Weakness of Law

Last night I was reading a court case about a man attempting to get a birth certificate because he had completely lost all memory of his history and identity through an accident. He had looked for months for someone who might know him and fill him in on his past and appealed to every official he could think of to help him but no one could solve his problem. He was trapped in legal limbo because he could not get a job or leave the country without first getting a birth certificate to prove his identity. But he could not get a birth certificate without finding someone who knew him or producing paperwork proving his identity. The only paper he had was a card from the hospital where he awoke with his presumed name, age and possible place of birth. Since he had lost all memory of his life before the accident he could not verify any of these facts. He appealed to the court as a last resort to give him an identity and a birth certificate so he could function in society and get a job to support himself.

As strange as the case seems, what struck me even more profoundly as I read this case was the underlying, unchallengeable presumptions implicit in the arguments that the only solution to his identity crisis had to be uncovered in the immense maze of legal opinions and laws based on literally centuries of legal code and court actions. Any sensible person even with a hard and callous heart could look at his case and see what other human beings should do to help him. But society is so completely committed and entrenched to the system of relating to each other only under the rule of ridiculously complex legal codes that it is impossible to perform one simple little request that would allow this man back into a functioning place in society.

To me, this case is a classic example of the failure of the whole concept of law as part of the unholy trinity. It reveals that we have set up law in place of God. This belief insists that every decision for every situation must be condensed into a legal code or opinion that becomes not just a guideline but an enforcement on humanity from this time forward. It is a counterfeit to being led by the Spirit. It is counterfeit wisdom. It assumes that the accumulated decisions of men over time are of greater weight than the wisdom that God wants to impart through His Spirit to those who will live from their heart. Sin's illusion that humanity can achieve perfection through collective formulas that are in turn forced on everyone around us is fatally flawed. It is the ultimate “living from the head, or intellect” in place of living from the heart. It is much of the make-up of the “beast” described in the book of Revelation.

As addiction to law is expanded to smother out the last few remaining pockets of “heart-livers” on the earth, it will be asserted that its long-promised goal of a perfect society under law is almost within reach. In the urgency to rush to the finish line it will be decided that the last remaining holdouts who have chosen to prioritize living from their heart and placing their allegiance in God instead of law must be eliminated from society so that there will be no dissenters to the grand utopia of perfection under law. Since force is the foundation for the counterfeit trinity of law, kingship and economics, then force is the logical means to accomplish its perfection. This is the final deception that is fast closing its last few loopholes in its final push to rule over the whole earth.

We can see the outline of this development in current politics and war, the caustic tone of the media and the blind obsession for fame and money permeating nearly everything and everyone around us. The unholy trinity is not just a theory through which one can interpret history, it is a powerful reality that fully intends to lock the whole world and every last person into its vice grip by either deception or force. The book of Revelation prophecies that anyone who refuses to submit to its demands will be evicted from its benefits by being cut off economically in the earth. “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.” (Revelation 13:16-17 NIV)

While there are many beliefs about what constitutes the various elements of this important prophecy, it is absolutely true that this prophecy is about to be realized. Notice the element of force. This is the trademark of the unholy trinity, the counterfeit government set up in opposition to God's way of relating to His people under the family model. Also note the two options presented under the system of accepting “the mark”. You can have the name in your forehead, which is fully embracing internally the identity emanating from this beast, or you can have the number, which implies the idea of living by formulas in place of living from the heart and being led by the Spirit.

At this point many people may immediately exit onto a sidetrack of arguing about what constitutes the correct interpretation of these words thereby missing the whole point here. In fact, they will jump into their favorite formula and quote their favorite authors to prove their correctness and justify their conclusions. But is this not a demonstration of more formula-based living and thinking? I'm not suggesting there is no right or wrong way to look at this most important passage. What I am saying is that the spirit with which we come to it may be even more of a problem than the conclusions that we end up with. It may be the classic example of desperately looking everywhere for the cause of our distorted vision while ignoring the lenses we are looking through which are the cause of the distortion.

He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant-- not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6 NIV)

It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63 NRSV)

But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:6 NIV)