The Law of Liberty - Malachi 4:4

Malachi 4:4 (ESV)

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.”

God’s final words to Israel through Malachi are to remember the Law of Moses. The command to remember is followed by a promise to restore families and prosperity. The promise is a fulfillment of the Abrahamic and Mosaic Covenants. Israel’s health and prosperity as a nation was dependent on obedience to the covenant of Moses. To remember is not only to recall cognitively, but to recall and obey. For New Testament believers who are under the New Covenant, blessing comes not from remembering the law of Moses, but from remembering the perfect law of liberty. “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (Jas 1:25).

The Perfect Law of Liberty is connected to what James calls the Royal Law which is to love one another (Jas 2:8). The Perfect Law has to do with our identity in Christ. When Israel neglected to obey the law of Moses there were consequences. When New Testament Believers neglect or forget their identity in Christ there are consequences. Loving God and Loving others are the natural fruit of our identity in Christ. Selfishness, judgmentalism, hypocritical religiosity, and unwholesome and damaging speech are evidence that we have forgotten who we are in Christ. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior and look toward a New Year, may we never forget who we are. Just as Israel was to remember who she was in her covenantal relationship with God, and just as Israel was to be a light to the nations, so may we as believers remember we are now in Christ. May that truth reflect the truth and glory of Jesus Christ to a dark world.