The positive function of the God-given law was, on the one hand, to keep the chosen people of God in custody for fifteen hundred years, and, on the other hand, to provide them with a child-conductor.
God caused the law to be the child-conductor of His chosen people in order to lead them to Christ (Gal. 3:24). In the original language, child-conductor means escort, guardian, custodian, one who cares for a child under age and conducts him to the schoolmaster. The law was used by God as a custodian, a guardian, a child-conductor, to watch over His chosen people before Christ came, and to escort and conduct them to Christ when He did come. For example, the prophet Simeon and the prophetess Anna, having been taught by the law, looked and waited for Christ and were thus led to Christ (Luke 2:25-26, 36-38); God’s chosen people, and John the Baptist in particular, also looked and waited for Christ, proving that they all were under the instruction of the law (Luke 3:15; 7:19).
God caused the law to be the child-conductor of His chosen people. Therefore, on the one hand, they were taught by the law to look and wait for Christ. On the other hand, when the devout ones among them did their best to keep the law, they realized their impotence, shortage, and failures, because they committed sins through their deeds (Psa. 51:2-4) and had the sin that they inherited by birth in their nature (Psa. 51:5); hence, they presented the offerings, which typify Christ, to receive God’s forgiveness. By presenting the trespass offering (which signifies Christ bearing the sins of the people and receiving God’s judgment on the cross on behalf of man, thus dealing with the sins in man’s actions—1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18), they received forgiveness for their sinful deeds (Lev. 5:1-19; Isa. 53:5-6, 10-11). Moreover, by presenting the sin offering (which signifies Christ being made sin on behalf of man and causing sin to be condemned through His death on the cross, thus dealing with the sin in man’s nature—2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:3), they received God’s forgiveness for their nature (Lev. 4:1-35). Therefore, as the child-conductor of God’s chosen people, the law also led them to obtain God’s forgiveness through the offerings.
The law also led the devout ones in the Old Testament to come before God to contact Him and thereby enjoy all His riches through the tabernacle and the temple, both of which typify Christ (John 1:14; 2:21). This matter is revealed and portrayed especially in the Psalms. The psalmists were devout people who were instructed by the law and who were forgiven by God through the offerings. Because they loved God (Psa. 18:1), sought God (Psa. 42:1-2), loved the habitation of God’s house and the place where His glory dwelt (Psa. 26:8, Heb.), and longed to be with God and to behold His beauty (Psa. 27:4), they were infused with the riches of God in God’s house (Psa. 52:8). They were planted in the house of Jehovah, they flourished in the courts of God, they brought forth fruits, and they were full of sap and green (Psa. 92:13-14, Heb.). Furthermore, they were abundantly satisfied with the fatness of His house, and they drank of the river of His pleasures, enjoying His riches (Psa. 36:8-9).
The psalmists considered the law of God to be the living word of God (Exo. 34:28). As revealed in Psalm 119, they believed in the word (v. 66), chose it (v. 30), loved it (vv. 47-48, 97), tasted it (v. 103), rejoiced in it (v. 14), sang it, praised it (v. 54), sought it (vv. 45, 94), longed for it (vv. 20, 40), hoped in it (vv. 43, 74), and trusted in it (v. 42). Therefore, through the living word of God they were enlightened (v. 135); they received the life supply, the enlivening, and the quickening (vv. 25, 50); they were watered by the word (Psa. 1:3); and they received other blessings, such as restoration (Psa. 19:7a), deliverance (119:41), strength (v. 28), comfort (v. 76), nourishment (v. 103), upholding (v. 117), and safeguarding. Moreover, they enjoyed God as their portion (v. 57); they had knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and discernment (vv. 66, 98-100); they were preserved from sin (v. 11), from stumbling (v. 165, Heb.), and from every evil way (v. 101); their footsteps were established; and they were made the overcoming saints (v. 133).
The New Testament clearly indicates that God’s original intention was to deal with His chosen people according to grace and not according to law.