I woke at about 1:30 a.m. thinking, ‘the answer isn’t more law….’  And, a flood of thoughts ensued.  Knowing I would never get back to sleep if I didn’t make some quick notes, I got up and scratched the thoughts on a piece of paper before crawling back into bed.

‘The answer isn’t “more law.”‘

Man’s solution has long been ‘more law.’  We have only to look at our own households.  I know in mine we are constantly adding to and fine tuning the ‘laws’ of the house.  A son might do a dumb-dumb that skirts the edge of some existing statute and upon correction he says, ‘Well.  Nobody told me that was wrong!’ leaving mom and/or dad to scratch our heads and say, ‘couldn’t you figure that out knowing such and such was wrong and this is awfully close?’  So, we solve it by adding a new rule.  ‘Don’t do ……’

You know the drill.

Our nation, indeed any nation, follows the same basic course, but on a grander scale!  Consider the founding documents and pretty simple legal code in the US Constitution, yet 200 years on the precedents, legislative actions and legal codes in this nation, including state and municipal, would fill the Grand Canyon!!  We collectively do the same as we do in our homes:  More law!

Man hasn’t changed in thousands of years.  We can look back to the Rabbis and see from rabbinic code that their answer was often ‘more law,’ and like US legal code can often overrule the US Constitution, many of the laws they made superseded or overruled the Torah of Moshe.

It is interesting to note that none of the prophets, recorded in Scripture, issued any new laws.  At least, I can’t think of any.  (Maybe someone can show me…)

Even more interesting, apart from ‘a new commandment I give you, love one another,’ I don’t see Yeshua issuing ‘more law.’

Now, I know Christendom likes to falsely claim that Yeshua ‘did away with the Law,’ but that complete fallacy has been put to rest over and over by this and many other authors and students of Scripture.  What He actually said was, ’til Heaven and Earth pass away, not one jot or tittle shall pass from the Law…,’ a message entirely consistent with the rest of Scripture which speaks of the ‘everlasting covenant’ and has tons of declarations to parts of the Torah that will be observed in the future.

So, even if Yeshua upheld the Law/Torah, is response was not ‘more law.’

Seeing that man’s application of ‘more law’ never works and Yeshua was not a proponent, then we can definitively say, ‘More Law is NOT the answer.’

But, does that mean the Law is bad?  No, as already stated, the original Law, the Torah, Yehovah’s instructions, the ‘everlasting covenant’ are life and obedience to them brings blessing!  That is attested in both Testaments.  Rav Sha’ul (aka Apostle Paul) said, ‘the Law is holy and just and good’ and ‘by faith we establish the Law.’

What then is the answer if ‘more Law’ is not, and neither is ‘less Law.’

Scripture tells us precisely what the answer is:

²⁴ For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. ²⁸ You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.

The problem is the heart, not the Law.  In fact, the Law has NEVER been the problem!  It is not the problem even today!!  The problem is the heart!!

A true work of the Spirit of the Holy One is that our heart will be renewed!  We will desire to walk in His ways!  We will no more buck against His perfect, unchanging, everlasting Law.  We will not add to it nor take away from it!!

Like David, the man after God’s own heart, we should say,

I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law (Torah!) is within my heart.

It is not more law, but a heart to obey what was given in the beginning and has never changed.

O Abba!!  We desire hearts of obedience that delight in doing Your will!

Shalom!

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Some of you may be scratching your heads and asking, ‘well, what about grace?’  While grace is not the subject of this post, it is very important!!  It is the mercy of God shed for us that forgives us for having broken Yehovah’s commandments.  It does not free us to do whatever we want, rather, it covers us so we may enter into fellowship and when we err, it covers that we may be restored.  It is a safety net of sorts.