Mercy of God and the law

You are target of His love

To my mind rose one of example of the Bible, in which at the bottom of the ark of covenant were the tables of law, but above of the law was mercy seat; this describes it reality, that mercy of God makes the law alive. That don’t mean that new covenant people are under the law. In this teaching we handle about this question from the grace and the law.

And certainly purpose of it was pointing out to the nation of old covenant and also the nation of new covenant, that we don’t follow the letter, but living God through Yeshua the Messiah, for only the mercy of God in the Holy Spirit makes letter for alive. Without the Spirit the letter kills and don’t benefit us. Now we watch in the light of the new covenant proportion of the mercy and the law.

Yeshua’s atonement offering ended order of old covenant

Jer 31: 31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

God will make (Brit) new (Chadasha) covenant (chadash= new, new thing) with house of Israel and Judah, which is not similar covenant, which God made with their (Israel) fathers in the day, when He took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. So the new covenant is not same as old covenant or renewed, but the new covenant. All who come inside to the new covenant must repent and believe the gospel from Yeshua the Messiah, as He Himself said: And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel, Mark 1:15.

New Covenant has made also with those Gentiles who repent theirs sins and receive salvation in Yeshua the Messiah. The Scriptures also proves that new covenant has made also with those gentiles who repent theirs sin:

Isa 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

Luke 2:
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

The new covenant has made also with all people who repent and receive the salvation in Yeshua the Messiah.

The law came through Moses and grace and truth through Yeshua

Joh 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Problem of old covenant nation was, that they couldn't live according to teaching of the law and they didn't have close relationship to God. Law is in hebr. Torah, which means first teaching, advice, direction, instruction and after that law.

Wandering of the faith glorifies Yeshua the Messiah and by that way Scriptures are set to the right place; in other words the law was at the bottom of the ark of covenant, and mercy seat was above the law and the letter gets life through the mercy of God, for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah. The law in other words teaching of the word of God is needed, but only in Yeshua the Messiah is possible live in the mercy, in which the teaching of the word of God through the Holy Spirit brings us ability, that we can live in practise according to the Scriptures.

The mercy brings truth through the Holy Spirit in Yeshua the Messiah. A mere letter can’t produce life of the Spirit. There also exist for a danger to follow the law instead of following of the Messiah (don't follow the letter, but in the Spirit follow Him according His word). In other words we may follow the letter, but not receive the life, which makes teaching of the word alive in us and in practical life.

Jews have the law, but not the Messiah. Messiah is the goal of the law, who is the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. For the Messiah is the goal of law for righteousness to everyone that believes.

Goal of the law is Yeshua

In other words the purpose of the law is not law itself (the letter), even though also the law is good, but purpose of the law is Yeshua the Messiah through whom teaching of the law becomes alive in our heart.

Ro 10:4 For Christ is the end of law for righteousness to everyone that believes

Syriac Peshitta

Romans 10: 4 For Messiah is the aim of the law, for righteousness, unto every one that believeth in him.

In Romans 10:4 is word end, which is in Greek telos and in Hebrew tachelith and both words means also goal and fulfilment.

The law is a useful tool, when we grow towards the image of God, but without Yeshua the Messiah and mercy of God on the law is no other value as kill, but through Yeshua from the law comes living.

Law = torah= teaching, advice .

For the Messiah is the goal of law for righteousness to everyone that believes.

In other words the goal of the teaching is Yeshua the Messiah and life in Yeshua.

Being under the law, many people speak a lot

Romans 6: .

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

The sin rules flesh of the man, who is under the law, but through grace of God, we are not under the law, but under the grace, in which the fruit of the righteousness grows in the hearts of the disciples of Yeshua.

Gal 5: .

18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,

21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

He who live in the Spirit of God, he is not under the law, but leading by the Spirit of God.

Being under the law is condition, where people try to live in accordance with law of God without atonement blood of Yeshua and without power of the Holy Spirit. Yeshua didn't destroy the law, but fulfilled it for us. We can’t fulfill the law and we don’t have to fulfill it, for Yeshua fulfilled the law for us. We can now as the disciple of Yeshua the Messiah to grow in the grace and righteousness according to teaching of the Bible.

