Information Related to "God's Law: Is It a Burden or a Blessing?"
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The most common teaching today about the law God gave to ancient Israel is that it was a burden-one that Jesus Christ had to remove. In essence, advocates of that view claim that God freed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery merely to enslave them again to a system of law so strict and unreasonable that they claim it is actually oppressive.
Is something seriously wrong with this reasoning? The apostle John says there is. In combating similar arguments in the first century, John states unequivocally, "His commandments are not burdensome," explaining that "this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3).
So why did God give His law? He repeatedly states that He gave it to benefit the people-to bring great blessings on them. Notice how clearly the following verses state this truth:
• "You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days" (Deuteronomy 4:40).
• Immediately after giving the Ten Commandments, God exclaimed: "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29).
• "You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess" (Deuteronomy 5:33).
Related Information on UCG Sites:
God's law, Old Testament:
