How wonderful it is to see the law of God as the testimony of God revealing Him to His people and the living word of God to infuse His substance in His loving seekers! The law is the testimony of God, the expression of God, the “picture” of who God is to be the revelation of God to His people.
In the New Testament we see that Christ is the Word of God: He is the definition, explanation, and expression of God; Christ is the reality of the law as the testimony of God! The testimony of God signifies Christ, the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9) as the living portrait of who God is.
Without Christ, God is not expressed and has no testimony; when Christ was on earth, God was expressed and testified. Christ was “the Ten Commandments” walking on earth – He was the reality of the law and He fulfilled the law. As the law is the ten words of God that reveal God to His people, so Christ is the word of God revealing God to us (see John 1:1, 14). Without Christ, God is hidden, abstract, and far away from us; in Christ, God is expressed, explained, and testified.
Christ is the reality of the law in Exodus 19-20; as believers in Christ, we should NOT try to “keep the law” from without but let Christ live Himself out from within us so that we may become God’s testimony, His expression and enlargement on earth (Rom. 8:4).
We are not meant to “keep the law” by doing our best to fulfill what the law says; we should rather walk by the Spirit so that Christ in us would fulfill the law and live out the law for God’s expression. We as Christians are not here to keep the law; we are here to live the law by expressing Christ.
The reality of keeping the law is to live God and express God – such a living is the living of a God-man, a life of continually denying the self and being crucified to live Christ (who Himself is God’s testimony) by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ for the enlarged and expanded expression of God (Matt. 16:24; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a; Rom. 8:4).
Hallelujah, when we behold the Lord and enjoy Him in His word, we become the same as He is, and the righteous requirements of the law can be fulfilled in us! We don’t have to strive to keep the law but live God and express God by beholding God and being infused with God so that Christ may be expressed through us and the law may be fulfilled in us!
Lord Jesus, save us from trying to keep the law from without; we want to let You live in us from within so that we may become the testimony of God for God’s expression. Lord, keep us enjoying You by beholding You to be infused with You and become You so that You may live in us and be expressed through us. Supply us with the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ that we may live a crucified life to live Christ and spontaneously have the law fulfilled in us! Lord Jesus, we love You!
Two Aspects of the Law: the Letter Kills but the Spirit Gives Life
The law of God has two aspects: the aspect of the letter and the aspect of the Spirit; “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). It all depends on our attitude and heart toward the law: if we care only for the commandments in letters and do our best to keep them, the law will become the letter to kill us.
If in coming to the law we do not seek God in love but rather separate the law from the living God as the source of life (see John 5:39-40), the law – which was intended to result in life but cannot give life of itself (Gal. 3:21) – will become a condemning and killing element to us. The Jews searched the Scriptures thinking in them they will find life, but they were not willing to come to the Lord, the source of life, to receive and have life.
The Apostle Paul also testified in Rom. 7 that the law is good, spiritual, holy, and righteous, but when he tried to keep it, sin came in and deceived him through the commandment and killed him. When we become aware of the law of God, sin awakens, and through the commandment sin deceives us and kills us; it is not the law who kills us but sin kills us. But the law of the Spirit of life has freed us from the law of sin and of death!
If we receive the law and turn to Christ so that we may walk according to the Spirit, the law is spontaneously fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:4). If we take part of the law – all the commandments, ordinances, statutes, precepts, and judgements – as the word breathed out by the God whom we love (2 Tim. 3:16), we will have the law in the aspect of the life-giving Spirit.
We need to love God, humble ourselves, and take the law as the living word of God through which we can contact the Lord and abide in Him, and then we will be supplied with the divine life and substance to live Christ and have the law fulfilled in us. The Lord didn’t come to abolish the law; He came to fulfill it, live it, and uplift it to the law of the kingdom of the heavens.
The essence of the law is love: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. When we love God and love our neighbor, we fulfill the law.
It is important for us to pray-read the word of God so that we may turn the law to the law-Giver and be infused with His element and substance. When we pray-read the word of God we live not only on bread but on every word that has been breathed out of the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4).
Our God doesn’t just “text message” us; He breathes His word out, and we breathe it in; He speaks to us in His word and we speak to Him by praying His word back to Him so that the word would become the Spirit who gives life.
Lord Jesus, we love You, we humble ourselves, and we regard the law as Your living word through which we contact You and abide in You. Lord, we want to pray Your word back to You so that we may be infused with Your substance and supplied inwardly to live Christ and become part of the enlarged testimony of God. Lord, infuse us with Your substance through Your word so that we may be one with You in life, nature, and expression and spontaneously live a life that expresses God and corresponds to His law!
