The Curse Removed
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The Curse of the Law The Mosaic Law is mentioned in the Bible hundreds of times.
Why do you suppose this is true? God never intended the Ten
Commandments to make a bad man good or a good man better. The Ten
Commandments were not to give anyone life (Gal. 3:21; Rom. 3:20-21).
But the Law had a spiritual purpose to perform (Rom. 7:14). This spiritual role was to be God’s
X-ray machine to reveal the nature of man. The Law of Moses is made up of many more laws than just the
famous ten. It actually includes hundreds of laws and ordinances.
This whole complex system of commands and sacrifices was designed by a holy
God to reveal to us His perfect character and to teach us just what we are
like when we are compared to Him. The Law: Tied to Sin In order to activate His spiritual X-ray machine, God
mysteriously attached His righteous laws to our sinful heart. “For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not
imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the
transgression of Adam” (Rom. 5:13-14). Even though the people who lived from Adam to Moses (about 2000
years) did not have a specific law to break, like Adam's command not to eat
the forbidden fruit, sin was still in man. Physical death was clear
proof that the death seed was there. Many years after Adam, God gave His Law and He gave it in two
forms. He gave to the Jews at Mount Sinai a written version etched in
stone tablets, and He gave to the Gentiles a spiritual version written on
fleshly tables of the heart (2 Cor. 3:6, Rom. 2:14-16). Both versions
were given to express God’s holiness and to expose sin as a
transgression against Him. "Moreover, the law entered that the offense might
abound" (Rom. 7:20). The Greek word "entered" comes from a word often used
of a Greek play in which an actor entered the stage to play a supporting
role. The Law of Moses entered God's plan of grace to play a supporting
role - to stir up invisible sin within man. The Law's stirring of our sinful heart would be like throwing a
rock at a hornet's nest or poking a sleeping bear with a stick. Both
the rock and the stick (representing the Law) would stir our sin,
(represented by the hornets and the bear). The Law stirs our sin in order for it to be made known. Paul’s Contact with God’s Law Paul learned this truth about God's Law personally. "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God
forbid. No, I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known coveting,
except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by
the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting. For apart from
the law, sin is dead (or dormant). I was alive apart from the law once;
but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the
commandment which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me"
(Rom. 7:7-11; commentary mine). Paul received the knowledge of his death nature because of the
stirring of his sin caused by the Law. He had broken God’s Law
against covetousness and therefore became aware of his sin before God.
"Oh God," he must have thought, "I am a covetous person.
I am a sinner. Therefore, I am dead and in need of life."
The Law had accomplished its work in his life. Paul explained the work of the Law to the Galatians. "What purpose then does the law serve? It was added
because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was
made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator"
(Gal. 3:19). Paul had gone to great lengths to teach the Galatians that God’s
Law was never meant to give anyone life. It was added to reveal sin as a
transgression before God. A transgression is an unlawful trespassing
upon someone else's domain. It is unlawful to trespass God’s holy
domain. The boundary that separated a holy God from sinful man was not
clearly marked until the Law. God’s Law says to every member of Adam's race, "No
trespassing!" To transgress God's Law is to realize that one has
become guilty before God. "Now we know that whatever things the law says, it
says to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the
knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:19-20). We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. How
do we know this is true? It is true because we have all broken God's
Law. The Jews could not keep the Law written upon stone. The rest of us
cannot keep that which is written by God on the fleshly tables of our heart.
The Law says that Jews and Gentiles alike stand condemned before God. The Law Becomes the Strength of Sin "The strength of sin is the law" (1 Cor.
15:56b). What a strange statement! How is the Law the strength of
sin? The Bible calls this invisible nature within us the flesh (Rom.
7:18), sinful passions (Rom. 7:5), sin (Rom. 7:17), the old man (Eph. 4:22),
and lusts (James 4:1). But it can only be understood when it is
spiritually set in motion. The Law, as the strength of sin, gives our
sinful passion a little push. A young boy came into the kitchen with his mom many times.
