I step into the dimly lit room. A reverent hush restrains those gathered there. We all have the same objective – to witness the Dead Sea Scrolls on display at the Reagan Presidential Library.
The focal point of the display is the Ten Commandments – the oldest existing copy. It dates to the years just before Jesus was born. Archeologists discovered this particular fragment in the 1950’s. When I step up to the display, I am startled by the awe that sweeps over me. What gripped me wasn’t the physical object or the ancient Hebrew script, but the enduring truths conveyed by it through the centuries.
These “ten words” form the basis of God’s moral law. As valuable as they are for living the good life today, Jesus showed us their eternal purpose. Speaking to hostile religious leaders He said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39).
How does God’s moral law point to Jesus? It reveals a demand you cannot meet and a debt you cannot pay, even if you try. There are no celestial scales in which you can counterbalance your bad choices by trying harder to keep the Ten Commandments. Paul writes, “By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Rom. 3:20).
Jesus intensifies the problem in His Sermon on the Mount. “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). But nobody’s perfect, right? Grasping that dilemma, you realize why the Scriptures testify about a perfect Savior who sets you right with God and gives you eternal life. Tim Keller writes, “God’s grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior.”
God’s moral law pushes us toward the Jesus solution. “The Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24). That is the eternal purpose of God’s moral law. By faith, Christ reconciles you to God “in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach” (Col. 1:22). When Christ makes you blameless, it is as though you have kept the Ten Commandments perfectly. For the believer, they are essentially ten promises. You live by a new identity – that of Christ. “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:17).
A commemorative gift to Reagan is on display at the Library. It bears the inscription, “Good deeds bring a man immortality.” That’s a common misconception. I’ll stick with Jesus, God’s grace, and the ten promises.