The religious leaders of the Jews, even after thousands of years with the Law did not understand it, nor its purpose. That's because they didn't consult with the Law's Author as to its intent and meaning. It is no wonder that today, so many still read the Law and do not understand it. Apart from consulting the Law's Author, it is difficult, if not impossible, to fully understand the Law itself.

Fortunately, the Author repeatedly tells us, in His book, the written Word of God, the meaning of His Law, and its purpose…and for most people, it just *isn't* anything close to what they conjured up in their mind.

God is perfect in all His character, person, and actions. The Law codified a part of God's level of perfection, as it could be applied in/by the life of men. By codifying it, He allowed man to measure himself against a fixed and perfect standard – God Himself. And the Law showed them they didn't measure up. The consequences for breaking the Law showed how serious it was to transgress from perfection – simply put: the wages of sin is death.

The purpose of the Law was to show people that, by both their nature and by their choice, they would not and could not meet even this small amount of codified perfection. It revealed the utter failure of man and his inability to fix the root problem.

The Law, and fear of transgressing it, should have driven the people to call out to the Law Giver – "Have mercy! we can't do this thing". And in fact, that is the essence of the Law – God's mercy. For the Law for man is summed up in the Old Testament and New as "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice". God designed the Law both to show people their sin, and to show people God's mercy. Because they could see what was expected and that they didn't do it – they could offer no real defense for their actions. Because there were dire consequences for failure to keep the Law, they would need the judge to be merciful, else they would be condemned as Law breakers.

God is perfectly just and righteous, so He must, by the Law, convict those who broke the Law and deliver the judgement that is called for by the Law. Because God is perfectly merciful, He took upon Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty, to suffer the judgement Himself, as a gift to us, so that we would not come under condemnation; so we would pass from the death sentence to life. Not because we were good enough, but because He was merciful enough.

He offers that same mercy to all of us today. All of us are Law breakers, too. All of us have turned aside from God and went our own way. All of us deserve judgement from the just and holy God. But He, by/through the selfless sacrifice of Christ, offers to mark our bill as PAID IN FULL BY CHRIST. And all He asks is that we take Him at His Word, we believe and know ourselves as sinners and call to Him for mercy, for Christ's atoning to be applied to us as well.