One day she said to him, "Sweetheart, do you see that big jar up there
on the top shelf?" "Yes, Mommy," he replied. "Well, dear, there is something in that jar that mother does
not want you to see, so please do not ever look in it, okay?" "Sure, Mom," he responded. Suddenly those hidden impulses of Adam's sin inside the little
fellow began to vibrate like a tuning fork struck by a mallet. These
vibrations eventually nudged him to take just one little peek into the
jar. His ability for disobedience was always there, but until the Law
struck the chords of his sinful heart, it had no means of expression, no
strength. Our silent sin is like the energy stored in a fully charged
battery needing some outlet of release. Connect the battery to a small
appliance and the energy will flow. Our sin had no channel for expression
until the Law of God gave it one. God was gracious in providing His Law to become the strength of
sin. He exposes our sinful condition in order to create within us a
thirst for His wonderful grace. “For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sin, which
were aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit to death”
(Rom. 7:5). Law and Death If the sting of sin is death (and it is) and the strength of sin
is the Law (and it is), then the Law must be tied to death. The Law,
unless it is kept absolutely perfectly, can only curse. The Law is a
unit, and as a unit it demands all or nothing at all. If one fails to
keep it flawlessly, it will become a killer. "For as many as are of the works of the law are under
the curse; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all
things which are written in the book of the law, to do them. But that no man
is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident; for the just
shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man
that does them shall live in them" (Gal. 3:10-12). "Who also made us able ministers of the new testament,
not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit
gives life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in
stones, was glorious, so that the children or Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to
be done away, how shall not the ministration of condemnation be glory, much
more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory" (2 Cor.
3:6-9). No matter how well it is concealed, God's Law will search sin out
(Rom. 7:14-25). Once our sin is exposed, God’s Spirit opens our blind eyes to
the knowledge that we are spiritually separated from God. The Law, therefore, becomes a killer and a minister of
condemnation to those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior. It gives them
no excuse and no place to hide. The Law will always do just what
God has designed His holy Law to do. It can never give anyone life, nor
make anyone better. But it will
always demand from the human race the righteousness of God and condemn all
who do not measure up. It will stir up the Adamic nature within and
give the knowledge that we are sinners and under God's condemnation.
The Law was designed to reveal a curse. So the Law and death go hand in hand. Why the Cross? "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
having become a curse for us; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who
hangs on a tree' - that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles
in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith" (Gal. 3:13-14). By understanding this goal for the Law, we can begin to
understand why Jesus Christ had to die on a cross. It would have seemed
more appropriate to the shadows of the Old Testament for God to allow the
Lord Jesus to die on the mercy seat or on the brazen altar. After all,
it was upon the mercy seat that the blood was sprinkled, and upon the brazen
altar that the sacrifices were offered. Both of these foreshadowed the
death of Christ. So why did God determine that Christ was to die on a
cross? His death on the cross had everything to do with the final
judgment of death imposed by God's holy Law. Again, the Law is God's
executioner, pronouncing every human being guilty and condemned (2 Cor.
3:6-9). The Law's role as an executioner is
illustrated simply, yet graphically, in the Old Testament. "And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death and
he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all
night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day (for he who is
hanged is accursed by God)" (Deut. 21:22). If a Jew committed a sin worthy of death (broke a law which was
to result in death), he was to be stoned to death and then placed on a
tree. This Law-breaker suspended on the tree graphically revealed that
God's holy Law had been broken and His divine judgment of death had been
executed. Christ, Cursed for Us Think for a moment of the death of Jesus Christ. His payment for
sin, as the Lamb of God (Jn. 1:29), was the real thing. All of the shadow sacrifices of the
Old Testament Law system pointed to His final offering. Jesus Christ
died on a cross! He was nailed to a tree! Paul connected His “cross death” to the Old Testament
illustration of the one who hung on a tree (Deut. 21:22). "Christ has redeemed us
from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for it is written,
'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'" (Gal. 3:13). When God placed my sin upon Christ, His holy Law did what it was
designed to do. It became His
minister of condemnation. The Law killed God's precious Lamb. Jesus
Christ bore its full curse for us! At that moment "He who knew no
sin became sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21). On the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ satisfied forever
the divine judgment of death demanded by God through the Mosaic Law.
When He screamed from the cross, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken
me?" (Matt. 27:45-46), He bore the Adamic curse of being separated from
God in our place, thereby becoming our sin substitute. He took our place!
He bore our curse! What happened to the curse of the Law following His death on the
cross? "And you being dead in your sins and uncircumcision of
your flesh, has he made alive together with him, having forgiven you all
trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
and contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross"
(Col. 2:13-14). The curse imposed upon us by the Law was blotted out forever. No
one today receives eternal life by keeping the Mosaic Law. God never gave the
Law for this purpose. We are given life today by trusting in God’s Son
as the One who died for us. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes" (Rom. 10:4). New American Standard Bible Donald Gray Barnhouse Chafer’s Systematic Theology R. B. Thieme New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance |
Why did Jesus have to die on a cross? |