Grace!: For Students, Practitioners and Teachers of God's Law

Ezra 7:1-8:20; Psalm 30; Proverbs 20:28-30

 

It was God’s grace that gave us God’s Law. But God’s Law is not nearly so gracious to men as Jesus Christ. John 1:17 tells us that “the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Although God’s law is good, sin has produced death in us through the law—proving how terrible sin really is (Romans. 7:7-13). Because sin has used the law to kill men, we have a hard time looking back to the LORD’s Law and seeing any good associated with it whatsoever. We have a hard time remembering that God’s grace was still at work among those who lived with God’s Law.

 

Enter Ezra. A priest. A prophet. A student, observer (practitioner) and teacher . . . of God’s Law.

 

When we first encounter Ezra in Ezra 7:1-10, we hear twice in those ten verses that the hand of his God was on him (vv. 6, 9). God was for Ezra, extending grace to him. What was it that set Ezra apart?

 

Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the seventh year of the king. He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel. – Ezra 7:8-10

 

Ezra had been set apart to receive God’s grace precisely because he had wholeheartedly received God’s gift, the Law of Moses (Ezra 7:6). He studied it, he lived it, he taught it. This was a man intent on seeking God and getting others to do the same.

 

God is gracious toward such men. He loves men who recognize His Law as an expression of His desire for good in the world, who seek to please God and encourage others to please God by the way they live. None of us is able to stand before God justified (without Christ, that is) because none of us fulfills God’s Law perfectly. But God is still pleased with men who care so much about pleasing Him that they study His Law and devote their whole lives to His service. Such men still sin. They still need to repent. They still need God’s grace. Thankfully, God is pleased to pour out His grace on men whose lives are devoted to pleasing Him.

 

Father, may I not hate any of Your words just because they are also Law. Instead, may I admit that I do not live up to Your Law. And may I repent. And may I devote my whole life to learning what pleases You, to doing it, and to teaching others to please You. But may I remember all along that I have already failed You, and that I need Your grace. Be pleased to pour out Your grace on me, not because I have earned it, but because I recognize that Your Law is worth pursuing even when I can’t earn Your grace. Your Law is good, because You are good. Thank You that we do not ultimately depend on our ability to obey Your Law, but on Your Son’s ransoming death for our sins, and on His resurrection from the dead. May that free us up to boldly seek to please You, knowing that He has already provided so that we can stand in Your presence.