"Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long" (Psalm 119:97).
The psalmist cries from his heart, “Oh, how I love Your law!” Too often modern Christians take a low view of God’s law, but such a view is unscriptural. There are several reasons why we as Christians should desire to love God’s law.
First, we love the law because when it condemns us, it drives us to Jesus who saves us. The law keeps reminding us of our beloved Savior and Lord. It keeps forcing us back to Him. How can we help but love such a wonderful device? The more of the law we know, the more fully we are driven to Christ.
Second, just as our remaining sin hates the law because the law condemns it, so we, in our renewed minds, love the law because it is the word of our Savior. The law describes the character of God and the image of God, seen most clearly in the perfect man, Jesus Christ. As we love God we love to learn more about what the law reveals about Him. As we want to be more Christ-like in our lives, the law shows us what Christ is like.
Third, we love the law because we are saved by it—that is, we are saved by Christ’s keeping of the law. The law is holy, just, and good, and Jesus kept it fully. As He admired and obeyed it, so we also admire and seek to obey it because we are in union with Him.
Thus, if we sing “My Jesus, I love Thee,” we shall also sing “Oh, how love I Thy law.” If we sing “More love to Thee, O Christ,” we shall also sing, “More love to Thy law.” If we hate the law, we hate Jesus, because He is the embodiment of the law. If we love the law, then we love Jesus.
You cannot love the law and hate Christ, O Jew; and you cannot love Christ and hate the law, O Christian. The Jew who says he loves the law yet rejects Christ does not love the law at all. He loves only a figment of his own imagination. Similarly, the Christian who says he loves Jesus yet rejects the law does not love Christ. You cannot be a true Jew unless you love Christ and you cannot be a true Christian unless you love Moses. They stand or fall together.
If we love Christ, we will study the Old Testament law in all its details, because they reveal Christ to us. This will prove an exciting project for any believer. How about making a thorough study of the Mosaic law in your Bible class or Sunday school?