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Yeshua didn't destroy the law, but fulfil it. In the power of the Holy Spirit, we in the grace of God and from the grace we live righteously and grow in righteousness, that we can live in practise life according to the will of God.

Law can’t made nothing perfect, but Yeshua can

Hebrews 7: .

11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,)what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.

14 For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,

16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

20 And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:

21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)

22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

For the law made nothing perfect, but Yeshua makes, that's why new covenant is better covenant than old covenant.

Ro 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace..

Ro 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Ga 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

We are not under the law, but under the grace. In the tabernacle at the bottom of the ark of covenant were the tables of law, whose above was the mercy seat; in other words the grace makes the law alive. Like I said: “The law is a useful tool, when we grow towards the image of God, but without Yeshua the Messiah and mercy of God on the law is no other value as kill, but through Yeshua from the law comes living”.

We don’t have any right to live in the sin as the disciple of Yeshua, but our right is live in the grace in the Holy Spirit according to the word of God.

Mercy of God in Yeshua the Messiah through the Holy Spirit makes the law living in the disciple of Yeshua (Law=Torah=teaching, advice).

When I speak from the law of God, which Jesus didn't destroy, I mean the Ten Commandments. There is a big confusion about the law, and many don't know what is the law. The law which Yeshua didn't destroy was and is Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments

De 10:2 And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

De 10:5 And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

Ten Commandments are the law, because the law was in the ark of the covenant. In the ark was only 10 commandments, not 613! Yeshua said that He did not come to destroy the law, but fulfill it. When Yeshua met an adultery woman He didn't stoned her, but said that: "go, and sin no more". According to the law adultery woman should be stoned, but Yeshua didn't stoned and not allowed stoning. From Yeshua's words we can see that adultery is a sin, but He didn't accept stoning. Yeshua would break the law, if that stoning commandment would be command of the law.

Yeshua didn't stoned and not accepted stoning, this shows to us that adultery's stoning don't belong to the law, which Yeshua didn't destroy. Ten Commandments are the law of God, which is valid in the New covenant, which Yeshua didn't destroy.

Other 603 laws where orders to nation of Israel, but were not the law of God, which was in the ark of the covenant. So the law is in Ten Commandments. By that way we can also understand why Paul said: Ro 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

The Ten Commandments come true also in the life of disciple of Yeshua from the mercy of God from the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are not under the orders of old covenant and not under commandments of old covenant, because new and better covenant replaced old one. In the new covenant of course the Ten Commandments is valid, because Yeshua didn’t destroy the law. But in the new covenant we grow in obedience through the grace of God. And of course then we also live according to the Ten Commandments:

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Can we live against those commandments as disciple of new covenant? Of course not. The mercy of God doesn’t replace the law, but makes it alive in the Spirit.

When we speak about the law, which Jesus didn’t destroy, we speak about ten commandments.

Ex 34:

27 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. 28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

De 10:4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.

Ex 24:12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

God made covenant with nation of Israel through the Ten Commandments, which is the law. The main law is the Ten Commandments, and that is the law, which Yeshua didn’t destroy.

De 10:5 And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

Hebrews 9:

2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.

The law in other words the Ten Commandments was put to the ark. The Ten Commandments were separated from the other commands and were put to the ark of the covenant as sign of the covenant. So we see that the Ten Commandments is the law. The Ten Commandments are the main law and other instructions and ordinances don’t belong to the law, because they were not in the ark of the covenant. Other instructions and ordinances were also good, but not have value to be the law, which was in the ark of the covenant. Yeshua didn’t destroy the law (the Ten Commandments), but other instructions He cancelled, which don’t belong to the law, which was in the ark of the covenant. Through Yeshua’s atonement offering also the order of old covenant changed:

Hebrews 7:

11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

Changing of priesthood doesn’t mean changing of the law, but that order of old covenant has ended. Yeshua is now the high priest and His disciples all are: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, 1 Peter 2:9.

