July 30: WIPED OUT (part 1)

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13-14

Paul wrote to the church at Colossae emphasizing the preeminence of Christ. The church there consisted mostly of Gentiles, and Paul was helping them to distinguish the difference between the Mosaic law (ordinances and festivals) which had served to point forward to the Savior, and the ten-commandment law that God had spoken with His own voice and written in stone with His own finger.

You may ask why Moses’ handwriting of requirements was considered against us and contrary to us. The ordinances permitted non-Jews to enter the temple’s outer court, but a barrier called the soreg, separating it from the inner courts was not to be crossed. This barrier was for the purpose of teaching a distinction between holiness and unholiness. Even Jews who were “ritually unclean” (for example, if someone touched a dead body) were instructed not to cross the soreg. Warning inscriptions were posted, citing a death penalty for violation. God’s chosen people were to carry the plan of salvation to the world, as illustrated in the temple. Gentiles were welcome in the outer court to hear the word of God and to gain understanding of the sacrificial system which pointed forward to the coming Savior. Those who failed to understand the spiritual lesson regarding cleansing and holiness (clean, forgiven from sin vs. unclean, not forgiven) were highly offended.

It’s interesting that the reality of deadly germs is a practical illustration of sin and its ultimate connection with death. There were three humble, Bible-reading doctors in the mid-1800s (Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, Louis Pasteur, and Joseph Lister) who encouraged cleanliness as a matter of life and death. Semmelweis taught that handwashing could prevent infections and save lives. Many doctors at that time would walk directly from performing autopsies to delivering babies. Semmelweis was labeled “superstitious” by his elite medical peers for suggesting that something unseen was present that could cause fever and death. They were outraged at the suggestion that, by not washing their hands, they had caused the deaths of their patients. Semmelweis’s emphatic insistence on handwashing convinced his peers that he was insane, and they succeeded in having him committed to an asylum where he died at age 47.

The Bible defines sin as lawlessness (1 John 3:4), which means breaking God’s unchanging law. Since the law of God is perfect (Psalm 19:7), its principles cover every conceivable sin. It would be impossible to commit a sin that doesn’t fall under one or more of the Ten Commandments. Solomon wrote that they cover man’s all (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Nothing is left out. This perfect law is a package for the happiness of man (Proverbs 3:1,2; 29:18). This law is for us! For a converted soul, each of the Ten Commandments becomes a promise of transformation! A saved soul desires to love God and to please Him. A saved soul no longer desires to dishonor parents, murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, covet, or even entertain a thought of any such thing.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments. For this is man’s all. Ecclesiastes 12:13