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. (v. 25)

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (v. 5)

You shall fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. (v. 13)

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)

God has been teaching His people by His words and works throughout history. And Israel’s history teaches the churches today what God has truly intended from the beginning.

The Israelites were promised blessings if they kept the law. The law required them to love and fear God. But we all know very well that we cannot love someone out of fear. Neither can we make ourselves love someone by our will and effort.

It is Moses who gave the Israelites the law and was the mediator of the old covenant. Moses could not enter the promised land because he was bound to the old covenant. He was the representative of the conditional covenant. The conditional covenant requires faith, not just works shown outside.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Since you did not trust in Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, for that reason you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12)

It was not that God did not love Moses. But what happened in the wilderness taught the Israelites and still teaches about the Messiah who would free them from sin and punishment. Jesus Christ did not need to obey the law perfectly to give us righteousness. If so, our righteousness would still be tied to the law. He came to change our status from slaves to children of God. Obeying God’s commandments requires a change of a person, a new heart.

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Verse 25 tells us that the old covenant was given for us to understand why the new covenant is different from the old. Righteousness depending on our works is impossible and perishable. Righteousness from faith given by God is eternal because God gives us faith. God gave us the Son and the Spirit. Once declared righteous, we are eternally righteous before God. This righteousness is not from works of the law but from God. Only God is righteous. If God declares that this one and that one are born in Zion, they are children of God. Verse 25 was given so that we would understand why the old covenant must be replaced by the new.

The LORD will count when He registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah (Psalm 87:6)

One thing we need to bear in mind is that Moses was required to have complete trust in God. Does that mean faith has been the real condition for salvation? Moses hit the rock twice at Meribah and God was angry with Moses. Moses could not enter the promised land because of what he did. We all know that the promised land symbolizes the kingdom of God. Can any saint lose salvation based on his/her faith?

Whether the law or faith, salvation does not depend on a condition. It is easy to think that one must have faith in God to be saved. But we know that the new covenant is completely unconditional and grace is total and absolute grace.

Apostle Paul understood that faith is useless without love. Faith without love is not true faith. He concluded that love is what God wants. Many think that faith makes them righteous as if it is a condition for justification. It is not a condition but a feature of a reborn person. It is a work of the Holy Spirit. The children of God trust that our Father will fulfill all the promises written in the Bible. Those promises lead us to the kingdom of God, where its foundation is love.

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:8-13)