The Eternity of God's Law
By M. C. Israel
It Antedates the Creation of Angels and Men—A Test of Character from the Days of Eternity—It Will Eternally Endure “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Ps. 19:7. The two great commandments, upon which hang all the law and the prophets,—to love God supremely, and to love one's neighbors as oneself,—are “the end of all perfection.” They represent the character of God as manifested in the life of Christ, which was a living representation, in human form, of that perfect law (John 15:10), and an example to all His followers. This perfect law represents the perfect character of God, who created angels and man to represent that character. The first created being to violate these principles is described in Eze. 28:13-19: “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God. . . . Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so. . . . Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity [lawlessness, sin] was found in thee.” The prophet Isaiah further describes this character (14:12-17) as Lucifer (margin, day-star): “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! . . . For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: . . . I will be like the Most High.” Christ also is called the day-star, or morning star. Rev. 22:16. The conflict was between Michael—Christ—and Satan. Rev. 12:7, 8. Christ says, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” Luke 10:18. He Was Perfect When Created
Here we find that iniquity—sin, lawlessness, the transgression of God's law—originated with a being who was created perfect,423and who was one of the cherubs that covered the throne of God in heaven; who, after his rebellion, carried one third of the heavenly host of angels with him. They also were cast out of heaven for a violation of God's law—sin. 2 Peter 2:4-6. In this same scripture, Peter classes the antediluvians and the Sodomites with the fallen angels, and says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness—God's law (Ps. 119:172)—all of God's law, proving to them their sinful condition; for which God “condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.” What do these statements prove?—They prove that the perfect law of God was coexistent with the kingdom of God in heaven, and that it condemned the angels who sinned, and also earth's inhabitants the first 2,500 years of its history, and all those who “after should live ungodly.” Paul's Argument That God's Law Antedates Sin
“Where no law is, there is no transgression.” “Sin is not imputed when there is no law.” “Without the law sin was dead.” Rom. 4:15; 5:13; 7:8. Sin was imputed to Satan and his angels; for 2 Peter 2:4 states that they sinned, and were cast out of heaven. And “the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” Gen. 13:13. And Peter says they were “condemned . . . with an overthrow,” as “an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.” This proves, without a chance for a quibble, that the law of God antedated sin. This is surely a complete refutation of the statement that the law of God was not understood until it was published at Mount Sinai, 1491 B. C.