Jesus - the Legalist Husband

“You also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ...” Rom. 7:4

I am still digging and praying myself into this phrase to try to uncover more of its true meaning and implications for me. I am looking at it in the context of still searching for the husband in this chapter who dies so that I can be intimately joined – married – to the resurrected Christ and live in that atmosphere of glory, joy and love.

What I think I might be seeing now is something very familiar to my own experience – legalism. Anyone I know who is suffering under the control of legalism in any of its forms are living a counterfeit Christianity and with a distorted picture of God. I could elaborate at great length on this but that might become too much of a distraction from the point I am looking at right now. I do want to note that legalism is always based on fear and according to 1 John 4:18 there is always torment in fear. Some of the most tormented people on earth are those suffering under the illusions and lies of legalism and I know that from personal experience.

A person living with a legalistic view of reality is very much in a sense “married” to their legalism, their fear-based feelings of obligation to keep any number of rules and laws and they can usually be recognized by their lack of real joy. They often try to look like they have joy but it is a left-brained, forced kind of joy that does not have the ring of freedom and abandon that real joy carries. They usually live a life very much like an obligation-based kind of marriage that is primarily founded on a sense of “duty” and grudgingly staying within the lines of rules. The heart is usually dying inside but the person is so disconnected from their own heart that they often do not even recognize it themselves until the pain sometimes bursts out in a surprising, shocking explosion when it cannot be supressed any longer.

The wonderful good news is that Jesus loves the ones stuck in this kind of thinking and living just as much as He loves any other kinds of sinners. And the way that He saved them is the same way He saved everyone else – by taking upon Himself the very feelings and internal consequences that the legalist experiences within his heart and soul. When Jesus went through the three days and nights of unspeakable torture that culminated on His death on the cross, that included the torture produced by legalism in the heart of every person who has ever lived or who ever will live. He did not feel something like it or similar to it, He experienced the very feelings, fears, pains and dreads that we carry around for our whole life due to our mistaken view of God. Those sins were taken upon Himself fully and put to death on the cross so that we do not have to suffer under them any longer but can have the incredible privilege of entering into a relationship with God of which the most perfect marriage and the most intensely satisfying sex can only hint at. What He did to set us free from legalism was to place Himself into the position of being the “bad husband” that the legalist is married to and then by His death satisfy the marriage requirements of the law that bound us to our fears and lies about God so that we could be free to be intimately joined to the resurrected, living, exciting, all-powerful Christ in a life free of fear and torment.

I have recently been talking with individuals who have been extremely damaged beyond my comprehension by the abuse of legalism for all of their lives. It has ruined their lives in almost every way imaginable and I cringe to even think about what I can see. I am so glad that there is a Savior that is far more powerful to love and redeem than the sin that is still tormenting the lives of these friends. (Rom. 5:20) Because of the lies that legalists have forced on them and still reinforce at times, these individuals usually cannot even think about God without some level of revulsion. They have been inoculated against the very One who can and who desires to free them from the lies about Himself that are destroying their life. I'm glad that its His job to reach their hearts through all the tangled web of resistance that has been woven by Satan around their souls, for I have no idea how to effectively counter the millions of lies and fears that swirl around in their lives. But I know a Savior who can disguise Himself enough to slip into their souls through secret passageways and began healing any amount of damage that Satan has caused if He is given permission.

Very often that permission must come in the form of intercessory prayer on the part of others for them. I want to be a part of that process and watch God melt away the fear and pain and make them glorious experiments of His grace and power to save. Yes, Jesus loves legalists too, (and their victims) just as much as the more colorful kind of sinners that get much more publicity. That's good, because that's the kind of stock from which I was formed.

God, in the name and authority of Jesus who took on all the damage and pain of the legalists and their victims, I give you permission to do anything possible not only in the life of the people I am thinking about right now but in mine as well. Tap every resource of the universe to intervene and repair and restore us to the original purpose and design that you intended for us. Glorify Your name in our lives and cause our hearts to burn with passion for You as we are ravished with Your unconditional love this weekend.

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