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BEHOLD YOUR GOD Chapter
Eight A Perfect
Law
The perfection of God’s law stands in marked contrast to the
imperfection of the laws framed by earthly legislators.
The faultiness and inadequacy of men’ laws are marked in two ways at least.
Firstly, men are obliged to constantly enact new laws and to modify or repeal
old ones. Things which the law forbids today, it will permit in the near
future. Behavior which is allowed in one country is strictly banned in
another.
Secondly, when kings or congress pass their laws, in order to ensure
that the people will respect the
government and obey those laws, they formulate a list of punishments
which they then administer.
But these things are not true of God’s law. It is so perfect and complete
that there has been no modification or addition needed from the day it was
first expressed. Its principles are so complete and all-embracing that, if
perfectly obeyed, they are the flaw less pattern for both divine and human behaviour in either the sinless heavenly environment or the iniquitous situation on earth.
The life of Christ amply demonstrated the truth of this, for He kept
His Father’s commandments in conditions so wicked that it was described as
the time “when the transgressors” had “come to the full,” Daniel 8:23; the time when “The
deception of sin had reached its height. All the agencies for depraving the
souls of men had been put in operation. The Son of God, looking upon the
world, beheld suffering and misery. With pity He saw how men had become
victims of satanic cruelty. He looked with compassion upon those who were
being corrupted, murdered, and lost. They had chosen a ruler who chained them
to his car as captives. Bewildered and deceived, they were moving on in
gloomy procession toward eternal ruin,—to death in which is no hope of life,
toward night to which comes no morning. Satanic agencies were incorporated
with men. The bodies of human beings, made for the dwelling place of God, had
become the habitation of demons. The senses, the nerves, the passions, the
organs of men were worked by supernatural agencies in the indulgence of the
vilest lust. The very stamp of demons was impressed upon the countenances of
men. Human faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which
they were possessed. Such was the prospect upon which the world’s Redeemer
looked. What a spectacle for Infinite Purity to behold!
“Sin had become a science, and vice was consecrated as a part of
religion. Rebellion had struck its roots deep into the heart, and the
hostility of man was most violent against heaven. It was demonstrated before
the universe that, apart from God, humanity could not be uplifted. A new ele- Page 70 ment of life and power must be imparted by Him
Who made the world.” The Desire of
Ages, 36, 37.
This was the condition of things when Christ came to this earth. Under
those circumstances He demonstrated that God’s law was the only code of
behavior. To do this He kept that law to perfection thus proving that Satan
lied when he declared the law of God was imperfect and needed to be modified
to meet changing circumstances. In this perfect adherence to the righteous
precepts under these conditions, Christ not only proved to fallen man that
the law was not too difficult for him to observe, but that it was the perfect
guide and protection for all those who did keep it.
Consider now, the second factor in the difference between the law of
God and that of man. This difference is that while men have to attach their
own formulated penalties to the law, with God this is not necessary. In His
system, breaking the law itself brings its own terrible fruitage in sorrow,
and finally, destruction.
It is not to be concluded that God deliberately organized it this way.
When it is understood why He formed and gave the law, it will be seen that
this is the only way it could be. Essential to the successful accomplishment
of the great aspirations within His creatures, is the possession of
tremendous power. This power was designed for blessing and benefit only, but
unavoidably, it has in it the potential for destruction. Being the only way
to safeguard against that other and destructive side of power, law became
essential. While power is handled in strict accordance with law, there is no problem.
But let the law be disregarded and every kind of problem arises. Therefore,
God did not formulate a law with a deliberately built-in system of
punishments, but, instead, gave them a perfect protection from
self-destruction. If they choose to set aside that protection then there is
nothing to prevent the trouble from coming. First God gave the power and then
the law to enable them to safely handle it.
Already it has been shown that compelling power, compulsion, the use of
force, and such have no place in God’s work and are never found under His
government but only under Satan’s. Likewise it has been seen that God,
because He is interested only in voluntary obedience, gave to every one of
His creatures “full liberty to yield or to withhold obedience.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 48. It would
be impossible to give full liberty to withhold obedience, and then punish a
person for exercising the very freedom given to him. To punish under those
conditions is to deny that full liberty had been given.
There are two ways in which God could have administered punishments
upon those who choose to withhold obedience. The first method would be to
decree what the punishment should be and then to execute it by His own direct
action. This is what the majority believe God does.
The second method would be to skilfully and
deliberately build into the law, punishments which would automatically fall
upon the transgressor. In Page 71 modern language
this is called booby trapping. The farmer, for instance, has a patch of
delicious melons growing and he knows that, despite the law forbidding theft,
the young lads of the village will come at night for the feast. So he
installs a trip wire attached to a high explosive. He has built into the law
an automatic punishment which will reach out and strike the lawbreaker apart
from the action of the law itself.
