My wife and I are in the habit of ending our days watching an episode or two of Law and Order. The first half of the show is about a couple of detectives trying to solve a murder and find a suspect. My favorite is Lenny. The second half of the show is about the prosecutor building the legal case and presenting the evidence to a jury in hopes of getting a conviction.
As I sit here watching an episode, I think about the true law and order. The law of God and the order of justice that comes with the law. God gave the law to Moses to give to the Israelites in Exodus 20. The most well-known of the laws and the ones which we hold as the standard of God’s “rules” are the Ten Commandments.
When Jesus came on the scene, He said that He didn’t come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). When He died and rose again, we were under a new covenant. We are no longer saved by the law, but by the blood of Jesus. Paul said in Romans 7:7 that the law showed him that he was a sinner. In Romans 6:23, it says, The wages of sin is death. In other words, God gave us the law, and the justice that comes with it is death.
Interestingly, the episode I am watching is about a guy who committed murder, and it was discovered nine years later. In the meantime, he had become a Christian. The episode ends with him expressing that he had to pay for the crime he committed by going to prison. The ironic part of the reality of paying for your crimes here on earth because you feel that Jesus would call you to that, is that when it comes to our relationship with Jesus, ultimately He pays the penalty for our sins as opposed to us.
The law has a new role in our lives. We follow it because we love God for what He did for us through Jesus on the cross. We follow it because God designed this wonderful life for us to live and gave us a structure to be able to understand how He wants us to live. And order or justice has a new meaning in our lives when we accept Jesus. It now means that even though we are guilty and deserving of death, Jesus paid it all. The unjust action taken toward Jesus equals the undeserving eternal life given to us sinners who repent and surrender to the Judge of the universe.
The investigation is over. We are guilty. But the sentence has been paid for by Jesus. Praise His holy name!