GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 19:8-11
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When we read the Scriptures, we must strive to correctly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). This means recognizing that the main teachings of all of Scripture are the law and the gospel. The law shows God’s holy will, and uncovers man’s sinfulness. The law reflects our defects so that we can see just how far short we fall of God’s desire, and just how far we fall into sin and guilt. The gospel shows us God’s grace. It reveals the way God has rescued us from all of the terrible consequences of our sins. The Gospel shines God’s love and mercy into our lives. Let’s work to apply these teachings here in these final verses of chapter 19, and together appreciate God’s message and the way he cares for our souls.
8 In addition, Jehoshaphat appointed some of the Levites, priests and heads of Israelite families to administer the law of the LORD and to settle disputes in Jerusalem, and they lived in Jerusalem. 9 He gave them these orders: “You must serve in the fear of the LORD faithfully and with your whole heart. 10 Whenever a case comes before you from your brothers who live in their cities– whether bloodshed or concerning the law, commandments, statutes or ordinances– you are to warn them not to sin against the LORD, so that his wrath will not come upon you and your brothers. Do this, and you will not be guilty of sin.
Here we see two sides of the law. First there is God’s will that serving him must be total, “With your whole heart.” “I am the LORD,” God says, “that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols” (Isaiah 42:8).
Second, we see the warning not to sin or to become culpable of guilt. “Do this,” he says, “and you will not be guilty of sin.” Any sin is a damning sin. Each and every sin is a serious matter, a matter of eternal consequences.
11 “Remember: Amariah the chief priest will be over you in every matter concerning the LORD, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the tribe of Judah, will be over you in every matter concerning the king, and the Levites will serve as officials before you. Act courageously, and may the LORD be with those who do what is good.”
Here we see two sides of the gospel, but in reverse order. In the first sentence we see the promise of God to be with his good people as they run the race of life, doing their best to carry out his will out of faith, repentance, and love for their Savior. Then in the second sentence, we see the blessing of God’s anointed leader (in this case, the King of Judah and forerunner of Christ) announcing the blessing of God. He might have been more encouraging with the gospel in his words; he might have spoken of God’s forgiveness. All that is true. But he told them in a blessing that the Lord would be with them, which is not possible for those who reject Christ and who transgress God’s commandments.
Before he understood these teachings, when he was still a Catholic monk and priest, Martin Luther was in agony. His fasting, his own attacks on his body (castigations) only drew blood and pain, but not faith. He had been taught that we must obey the law (in which duty we fail), and that following this we can only be made righteous by “obedience to the gospel,” which, he did not realize, is a contradiction in terms! He was harassed by the most painful blasphemies over this, by despair, and by fear and hatred of God. But then the meaning of the words of Scripture came into his mind and heart. “Suddenly” (writes Walther) “a new light shone in upon him, showing him of what kind of righteousness the Gospel is speaking. He relates that from that moment he began to run through the whole Scriptures in an endeavor to obtain a clear understanding as to which portions of the Scriptures are Law and which Gospel. He says that he pried into every book of the Bible, and now all its parts became clear to him. The birth of the Reformer (and the Reformation) dates from the moment when Luther understood this distinction. The tremendous success of his public activity, moreover, is due to the same cause. By his new knowledge Luther liberated the poor people from the misery into which they had been driven by the Law-preaching of the priests” (The Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel, 1929, p. 63).
The Law shows me my sins. The Gospel shows me my Savior. The Law condemns me for sinning and for failing to keep even one word of God’s law to the state of perfection that he demands (Leviticus 19:2). The Gospel sets me free of my sin because it tells me, tells the world, and tells the devil himself that my Savior paid the price for my sin, and that in God’s eyes, I am as holy as Christ himself. This is the message of the holy Bible. There is no philosophy, no science, no theory, no Eastern meditation, no book upon any shelf, that proclaims this message of forgiveness, of pardon, and of peace. Only in the Bible is there the promise of the resurrection and eternal life. Blessed be Jesus our Lord forever and ever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 19:8-11 Law and Gospel