This is the course the Lord could have adopted to avoid the necessity
of exercising His own power in any direct act of destruction. Whether
God punishes directly by His own action or indirectly by building destruction
into the law, He would still be denying that He had, in reality, given His
subjects “full liberty to yield or to
withhold obedience.” He gave the liberty. Therefore He cannot punish any
who exercise what He has given them.
If God used the first method, it would be blatant denial of His claim
to have given them full liberty. If He used the second method, then He could
well be charged with having adopted underhand means whereby He could claim
that He had not directly denied their freedom, though in fact, indirectly He
had.
God is not deceitful or underhanded. He is the God of truth. Therefore
it needs to be clearly understood that He did not design a law with built-in
punishments. Every one who is to have a part in the
final presentations of the character of God must come to understand the real
character of God’s law. The awful
punishments which do fall upon the violators of God’s great principles are
what the law was devised to protect man from, not what it was designed to
bring upon him.
What must be understood with great clarity is that the law is in no
sense God’s effort to protect His own position and authority. God is so
completely outgoing, so utterly devoid of self-interest, self-justification,
or self-protectionism in any form, that He could never have formulated the
law to save Himself. It is not something which He has “thought up” as His wish or pleasure whereby the
people could be identified as His
subjects, doing His will and
obeying His commands. Far from it!
That law is a masterpiece of protection for the people themselves. It is so
wonderfully designed that obedience to it ensures absolute immunity from
sickness, suffering, sorrow, fear, suspicion, robbery, violence, and death.
On the other hand, violation of its principles guarantees the introduction of
these things in their worst forms.
None of these things is God’s invention designed for infliction on the
transgressor. “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23. It is a sound principle, universally practised, that the servant is always paid by the
employer to whom he renders service. If a worker, having given a month of
industrious labor to Mr. Jones, then went to Mr. Brown to receive his wages,
he would be met with an indignant refusal.
“I am not responsible for the wages owed to you by Mr. Jones,” he
would emphatically say. “I do not pay the money earned by service on your Page 72 part to another
employer. If you work for me than I will pay you but not otherwise.`
This reply is reasonable. It is equally reasonable that the same
principles apply in the spiritual realm. Therein are two masters, God and
Satan, or more correctly, righteousness and sin. Neither of these masters
pays the wages earned in the service of the other.
The wages of sin is death and the gift of righteousness is life.
No one needs convincing that Satan never pays the gifts of God. All
those who live the life of righteousness, know that they cannot look to the
devil to pay even the smallest proportion of these. God alone can pay the
gift of life. Satan has no part in this whatsoever.
If it is so easily seen that the devil never pays God`s gifts to the
righteous, then it should be equally clear that the Lord never pays the wages
owed by sin to its subjects. Sin and Satan alone pay those. God does not
traffic in death for He is the purveyor of life. That is His merchandise and
He dispenses no other. He does not pay wages in the currency of death.
“Sickness, suffering, and death are work of an antagonistic power.
Satan is the destroyer; God is the restorer.” The Ministry of Healing, 113.
As the Restorer, “God is working, day by day, hour by hour, moment by
moment, to keep us alive, to build up and restore us.” ibid., 112. The law, then, has not been formed as an instrument
of destruction but of salvation. The unfortunate attitude of hostility toward
that law will be swept away entirely when its true purpose and role are
understood. Then with the Psalmist, the exclamation of praise will go forth,
“O how I love Thy Law! It is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97.
The Holy Spirit had certainly imparted to the writer of these words a
very different view of the law from that generally possessed by man. He had
come to see that the law was not designed for God’s exaltation and protection
but for the protection and blessing of mankind.
This we need also to see. Accordingly our attention will now be
directed to studying God’s law as the precious gift of God for man’s blessing
and security.
Both the first part dealing with the relationship of man to God and
the second part covering man to man, were designed
along the same lines. Consideration will be given to the first part
initially.
Statement number one in the Decalogue is this: “Thou shalt have no
other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:3.
To the average person this suggests a picture of God concerned about
His receiving the homage, respect, service, and worship which He felt was due
to Him. To them, it is as if He were saying, “I am God and I do not intend
that you shall forget that. I will tolerate no other god in My place for I
will share My honor, position, and glory with none. I want, and I demand,
exclusive recognition of My sole authority from each of you. I shall be Page 73 watching every one
intently, moment by moment, with vigilance which never slumbers nor sleeps.
If I find any drifting away from Me, any rendering of homage or love to
another, My anger shall become exceedingly great and I will come in My fury
to punish you without mercy.”
This is the view held by this earth’s majority. This is how they see
God, because if they were in the same position with the same power, that is
how they would relate themselves to their subjects. But, in fact, a more
erroneous view of God’s intent could not be entertained. God had not thought
of His honor, security, and safety when He formed that commandment. He was
entirely preoccupied with His subjects and their needs. He knew the danger in
which they were, and to make them secure from it He gave them this and the
other commands.
