By nature all mankind is married to the Law of God. Each and every time man transgresses against their husband [the Law] it accuses them unto the Father and they are set for destruction under the condemning eye of their husband the Law. We may identify the Law in this case as the adversary of all unsaved flesh because it is their opposition and condemning opponent.

In these verses, “Word” and “Moses” is a description of the Law of God. It is by the Law, which knows no mercy whatsoever, only Justice and perfect obedience, which accuses all that offend. Mankind, simply by their nature, is enmity and offensive to God.

Once unsaved man, who is initially married to the Law, is slain by the Law, according to Romans 7:11, they die, so as to be able to be married to another. That other is none other than the Husband, Jesus Christ. It is by being married to Christ that the condemning power of the Law no longer has any jurisdiction over the regenerate soul. The elect are DEAD to the Law.

What then have we concluded?

Firstly, the Law of God is Holy and Perfect. It is a transcript of Who and What God is.

Secondly, the Law is an enemy to all unrighteous mankind.

Thirdly, it is mankind’s accuser and a great adversary.

Fourthly, we can also identify the law as a great taskmaster without any mercy whatsoever from Galatians 3:24.

Fifthly, we may understand that the Law brings unsaved man into hard bondage and taunts man for man cannot and will not obey the Law. The Apostle allegoricalizes these truths in Galatians 4:31.

Sixthly, we have also seen how natural man outside of regeneration is married to the Law of God which only can condemn the adulterous bride. Yet, by the Grace of God, the Lord uses the Law to slay us in our conscience. Then, crying out for forgiveness, Christ takes us to be His Bride, having therefore no longer any condemnation by His blood Atonement.

Seventhly, we must understand from Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2 that the Law’s condemning power, in commandments and ordinances, were crucified with and by Christ, is now blotted out upon Calvary’s Tree. AS John Calvin once put it, the Law was given a mortal head wound upon the Cross.

The Eighth point to be noted is that upon our regeneration we are no longer under this condemnation for we are now Dead to it’s Condemning Jurisdiction.

Let us now lay down another principal Doctrine concerning truth.

All too often the sinfulness of man likens the doctrine of being dead to the Law as a license to do anything which their lust dictates. The fact of the matter is that although we are set at liberty from the condemning force of the Law, we are made captive to the Law of the Spirit of Christ. This compels us by the indwelling Spirit of God to DO WHAT IS RIGHT ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF GOD. Therefore, for all true saints, the Bible is the authoritative rule of both Life and Faith. Our consciences are captive to God’s Truth and His directives are our delights.

The Psalmist Speaks of this in Psalm 119:24

We also must establish that all of the work of Christ is couched in language of battle. It may not be evident in the New Testament books but it is more than dramatic in all of the Old Covenant reading and accounts. A superficial reading of Exodus chapter 15 will establish this doctrinal fact. The battle against sin and death is seen as a Great War with Christ as both warrior and victor.

Here we have a direct and dramatic identifying verse. This verse identifies the whole of God’s word, the Bible as the book of the Wars of the LORD.

Consider Psalm 45:3-5

Herein is language of war.

We also see this language in Psalm 2. Here we have set before us a complete overview of all the nations who know not God gathered together in a rage against both the LORD and His Anointed, the Lord Christ. David lays out before us a commander’s view of the armies of the world set against the LORD Himself. Psalm 2 is directly paralleled to Revelation chapter 12 where again we see the great battle set before us in metaphoric language.

As we study the Scriptures further, we begin to see that not only are the battles of God spoken of clearly as the Battles in which the LORD Himself fights, as in Exodus 15, Psalm 45, and Revelation 12, but all of the battles which are recorded for us in the historical context are also pointing to the Spiritual Battles of the Lord as well. The Historical accounts of Abraham, the Battle of the Kings, the battles of the Israelites in the Book of Judges, the Battles of the Judges, Saul, David, and all of the wars of Scripture are all pointing to a spiritual aspect of the Wars of the LORD. Therefore, we may conclude that in all of the historical accounts of battle, we may see something of the Battles of Christ against all that is enmity against God.

Furthermore, all these battle accounts deal with aspects of Salvation. For instance, in Psalm 45 we also read of war.

Here we see that the Sword is girded upon the Thigh of the Lord. The Sword is the Word of God and it is this Word, Commandment or LAW, which pierces the soul asunder.

There can be little doubt as to the identity of the Sword of God. It is the Word of God. All this is the language of war.

All this is the art of the Battle and the strategies of Warfare.

