulfil it. The law’s requirement was that the soul that sinneth shall die and when Christ bore the sin of the whole world his bride’s inclusive, he fulfilled the law by dying with his bride. When he resurrected, we were justified and declared righteous never to pay for sins again. No one serves jail again for the same crime whose penalties has been paid for. Any thing called sin has been paid for by the death of Christ

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²⁵ Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. {Romans 4}

⁴ For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. {Romans 10:4}

¹⁸ When you are guided by the Holy Spirit, you need no longer force yourself to obey Jewish laws. {Galatians 5:18 TLB}

Dear bride, dear church, dear rose, dear beloveth of the groom, the apple of His eyes, this one thing I plead with you to understand; It is never your groom’s desire that you return to the law that you once divorced to be married to Him. Return not to the prison from which you were delivered.

2     And now that you have found God (or I should say, now that God has found you), how can it be that you want to go back again and become slaves once more to another poor, weak, useless religion of trying to get to heaven by obeying God’s laws? ¹⁰ You are trying to find favor with God by what you do or don’t do on certain days or months or seasons or years. ¹¹ I fear for you. I am afraid that all my hard work for you was worth nothing. {Galatians 4:9-11 TLB}

Wake up church! How can it be that you want to go back to slavery, to that poor, weak and useless religion of rule keeping? How can it be?

Who told the church that she can get to heaven by obeying Jewish laws? Who told her that she can have spiritual life and blessings by obeying those laws? Who deceived us into thinking that we will be better Christians by strict adherence to Jewish laws? Have we gone completely crazy?

 ³ Then have you gone completely crazy? For if trying to obey the Jewish laws never gave you spiritual life in the first place, why do you think that trying to obey them now will make you stronger Christians?{Galatians 3:3 TLB}

The laws were never meant for us gentiles but for the Jews. Even the Jews who had the laws, no longer practise the law. They have discarded the law. Surprisingly the gentiles who didn’t have any business whatsoever with the laws of Moses have suddenly and foolishly become custodians of the law. The church has become more religious than the Pharisees, bearing a yoke that was never meant for us.

¹⁴ When I saw what was happening and that they weren’t being honest about what they really believed and weren’t following the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Though you are a Jew by birth, you have long since discarded the Jewish laws; so why, all of a sudden, are you trying to make these Gentiles obey them? {Galatians 2:14 TLB}

God please help your church to return to the truth of the gospel. Stir up faith in us again to trust in Christ alone and acknowledge His finished work on the cross. Listen church! Remain married to your groom by faith. Yes! You must remain married to your groom. He is about to show you something new. Something that gives life, justifies and keeps you united to your groom forever. It is called grace……..

     NOTES FROM ARTICLE 7

(1)                The law was never meant for the bride

(2)                The law can never give life. It slays its subjects and kills that which once had life.

(3)                The law exposes sin but no groom would like to expose his bride’s sins

(4)                 The law was only a school master for an appointed time ”until the seed comes”

(5)                Now Christ has come and we are no longer under the law

(6)                The requirement of the law has been fulfilled in Christ, hence the penalty for sin has already been paid.

(7)                The law can never make man righteous. The law is weak through the flesh.

(8)                What the law could not do, Christ did for us. Now the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us.

(9)                We have divorced the law and are now married to Christ never to be separated again.