Difficult as it may be at first to understand, the truth is that it
was not possible for God to create man without a very definite element of
danger being involved. Yet, once careful consideration is given to the
objectives of love in bringing the earth and its inhabitants into existence,
it will be perceived that it was not possible to do this without that threat
being in attendance.
It began with the divine purpose to give man the precious love-gift of
life. There was no obligation upon
God to do it. Humanity should respond only with the deepest gratitude that
God had elected to do this. But to give life was not sufficient. A home must
be provided in which those possessed of this inimitable gift could enjoy such
riches to the fullest. Without a home, existence would be an eternal drifting
through supercold space with nothing to see or do.
Those would covert what promised to be everlasting delight into perpetual
horror.
Therefore, the creation of highly intelligent creatures necessitated
the forming of a home in which they could develop and exercise the splendid
powers given to them, achieving the highest aspirations of their active
minds.
That was a wonderful provision but it was still insufficient. Both the
individuals themselves and the world in which they lived must be equipped
with suitable and sufficient powers to enable them to live their lives to the
fullest potential. The infinitely wise and loving God saw this and without
hesitation installed all those mighty powers in their proper place and
balance. These powers may be grouped into two divisions, those within man and
those outside him in the marvellous world of
nature.
The powers in man may be listed as the power of thought, muscular
power, the powers of speech, ambition, planning,
reasoning, invention, love, joy, and so forth. The powers without in the
world of nature are the powers of the sun, moon, gravity, wind, water,
centrifugal and inertial forces, electricity, and many more.
All this, seemingly, would provide the sum of all that could ever be
needed to give every creature the fullness of happiness and joy. After all,
what more could man desire or need? Page 74
But it was still not enough.
It was not enough because power, though provided by God for only one
purpose, the blessing and prosperity of all His creatures, inevitably
possesses the potential of destruction. Enquiry may be made as to why the
Lord did not provide powers that could not be subverted, but careful thought
will show that this is impossible. Any power which is intended to do only
good can also be turned to an evil purpose.
Therefore, God needed to add one more gift to make the work of
creation complete and secure. That gift was the law. It was something very
necessary to man, for without it he had no way of keeping those powers from
becoming destroyers. This can readily be demonstrated by reference to the
first commandment, the study of which, in the light of these principles, will
prove that the law was not made by God for God but for man.
Any one of the great powers which God has invested in nature for man’s
blessing can be chosen to develop this point. Accordingly the sun will be
selected as the example.
Initially, the sun came into existence in response to the spoken
creative work of God. This is the only way it could, for there is no other
power in existence which can create anything, let alone something of the
magnitude and power of that flaming orb. Satan could not do it, neither can
man. But God’s work in respect to the sun and its role did not end with its
creation, for it cannot fulfill its mission unaided. It, like all other
powers, is totally unintelligent, thus possessing no capacity to direct its
ways. This must be done by a power outside of and greater than itself under
the guidance of a suitable intelligence. The only power which can do this is
the power which made it. That is God’s power directed by the intelligent mind
of God. That creative power in turn is exercised through His Son, Christ, Who
not only “made the world,” but is constantly “upholding all things by the
word of His power.” Hebrews 1:2, 3.
“God is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the
things that He has made. He works through the laws of nature, using them as
His instruments. They are not self-acting. Nature in her work testifies of
the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being Who moves in all things
according to His will. The Ministry of
Healing, 416.
“Many teach that matter possesses vital power,—that certain properties
are imparted to matter, and it is then left to act
through its own inherent energy; and that the operations of nature are
conducted in harmony with fixed laws, with which God Himself cannot
interfere. This is false science, and is not sustained by the Word of God.
Nature is the servant of her Creator. God does not annul His laws, or work
contrary to them, but He is continually using them as His instruments. Nature
testifies of an intelligence, a presence, and active
energy, that works in and through her laws. There is in nature the continual
working of the Father and the Son. Christ says, ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,’ John 5:17. Page 75
Page 76
“The Levites, in their hymn recorded by Nehemiah, sung ‘Thou, even
Thou, art Lord alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all
their host, the earth, and all things therein, . . .
and Thou preservest them all.’ Nehemiah 9:6. As
regards this world, God’s work of creation is completed. For ‘the works were
finished from the foundation of the world.’ Hebrews 4:3. But His energy is
still exerted in upholding the objects of His creation. It is not because the
mechanism that has once been set in motion continues to act by its own
inherent energy, that the pulse beats, and breath follows breath; but every
breath, every pulsation of the heart, is an evidence of the all-pervading
care of Him in whom ‘we live, and move, and have our being.’ Acts 17:28. It is not because of
inherent power that year by year the earth produces her bounties, and
continues her motion around the sun. The hand of God guides the planets, and
keeps them in position in their orderly march through the heavens. He
“bringeth out their host by number; He calleth them
all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power;
not one faileth.’ Isaiah 40:26. It is through His power that vegetation flourishes,
that the leaves appear and the flowers bloom. He ‘maketh
grass to grow upon the mountains,’ and by Him the valleys are made fruitful.
