OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW NECESSARY

Obedience to the Law Necessary

We should seek most earnestly to have Yahushua abiding in our hearts by faith, that we may be kept through temptation without sin. We should be constantly looking to the Author and Finisher of our faith, so that we can attain unto righteousness. The closer we draw to Yahushua, and the more clearly we see his life and character, the less we shall think of ourselves. There are a class that say that they are sanctified, they are holy, and yet they are living in transgression of Yahuwah's law. Shall we take their word as truth, or shall we compare their characters and doctrines with the word of Yahuwah? "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20). But the apostle says, "Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of Yahuwah perfected; hereby know we that we are in him." (1 John 2:3). Every soul must be brought to the test of Yahuwah's great standard of righteousness; and if the character is not in accordance with Yahuwah's law, it is not in a right condition before Yahuwah.

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4). This is the only definition of sin given in the Holy Scriptures, and we should seek to understand what sin is, lest any of us be found in opposition to the Yahuwah of heaven. We are required to be in a position of obedience to all of Yahuwah's commandments. Our salvation cost our Master too much for us to be found going on in uncertainty when eternal interests are involved, therefore we should open our minds and search the Scriptures, so that we may know for ourselves how we can stand under the banner of Prince Immanuel. Yahuwah requires at this moment just what he required of Adam in paradise before he fell--perfect obedience to his law. The requirement that Yahuwah makes in grace is just the requirement he made in paradise. We want to understand the claims of Yahuwah upon us that we may reach the hearts of men, and teach them what Yahuwah's word requires of them in order that they may have eternal life. We must live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of Yahuwah. Our Saviour has told us that in these last days there would be false doctrines and false teachers who would lead the people to accept fables and customs and practices of men, instead of the commandments of Yahuwah, and that our world would be flooded with heresies. Are we bringing in heresies to turn souls from the truth of Yahuwah's word? We want the truth of Yahuwah's word on every point, and we need to practice it. Those who follow the course of error and live in transgression of the law of Yahuwah, will not follow that course alone; there will be others who will imitate their example.

We must inquire what captain we are following, under whose banner we are standing. Satan was the first transgressor of the law of Yahuwah. We read in the Bible how sin entered into the world. Satan was the first one who ever questioned the holy will of Yahuwah, and his very first work was to transgress Yahuwah's law, and then he came to Adam and Eve in Eden, and through his temptations caused them to break the commandments of Yahuwah. Satan thought to win the human family to his side that they might war against the family in heaven. It was Satan's plan to war against the Yahuwah of heaven. Yahuwah has a constitution and laws to govern those whom he has created, and it would be a terrible thing if any of us should be found on the wrong side, warring against the government of Heaven. There are many deceptions to lead us away from the truth. Many think that Adam and Eve were very foolish in listening to the voice of the tempter that caused their fall from the high and holy estate, yet those who criticize do the same thing. Why do not the children of Adam who find fault with him for his sin, cease themselves to transgress?

John brings the commandments of Yahuwah to view away down this side of the crucifixion of Yahushua, and shows their positive, binding claims upon men. Those who have taken the position that the commandments of Yahuwah were done away when Yahushua hung upon the cross, are in harmony with the great deceiver. Yahuwah has made his constitution and his laws, and he can encircle in his arms those who are obedient, and shield them from the powerful deceptions of Satan. When the foundations of the earth were laid, then was laid the foundation of the Sabbath, and the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of Yahuwah shouted for joy.

Yahuwah repeated his holy law upon Sinai, precept by precept, that his people might not be left to dishonor him in disobeying his statutes, and he declares that we shall live in them if we obey them. Yet the followers of Yahushua claim that Yahushua died upon Calvary's cross to abolish the law of Yahuwah. We have the types and the shadows in the ceremonial laws, and these were to last until they should meet the reality. The sacrificial offerings were continually revealing the fact that Yahushua was coming to our world, and when type met antitype in the death of Yahushua, then the sacrificial offerings, typifying Yahushua, were no more of any value, but the royal law of Yahuwah could not be changed. Yahushua addressed his disciples and the Pharisees in these words: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-19). The words of Yahushua in the day of Yahuwah's retributive judgment will be sufficient to condemn the transgressor if there was not another evidence of the perpetuity of the law of Yahuwah. There is no shadow in the precepts of the decalogue. The ten commandments are not a type. Yahuwah gave his law, and in the fourth precept of the decalogue is his Sabbath, the very day on which we have turned aside from worldly business in order to observe it as a memorial of the creation of the heaven and the earth; and just as long as heaven and earth shall remain, just so long will this law be binding upon those who are living upon the earth. The instruction which Moses gave to the children of Israel concerning the statutes and the precepts of Yahuwah, did not originate with Moses, but with the Yahuwah of heaven. We are told that Yahushua was in the pillar of the cloud by day, and in the fiery pillar at night. Men are enshrouded in darkness, and when they array Yahushua in the New Testament against Yahushua in the Old Testament, surely wisdom has departed from them. The Israelites of old were saved by Yahushua as verily as we are saved by Yahushua in this day. We read in the word of Yahuwah,"Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Master that doth sanctify you." (Exodus 31:13).

We want the sanctification that Yahuwah himself gives, and that sanctification comes through doing his law. We hear the heavenly benediction pronounced upon the obedient by Yahushua himself: "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." (Revelation 22:14). The only remedy that could be found for fallen man was the death of Yahushua upon the cross. Thus the penalty of transgression could be paid. Did the Father spare his Son one jot of the penalty? Behold him when he was in the garden praying, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me," (Matthe 26:39) and the bloody sweat pressed through his pores, and moistened the sod of Gethsemane. Yahushua carried out the plan to its very end, and on the cross cried out. "It is finished." (John 19:30). The law finished?--No. The plan that had been proposed to rescue man from the degradation of sin, was carried out to the very letter. Could it have been possible for Yahuwah to change his law to meet man in his fallen condition, then Yahushua need not have left his glory, his majesty. It was because the law of Yahuwah was changeless as his throne, that Yahushua consented to take humanity, to die in man's behalf to save him from eternal ruin. But Satan is continually at work with his devices to carry out his plan,--opposition against Yahuwah's holy law. He commenced his work in heaven in trying to deceive the angels. He blinded the eyes of the Jewish nation so that they could not discern Yahushua as the Messiah, and the very nation that Yahushua came to save cried with the murderous throng, "Crucify him, crucify him." (Luke 23:21). And again the hoarse and terrible cry was raised, that called maledictions upon themselves, "His blood be on us, and on our children," (Matthew 27:25) and they crucified the Master of glory.

When Satan found that the tomb could not hold the Son of Yahuwah, but that he had arisen and ascended to the Father, he came to man with another lie, and told him that the law of Yahuwah that Yahushua in such a wonderful manner had magnified and exalted, was done away when he died upon the cross. No greater deception could have come upon the world; but people receive it, and teach that the law of Yahuwah is done away, notwithstanding the heavens and the earth which their eyes look upon speak to them every day that this is a fallacy. Hear what Yahushua himself says: "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17). And again, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:19).

By: Ellen White
Review and Herald
July 15, 1890