Let us now go on to see how two different kinds of people dealt with the law. These two kinds of people are the loving seekers of God (Matt. 22:36-38) and the letter-keepers of the law, the Judaizers. Of those who lovingly sought God, let us consider the experience of the psalmists in the Old Testament and that of Simeon and Anna in the New Testament.
According to the book of Psalms, the psalmists loved the law to the uttermost. Some may teach that the law is something negative, but the psalmists treasured the law. For years I was bothered by this fact. I even somewhat belittled the law in the book Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms,where I pointed out the contrast between the law in Psalm 1 and Christ in Psalm 2. I still believe that it is correct to make a contrast between the law in letters and Christ. If we love the law apart from Christ, we have missed the mark. However, it is right to love the law as a testimony of God and as a type of Christ. Let us now consider a number of passages from the Psalms which indicate how the psalmists dealt with God’s law.
The psalmists loved God. Psalm 18:1 says, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.” In 73:25 we have the testimony of one who loved God absolutely: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.” The writer of this psalm loved God to such an extent that neither in heaven nor on earth did he have anyone besides God Himself.
The psalmists were also those who sought God. Psalm 42:1 and 2 say, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” The writer of this psalm was thirsty for God, seeking Him as a hart panting for water. Psalm 43:4 shows how the psalmist sought God as his exceeding joy, and 119:2 and 10, how he sought God with his whole heart.
In Psalm 27:4 we see the psalmist’s desire to dwell with God: “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” The psalmist longed to dwell in God’s house all his life. A similar desire is expressed in 84:1-7. Those who read these verses are sure to be impressed by the sweetness of dwelling with God. Psalm 90:1 declares, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” Once again, we see the psalmist’s desire to dwell with God and even in God. The same desire is expressed in 91:1, where the psalmist declares, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” We see in these verses something beyond caring for the letter of the law. The psalmist aspired to dwell in the secret place of God’s presence. Those who have such an aspiration will certainly be infused with the element of God.
Psalm 27:4 also expresses the longing of the psalmists to behold the Lord’s beauty. To behold the Lord’s beauty is to see Him face to face. The same longing is found in 105:4: “Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore.”