The general tenor of the teaching of God by both the Bible and Nature is that of obedience to universal laws. It is evident that order was brought out of the chaos of remote ages and that it is maintained in a great starry empire that the astronomers for all their probing and curiosity do not fully understand. Turning back the green veil of the earth the geologist discovers the fiery furnace and the watery baptisms through which the earth passed before it became a home fit for man who was a new creature in the great scheme of galaxies and globes He is a problem to himself, his descendants, doctors and advisors who see something wrong with him and try to put him right.

There has been so much advice, such a variety of medicines and such a host of doctors that a spectator might justly fear they are in danger of killing the patient. While the earth abounds with beauty, riches and pleasures lawful to enjoy, there is also a painful sense of limitation, frustration and failure as though the foundation for some great mansion house had been laid but the building remained uncompleted. A strange contradiction in the conditions of the earth and the life of man seems to retard the progress of both towards that ideal for which they were made, of which both are capable and which remains the ultimate aim and end of Divine purpose. This is nothing less than the complete harmony of man with man and man with God in a liberated earth free to make her deserts blossom, her wilderness places rejoice and her solitary places sing.

Such a picture of things to come is no dream. Past and present are a reality. The future can be no less so. It is yet a vision and though it seems to tarry the advice of the prophet is to "wait for it!" In spite of all the revolt, wickedness and wilfulness of humanity as it has marched boldly through the ages in increasing strength and numbers upon a broad road that seemed right and proved to be wrong, the compassion of God for His unruly children has neither wavered nor failed. The goodness and greatness of the prophets softened the severity of the law. These were men of pastoral origin who became by their separation from the throng and their closeness to nature more in tune with Nature's Creator. They became His voice, His pen-men, speaking and writing of clearly determined changes as they were moved by Divine inspiration, not only to their own generation but to those yet to come.

They not only looked through a long telescope at a rejuvenated earth but into the mind of God and His desire for men, that they would make a right about turn, "to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God". There were pleadings and invitations that fell for the most part on deaf ears. Eyes long blinded by superstition, rituals and self-indulgence could not or would not see or share the heavenly vision of the prophets. In time even their voices were silenced and it seemed that the race of men, and the people of Israel who had received the Law and the prophets, were left to their own devices. Unknown to man the great time-clock of the Ages ticked on until it reached the appointed hour. "When the fulness of time was come God sent forth His son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4. 4-5). "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sent His own Son" (Rom. 8. 3). The weakness was not in the Law but in faulty human nature. It was the measure of a perfect man's ability, a perfect code for a perfect person. As none such existed, none could keep the law completely. Only a complete performance gained the prize of life. Forty centuries was a full and fair trial with plenty of opportunity to each generation to prove whether they would or could live up to the Law's demands. In the sight of both Divine and human judgement none had obtained what they sought. Every man had gone his own way. Like sheep all had strayed from the path of life. None were completely just and good. All had acquired faults or flaws of character. The Law and the prophets could neither compel nor coerce the human heart to a full compliance with the will of God, contained within the commandments that had been simplified into one word - Love. That love which is the fulfilment of the Law found a way whereby the best intentioned could overcome their disabilities by believing on the Son whom God had sent into the world, their faith obtaining what their works could not. Jesus, the Man of Nazareth, holy, harmless and separate from sinners, did what no other had ever done. He rendered to God a perfect obedience, a faultless performance in spite of all the temptations and pressures put upon Him. By so doing He did for man what man could not do for himself. His, whole life's action and ultimate total sacrifice, won 'everlasting life' for the whole human race, "that whosoever believes in him should not perish". The emphasis shifts now from a total obedience to law to an unwavering belief in the Son of Man, as a Saviour, a life-giver. God appeals to man now, not from Sinai but by His Son who fulfilled all that the Law and the prophets had spoken. From henceforth He is the truth, the living way. By Him men may have access to God. In Him they are reckoned as perfect, justified by their faith, accepted by Divine justice and love into the household of sons of God, into the great brotherhood of faith where natural assets do not count nor disabilities create a barrier. Rank and sex are not recognised by Him who is no respecter of persons. Only the living human creature, the "new creature in Christ Jesus" has a valid claim on unending life. To every questioner seeking life; 'What must I do?' 'How can I be saved?' 'What can be salvaged from the futility and frustration of this present evil world?' There is only one answer — "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved". "He that believes on Me has everlasting life." To the listening Jews this was an astonishing claim. The Law had made them a chosen race, a nation separated from all other nations. They were bound together in their daily life and worship by the ritual of the Law that outwardly at least. they strictly observed. Descendants of men of faith who had served God in every century had no difficulty in tracing their ancestry to Adam. As individuals, then as a people they had been taught and moulded to become instructors and examples to all other nations of the origins of man and the ultimate purpose of the Most High God for the human race. That they had failed was evident in their strange and chequered history. A few had found the Law their delight as a few had listened to and venerated the prophets. When Jesus began His teaching ministry among them, the poor heard Him gladly but the rich and the rulers earned His rebuke on several counts. Arrogantly there was a show of religion without its practice. Hypocrisy and the ritual sacrifice of animals by the blood of which they sought to atone for their law-breaking sins, came under the lash of His righteous indignation. Even their expensive efforts to make converts to their faith did not appear to be a success, for the convert also became enmeshed in the outward forms of the Law that did nothing for the heart (Matt. 23.15). What then, they asked, should they do? What was the will of God for them? To both questions they received the same reply ‑ 'Believe on Him whom God has sent into the world on their behalf'. Many were drawn to the safe shelter of the great 'Rock of Ages' by the assurance that Jesus was more than a prophet, one of whom all the prophets had spoken. He was Saviour, Redeemer, a giver of life, and this was their strong rope and sheet anchor. It was one of their own ardent young lawyers who saw in a blinding flash of insight that "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ" (Gal. 3. 24).

To exchange the rugged hemp which blistered and tore, for the silken strands of the gospel of faith and love, was a hazard for the early believers as it has been and still is for all seekers after truth and life. To cut free from all outward show of the flesh, to soar in the power of the Spirit into a higher realm, to sit with Christ in heavenly places, was a flight which none have ever undertaken without struggle and effort. It was and is an adventurous step into the unknown, as great an undertaking as that of any explorer who has gone out with faith and courage to seek a far country beyond the horizon because he believed it to be there and well worth seeking. To walk alone and free, out of the old paths that used to be, is not without risk. To forsake the world, to leave behind so much that seemed safe, familiar and treasured, was never accomplished without moments of doubt and uncertainty. Jesus said "No man having put his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of God." (Luke 9. 62).

Belief in Christ as the new and living way, the mediator between God and man, in no way sets aside the Law. That is there for all time, the Divine yardstick for human conduct. Faith and acceptance in Christ make up for human deficiencies. As none could obtain life through the Law a way was found by which it could be awarded to faith through the person of Jesus Christ. His claims, His works and His life were a demonstration to men that He came from God and that He had the power of Life. Far from setting aside the Law He came to fulfil the Law, to show that it could be kept. Without fault or moral blemish He had the right to life and the power to give it to others. Union with Him by faith was a passing from death unto life, to walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, to become a new creature.

Spiritual things are a foreign language, a foreign world to natural people who understand natural things. The one drawn into Christ feels the pull of a force that is supernatural. God draws or attracts to Himself the mind of the seeking one. As God is spirit His power is spiritual. His words are spirit and life, elevating one so drawn on to a new plane of life, like a blind man receiving sight; like one risen from the dead. The new creature in Christ begins to discern hidden things about life. He begins to live and learn; to become a transformed character. The Law is no less the Law. Heart and mind are still prone to err, but there is an inner strength which enables the just who walk by faith to continue the pursuit of the ideal man of God, to fight the good fight and to know the taste of victory through Christ. Such are taught and disciplined by the great Husbandman who through the ages has sought and striven for the minds and hearts of those who would be His people, who were likened to the ripe fruit of the true vine. The Law found its fulfilment in the Son of man, whom God sent into the world to save men from their futile struggle with failure and death. All the promises of God were life but it came not by the written word but through the living Word, the culmination of the love of God in the person of the Anointed Son and Saviour, Jesus Christ. For this reason the great Apostle to the Gentiles could write with confidence "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6. 1). Those words are among the most precious and important ever written to men. It is a declaration of freedom, a promise of life not yet understood by the masses of mankind, a great boon scarcely estimated by the few who have entered into that union with Christ Jesus, who have begun that mystic walk, not after the flesh but after the spirit.

The law of 'Thou shalt not' condemned the transgressor to death. Death being the opposite of life it signifies the end of living. "By man came death", "The wages of sin is death". Since the sentence fell at the beginning of man's occupation of the earth, death passed upon all, for all have transgressed, fallen short of the original standard. Death has reigned over the house of Adam. None of the 'isms' or theories of the schools can explain away or deny that hard fact. In Christ, God provided a new and living way, by which the believing might get out from under the gloomy portals of the house of Adam into the house of Christ, variously described as a world of light, life and harmony with God. To such as have taken this way through a clear understanding of the human situation, a belief and acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, God's choice and way, there is no longer condemnation to death under the justice of the Law. Favoured are all those who make God their choice, for His path and His gift to men is Life. Love and mercy have provided in Christ a Saviour and deliverer, a way out of the dark world of sin and death into a world of life and love and service. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made live."

This gospel, this good news, was the tidings of great joy for the perishing race of man that the angels sang at Bethlehem. It was the message that the Early Church preached with enthusiasm, renouncing the fleeting pleasures of this life to go out into all the world, to make it known to all people. It is the word of God to man, the offer of salvation, still preserved, still available to any who are discontented with the world as it is, dissatisfied with themselves as they are. God has arranged one way, one person, one Name only by which mankind may obtain life, by which they may be set free from the law of sin and death. To step out of one house into the other brings about a change to living as great as that involved in any other change of residence. The eloquent testimony of those who have made this change runs like a river of praise to the ends of the earth.

(To be continued)

FAS