Army of Heaven Ministries

The HAMMER by Gary Glass

                                                    The Hammer

" Wherefore the Law is that hammer, that fire, that mighty strong wind, and that terrible earthquake rending the mountains, and breaking the rocks, (1 Kings 19:11-13) that is to say, the proud and obstinate (stubborn) hypocrites" -Martin Luther

It is important to know the believer's relationship to the Law or the Ten Commandments. There is a great picture of this in the book of John. It states
that the Jews wanted the bodies of Jesus and the two men off the cross before the Sabbath Day. So, Pilate told the soldiers to break the legs that they might be taken away. The Bible says, "Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. But, when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs." John 19:32:33.

The Law demands justice. The Bible states, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." James 2:10. Also, it states that by the Law, "every mouth may be stopped, and all the  world guilty before God." Romans 3:19. We are guilty, and the verdict is the death penalty.  Dick York states the Law " was the Marshal who pursued them, warrant in hand, to deliver them to the executioner." John Wesley says the Law is, " To slay the sinner is then the first use of the Law, to destroy the life and strength wherein he trusts and convinces him that he is dead while he lives; not only under the sentence of death, but actually dead to God, void of all spirtual life, dead in trespasses and sin." Therefore, this was our condition as sinners and unbelievers before we came to Christ.

But now, as believers, we have been SET FREE from the demands of the Law. The Bible states that " I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20.

Also, it says,  that I am "dead to the law" verse 19. What does that mean? It means that when the Law wants to execute my sentence of death, it finds me "dead already", executed at Calvary in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  God's Word says, "If one died for all, then were all dead."
II Corinthians 5:14.

God's hammer of wrath came down on Christ. He became a curse for me.

Finally, it is a spiritual fact that when the hammer of God's Law wants to kill me,it finds me dead already. Charles Spurgeon said, " The believer can point to the Great Surety on the tree of Calvary, and say, "See there, oh Law, there is the vindication of divine justice which I offer to thee. Jesus pouring out his heart's blood from his wounds and dying on my behalf is my answer to thy claims, and I know that I shall be delivered from wrath through him."

God Bless
Gary
www.armyofheaven.com