2 Cor 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Ro 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth..

Goal of the law is not law (the letter), but Yeshua for righteousness to everyone, who believes.

The law is accessory to achieving that goal. But in the letter of the law is not power to achieve that goal. That's why Yeshua brought mercy and truth and the Holy Spirit, and through it we have power to live according to word of God (the law). Like this comes true the goal of the law through the power of the Holy Spirit.

For us, who are believers, we have also that danger, that we can follow the law, but not Yeshua and we make from the law larger than its fulfillment, which is Yeshua the Messiah. God is not the law, but the Spirit, which lives according His righteous law and will. The law is the letters and God is the Spirit.

Yeshua is the grace

But let’s follow Yeshua in the Holy Spirit from the grace of God, so then comes true will of God, in which the Holy Spirit makes from the law of living (teaching of the word of God), so that as the disciple of Yeshua the Messiah we can grow in the way how the word of God teaches us through the Holy Spirit.

Ro 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Paul taught that faith don't nullify the law (Ten Commandments). The law is not bad and against us, but good because the law is made by God. Through faith establishing the law means that through grace of God (in the Messiah Yeshua) we live in the Holy Spirit according to will, word and commands of God. We are not under the law, but we can't however live in lawless, which is a sin. 1Jo 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.

Yeshua took away our sins, but not the law, because He didn't destroy the law.

Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

having erased the hand-signed sefer of guilt choiv (debt), the heavenly indictment against us in the maleh chukat haTorah (full statute requirement of the Torah), which was against us. Moshiach has done away with this opposing record, having nailed it to Moshiach’s Etz (DEVARIM 21:23) The Ortodox Jewish Brit Chadasha

Handwriting of ordinance, which is against us, and was opponent to us Yeshua took away by way of His redemption offering and nailed that handwriting to the cross. Handwriting word is in Greek text kheirografon, which means promissory note, which debtor has written with him own hands. In Hebrew it means hand signed guilt book. Verse 14 doesn’t so mean the law (Torah) of God, but the debt and guilt of the people, which is a sin. Yeshua was nailed to the cross for the sins of the mankind, but Paul wrote in this that also handwriting of ordinance (hand signed guilt book) have taken away by way of redemption offering of Yeshua the Messiah and nailed it to the cross.

Yeshua said that He wouldn't come to destroy the law (Torah), and therefore the law couldn’t nail to the cross. Sin is our opponent, which was nailed together with Yeshua to the cross. Greek text uses from the Bible two words grafee and gramma, but as we notice greek text uses the word kheirografon. Ordinance word is in Greek dogma, which means command, setting, and regulation. Kheirografon means promissory note not the law (Torah). Hebrew uses words sefer choiv (hand signed guilt book). Our sins are nailed to the cross, not the law (Torah).

Sin of men is nailed to the cross, and not the law (Torah) of God. Some people misunderstand that this verse means that the law (Torah) is nailed to the cross. Paul wrote, that when the Messiah circumcises our heart in the Holy Spirit, so believers die to sins and start to live righteously. Dead sin stays like this on the cross and new man releases wander according to righteousness. This comes true when the Holy Spirit can influence will and work in the hearts of Yeshua's disciples.

We are not under the law and we can't keep the law. For this reason Yeshua kept the law for us and we in the Messiah from the grace of God are growing toward the image of God according to His word by the power of the Holy Spirit. According to an example where tablets of stone where at the bottom of the ark of covenant and mercy seat was above it. That doesn't mean, that mercy destroy the law, but that only through the mercy the law can be living, otherwise letter kills. And so mercy doesn’t destroy the law, but brings us power to live accordance the law of God.

As we read, that at the bottom of the ark of covenant was the tables of law, but above of law was mercy seat. And because grace and truth came through Lord Yeshua the Messiah. And out of fullness of Yeshua we all received, and grace on top of grace, Joh 1:16. So Yeshua is our grace and He is the goal of the law and He is greater than the law, because Yeshua is fulfillment of the law, amen.

Petri Paavola