A couple days ago in a discussion on a Christian Facebook group someone said something about the Old Testament vs the New Testament in such a way as to imply that the Law of the Old Testament was no longer valid and although I agreed with that, it also bothered me because it did not seem completely accurate. Christ himself said he did not come to change the law, but to fulfill the law.

So, this little inconsistency has been simmering in the back of my head until this morning when everything came to a boil and I suddenly KNEW what I had only knew before (if that makes sense lol) with the prompting of my Girlfriends in God devotional.

So, here it is - We know that God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The Heart of the Law of the Old Testament is also still with us, it is only the Letter (how it is applied) that has been removed from the equation. The Heart of the Law is what changes us inside when we accept Christ. The punishment for breaking that Law (Sin, which is at it's basic meaning "turning our backs on God and His will") has been paid. Christ took the entire punishment for our breaking the Law past, present, and future and we are no longer under condemnation for it as long as we accept his gift. We still break the heart of the law, even when we may not mean too, (the letter of the law WAS changed by the sacrifice of Christ) but we can always come to God without the "rules" of the law because of Christ.

Basically, the law was put in place to give people a WAY to come before a Holy God. Christ fulfilled that by becoming the way for people to come before a Holy God. The Law itself did not change in that it's purpose is to make people see that they have sinned. If it weren't for the Law now written in our hearts, we would not understand why we need a Holy and Just God because we would not understand that we have turned our backs on God (sinned).

The Law of the Old Testament is still valid in it's intent (to bring God's people closer to Him) and human beings stray, even the good ones. God cannot abide where Sin resides, that hasn't changed, and in the OT God had to get the people "cleansed" in ways that He could be near them. Now, Christ is the permanent blanket of blood that we (Christians) wear that allows God to be near us always. The Law isn't required in the Letter (the RULES) because Christ has covered that for us by providing a permanent holy offering to present us as clean before God. The kicker of course is that we have to accept the covering and thus the whole reason for being saved.

The Law is still there, and we still break it, but Christ is our redeemer and exchanged his very existence for our ability to come before a Holy God and find redemption.

This, of course is a whole rabbit hole and has many tunnels that lead off of it, but I hope that came out like I wanted it too.

Blessings to everyone for a wonderful, curse free, life!!!
Becki