Following the Rules

   Some people think that the Bible is just a bunch of rules. "Do this, do that," or "don't do this, don't do that," is how many people view Christianity. The first five books of the Old Testament - the Torah - contain (by many estimates) 613 laws. These rules covered everything from sacrifices and cleansing rituals to family life and foreign relations. There was a rule for almost everything. Many people assume that Christianity is like Old Testament Judaism. But not even Old Testament Judaism was about rules.

   When Hezekiah became king of Judah at the age of twenty-five, he was replacing a ruler who, like many other Old Testament kings, was not a godly one. King after king in Judah's royal line ruled in defiance of God and His ways. But things would be different with Hezekiah. As soon as he sat on the throne he began sweeping reforms to wipe out idolatry and to reaffirm Judah's allegiance to God and God alone. The Bible tells us that Hezekiah

"trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following Him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him" (2 Kings 18:5-7).

Judah had a revival. The people were excited to be returning to the God of their fathers, and they were ready to be ceremonially cleansed for the celebration of the Passover. However, the time set to celebrate the Passover was quickly approaching, and there would not be time for all of the people to be made clean before the Passover began. Hezekiah saw the impending problem: many people of Israel and Judah would want to partake of the Passover, but would not meet the requirement of being ceremonially clean. Hezekiah prayed:

"'May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness'". And next we read, "And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people" (2 Chronicles 30:18-20).

   During one of Jesus' many encounters with the strict rule-keeping Pharisees, He called them '"whitewashed tombs,"' a vivid word picture of a place without life yet decorated to look nice on the outside. In other words, the Pharisees were putting on a good show of serving God with their actions, but not with the attitudes of their hearts. For example, the Pharisees were so strict in their tithing that they even gave a tenth of their spices like mint and cumin, yet they were neglecting the more important matters such as justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Jesus told them, "'So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness'" (Matthew 23:28; see also Matthew 23:23-24). When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, the Pharisees reprimanded Him for "working" on the Sabbath, as they focused on the letter of the law and completely missed the intent of it. Instead of kindly shepherding the people Israel, the Pharisees, as Israel's spiritual leaders, chose to impose more exacting rules on Israel than those that God required. Jesus taught that the Pharisees' rules did not help them gain eternal life - only a heart right with God gives that.
 
   The Israelites who ate the Passover during Hezekiah's reign had not followed all the rules. Yet they did right. The Pharisees rigidly calculated their every move in order to keep all 613 laws of the Torah. Yet they were the unwashed tombs. "The Lord says: 'These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men'" (Isaiah 29:13). Maybe we follow all the rules, but where do the allegiances of our heart lie? What is our heart attitude? Yes, there are rules, and they are meant to be followed, but the Bible is about so much more than that. "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8). God desires a humble spirit and a heart that seeks Him. No rule can duplicate a heart attitude. Christianity is not a religion of rules, because no matter how many rules we follow, "the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).