The Son of God Kept his Father's Commandments.
By John Nevins Andrews
This declaration may well be termed an article of faith with those who reverence the moral law. They regard that law as the perfect standard of right, and they look to the life of Christ as the perfect example of that law lived out. They know that in the sight of the law of God all other members of the human race stand condemned. But in the example of Christ the precepts of the moral law are shown to be as worthy of our admiration in real life, as they appear to be in theory upon the pages of inspiration. Does the law of God require us to love him with all our soul, and with all our strength? Behold in Christ the perfect example of this supreme, ardent, never-failing love. And if we ask for the exemplification of loving our neighbor as ourselves, behold in Jesus the perfect pattern of this unselfish love. His life was wholly devoted to doing good to mankind. He went about doing good, but never that he might thereby become great among men. He sought never to benefit himself as the object of his labors, but always to do good to the needy, the suffering, and the distressed. And how reverently did he honor his Father, and worship before him. He claimed, indeed, to be the Son of God, but how simply did he walk with reference to the glory of God! And how high did he elevate the nature of the divine existence in his discourse, when to the woman of Samaria, he said, “God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24. How reverently did he take the name of God, even in prayer. And how did he inculcate the same reverent spirit in ourselves, when he taught us to pray, “Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.” How great the pains taken by him to put away the Pharisaic traditions by which Satan had converted the merciful institution of the great Creator into a yoke of bondage. How tenderly did he care both for his people and for the rest-day hallowed for mankind in Eden, when he bade his disciples pray that their flight out of Judea should not be in the winter, nor upon the Sabbath day. Matt. 24:20. And how our Lord honored his parents in their lowly life of poverty. How he forgot his own terrible anguish upon the cross, to care for his widowed mother, when he said to his best-beloved disciple, “Behold thy mother.” John 19:26, 27. What precepts of love toward our enemies did he inspire in word, and exemplify in act. What purity of life did he inspire by his example, and by his precepts, make to reach even to our hearts. And even his worst enemies could never accuse him of one selfish deed, one malicious, or heartless, or untruthful word, nor one selfish thought or motive. He said that he had kept his Father's commandments. John 15:10. Who will dare to deny this statement? Indeed, he asked his enemies, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” John 8:46. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” But in Christ there was no sin. 1 John 3:4, 5. He was indeed the Lamb of God, without blemish and without fault. And now if we would know the secret of our Lord's perfect obedience, we shall find it revealed in the fortieth Psalm:— “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” Ps. 40:6–8.
The Son of God here testifies concerning himself, through the Spirit of prophecy, that he came at his first advent with the law of God in his heart. Not the law pertaining to sacrifice, for that God did not desire. It had answered its purpose and was to meet its antitype in his own death. But it was the moral law which he had in his heart, that made his own great sin-offering necessary. And our Lord coming into the world with the law of his father in his heart, breathed its spirit in every word, and lived its meaning in every thought and motive. When he laid down the golden rule he made its authority to rest upon the fact that it was the substance of the law and the prophets. Matt. 7:12. Our Lord came into our world, from his Father, with the Father's perfect law within his heart. He purposes to take back to his Father, when he shall come again, a people every one of whom shall have the law of God within their hearts. Many persons suppose that the New Testament proposes to save men by doing away with the moral law and releasing men from its obligation. Never was a greater mistake made. The New Testament designs to save men by taking out of their hearts the carnal mind, which is enmity against God, and not subject to his law, and then placing that law in the heart and mind. Jer. 31:31–34; Rom. 8:3–7. When men have this law thus established in their hearts and minds, they will be in character like Christ. “The righteousness of the law” will be “fulfilled in them” because they will not walk after the flesh, but after the spirit. They will, like the Son of God, keep the commandments of the Father's law. And when they shall be examined in the day of Judgment, they will stand justified in the sight of the just Judge, as doers of his law. Rom. 2:13. Surely it was not an evil thing that our Lord had his Father's law in his heart. And it cannot be a pernicious thing for us to have that law in our hearts also. Nay, unless this sacred code be there written, we shall never be heirs according to the New Testament. Our Lord's life was the perfect example of this law obeyed. In fact that was the very excellence of his life. Our lives must be like his. He taught the precepts of the law of God. He has said that if we also do and teach them we shall be great in the kingdom of God. Matt. 5:17–19. We must be like Christ, and in due season we shall be with him.