“So the Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our own good always and for our survival, as it is today. And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to follow all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.” (Deuteronomy 6:24-25 NASB)
That was then, before the cross.
Those God called, “stubborn” had a lesson to learn. You cannot be righteous that way. They all failed except for those who fell before God’s mercy.
This is now, after the resurrection.
We still have those who struggle trying to be right before God. The Jews failed trying to follow all the rules, and so will the Gentiles. We are meant to follow Christ, and worship God for His great mercy.
As I was writing this post I thought of the Jehovah Witnesses and others religions who fail to recognize who Christ is and receive the Father’s mercy. Endless labor without the assurance of salvation, or lives spent pretending to be worthy, how sad. Obedience to the will of God begins by faith in what He has accomplished for you.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” (John 3:16-18 NASB)
His Family Table 