Creation is alive, sentient and willful. I could as easily use the noun “reality” and it still fits. We could say the same with Biblical Law, because it is synonymous with “the Word of God” and “the will of God.”
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
Creation is endowed with the moral character of the Creator. It’s only natural that what He makes will reflect His personality. Know God and you will know reality, and His Creation is not a mere inert mechanism. The Bible is full of language asserting that Creation is living and responsive to His voice. God didn’t make inert matter — that’s a cultural myth from outside the Bible. God breathed His own soul into His Creation.
I use the term “Biblical Law” to emphasize the fundamental nature of how we should deal with life in general. Biblical Law is an aspect of how Creation responds to us as individuals. It’s nature is feudal, covenantal, intensely personal and contextual. Don’t memorize the text of Biblical Law as it appears in Scripture; absorb the personality of how it acts in this world. The record of Biblical Law is not the Law itself.
In the deep symbolism of Hebrew Scripture, Biblical Law stands at the entrance back into Eden as the Flaming Sword. The broad context of Biblical Law helps to shape sane choices in this life under the Curse of the Fall so that we can move closer to Eden, our human existence as God intended it. Biblical Law is the path of Life. It demands you take the heart-led approach to knowing and doing. It’s the only hope you have for making it work. This thing requires that you connect back to it on a level of faith, a faculty that is far above mere intellect.
Each of us as individuals must become acquainted with God and with His Creation. No two of us can possibly experience exactly the same thing. The demands of His Law overlap for all of us, in the sense that God is who He is. But the implications will never be precisely the same for each of us, since He has placed each of us on our own ground. We each have our own grant of dominion to exercise on His behalf. The individuality is His design choice. We all share a certain amount so that we can commune together with Him, but the image of uniformity is alien to this thing.
This is why we must be circumspect in how we represent Biblical Law in our fallen world. We have to be aware of how those around us will see this whole thing. The heart is able to see far more than the eyes, and a heart committed to the Flaming Sword can discern the thoughts of those around us, at least sufficient to have a functional awareness. Even if we find other people puzzling, we can discern enough to carry out the mission of shining the glorious light of truth.
Don’t let yourself become dependent on the things this world offers. If, for example, the Internet becomes highly restricted, be ready to work around it. Yes, the US government is striving to control the Internet, even as the Internet community is destroying the US government system. Don’t limit your thinking; don’t be captive to what’s popular — Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. Use them, but treat them as mere tools that may or may not be appropriate to your mission.
You shouldn’t imagine that you have a vested interest in how this complex situation morphs. This is why I discourage activism; you can’t get involved without compromising your mission. We can share a vision of what is morally right according to Biblical Law, but we cannot allow ourselves to get sucked into the ways of human manipulation. We, of all people, should never forget how the final choice of each individual must follow the heart-led way. Don’t dehumanize people by treating them as a mass to be herded. Offer your moral leadership personally and individually; give people incentives to come under your feudal dominion in some way. Otherwise, you cannot do anything for them.
Biblical Law is feudal, covenantal, personal and contextual in nature.