All the beasts of the forest seek their meat from God, Psalms 147:8; 104:20, 21, and every living creature, from the
smallest insect up to man, is daily dependent upon His providential care. In
the beautiful words of the psalmist, ‘These wait all upon Thee. . . . That
Thou givest them they gather; Thou openest Thine hand, they are
filled with good.’ Psalms 104:27,
28. His Word controls the elements, He covers the
heavens with clouds, and prepares rain for the earth. ‘He giveth
snow like wool; He scattereth the hoar frost like
ashes.’ ‘When He uttereth His voice, there is a
multitude of waters in the heavens, and He causeth
the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He maketh
lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind
out of His treasures.’ Psalms
147:16; Jeremiah 10:13.” Patriarchs and
Prophets, 114, 115.
These statements teach the active presence of God as the Controller of
all the powers He has installed in the universe for the good of His
creatures. But, why is it necessary for God to do this? Is it because He is
determined to keep personal control over all things? Or is it because it must
be so? Why could God not have set the whole complex machinery in motion and
then left it to run of its own accord from the very beginning? Or why does He
not delegate the work to other hands to leave Himself free from such things?
God does what He is doing because that is the only way it can be done
and certainly not because of any desire on His part to reserve to Himself any
special position. It was not possible for God to leave all these tremendous
powers to themselves for it is the very nature of
power to be unintelligent. The sun is a power of gigantic proportions, but it
has not power to think or to direct its ways and even if it did, it would
still need God to keep it supplied with energy. Page 77
Think of all the various powers in existence—fire, wind, gravity, the
tides, hydraulics, and so on, and it will be seen that not one of them is an intelligence nor could be. Power and force are just
that, while intelligence is designed to control and guide the powers. Even
the physical powers in the human body are not intelligent. They depend upon
the intelligence centered in the brain for control and guidance.
Therefore, the mighty sun must have a controller and guide to keep it
exactly on its course and, at the same time, a source of energy to keep it
forever fuelled and burning at a constant level. Should there be no such
controlling power, then think of the possibilities. The sun could swing a
little too far out and away from the earth with the consequence of such
tremendous cooling on this planet that it would freeze solid. On the other
had it could swing in too close and destruction would come with blazing heat.
Again, it might burn too dimly or too brightly or even explode with the same
destructive results.
Far more than we do, we need to appreciate how dependent we are upon
that sun. If we were to carefully consider the effect of that power becoming
either diminished or increased, then we would be far more grateful than we
are for the Lord’s controlling and sustaining hand in the universe. The same
facts and principles apply to all the mighty powers of heaven and earth.
Having established the truth that the hand of a mighty controller and
energy-supplier is indispensable for the continuation of our lives upon the earth,
we can proceed to the next question. Why does God do this? Why does He not
give it to one of His mighty creatures to look after for Him?
The answer is because He cannot. It required a Creator’s power to set
it up in the first case, and it requires the same Creator’s power to maintain
it. Only He can do it. God gladly
gives His creatures whatever He can, but this is one thing He cannot give,
for there is not one of us, angel or man, who can keep those mighty powers
under perfect control.
Therefore, it is essential that no other god be placed in God’s
position as the Controller, Guide, and Sustainer of these mighty powers. To
do so would be to put there a being who would have no hope of keeping those
things under control. They would swiftly break out of their course in a
holocaust of destruction.
To help in understanding this extremely important point let the
following illustration serve. One of the biggest commercial passenger
aircraft is the Boeing 747. In order to control and direct that tremendous
power, a man must have, through long practice and training, highly developed
skills. The law says that on a flight no one must set another person who is
unqualified in the pilot’s place. Suppose that during a flight across the
Pacific from Sydney to Honolulu, a passenger who has never flown a plane
before goes onto the flight deck, overpowers the crew, binds them up
securely, and then attempts to fly the machine to a destination of his own
choice. Page 78
What is the inevitable result? That man has no hope of bringing the
plane in successfully. He will not even know how to navigate it across the
uncharted oceans, and he will crash the plane, killing every person on board.
No one should have any difficulty in seeing this, especially if he has ever
had his untrained hands on the controls of even a simple light aircraft and
tried to bring it in to land. A 747 is a complex of unintelligent but
gigantic powers which must have a master mind to direct. Should such a
trained and skilled person be taken from the controls and another untrained
one take his place, then certain disaster is the result.
