This week in the morning revival we come to the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119. If you read this chapter, you will fall in love with the Word of God.
The law here is not only commandments and ordinances, but it is something almost personal, beloved, so much appreciated, and greatly treasured by the psalmist.
Yes, on the one hand the law contains all kinds of commandments, ordinances, rules, regulations, but the psalmist has discovered something in the law, in the Word of God, that caused him to treasure it and love it! The psalmist saw God in Christ in the law of God. Lord, open our eyes to see You in Your word!
The law is the testimony of God
What is the law? The law given by God is an expression of God, the One who gave the law. Just as the human laws are the expression and testimony of the legislators, so the law of God is the testimony of God, the expression of God.
In Col. 2:9 we see that Christ is the embodiment of God, expressing the fullness of God. Christ testified God, expressed God, and showed what God is to humanity.
Christ therefore is the reality of the law as the testimony of God. The name of Christ is not mentioned in Psalm 119, but some attributes and synonyms of Christ are mentioned as synonyms for the law: testimony, word, etc.
Even though the ten commandments are brief, they give us a portrait of who and what God is. In them we see that God is righteous, holy, love, and light – and He is a jealous God! Also, the law of God was put in the ark of the TESTIMONY (Exo. 25:16), which was placed in the tabernacle of TESTIMONY (Exo. 38:21).
The law therefore was the testimony of God expressing Him. In the New Testament now we have Christ as the testimony of God – He fully expressed God and He even replaced the law with Himself, the reality of the law. Today we don’t need to “keep the law” – we need to come to Christ, enjoy Christ, and express Christ!
The law is the word of God
The ten commandments are literally translated as “ten words” in Exo. 34:28. The law is the word of God, and actually the whole Scripture is the breath of God, the breathing out of God, so useful to man for instruction, teaching, correction, and conviction (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
In the New Testament we see that Christ is the Word of God (John 1:1, Rev. 19:13).
Christ is the living word of God and He defines God, explains God, and fully expresses God. Christ is the living word of God breathed out of Him for man to breathe in as the life-giving Spirit today!
It is Christ as the Spirit who gives life – the flesh profits nothing; the words of the Lord Jesus, the speaking of the Lord, the Lord embodied in His spoken word, are spirit and life (see John 6:63).
The word of God should not be only letters, doctrines, good teachings, or a guidance for our life – we need to see, touch, and receive Christ as the living Word of God by exercising our spirit over the written word of God to get more God into us!
Christ is the reality of the law as the testimony of God and as the word of God – and He is the living word of God for us to enjoy, receive, be filled with, and even express and live out!
Christ is the reality of the law
The law of God – the commandments of God – are not “rules and regulations by which man should live to please God”, and they are not “the guidelines for a good Christian life”.
The law of God has a reality – Christ is the reality of the law as the testimony of God (the expression of God and the portrait of God) and as the Word of God (the definition, explanation, and expression of God).
We shouldn’t miss Christ as the reality of the law when we come to the Word of God; rather, we should touch the reality of the Word when we read the Word of God.
In this way, we will get to really treasure and appreciate the law of God as the testimony of God and as the word of God – because we see Christ as the reality! Don’t miss Christ when you read the Word!
Lord, cause us to see You as the reality of the law! You are the testimony of God expressing Him and showing us a portrait of who God is! Lord, You are the living word of God as the reality of the written word of God to be the breath of God to us! Oh, Lord, may we breathe You in as we come to Your word. Make Your word so living, so true, so real, and so precious to us. We want to see what the psalmist saw in Your word that we may treasure Your word!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from the Life-study of Exodus (msg. 51), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (2), week 20;
- Hymns on this topic:
# Jesus, O living Word of God, / Wash me and cleanse me with Your blood / So You can speak to me. / Just let me hear Your words of grace, / Just let me see Your radiant face, / Beholding constantly.
# O living Word of God, God’s image true, / Thou art the content of God’s written word; / God in Thee we have met, God’s fulness found, / And in the Scripture we Thyself have heard.
# Speak to me, Lord every day. / Speak to me, Lord—I love to hear what You say. / Speak to me, Lord until I have heard. / Speak to me, Lord through Your living Word. - Picture source: the Word of God.
amen