Lawful Grace; Graceful Law

Law is grace.

Were it not for God’s fervent and determined favor toward us, there would be no revelation. Revelation has always been fundamentally addressed to humans where they stand in a fallen world and in fallen terms. The objective has always been to offer the path back into Eden by way of mortality. Once you get used to the idea that this life isn’t worth saving for its own sake, you then stand in the place to recognize that the Laws were meant to indicate something far better than this fallen existence.

More than one Old Testament prophet mentioned the necessity of parabolic language. Jesus taught extensively on the necessity of parables, particularly as recorded in Matthew 13. Few people notice that Jesus was talking about the revelation of God’s Law Covenants as the seeds sown into our souls. The Law as taught by Jesus is the gospel. The point is not our understanding so much as our commitment, our willingness to receive and let it take hold. John notes how, right up to the end, the Twelve were hung up on literalism (John 16:17-33). They whined about the use of symbolism because it demanded too much of them.

They weren’t yet ready to sacrifice their human comfort with literalism and what little it could bring. Yet the very depth of what God could do and wanted to do for them could not be revealed that way. When Jesus restated things in more literal terms, it meant dumbing things down and removing some of the most important parts. A description of what they would experience on the human level was not sufficient to keep them faithful during the tribulation of Passion Week.

He also promised there would be a time He would speak to them with total clarity. When? Obvious from the context is that it would be post-resurrection. That is, once He was in a position to grant them direct access to the Spirit Realm through their own spiritual resurrection, they wouldn’t need to rely on what their minds could grasp. They would be able to understand at that much higher level.

When our the Lord breathes His fresh life into our dead spirits, everything is subject to reevaluation. That’s why the Apostles could write things like, “I know you understand all of Creation better than before.” And then they encouraged the people who understand on that higher level to make sure their lower level was retrained to obey that higher level: Learn the meaning of the Laws of God. Learn the lore of symbolic, parabolic language, because that’s how the Spirit of God communicates.

But it fires in us a zeal for the Laws that few could have had any other way. We become like Jesus cracking that whip in Court of Gentiles. We are determined that the message be available to anyone and everyone. It’s the one point at which we take an active, even violent, hand in the affairs of fallen humanity. We are determined that this, at least, will be justice as God defines it. All the rest is truly a matter of voluntary opening to the seeds, but the matter of sowing we will not negotiate.

The only question left is precisely how you are supposed to do that sowing. How do you expose the truth? The Laws. We live them. It’s artificial to separate out verbal communication from conduct. It’s both and neither; it’s all about commitment. Don’t confuse the issue by clinging to ancient methods from an ancient world that no longer exists. Some things do change, but it is our duty to examine through our convictions what is required of us today. If you bind yourself under limitations designed by humans, you’ll deny your calling.

The starting place is at the lowest level of conduct. Just reach out with sacrificial love. You can afford it because Heaven is your supplier. Reach out and restore that divine justice, rebuild some portion of the context that the Laws were meant to portray. Establish a pattern of just living that rises far above human justice.

When you live the Laws of God, you are spreading grace.