This is exactly the situation with this earth and the mighty powers
attendant upon it. God alone has the power and skill to guide them accurately
and safely on their courses. Should that guiding hand be removed and another
attempt to fill its place, then inevitable desolations would follow. There
would be no way to prevent it. Some may object that God could prevent it.
Certainly He has the physical power to do so, but in order for that power to
be exercised to prevent that destruction, it has to be in the very place from
which it has been dismissed. Once another god has been put in the place of
the true God, then God can only save the situation, by forcing Himself back
into the place from which He has been sent away, and this God will never do. This would violate the freedom of choice
which He Himself gave to His creatures and which He will never invade even to
a hair’s breadth.
But how would it be possible for God to vacate the position of
control? How could this be brought about? Surely, it may be argued, no one
could take God’s position away from Him!
It can be done quite simply and very quickly. What is more, it has
been done.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were the ruler and owners of this
world in a kingdom which they held under God and for God. “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth on the earth.” Genesis 1:26.
While they retained that dominion, God could and did maintain perfect
control over the sun, the moon, and all the other mighty powers set in their
places for the blessing and benefit of the human family. There was no
problem, and the Edenic pair enjoyed perfect
security, comfort, and prosperity.
But the time came when they passed the kingdom into the devil’s hands
and he became “the prince of this world.” John 14:30. While Adam and Eve had
held dominion under God, Satan did not. He had put himself in God’s place,
and when Adam and Eve turned to give their dominion to Satan, they placed
another god in the place of the true
God. They directly broke the first commandment and thus removed from
themselves the pro- Page 79 tection the first commandment was designed to give. Another god
was in the place of the real God and this new god could not control the
mighty powers of nature. Sudden and terrible destruction immediately
threatened them.
It may be objected here that the whole argument is disproved by the
fact that the threatened destruction did not fall upon them that day as God
had said it would. This is true, but that does not make God a liar, nor does
it disprove the argument. God’s word was fulfilled for they did die that very
day. On the spiritual side of their natures the life of God, the presence of
the Holy Spirit, died out of them, to be replaced by another spirit, that of
the devil.
They would have also died physically that day, had not the Lord
interposed to introduce a delaying factor, designed in love, to give them a
limited probationary period in which to reconsider their decision. In unquenchable
love for the doomed, Christ stepped in to divert the punishment to Himself. He would take upon Himself, not that which God would administer to
the sinner, but that which the sinner had brought upon himself.
Christ had to move swiftly for the Lord had warned that “in the day
that” they ate of it they would surely die. Genesis 2:17. Christ had no time to lose if He would save them.
So it is written, “The instant man accepted the temptations of Satan, and did
the very things God has said he should not do, Christ, the Son of God, stood
between the living and the dead, saying, ‘Let the punishment fall on Me. I
will stand in man’s place. He shall have another chance.’” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, 1:1085.
Right there in the Garden of Eden, all nature would have swung wildly
out of its course with increasing ferocity had not Christ stepped in to give
the world a period of probation in which to make a second choice either to
serve God or to continue with another god— the god of death
and destruction. When at last the time of probation is ended with every man,
woman, and child having made their choice for eternity, this is just what
will happen. Christ will step out from
His place as Mediator and all nature will collapse in a cataclysm of
destruction. Of this final destruction we shall study much more later.
Now, let a summary be made of the facts just considered with
particular emphasis being laid on the truth that the suffering and death
which certainly follow the violation of the principles of the law, are not
administered by God directly, nor are even a carefully built-in provision
designed to automatically destroy the lawbreaker. The punishments are the
unpreventable outworking of the removal by disobedience of the protections
the laws are designed to give.
Here is that summary.
It would have been most unsatisfactory for the Lord to have made us
without providing the supporting powers necessary to give us comfortable Page 80 living and the
opportunity to develop all the gifts within us. The sun is needed for light
and heat, the forces of gravity for our equilibrium, electricity to open to
us the thousand and on possibilities in communication, electronics and so on.
Should we ponder upon a life without the many gracious provisions of God for
our welfare and pleasure, we would be far more grateful to the Lord for what
He has done. Note
by Ron Beaulieu: We should also ponder the fact that God put Adam and Eve in a
garden and He did not provide them with electricity which Mr. Wright
evidently considers one of the “many gracious provisions of God.” Further, it
is not debateable that those so-called “provisions
of God” are not to be attributable to Him, but to the perversions of God’s
provisions for man, since these perverted inventions (misuse of God’s
provisions) have contributed to the pollution of the universe in ways which
are detrimental to man’s best interest and health. One might attribute ills
to all of those “provisions,” if the full truth were known. Just for one
example, science has determined that the high tension electrical lines that
furnish electricity cause harm to animals and man. Also, wireless devices can
wreak havoc as can micro-waves. So in truth, these misuses of the provisions
of God, are Satan’s perversion of such natural phenomena
of electricity which is an operative function of the body’s electrical
system. Did God intend combustion engines that
pollute the air we breathe? Did He intend all the pollutions that are a
by-product attributable to most of the invented conveniences men applaud
themselves for? I think not! I fully believe that God had greater things in
mind for mankind than things that pollute the very air he breathes and the
water he drinks. I believe without a particle of a doubt that we will
experience those better options in the earth made new! End note.
