The Law & Love of the Lord: A Reflection on the Israelites Journey

My journey through the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) has officially concluded. For me, reading these books have revealed so much about God, about humanity, and while many may deem their teachings irrelevant, they are what allowed me to cultivate a deeper relationship with the Lord, which has led me to find my church home and have even more spiritual revelations. For me, this is a sentimental moment.

The Torah, otherwise known as the Law of the Lord, details the creation of the world and man, includes the Bible stories you've probably all heard (creation, fall of man, Noah's Ark and the flood, Moses and the Red Sea, the wilderness wandering and discovery of the Promised Land), and introduces the major patriarchs.

We see God choose a select group of people (the Israelites / Abraham's line) and sustain them throughout the generations. God's chosen people were meant to be set apart in character from those who followed false gods. Their distinction mirrors the distinction that followers of Christ are meant to have. The only difference is following Christ is not exclusive to a specific lineage but is open to all who seek Him.

We see God deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and we watch their journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Throughout their journey, the character of God is revealed as well as the impatience, disobedience, and fearfulness of man that makes us crave slavery to sin rather than trusting in the Lord's provision.

We see ourselves in the Israelites, and while we may think they're being annoying or ungrateful, when you're faced with your own wilderness season--a season when trusting the Lord is difficult--you will understand the Israelites' struggle even more. And you'll be grateful that the Lord continued to make a way for renewed covenant with His people despite their disobedience and rejection of Him.

Egypt symbolized evil, not only because it was the geographical place that God's people were held captive, but because it was a place of false gods, sorcery, and even giants (the children of fallen angels and human women). When you understand the supernatural powers and spiritual war taking place here on this earth, it's entirely possible that true evil was in power in Egypt and it was the enemy's puppet's holding God's chosen people in captivity. Regardless, God's children were never meant to be slaves.

Just as Jesus saves humanity from slavery to sin, God saved His people from the evil in Egypt. Yet, despite the goodness of God, the provision of God, the Israelites still doubted Him and rebelled against Him time and time again. Each time, the Lord made a way to renew covenant, usually in the form of a sacrifice or ritual. While we may view the sacrifices and rituals of the Old Testament as extreme or unnecessary, we have to remember that this was the time before Christ. Christ is the sacrifice that washes us all clean, making all other sacrifices and rituals unnecessary, even blasphemous, for us. But the Israelites did not have Christ.

What we deem extreme or unnecessary is actually the key to understanding God's character and His intention for us. God promises His presence even when He cannot walk with us the same way He did in the garden. God creates boundaries to protect His holiness so that He can one day deliver a Savior pure enough to cleanse the sins of the world. God gives us guidelines to live a peaceful and holy life. These guidelines served to separate His people from the people of the world. And the blessings, provision, protection, and rest the Lord offered His people set Him apart amongst the false gods of the world.

As the Israelites neared the Promised Land, symbolic of the eternal promised land we will enter after death, once again doubt and disobedience revealed those who trusted the Lord and those who didn't. Because of the vast disobedience amongst the Israelities, an eleven-day journey took forty-years. Why? Because the disobedient shall not enter the Promised Land. The Israelties were forced to wander for forty years so that those who doubted the Lord and wanted to rebel against Him would die off. It was their sons and daughters who actually received the inheritance promised by the Lord.

Even Moses, who was empowered by the Spirit of God and led the Israelites out of Egypt to the border of the Promised Land, did not enter because of a moment of disobedience. This part of the Israelites' journey is so important, if not the most important. Moses represents the Law of the Lord. He is the Lawgiver, the one that God writes His Ten Commandments through, the one God spoke through. But even he could not fulfill the Law perfectly.

No one can fulfill the Law perfectly. That is why we need a Savior. That is why we need Jesus. That is why we need the Love of the Lord, not just the Law of the Lord.

Joshua loved the Lord and was chosen to lead the Israelites on their final stretch into the Promised Land after Moses' death. Joshua in Hebrew translates to Yeshua, which is the Hebrew name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Yeshua / Jesus means The Lord Saves.

Joshua being chosen to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land not only foreshadows the coming of Jesus, but reveals to us that Law alone does not grant access to the kingdom of Heaven. The Love of the Lord, both God's love for us and God's love manifested for us in Jesus Christ, is required.

When you can identify the symbolism, foreshadowing, and supernatural presence throughout the Old Testament, it becomes a lot more interesting and a lot more powerful. God's love for mankind has always been present. It did not arrive through Jesus. Jesus arrived because the Lord loved us first. And Jesus' arrival was promised as early as Genesis 3:15 when God addresses the serpent: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

God's plan for mankind's redemption existed before the Fall and was promised directly after. God did not set us up to fail, though when we take on the full weight of fulfilling the Law of the Lord on our own, it feels like it. But the truth is, we will never be good enough, worthy enough, perfect enough to enter the kingdom of Heaven on our own accord. The Bible warns against this ideology specifically. The key to the kingdom of Heaven is love--love of the Lord, love of one another. Those who love the Lord will do their best to keep His Law.

---

Deuteronomy, the final book of the Torah, summarizes the Law and Love of the Lord

Law of the Lord	Love of the Lord
"Take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life." Deuteronomy 4:9	"Seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them." Deuteronomy 4: 29-31
"To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; there is none other beside Him." Deuteronomy 4:35	"Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments." Deuteronomy 7:9
"Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other." Deuteronomy 4:39	"He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land..." Deuteronomy 7:12-13
10 Commandments Paraphrased: You shall have no other gods before me; you shall not make for yourself a a carved image; you shall not take the Lord's name in vain; observe the Sabbath day (rest is a gift not to be forsaken. Slaves do not get rest); honor your father and mother; do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not lie against your neighbor; do not covet your neighbor's wife or possessions. Deuteronomy 5:7-21	"You shall be blessed above all peoples..." Deuteronomy 7:14
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:5	"Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire." Deuteronomy 9:3
"You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers..." Deuteronomy 6:17-18	"He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Deuteronomy 10:18-19
On marriages and covenants with unbelievers: "You shall make no covenant with them...nor shall you make marriages with them... For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you..." Deuteronomy 7:2-4	"For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." Deuteronomy 14:2
"...man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." Deuteronomy 8:3	"Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." Deuteronomy 20:3-4
The Essence of the Law: "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?" Deuteronomy 10:12-13	When You Stray & Return: "...and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice...with all your heart and with all your soul...the Lord will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you." Deuteronomy 30:2-3
"Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it." Deuteronomy 13:32	"He is your life and the length of your days." Deuteronomy 30:20
"You are the children of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead." Deuteronomy 14:1	"He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6
"...you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs." Deuteronomy 15:7-8	"He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He." Deuteronomy 32:4
"You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous." Deuteronomy 16:19	Prophesying Jesus: For He will avenge the blood of His servants, and render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people." Deuteronomy 32:43
	"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you." Deuteronomy 33:27

A final word...

Even in your wilderness season, when it's hard to trust, the Lord is trustworthy. The Word of God is the key to the abundant life, because the Word of God is eye-opening, heart-purifying truth. While life isn't always easy and the Christian walk isn't always happy, there is a hope and fulfillment in following Jesus that you cannot find anywhere else.

Following Jesus is not just about salvation or getting into Heaven, it's about living free from sin right here, right now. Truthfully, I still struggle to feel free from sin. I still mess up. I still sin. And I still feel guilty because I don't want to. But the difference in me now and the Emily a year ago is that I see the truth of sin. I know in my heart that even if something feels good, it's not good. It's a temporary pleasure that ultimately leads to emptiness and destruction. The closer you get to God, the more you see sin clearly and the less pleasure you find in it.

The Israelites weren't able to see the bondage of their slavery in Egypt. When things got hard in the wilderness, they longed for the comforts of Egypt, even though it meant rejecting the God who saved them and going back to being a slave. While their captivity wasn't a sin, their desire to return to Egypt mirrors our own faith walk where we are tested and tempted to reject God and return to a life of captivity, a life of sin.

While we will never be perfect in our human form, as our flesh continues to battle the Holy Spirit inside us, by accepting Jesus as our Savior and doing our best to follow Him, His blood makes us without blemish and free from blame in the sight of our Father in Heaven.

"But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation." Colossians 1:22

"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight... In him we have redemption through his blood." Ephesians 1:4&7

Because of Jesus, God sees us as holy, blameless, reconciled, perfected, and fully accepted not because we earned it, but because Jesus paid the price we never could.