Because we are sons of God according to the law of life and the anointing, we are God’s people. God is our God according to the law of life and the anointing. In ancient times, God called His people, the children of Israel, out from among the Gentiles and gave them the law. God was their God and they were His people according to the outward law of letters. If they were right with the law, then they were right with God. Since the people went astray from the law, the prophets came in. Hence, the Old Testament is composed of the law and the prophets.
The law corresponds to God’s unchanging nature. For time and eternity, God’s nature will remain the same. Although the law does not change, the prophets do change. A prophet of God may tell you one thing today and the opposite thing tomorrow. If you consult a prophet about going to a certain place today, he may say that it is all right to go, but if you ask him the same question tomorrow, he may tell you not to go. God is living. As the living God, He is the highest Person, having the full right to tell us one thing today and another thing tomorrow. Due to this, the word of the prophet may change. The law is according to God’s nature, but the prophets are according to God’s activity, God’s move. God may want you to stay where you are today, but tomorrow He may want you to go elsewhere. The law is always the same for everyone. For example, the law commands you to honor your parents. God will never tell you to honor your parents today and then command you to hate them tomorrow. No, the law remains constant. However, if you read the Old Testament, you will see that the prophets differ from one another. In ancient times, God was a God to His people according to the law and the prophets, and God’s people were a people to Him also according to the law and the prophets.
What do we have in the New Testament which corresponds to the law and the prophets in the Old Testament? For the law, we have the law of life, and for the prophets, we have the anointing. Today, God is our God according to the inner law of life and according to the anointing, and we are His people according to the inner law of life and according to the anointing. The inner law of life corresponds to God’s nature, and the anointing corresponds to God’s move. The law of life always remains the same. As far as the law of life is concerned, there is no change either with you or with others. If you attempt to go to a movie tonight, the inner law will forbid you. It will also forbid you tomorrow and at any other time. The anointing, however, may change. Tonight the anointing may not allow you to go to the department store, but tomorrow the anointing may encourage you to go. While the law of life will never allow you to buy a fancy lamp, the anointing may or may not allow you to go to the department store. Furthermore, the anointing may permit one brother to go shopping, but it may forbid another brother to do the same thing. By this we see that the anointing changes. If I intend to speak to you in a condemning way, the law of life will always say, “No, don’t do that.” But whether or not I should speak on Hebrews in the meeting tonight depends on the anointing. Tonight the anointing may encourage me to speak on Hebrews for forty-five minutes, but in the next meeting the anointing may say, “Don’t speak anything in this meeting. Be at rest.” By all these examples we see that the law remains the same but the anointing constantly changes. It is according to this law and this anointing that we are a people to God and God is a God to us. How different this is from religion! Here there are no outward regulations, forms, rituals, or controls. There is only the law of life and the anointing.
Approximately fourteen years ago, I was invited to the home of a Jewish brother in New York. His background was that of a typical orthodox Jew. He told me that the orthodox Jews do everything according to a verse in the Old Testament. When they go to bed at night, they must even place their shoes in a certain direction according to a verse in the Old Testament. They are very “scriptural” and religious. There are many regulations among them, but no life. These orthodox Jews think that they are the people of God and that God is their God according to their religion. Actually, God is far away from them. He is not their God and they are not His people according to their way. But today God is our God according to the law of life and the anointing.