But, it is impossible for power to exist without its being at the same
time a potential for fearful and even total destruction. That is the very
nature of power and it can be no other way. The greater the power, the
greater the danger. Therefore, as surely as heaven is a place filled with the
greatest of wonderful powers, it is therefore a potentially dangerous place.
God has no fear of introducing such peril for He knows that it is
completely contained if the laws are faithfully obeyed. Under the control of
laws obeyed, power can only be a blessing, but let the laws be disobeyed and
it is nothing but a danger. The destruction which falls is not directed by
God’s hands. It is the natural and unpreventable consequence of the violation
of God’s law.
These things must be meditated upon until the purposes and character
of God in this are fully understood; until it is seen that God neither inflicts
the punishment by His own hand nor has it as an inbuilt threat which reaches
out to automatically destroy those who get out of line; until it is seen that
the death and suffering is the direct and unpreventable result of the sin;
and that the Lord does only one thing, which is to work to save all from such
disastrous results and guide them forever in those pathways which will ensure
them perfect and complete happiness.
So it is with the violation of the first commandment. What is true of
the results of its violation is true of all the rest. For instance, the
second precept warns against bowing down to worship an image made of material
things. There should be no difficulty in seeing that such an act of worship
can only result in death to the worshipper on the following grounds. Every adoration of images as practiced by those who break
the second commandment is on the basis of their believing that they can and
will obtain all they need for life-support through the idol.
But they cannot believe that they will receive life through the idol
and, at the same time, receive life from God, for if they truly believed that
God is the only source of life, then they would never have turned aside from
Him to seek it from, and through, an idol. Therefore, the very fact that they
do worship an idol is their declaration that they have no faith that God can
care for them and that they have turned aside from seeking it from God to
find it elsewhere.
What is the only possible outcome of such an action on their part? God
is the only source of life. To turn aside from that life source and seek it
where it does not exist, is to die. God will not
kill such a person. Such kill themselves. There is no fault with God, for He
plainly warned them that Page 81 they were not to
place another god in His place. He is the only life-giver and life-sustainer.
To illustrate the point again, think of an aviator who has ascended to
altitudes where the oxygen is too rare to support life so he has to plug his
breathing apparatus into the outlet connected with the oxygen supply. He has
received specific instruction as to which is the correct outlet, but he
deliberately chooses to plug into another socket with no connection to the
supply. What is going to happen to this foolish man? He will quickly die for want of the
essential oxygen. He will die because he has failed to observe the law. His
death will be the direct result of that, and not in any sense the act of God.
In precisely the same manner, the man who bows before an idol to seek
life from this source has pronounced his own death sentence. He cannot live,
for, by his own choice, he cuts
himself off from the channel of life. There is no fault with God. He provided
the channel for life and warned that if man should discard that and seek life
through an idol or an image, he would find none there and death would
overtake him.
Accordingly, the second-commandment forbidding the worship of images
and idols, is perfectly designed to save God’s children from separating themselves
from the source of life to thus bring upon themselves certain destruction.
To take God’s name in vain is to call one’s self a Christian or a
child of God, a member of His family thus bearing His name, and yet at the
same time to live out of harmony with the principles of the family. To do
this is to separate from the family and the blessings which can only be
obtained while in the family. Again this is but to bring death upon one’s
self.
The breaking of the fourth commandment likewise, is removing the
protection God has provided to sustain life. This precept has to do with the
great principle of respect for that which is another’s. Its violation opens
the door to every kind of trouble and sorrow. To understand this better let
us turn to the second side of the Decalogue and study the control of the
powers which God has invested in man himself.
We will choose the command, “Thou shalt not steal.” This is an
excellent place to begin—for the commands, “Thou shalt not kill,” “Thou shalt
not bear false witness,” and “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” are but
extensions of this commandment. To kill is to steal the life of another from
him, even though such theft does not give the thief the life thus stolen. The
committal of adultery robs a person of his or her life partner and the
bearing of false witness robs a person of his reputation and credibility.
Now we will see how violation of the command, “Thou shalt not steal,”
opens upon man the floodgates of woe. Consider the perfect society wherein
stealing has never previously been known. The dwellers in this society have
perfect trust in each other and without fear they leave their homes open at
all times. Locks and bars are neither needed nor known. Page 82
Then there comes the day when one person steps out of the way and
steals the property of someone else in the village. In the depths of the
night the householder is awakened by the stealthy movements of an intruder,
who, perceiving that his presence has been noted,
flees, bearing a family treasure with him.
