Covenant Laws – Purposes
Another time he went into a synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath … … Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath; to do good, or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts Mark 3:1,2,4,5
To the Jews the Sabbath celebrated creation and redemption. It looked back to creation and the Exodus and forward to the great day to come when God would liberate Israel from pagan oppression. It was a defining mark of God’s chosen, special and hopeful people, deeply embedded into their scriptures.
Why did God want Israel to rest on their Sabbath day? Was the Sabbath an end in itself?
To the uninitiated eye, God’s laws don’t always seem to have obvious purpose. So what were some of the purposes of the old covenant laws?
(1) they revealed God’s character to His people
(2) they showed what living as ‘humanity was designed to live’
actually looked like
(3) they defined Israel as God’s people
(4) they showed Israel her sin through her inability to keep
the Law and through a clear system of sacrifices for sin
(5) they restrained evil and lawlessness
(6) they expressed God’s wisdom so amazingly that pagan
nations would be drawn to Israel’s God because of those
laws
The Law was designed to do Israel good.
So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good … (Deuteronomy 6:24 NASB)
In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end (Deuteronomy 8:16 NASB)
The Law was a reflection of God Himself. The Law was designed to do Israel good because God wanted to do Israel good. So when Jesus asked “Which is lawful on the Sabbath; to do good, or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” He was exposing their ignorance of God’s purpose and heart in giving the Law.
God gave the Law to do His people good because He’s a good God. He hasn’t changed. Does He want to do you good or do you evil? Obviously He wants to go you good.
Settle that in your heart. Everything God does is for your good. I hope you believe that.
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