I have a confession: I have always skipped over most of the Old Testament.
The Psalms are good and the Proverbs offer very interesting tidbits that I feel are very applicable. But what about books like Leviticus and Deuteronomy? I believed everything else was true, and the history and stories were great, but I didn’t think they had much application to my daily life. They were just for the Israelites, right? I mean, who could follow all those rules and sacrifices?
After my pastor’s recent sermon, I discovered I was wrong! He talked a lot about the law’s applications for daily life. The Old Testament, Law, and New Testament should all be important to us. The Bible is God’s living Word!
Why should the law be important to me?
The Law Shows Us What We Were Before Christ
When recently going through Leviticus, I had to wonder if these people really followed all the commands and precepts. I mean, with more than a whole book of rules, how could they?
And the truth is, no, they didn’t. They disobeyed and failed tons of times.
They grumbled about how little food they had, they went after idols, they killed each other.
They weren’t perfect, just like we aren’t, because of sin.
They were just as sinful as we are. This is one reason why we need the law: to show us that we are sinful and in constant need of God’s grace.
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.” (Romans 7:7)
Sometimes we like to think we aren’t as bad as other people. But in reality, we are. The law is there to show us what sin is, and to remind us that we are just like everyone else–sinful.
The Law Shows Us How Great God Is
When the Israelites sinned and broke God’s holy law all those years ago, God could have left them. He would have been perfectly just to do that.
The amazing thing is, He didn’t! We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t because of God’s great mercy.
He sent His Son to die for us, wretched sinners. He loved us when we were at our darkest. We were slaves of sin, breakers of the law, and a rebellious people
“But God shows his love for us in that we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
The Israelites had to have a high priest to offer sacrifices on their behalf. Every year, on the day of atonement, the people would gather and offer lamb, goat, and cow sacrifices in order to purify them of their sin.
Now, we don’t need the high priests to help us with the sacrifices! Christ was the ultimate sacrifice, and he fulfilled the law. We can now live in victory over sin. He bridged the sin-gap to God.
”Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” (Hebrews 4:14)
The law is there to remind us how loving, merciful, and faithful God is, but also how broken we were before Christ.
Teen, the entire Bible is perfect, inspired by God, and should be used for our sanctification. Get out there and read it!
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