The Rule of Law

We must have laws! Even when the two people on earth were entirely innocent, the law was needed. Laws prevent lawbreaking. The first law was: Don't eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the first consequence of violating the law was: or you will die. Mankind could not even keep the one law, let alone many! Effectually, that first law was: Love God because obedience to that one law is how our forebears demonstrated reverence and gratitude to their Creator. They failed Him, and since, mankind has most always failed God.

The government of God is His supremacy. Obeying His will is the Law of God. Whoever fails to obey the Law of God are in obedience to the Law of Sin. Lack of obedience to God is obedience to the evil one. 

Romans 13:1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. 2 For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

All laws are of God, not because he ordains laws but because he allows them. Even the most tyrannical dictatorships exist because God allows them. Self-rule is mankind's punishment for rejecting God's rule. By self-rule, laws of men, are meant. Rule by individual dictates is sinful. God acknowledges the rebellion in self-rule:

Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

As such, mankind was in anarchy and the result was chaos. Because of the lawless, laws are needed! Laws were made because we are sinful humans. We need laws to regulate behavior.

1 Timothy 1:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; 9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient.

If everyone is allowed to do what is right in their own eyes, the powerful and wicked would always rule. You see, those without a moral compass do it their way. Even the most atrocious vengeance is okay with wicked people. Righteous people are kind and considerate. Christians cannot kill to get their way, and cruel and unusual punishment is unkind. Christians are limited in how we can protest because of obedience to the Law of God. Even when there is no king, Christians must obey the King. When there is a king, the king is there because God allows it!

Augustus Caesar was a cruel "king"- actually emperor. Jesus didn't come to replace the laws of Caesar. He even said to give unto Caesar those things which are his. Like it or not, the implication by Jesus is that we obey the laws of men -  even wicked men like Caesar.

Hitler was like Caesar. He even patterned himself after the Caesars! Hitler intended to rebuild the Roman Empire, even the Holy Roman Empire, but "holy" as they defined holy.  Under this new Caesar, the laws of men were horrendous. Abortion and euthanasia were tools to control the undesirables. The law of Hitler was survival of the fittest, the law of which was presented by Charles Darwin in the book, On the Origin of the Species.

Today Darwin is praised as insightful. He merely pointed out how wicked men can be, even copying the instinctual patterns of the beasts of the fields. Survival of the fittest is the powerful doing what is right in their own eyes. Darwin taught Marx that, Hitler that, and Stalin that! When the strongest are allowed to rule with impunity, tyranny results. When teachers teach this evil law, it is the Law of Sin they teach. Satan smiles because Darwin's laws are part of the Law of Sin.

Mankind, then, needs the law.

Romans 7:7 ... if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.

The Law was necessary so that mankind would be without excuse. To know what is sinful, the Law was needed. The Law was not for God to judge us, but that we can judge ourselves. We needed the law to protect us from ourselves because sin is destructive. When we stand before God on judgment day, our silence will testify to our guiltiness - unless Jesus blood covers our guilt.

So without the Law, we would be condemned. Laws are necessary so that we can be saved. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin by using the metrics in the Law. To repent, we need to express guilt, because sorrow leads to repentance. Ultimately, even bad laws are better than no laws because with bad laws some kill us, but with no law, we are in danger from everybody.

Some laws take precedence over others. Ultimately, we must obey the Law of God before the laws of men! Divine Law supersedes civil law. I'm sure Dietrich Bonnhoeffer studied this verse seriously before he joined the plot to assassinate Hitler: 

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

The Law of God is summarized by two decrees: (1) love God, and (2) love others. Actually, there is one "Greatest Commandment" and the other - like unto it, is a corollary. To demonstrate to God our divine love, we must love his creation. Love of God and others is inseparable! Hence, the Law of God is to follow our divine compass - the will of God. It is God's will that we love others. To meet that end, we must protect others because we protect those we love.

Because Bonnhoeffer so loved the world, as God did,  he wanted to save those he could. Millions of Jews, Christians, and undesirables had been killed. When people die, unless they have a chance to repent, their very souls are murdered. Bonnhoeffer didn't want to kill Hitler; he wanted to save people. Risking his own life to safe others was an act of love. It turned out that Bonnhoeffer died to save those he loved, and didn't even know them. His act was Christlike. He didn't do what Jesus would do, but what Jesus did do! The Law of God superseded the law of Hitler whose laws were based on the Law of Sin.

Dr. Martin King suffered jail for the love of others. His was civil disobedience. Now he has his own holiday in respect for him because he sacrificed his life for the love of others. To blacks, he was sort of a Bonnhoeffer, even though most weren't being killed for their faith but for their desire of freedom.  Much of what King said is quoted often as remarkable.

On the other hand, Judge Roy Moore turned to civil disobedience, and is ostracized. Moore believed that divine law supersedes the laws of men. I do as well! Moore did what was right in God's eyes, caring little of what men thought. Rather than being critical of a man of this caliber, we must hold the Judge up as exemplary. Seldom does a man come along who loves God and others to this extent!

Moore is criticized for not doing what is right in the eyes of the world. However, evil people are what's wrong with the world. Moore sought to honor God rather than the hedonists who live for doing what is right in their own eyes. Someday, the few Christians that remain, will have to make a decision: Shall I obey Caesar or shall I obey God?

Revelation 20:4 ...I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Every Christian will be required to make a decision: Will it be the beast or will it be God that we follow? The easy and popular thing to do will be to take the mark of the beast, but it must be the cross which is burned in our hearts! It is imperative then, and until then, that we ought to obey God rather than men!  Even now, if we follow men, and not God, we are paving our own highway to Hell. We must always side with God. If we're not for Him, we're against Him (Matt 12:30).

We must always follow the rule of law. It is sometimes the laws of men which we must follow, but when harm can be done, the rule of law is God's Law. We must always do God's will when it conflicts with the laws of men. The Law of God is truly the Law of Love since if we do the loving thing, that is God's will.