Herein we read adjectives such as wrestle, and fight. Here, in the Bible, we learn of the mastery of weapons and campaigns of generals and warriors. Herein we read of slaughter and victories;

of the Bow and of the Spear. We read of the captives and the liberated, the spoil and the plunder, the threshing instruments and the armed men with breastplates of iron. The fact is, that there is little in the Bible which does not relate to war and battles.

The question remain however, against who is this battle fought?

We must examine this in the light of the Scriptures and upon a number of fronts.

Firstly, the Battle is against all unrighteousness. Psalm 2 defines the characters in the setting who are arrayed for war. They are unregenerate men and God. None else. Not angels nor devils. Just man and God.

Consider again Psalm 45:5

The Great Hunter and Rider is none other than Christ. The Sword is the Word of God. The King is none other than God the Father, and the Arrows are sometimes used as a picture of the Word of God or the saints of God as they bring the Law and Word of God to convict a soul of sin.

The man here is Christ. He is the mighty man who has His quiver full of all His ambassadors who are here likened to arrows.

In Psalm 38 we see that the sons of men are those who crucified the Lord and brought upon Him much grief and shame. These also are a picture of all the elect for whom Christ died. We are here again called arrows.

Yet there is another use of the word arrow. It is to depict the false witness of the wicked. I must again state here that this in many regards depicts also the elect who are at best, in and of themselves, false witnesses.

What does God do to those with a sharp tongue of falsity? This question is asked in Psalm 120:3 and answered in verse 4.

The Answer: Verse 4

The principle is, whenever a soul uses the Word of God unto condemnation of another in a deceitful bitter and wicked fashion, they are to have that same arrow of the Law of God pierce into their own soul. These that live by the sword, die by it as well. And here in verse 4 we see the adding of coals of fire. This commandment of heaping coals upon the head is a commandment to heap the Law of God upon the head of the ungodly, that they may be CONVICTED as to their wretchedness, and turn unto the Living God. This is a command of mercy. This principle is shown very carefully in Proverbs 25:21-22

This is repeated in the New Testament in Romans 12:28.

Yet the question is, “who is the enemy?”

The enemy is us. We are those who were counted as enemies BEFORE REGENERATION. We are the enemies and kings who God shoots the arrows into.

There are however, souls who will remain enemies for all time and throughout all eternity. There is this aspect in view, as well by implication, in many of these verses. Yet, for the most part, we must see the enemies of Christ as those who are the elect before Salvation and who will be brought into the Kingdom at last as reconciled sinners.

There is another aspect of the enemy of mankind. As shown forth in Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2, it is the Law of God that poses the greatest threat to all of mankind. Herein is the great enemy of unregenerate man. It is the Sword [Law] of God as depicted in Ezekiel 33 that will come upon the land as a great enemy of the people if a proper watchman and trumpet blower be not set up. This watchman of course is the Lord Himself.

When we begin to understand God, we must see Him as the enemy of all that is unholy. He is against all that is unrighteous. What is needed for us to grasp is that God does not take a neutral posture against sin, but rather an active posture against that which is not of Righteousness. He stands ready to defend all that is Holy by actively standing as an adversary against all that is unholy. God, by virtue of His Being, cannot remain passive in the face of sin. This would mean He somehow condoned it, and God cannot condone any one sin; otherwise, He would cease to be God. The scriptures identify His posture against that which is not pure with words such as: against, enemy, conflict, adversary, lusted against, and contrary. This is the position God takes in the face of sin. One of the most dramatic verses in the Scripture is found in Numbers 22:22.

The Hebrew word here for adversary is the word sawtawn (07854) which is the word satan. This is the exact same word as the name Satan that is used throughout the Old Testament. Here the scriptures themselves testify that the Angel of the LORD, who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ is the RIGHTEOUS Adversary standing against a wicked unrighteous adversary of Holiness. The word sawtwan also can mean, the one who withstands, resists or opposes. Now in the context we see that this makes perfect sense.

Because the Spirit of God indwells the saints, and the Law of Liberty has set them free from the bondage of sin, the inward desire of God’s people is to do good and to eschew (turn from) evil. Yet, there is a pragmatic and real problem present in each of the saints. Sin is powerful and ever assaulting the children of the Gospel. And to this real assault, there is no escape in this life. Theirs is a constant wrestling against that which is evil, which wars against them constantly. This evil is of a fleshly nature, which comes from the corrupt, natural Adamic old man. In fact, it is this flesh, as it is metaphorically termed, which is the cause for all lust and temptation.

“And my temptation, which was in my flesh, ye despised not nor rejected...”