Scripture Reading: Exo. 20:1-17; 25:16; Col. 1:15; Rom. 8:4; Phil. 1:19-21a
In this message I would like to give a word on the law as the testimony of God and as a type of Christ and on how the law is linked to God’s New Testament economy.
The examples of the kings of Judah show that God needed a people on the earth so that He could be incarnated in humanity. God also needed a land for His people that He might form a nation to set up His testimony. This testimony was set up according to the law of God.
We need to know what the law of God is. Some fundamental Christians may say the law of God consists mainly of the Ten Commandments (Exo. 20:1-17), that is, the moral law. However, the Ten Commandments with their statutes and ordinances occupy only a few chapters, Exodus 20—24. However, the law of God occupies not only these chapters but all the chapters from Exodus 20 to the end of Leviticus. Then what is the rest of God’s law? The rest of God’s law is the ceremonial law. From this we see that the law of God comprises the moral law (Exo. 20—24) and the ceremonial law (Exo. 25—Lev. 27).
The moral law includes the Ten Commandments with their statutes and ordinances. The first five commandments deal with our relationship with God and with our parents. The first three commandments are directly concerned with God; the fourth concerns God’s Sabbath day; and the fifth concerns our parents. Then the last five of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship with one another. These are the commandments not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to bear false witness against others, and not to covet. These commandments, or laws, are brief, but they cover almost everything concerning our relationship with one another.
Eventually, the moral law, the Ten Commandments, became the base of the civil law of many nations. For instance, Roman law, which has been copied around the world, was based on the last five of the Ten Commandments.
Let us consider the commandment regarding coveting. In Philippians 3:6 Paul says that as to the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless. But in Romans 7 he admitted that he was unable to keep the commandment regarding coveting. “Neither did I know coveting, except the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, worked out in me coveting of every kind” (vv. 7b-8a). Paul could keep the commandments about murder, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness, for these four things are matters of outward conduct. The commandment about coveting, however, deals with an inward matter, and Paul could not keep himself from coveting.
Can you say that you have never coveted anything? When you were a student, you might have seen someone with a nice pen, and immediately you coveted that pen, desiring to have it. Even in our family life we may covet certain things. Suppose the members of a large family are having dessert after dinner. Each of the children is given a piece of cheesecake. One of the children may look at the cheesecake given to others and then complain that his piece is too small and ask why he was not given a bigger piece. This is coveting. None of us can say that we have never coveted anything.
The Ten Commandments were called the testimony of God (Exo. 25:16). As the testimony of God the Ten Commandments are a picture, a portrait, of God. We may say that the law is a photograph of God.
A particular law is always a portrait of the person who makes that law. For example, if bank robbers could make laws, they surely would set up laws to make it legal to rob banks. Likewise, if evil people are elected to the United States Senate, they will make evil, sinful laws. The evil laws they make would be a portrait of the evil persons they are. On the contrary, good people establish good laws.
The law of God is a portrait of God. After a careful study of the last five of the Ten Commandments, we have seen that these five commandments are based on four of God’s divine attributes: love, light, holiness, and righteousness. These attributes are the base upon which God’s law was established. The more we consider the law of God, the more we realize that this lawmaker, this legislator, must be One who is full of love and light, One who is holy and righteous.
Because the law is God’s portrait, God’s image, it is called God’s testimony. The ark in which the law was placed was called the ark of the testimony (Exo. 25:22).
Based upon the fact that the law is the testimony of God, a picture of God, we may say that the law is also a type of Christ. How can the law be a type of Christ? The law is a type of Christ because Christ is God’s portrait, God’s picture, God’s image (Col. 1:15).
Now we need to see how the law is linked to God’s economy. In studying the books of history in the Old Testament, we need to learn how to link these books to God’s economy. In His economy God chose Israel, established them as a people, formed them as a nation, and gave them the law. How can we link this with God’s economy? God’s economy is God becoming a man that man may become God in life and in nature (but not in the Godhead) to produce the organic Body of Christ, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem. Christ is the center, the reality, and the goal of God’s economy. The law seems to have nothing to do with such an economy. How, then, can the law be linked to God’s economy? The law is linked to God’s economy because the law was given as God’s portrait, God’s picture, God’s image, and God’s testimony. As God’s testimony the law is a type of Christ, who, being the image of God, is God’s portrait, God’s picture, God’s testimony.
God charged Israel to keep the law. In typology, to keep the law means to express God. Keeping the law by not killing, not committing adultery, not stealing, not lying, and not coveting is the living of a God-man. Those who have the living of a God-man bear the image of God. They are a portrait of God and even a duplication of God.
The situation of today’s world is utterly different from this. In the world we see not the life of a God-man but murder, adultery, fornication, stealing, lying, and coveting. Who tells the truth today? It is common for people to lie in a court of law in order to get money and then to boast about their lying. Many compete with others in business or at school because of their coveting. All the competitive ones are covetous. Some will even kill to get what they covet. Therefore, instead of being full of God-men, the earth is full of “scorpions.”
Let us now consider the situation in the recovery. We all are believers. We believe in the Lord Jesus. We have repented and come back to the Lord, and we have been saved, even dynamically saved. Yet in our daily life we may not have the living of a God-man.
We have pointed out that for the children of Israel to keep the law was to live God and express God. However, they did not keep the law, and therefore they did not live God and express God. The situation is the same with us today. For the most part, we do not express God in our daily living.
We need to have a God-man living in our married life. If a married brother would live the life of a God-man in his married life, he would surely be a good husband, for he would be a real God-man in loving his wife. Likewise, if a married sister would live the life of a God-man in her married life, she would be a good wife, submitting herself to her husband.
We also need to have a God-man living in the church life, especially in relation to what we call the vital groups. How can we have a vital group if we ourselves are not vital? This is impossible. Suppose at dinner a brother and his wife are not happy with each other. They even exchange words and argue for quite a long time. Suddenly they remember that later that evening they must attend a meeting of their vital group. But how could this couple be vital in the meeting? Because they are not vital at home in their married life, they have no way to be vital in the meeting.
Because we are short of the God-man living, we need a real revival. The children of Israel had only an outward law, but today we have something much stronger and much higher than the law. We have the all-inclusive, life-giving, compounded, consummated Spirit in us, who is the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). We need to live Christ by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (vv. 20-21a).
We have such a Spirit within us, but what do we live and how do we live? Do we live Christ? In the church meetings we may live Christ, but do we live Christ at home with our husband or wife and with our children? We need a real revival to be God-men who live a life of always denying ourselves and being crucified to live Christ for the expression of God.
