14th March, 2010

BRUCE C. WEARNE

Read Galatians 3: 19-29

The Promise was as good as ratified when the Lord took the initiative and gave His Promise to Abraham. In human transactions, once a will is ratified then what the benefactor bequeaths comes lawfully to those identified in the will as recipients. But when Paul discusses the Law (Torah), he is discussing why the Law was promulgated to serve those who were identified as the ones to carry the Promise. As the people of the Promise, why would they need any addition to their bequest?

In the first instance, Paul's answer is related to what he assumes about the inheritance. What is the inheritance? The Benefactor had said to Abraham and his offspring - "You, and your seed, are the people of my Promise; I am your inheritance. Believe it." That was the assurance of the Lord, a Promise to watch over Abraham and his progeny throughout their generations, as they waited for the Lord to fulfil His Promise. When it was fulfilled with the coming of Jesus Christ, the Blessing, the Bequest, would be realised and God Himself would dwell with His people, the people who received His promise by faith, and He would continue to walk with them.

The Lord Himself was with His people, at their side as their special Ambassador (verse 20), God was His own "go-between" whose influence upon their life had great effect, as Moses co-operated with God's messengers (angles), to remind God's People of their Lord's long-suffering mercy - "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love unto the thousandth generation..." (Exodus 34: 6-7).

It was by his very own "verified signature" (literally: "by the hand of an intermediary" Galatians 3: 19) that the Promise was kept alive in the lives of the People by the giving of the Law. So the Law came - 430 years after the Promise was given to Abraham - with the Lord, through Moses, saying to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, "You are indeed my people according to My Promise. Torah does not make you into the People of the Promise. Only my Promise does that. In the meantime, continue to believe Me, listen to Torah, for that will tell you how the People of Promise live their lives in hope. The Torah is not the Promise nor the Promise's fulfillment - it is, purely and simply, My Law for My People to remind them whenever they need reminding of who they are by reminding them of who I am to them. My Promise is my beginning to work with You but it does not stop there - remember my Promise to Abraham - through his seed I will bless all the peoples of the earth. This is the pathway on which you shall walk as you look forward in faith to Me keeping my Promise. That promise was ratified when I gave it. I am (as good as) my Word."

Paul continues to discuss Torah as a prison (it remanded all who were under judgment for sin), in order to keep potentially wayward from the evil consequences of their own natures. Then the Promise could still be heard with full effect in their hearts and it would be kept alive generation to generation. Paul then talks about Torah as a strict tutor or school-master (literally: personal trainer of children) keeping God's People focused upon God's purposes in the entire exercise - in Christ, God was busy making a people who would have right standing with Himself.

So, the Lord's Promise didn't need ratification and now that faith has come, the class-room of the Law (Israel) is historically left behind with Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, united by faith in Christ Jesus. A massive change has taken place. The One who revealed Himself to Abraham as El Shaddai knew that His peculiar people would need a Law by which they could be kept within bounds on their side of the covenant until the time of Promise arrived. Now, Paul reiterates, you Galatians are, or should be, part of the completion of that process, the evidence of that.

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