::R1498 : page 63::

READING THE LAW

I. QUAR., LESSON IX., FEB. 26th, NEH. 8:1-12

Golden Text—”Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy Law.”—Psa. 119:18

By the Law here mentioned, the writings of Moses are meant. The Law Covenant was made with Israelites at Sinai, and the basis of it was in the Ten Commandments engraved upon the two tables of stone, which were handed down to them. As heretofore shown, that was not the fullest possible statement of the divine will, but a provisional arrangement, adapted as much as possible to Israel’s degraded condition. It was a statement to the house of servants in terms which they could best appreciate. But when the time came to express the divine law to the house of sons, “his own house,” our Lord expressed the matter not only more concisely but more exactly, in the perfect law of love.

As the Israelites returned from Babylon were blessed by the reading and understanding of “Moses’ Law,” much more those who are now returning to the Lord, out of bondage to “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots” (Rev. 17:1-6), are being greatly blessed by a fuller appreciation of the divine law, Love, granted to the house of sons. They are learning that God’s Law is of the essence of his own nature, and that his dealings with his creatures are on the lines of that law; for God is love, and love worketh no ill to his neighbor. And, searching the entire Word of God, which in a larger sense is God’s Law, his faithful followers learn that God’s plans as therein stated are all plans of love and justice—love to those who love righteousness, and a just recompense of everlasting destruction in the second death for all others,—and a full provision for all to come to this second trial for life, through Christ, our Lord, who redeemed all from the condemnation of Adam, the result of the first trial.—1 Cor. 15:21,22.

====================

— February 1&15, 1893 —