May 28, 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
THE LAW WRITTEN IN THE HEART BEFORE IT WAS WRITTEN ON STONE
Christ the Creator and Lawgiver wrote the law in the hearts and minds of Adam and Eve in their creation as the crowning act of His creative power.
“Adam and Eve, at their creation, had a knowledge of the law of God; they were acquainted with its claims upon them; its precepts were written upon their hearts.”
“When man fell by transgression, the Law was NOT changed, but a REMEDIAL SYSTEM was established to bring him back to obedience.”
What was this remedial system? “The promise of a Savior [Gen. 3:15] was given, and SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS, POINTING FORWARD to the death of Christ [four thousand years after the fall in Eden] as the great SIN-OFFERING were established.
“But had the law of God never be transgressed, there would have been NO DEATH, and NO NEED OF A SAVIOR; consequently there would have been NO NEED OF SACRIFICE.”
“Adam taught his descendants the law of God, and it was handed down from father to son, through successive generations. But not withstanding the gracious provision for man’s redemption, there were FEW who accepted ii and rendered obedience.
“By transgression the WORLD became so vile that it was necessary to CLEANSE it by the flood from its corruption. The law was preserved by Noah and his family, and Noah taught his descendants the Ten Commandments.”
INTRODUCTION OF CIRCUMCISION. “As men again departed from God, the Lord chose ABRAHAM of whom He declared, ‘Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My COMMANDMENTS, My statutes, and My LAWS.’ Gen. 26:5. To Him was given the rite of CIRCUMCISION, which was a SIGN who received it were devoted to the service of God,—a PLEDGE that they would remain separate from IDOLATRY, and would obey the LAW of God.”
“The failure of Abraham’s descendants to keep this pledge, as shown in their disposition to form ALLIANCES with the heathen and adopt their practices, was the CAUSE of their sojourn and bondage in EGYPT.”
“But with their intercourse with IDOLATERS, and their forced submission to the Egyptians, the divine precepts became still FURTHER CORRUPTED with the vile and cruel teachings of HEATHENISM.”
“Therefore when the Lord brought them forth from Egypt, HE CAME DOWN UPON SINAI, enshrouded in glory and surrounded by His angels, and in awful majesty spoke His Law in the HEARING of the people.” Patriarchs & Prophets,pp. 363, 364.
God bless us with the mind of Christ as we learn more of the the Law that He wrote in the hearts and minds of Adam and Eve. NMF