In this, the innocent suffer with the guilty. A simple illustration
from the travel world of today will serve to show this. There was a time
before anyone thought of hijacking an aircraft. In those days the passengers
simply walked aboard and took their places. It was convenient and pleasant.
But then came the new era and everything changed. The wrongdoers in
this connection are few in number, yet virtually every passenger who seeks to
board an aircraft is now suspect. He must, even
though innocent, undergo a thorough searching both of his hand baggage and
his person. He suffers inconvenience and delay and longs for the return of
the days of trust and good will. He is suffering punishment for the sins of
another. But the punishment is not something which is being meted out by God
it is the direct result of the crime.
Now let us return to our illustration of the village. Should more and
more people follow the path of the lawbreaker and become thieves, then the
problem will escalate into destructive proportions. Once the law has been
cast aside and its protection removed, it is then only a matter of taking one
step after another. The thief will not stop at taking merely property. He
will take life and murder will worsen the situation. In order to defend
themselves, the other thieves will resort to violence for self-protection.
All this is precisely what has happened to bring the world to its present
state of misery and woe.
As this is being written, Beirut in Lebanon is being torn to pieces
with a murderous civil war, while in Northern Ireland,
the Irish are slaying Irish with cold-blooded determination. What a fearfully
unhappy situation in which to live. How far this is from the perfect plan God
formulated for the well-being and happiness of man. Let it be emphasized that
none of this woe and trouble comes upon man by any act of God, but by the
natural outworking of the law’s being broken. God
designed and gave the law as a perfect protection from all this, but man has
chosen of his own free will to cast aside that protection. Before us, we see
the result. It is only because the Lord is still able to exercise some
restraint over mankind that man survives Page 83 at all. Should
the law be totally cast aside and anarchy reign, the extermination of the
race by its own hands would be the swift result.
We will not spend a lot of space considering this important fact for
it is not necessary. It is self-evident that the breaking of the law governing
man’s relationship to man brings its own terrible results upon the world.
Consider the situation as it would be today if every man and woman never
stole, never lied, never killed, and in fact, kept all the ten commandments.
What a wonderfully happy and secure place the world would be, not because God
had arbitrarily made it so, but because that is the way keeping the law would
make it. This does not mean that God’s presence is unnecessary for such
happiness. It is necessary for it is by His power that the law is kept. He is
the fountain of all life and without Him there is no life.
Consider what the world would be like and how long mankind would
survive if all law was done away with and every person was a thief, a
murderer, an adulterer, a liar, and so on. It is impossible to think of a
worse situation. Every man, so long as he managed to survive, would live in a
state of perpetual terror. There would be no stability and no security.
As this grim, totally undesirable picture develops before the mind,
ponder and see that the terrible conditions would not in any sense be the
inflictions of God, but the result of removing the protection afforded by
law. Here is the revelation of the cause and effect, and no change can be
laid to God for any of it.
The final consideration to be made in this study of the outworking of
violated law, is man’s relation to himself. The
human body is a wonderfully designed and constructed mechanism. David, as he
came to realize this, praised God in these words. “I will praise Thee; for I
am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are
Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” Psalm 139:14.
With David, we should have a rich appreciation of God’s blessings in
giving us a body and mind of such efficiency. Even after almost six thousand
years of sin’s degradation, there is still mighty and wonderful power
remaining. Such being so, what must it have been like in the beginning when
the electrical energy in Adam’s brain was twenty times as great as it is now? “God endowed man with so great vital
force that he has withstood the accumulation of disease brought upon the race
in consequence of perverted habits, and has continued for six thousand years.
This fact of itself is enough to evidence to us the strength and electrical
energy that God gave to man at his creation. It took more than two thousand
years of crime and indulgence of base passions to bring bodily disease upon
the race to any great extent. If Adam, at his creation, had not been endowed
with twenty times as much vital
force as men now have, the race, with their present habits of living in violation of natural law,
would have become extinct.” Testimonies,
3:138, 189. Page 84
It is impossible for a body to be made with such power and efficiency
without being a finely balanced piece of complexity requiring obedience to
law to keep it in perfect condition.
The laws which govern the care of this mechanism are referred to above
as being natural laws and they are, but this does not mean that there is
nothing in the moral law to cover this situation. He
who abuses his body thus lowering its efficiency, is robbing both God and
others of the service which he would render had he the full powers of mind
and body. Consider the enormous loss to the community through absenteeism
from work because of sickness occasioned by careless disregard of the most simple laws of health.
More than this, the one who does not observe the laws of health and
strength is destroying himself thereby breaking the
commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” Therefore, while the care of the body
mechanism is conformity to natural law, the breaking of those laws is also
breaking the moral law.
