Prior to and Under the Old Testament, people lived like ‘animals’ doing whatever their lustful desires wanted. Many worshipped pagan gods made of medal, stone or wood. They sacrificed their children to these gods. Women and children were no more than chattel or slaves. It wasn’t unusual to sell their children or provide their daughters for Temple prostitution.

It appears we are headed back toward pagan ways. We are aborting our babies, sexual immorality is accepted and there is more hate in the world than love. Christians are being killed by the thousands because of their faith.

The Old Testament tells us that God chose Abraham and Sarah to show the world that there was a God who created everything and every human and He was not happy with the way people were living. Most know the story of God selecting Moses to lead a nation who had spent 430 years in Egypt as slaves, to a new land that would be theirs and they would worship and obey God.

God promises the Israelite nation that if they will be obedient to His laws He would provide peace for them. Leviticus 26:6 & 9 – “‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.”

However, they were not obedient. Leviticus 26:18 – 20 – “If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.”

Numbers 14:11 – “The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them?” God gave to Moses laws for the Israelites to live by. The religious leaders added more until there were 613 laws that the people had to acknowledge and keep. Breaking many of these laws resulted in the person being stoned to death.

God sent His Son Jesus Christ to bring us a New Covenant that would make the Old one unnecessary. John 12:44 – 50 – “Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

Jesus makes the claim that when he confronts a person, they are confronted by God, and in listening to Him they are listening to God. In Him God meets man and man meets God. The result ends in judgment. Jesus tells us He did not come in the wrath of God but in His love. Yet His coming is a judgment. Jesus said that what these Jews heard in the last day will judge them. But if a person knows right and does wrong he judges himself. Once we know the truth, the truth will be a witness against us.

Christ came to fulfill the Law. Romans 13:8 – 10 – “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Scripture is telling us a person who was in debt and could not repay would be thrown in jail with no means to get out. We are told that love is a never-ending debt that can never be repaid. We will always owe love whereas financial debt is a mandate to be paid back.

Since love fulfills the laws, how can we love our neighbor as ourselves if we do not love ourselves? Psychologists tell us that people who focus on others rarely suffer from low self-esteem. Do we have concern for those who have physical and spiritual needs?
I Timothy 1:15 – “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” John 3:17 – “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The moral of this blog is to recognize that laws, most often, do not change the behavior of man. Yet, our politicians believe we need more and more. The only thing throughout history that changed man was the acceptance of Christ as one’s Savior. It was when a person received into their heart the Holy Spirit; they received a love that changed their lives for the good. This is why it is so important that the church accept the commission to spread the gospel throughout the world. Have we not yet learned, only love will overcome hate?

This is why Jesus came to save the world and each of us.