God has been progressively revealing Himself to mankind in ways that would bless us the most. God first introduced Himself to Moses by calling Himself “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). This phrase in Hebrew should be more accurately translated, “I will be what I will be” or as Rotherham translates it, “I will become whatsoever I may become.”
God’s name in Exodus 3:14 is an idiom, an expression that has a meaning that cannot be understood by the individual words. God wanted to assure Moses and Israel that God would become what they would need Him to become. In using the words “I AM THAT I AM,” God used an expression to reveal to Moses a promise and pledge found in His name.
Thus, when the Israelites were delivered out from Egypt, God gave them detailed laws, ordinances, typical sacrifices, and arrangements to teach these previously enslaved peoples God’s principles of love and justice. The Law of God as expressed through the “Law of Moses” helped Israel to appreciate these foundational principles.
Those Jews who learned and embraced God’s or Moses’s Law were prepared to receive Jesus as their Messiah. They were ready to be enlightened to a grander aspect of God’s plan that went beyond the Law Covenant.
As Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28 (NKJV).
Jesus was revealing that God wanted more than mere outward obedience, but God wanted us to love each other as ourselves. Furthermore, followers of Jesus are to love each other even more than ourselves. We are to be willing to die for each other. 1 John 3:14, 16 (NKJV), “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. … we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
Jesus instructed, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another,” (John 13:34 NKJV). This command reveals a deeper understanding of God’s Law. And with this deeper understanding, Jesus opened the heavenly calling. The call to deny self-will and to suffer for righteousness will transform our characters into Christ-likeness. Thus a new reward to receive a heavenly resurrection was opened.
God reveals Himself in a progressive manner. As faithful Jews learned to love and internalize Moses’s Law, they become ready to understand the broader meaning of the Law of Love. There is no contradiction between “Moses’s Law” and God’s Law. There is a broadening of understanding, and with that new understanding comes new opportunities.