Much study could be devoted to the relation of health and longevity to
obedience to natural and moral law. Such a study would be both interesting
and profitable, but we desire only to make the point that it is not God, but
disobedience to those laws which brings upon the disobedient, whether
wittingly or unwittingly so, a sure retribution.
It is convincingly self-evident that the man
who, for instance, smokes tobacco products and drinks alcohol, steadily
reduces his physical capacities and brings upon himself destructive diseases.
So clear is this evidence that even people who have long disregarded
the moral law, recognize the direct connection between prolonged cigarette
smoking and the incidence of lung cancer and early heart failures. More than
ever, men can see that to pursue a certain course of unhealthful living will
certainly bring a harvest of suffering and untimely death.
It is not God who afflicts poor sufferers with these diseases. They
are the unpreventable result of the sin itself. God cannot and will not, in
justice, work a miracle to counteract these evil effects, but because of this
He is not to be named as the One Who has deliberately sent these punishments
upon the people. He has done all that He can to save
them from such trouble. In the first place He gave man the best body
mechanism it was possible to give. Then, recognizing that man could not get
the best out of this gift except by giving it proper care, the Lord gave him
laws to protect it from the effects of wrong living. Also, God gave man the
freedom to choose whether he would cherish and care for the gift, or treat it
with disdain and destroy it.
So whatever suffering should then come upon man is not the
responsibility or work of God. It is the direct effect of man’s works. He has
only himself to blame. No charge can ever be laid to God’s account for this.
Such then is the nature of God’s law. It is a marvellously
perfect provision by Him to meet our need, not His. He has not formulated it
to assert Page 85 His authority or as an instrument whereby He
is given the right to punish those who do not obey Him.
The sinner’s breaking of the law is his own act whereby he removes the
divinely provided protection from death and destruction. Not only is it
against God’s principles to exercise force to compel or punish people into
obeying Him, but He does not need to, for the removal of sin is guaranteed by
the mere fact that it is, in its own nature, a way of death and destruction.
There is only one life path and that is the one God has mapped out for His
people.
This is true of our relation to God, in our relation to our fellow
men, and in relation to ourselves. When the nature
of the law as it really is, is truly understood, then our obedience to it
will be far more willing and successful.
Likewise, when the character and ways of God are genuinely
comprehended and appreciated, something of the infinite love and kindness of
God the eternal Father, will be perceived, generating sincere praise and
gratitude for His love and wisdom. Then it will be known that God did not
compose that law as the symbol of His authority, imposing it upon us as the
obligation of service to Him, the medium whereby He could exact our service
and homage. It will be realized that the law was made for the children of
God. that perfect obedience to it was the complete saviour from death and destruction. The truth will be
intelligently grasped that when Adam and Eve cast aside that saviour, then Christ gave Himself to be the Saviour to bring back the lost and perishing to the safe
side of the law.
It will then be recognized that when men cast aside firstly the law
and then Christ as their saviours, they will have
exhausted all that heaven has and can do to save them. Beyond that limit, God
can go no further, for that is the totality of His resources. This leaves Him
with no choice but to grant to each apostate the total separation with its
attendant annihilation which he has chosen. It will then be discerned with
wonder and admiration that the only role filled by God is that of a Saviour so that men perish, not because He has reached
out to destroy them, but because they have refused His saving efforts.
In summary, then, it is right to say that the law of God is the
transcript of His character. God’s righteousness and the righteousness of the
law are identical so that God’s behaviour is
expressed in the precepts of that law. Therefore, His behavior is not
something to which He has reined Himself as a
strict discipline contrary to His nature. It is the natural expression of the
tenets of the Decalogue.
Because this is the only kind of obedience in which He is interested,
He made man in His own image “both in outward resemblance and in character.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 45. He writes
that same law on our hearts so that it is also the transcript of our
characters and we can and do obey the law as He obeys it—a natural outworking
of our inner natures. Page 86
Thus we are able to give the only kind of obedience the Lord can
accept—an obedience that is based upon a personal “conviction of His justice
and benevolence.” The Great
Controversy, 498.
Because the Lord can accept only a willing obedience given because of
our love for Him, He will never use force to secure our allegiance, but, in
perfect consistency with these principles, gives to all the “full liberty to
yield or to withhold obedience.” Patriarchs
and Prophets, 48.
As surely as He gives full liberty to withhold obedience, He can never
punish any one of His creatures for exercising the liberty which He Himself
has given.
This means, then, that the punishments which do come as a result of
turning from God’s way are the fruit or result of our own course of action, not the
administration of such things by the hand of God.
This is better understood when it is seen that God’s law is designed
by Him to be a protection from the effects of powers which otherwise have
ceased to be under proper control. Sin and sinners will be destroyed, but it
will be the effect of their own course of action, not the outpouring of
destruction by the hand of God. |