The Functions of the Law: Exposing our Sin and Ministering the Living God to us
The function of the law has two aspects: on the negative side, the law exposes man’s sin, and on the positive side, the law ministers the living God to His loving seekers. On the negative side, the law exposes our sin (Rom. 3:20; 5:20; 7:7-8), subdues us before God (Rom. 3:19), and guards us as God’s people in its custody so that we may be conducted to Christ (Gal. 3:23-24).
On the negative side, the law exposes us, subdues us, and guards and guides us to Christ. On the positive side, the law is God’s living testimony functioning to minister the living God to His seekers (see Psa. 119:2, 88); also, as God’s living word, the law functions to dispense God Himself as life and light into those who love the law (Psa. 119:25, 116, 130).
On the positive side the law functions as God’s testimony, revealing God to His people (see footnote 1 on Exo. 20:1). The law is also God’s living word as His breath (2 Tim. 3:16) to infuse His element into His loving seekers (see footnote 1 on Deut. 8:3). On the negative side, the function of the law is to expose sin (Rom. 3:20; 5:20; 7:7-8, 13), to subdue sinners (Rom. 3:19), and to guard God’s chosen people and bring them to Christ (Gal. 3:23-24). Whether in our experience the law is positive or negative depends on the condition of our heart in receiving the law. If we love God, humble ourselves, and regard the law as His living word through which we contact Him and abide in Him, the law will become a channel through which the divine life and substance are conveyed to us for our supply and nourishment. Being infused with God’s substance through the law as God’s word, we will become one with God in life, nature, and expression and will spontaneously live a life that expresses God and corresponds to His law (Rom. 8:4; Phil. 1:21a). However, if in coming to the law we do not seek God in love but rather separate the law from the living God as the source of life (cf. John 5:39-40), the law, which was intended to result in life (Rom. 7:10) but cannot give life of itself (Gal. 3:21 and footnote 1), will become a condemning and killing element to us (Rom. 7:11; 2 Cor. 3:6-7, 9). (Exo. 19:8, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible)
The law of God can be something very positive to us depending on our attitude and the condition of our heart: if we love the Lord and seek Him in His word, the law functions as God’s testimony to reveal God to us and to infuse God’s element into us. At the same time, the law exposes our sin, subdues us, and brings us to Christ so that we may enjoy Him, be filled with Him, and express Him.
May we be those who seek the Lord in love as we come to His word so that the law would not only expose us and condemn us but also bring us to Christ and become God’s living word with His substance to be infused into us and cause us to express Christ!
Lord Jesus, we turn our heart to You; give us a proper attitude when we come to Your word. May we be the loving seekers who come to Your word to be shined on, exposed, and infused with God’s element. Lord, infuse us with Your substance as we pray over Your word to receive Spirit and life. Condemn and expose what needs to be exposed, and infuse us with Your element so that we may be those who live Christ and express God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and the footnotes in the Recovery Version on Exo. 19:8, Psa. 119:50, 2, and Exo. 20:1, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on,Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 1 / msg 1, The Law – the Testimony of God Revealing him to His People and the Living Word of God to Infuse His Substance into His Loving Seekers.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Not of letters, but of spirit, / The New Testamental way; / For ‘tis life the spirit giveth, / But the letters always slay. / Outward work God never reckons, / But what’s from the inmost part; / It is not to serve in letter, / But life’s newness to impart. (Hymns #908)
# God’s own Word must not be taken / Just as knowledge but as life, / Not alone God’s thought conveying, / But Himself to us as life; / Not alone God’s mind revealing, / But His Christ as life within, / Not alone the teaching giving, / But experience of Him. (Hymns #816)
# Let the words of my mouth / And the meditation of my heart, / Be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, / My strength, and my redeemer. / Moreover by them is Thy servant warned: / Is Thy servant warned: / And in keeping of them there is / Great reward. (Song on Loving God’s Word)
About aGodMan
There are two aspects of the law—the aspect of the letter and the aspect of the Spirit. “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). If our attitude in coming to the law is to care only for the commandments in letters, we will have the law in the aspect of the killing letter. However, if we take every part of the law—all the commandments, ordinances, statutes, precepts, and judgments—as the word breathed out by the God whom we love, we will have the law in the aspect of the life-giving Spirit.
The function of the law also has two aspects. On the negative side, the law exposes man’s sin (Rom. 3:20b; 7:7b) and subdues sinners before God (3:19). It also guards God’s chosen people in its custody that they might be conducted to Christ (Gal. 3:23-24). On the positive side, as God’s living testimony, the law functions to minister the living God to His seekers (Psa. 119:2, 88), and as God’s living word, the law functions to dispense God Himself as life and light into those who love the law (vv. 25, 116, 130). (Psa. 119:50, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible)