Christ and the Law
Christ and the Law
“The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). There is obviously a contrast between the legalistic system of Moses for Israel and the gracious position the Christian has in the body of Christ.
Topic: Christ Subtopic: His Rejection Index: Date:
Title: The Humble Christ
It is related how the need of the West Indian slaves was presented to the Moravians. The Moravians were told that it was impossible to reach the slave population because they were so separated from the ruling classes. Undaunted, two Moravian missionaries offered themselves as candidates. They said, "We will go and be slaves on the plantations and work and toil if need be under the lash, to get right beside the poor slaves and instruct them." They left their homes, went to the West Indies, went to work on the plantations as slaves and by the side of slaves, to get close to the hearts of slaves. The slaves heard them, and their hearts were touched, because the missionaries had humbled themselves to their condition. That was grand; it was glorious. Yet Christ's example was more glorious, for He stepped down from heaven to earth to get close to our side. He Himself came beside us that we might feel the throbbings of His bosom, be encircled in the embrace of His loving arms, be drawn to Him, and hear Him whisper in our ears, "God is full of grace and truth."
1) Christ was made under the Law ((Gal 4:4-6 NIV) But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, {5} to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. {6} Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father.")
2) and fulfilled the Law in every respect ((Mat 5:17 NIV) "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.).
3) His Person and work are seen in the Law ((Luke 24:44-47 NIV) He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." {45} Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. {46} He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, {47} and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.).
4) He is the end of the Law for righteousness to the believer ((Rom 10:4 NIV) Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.).
5343 Dabrowski’s Legal Rescue
It was the Saturday before the August Bank Holiday when the Polish S.S. Dabrowski berthed by London Bridge, and English stevedores moving the cargo found the Polish stowaway, Antoni Klimowicz. Fainting with hunger and thirst, he just managed to cry, “Tell the English police!” when the Captain and the political Commissar seized him, and locked him in a cabin.
Saturday, Sunday, and Bank Holiday Monday, the London newspapers bore sensational headlines, “Can Klimowicz be saved?” It appeared there were diplomatic difficulties. The Polish Captain refused to surrender him. Thousands of Polish refugees swelled a fund to engage the best lawyers.
But on Monday, the captive stowaway felt the ship casting off, and soon, to his dismay, he saw the Thames growing wider and wider as the ship went down towards the sea. Soon the friendly shores of Britain would disappear, and then it would be the open sea—and what beyond? Imprisonment, perhaps worse!
And yet, salvation was near. The greatest legal mind in the land—that of Lord Goddard, the Lord Chief Justice, had been searching for a way to be just and the justifier of the man who had appealed for mercy. It was discovered that on a previous visit Antoni Klimowicz, as a sailor, had attempted to smuggle something, and the police had refrained from prosecuting. So he could be lawfully brought to a British court-of-law to answer for his misdeed.
Four hundred policemen raced down the Thames, and boarded the Polish ship. The cabin door was broken down. Did the poor stowaway protest that he was innocent of the charge of smuggling? Did he go about to establish his own righteousness? No, he gladly submitted to justice.
“Guilty! Fined one farthing!” Ten thousand refugees in Britain would willingly have paid his fine ten thousand times. Antoni Klimowicz walked out of the court—back to bondage? No! For what his own fulfilling of the law could never do, mercy had done—giving him liberty and a new life in Britain. He was free.
Shortly afterwards he invited to tea the two London stevedores who carried his desperate plea to the authorities. How much we owe to the One Who heard our cry as sinners and Who never turns away anyone who seeks refuge with Him! Perhaps Antoni Klimowicz learned of that Saviour’s love from the Polish New Testament, which he gratefully received from the writer.
—Stuart K. Hine
5) He paid the penalty of the Law and bore the curse of the Law on the cross ((Gal 3:10-14 NIV) All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." {11} Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." {12} The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." {13} Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." {14} He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (Col 2:13-14 NIV) When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, {14} having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.).
2098 Always A Conqueror
On the afternoon of May 24, 1738, John Wesley attended St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The anthem was Psalm 130, “out of the depths have I cried unto thee O Lord, hear my voice.”
That evening in a society meeting at Aldersgate Street, Wesley’s heart was strangely warmed as he heard a reading of Luther’s preface to his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Like Luther, John Wesley described the change which overtook him. “I was striving, yea, fighting with all my might under the law, as well as under grace. But then I was sometimes, if not often, conquered; now, I am always conqueror.”
—Marvin W. Anderson
6) The Law no longer separates Jew and Gentile, for in Christ we are one in the church ((Eph 2:11-14 NIV) Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- {12} remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. {13} But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. {14} For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,).
Topic: Cross of Christ Subtopic: Index: 891-892 Date: 3/1987.13
Title: Reconciled on the Bridge
In October of 1978, on the 33rd anniversary of the completion of the Bridge of the River Kwai, Dennis Roland of New York and his former guard, Ryuji, walked together arm in arm, over the black, steel-girded span. Said Roland: "I bear no bitterness (toward the Japanese), but I have many memories."
Although it was not part of his plan, at Calvary rebellious man constructed a bridge. In crucifying the Son of God, man had a part in building the "new and living way" to God. Now all of us, whether we are Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, can walk together across that bridge. "For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." (Ephesians 2:14)
“The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
AMEN