Everyone Obey the Law
Fortunately God extends an invitation to the wicked to follow His
commands. Righteousness and justice are also equated to His statutes
(including observing the Sabbath):
"But if the wicked man turns from all his
sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices
justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All
his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against
him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live.
Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord
GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?" Ezekiel
18:21-23
"When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he
so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his
righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his
which he has committed he will die. But when I say to the wicked, 'You
will surely die,' and he turns from his sin and practices justice and
righteousness, if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has
taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without
committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his
sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has
practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live." Ezekiel
33:13-16
As children, our motivation to follow what our Father says is that we
love Him:
"You shall therefore love the LORD your God,
and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His
commandments." Deuteronomy 11:1 NASB
The King of Israel (does this apply to Jesus?) was to make a
handwritten copy of the Law:
"It shall be with him and he shall read it
all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by
carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that
his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not
turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he
and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel."
Deuteronomy 17:19,20 NASB
Curses are given if the Law is not followed (not serving the Lord
with joy and a glad heart):
"So all these curses shall come on you and
pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would
not obey the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes
which He commanded you. They shall become a sign and a wonder on you and
your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God
with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things;" Deut.
28:45-47
David was known as a "man after God's own heart," and he says this
about himself...
"The LORD has rewarded me according to my
righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed
me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not acted wickedly
against my God. For all His ordinances were before me, and as for His
statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also blameless toward Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity." 2 Sam. 22:21-24 NASB (See also
Psalm 18)
Note that "iniquity" is literally "no law" (Greek anomias).
And later David advised Solomon on the way to succeed in 1 Kings 2:3:
"Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to
walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His
ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law
of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you
turn,..."
Then later still Solomon tells us what "wholly devoted" to the Lord
means:
"Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted
to the LORD our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His
commandments, as at this day." 1 Kings 8:61 NASB
Nehemiah (9:13,14) says that God's Law (and the Sabbath) is good:
"Then You came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke
with them from heaven; you gave them just ordinances and true laws, good
statutes and commandments. So You made known to them Your holy Sabbath,
and laid down for them commandments, statutes and law, through Your
servant Moses." NASB
God tells us in Psalm 50:16-21 that hypocrisy (saying but not doing)
is wickedness, and that those who think His silence equals approval for
"lawlessness" are mistaken:
But to the wicked God says, "What right have
you to tell of My statutes and to take My covenant in your mouth? For
you hate discipline, and you cast My words behind you. When you see a
thief, you are pleased with him, And you associate with adulterers. You
let your mouth loose in evil And your tongue frames deceit. You sit and
speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These
things you have done and I kept silence; you thought that I was just
like you; I will reprove you and state the case in order before your
eyes." NASB
And He also tells David in Psalm 89:33,34 that He will not alter His
Word:
"But I will not break off My lovingkindness
from him, nor deal falsely in My faithfulness. My covenant I will not
violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips."
And, according to Ezekiel 44:23,24 the Priests in the Millenial
Temple will observe His Ways:
"Moreover, they shall teach My people the
difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern
between the unclean and the clean. In a dispute they shall take their
stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They
shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed feasts and
sanctify My Sabbaths."
So, the origin of the Sabbath was in Genesis, with God observing the
first one; the Sabbath and the Law are wrapped up together; there was a
lot of Law before Law; there was to be one law for everyone; everyone
breaks the Law; God invites everyone to observe His Law; and we will be
following the Law again in the Millennium Kingdom.
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is:
fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every
person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is
hidden, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13,14