Romans 3:19-20:
(19) Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; (20) because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
Over a thousand years before this was written a man named Moses approached God in Exodus 33:18 and asked God to show him His glory. God told Moses he would make all His goodness pass in front of Moses, but God said in Exodus 33:20
(20) But He said, You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!
So God hid Moses in the cleft of a rock so Moses could see Him, but not His face. There are several other times in the Old Testament where people thought they may have seen the Father and they panicked thinking they would die. The reason people would die is because God is perfect, holy, and righteous – He can not be in the presence of sin. Man would have to be perfect in order to stand before the Father, and this just isn’t possible.
God desired for man to follow after His ways and be holy, and man was given a choice in the matter. God instituted the Law to protect man from himself, and even without the written Law God put it in the heart of every person. For a time God required animal sacrifice for atonement, but the whole process was more of a pointing to repentance and a desire to continually pick oneself up and follow after God. The animal sacrifice itself was not magical and helped you stop sinning – man would continue to go on and sin, and then have to approach God again and make atonement. This atonement was incomplete.
The law was not to weigh man down or burden him, but to help man make good decisions in life so that man would be in fellowship with God, and see the goodness of God. The law though was never intended to save man, free man, or help man become more “righteous”; in fact, when it is used this way man becomes overwhelmed, burdened, and enslaved. The law was designed to make man conscience of sin, and to point to a way of redemption; the law was always intended to point people to Christ. Even in the Old Testament you will find prophets understanding there was more than the law, and there were numerous prophecies of the Christ who would be the lamb without blemish.
In the next post we will take a look at the Law specifically, as everyone who chooses not to accept Christ for who He is will be judged by that to determine their standing before God. You either have Christ or you are choosing to be judged by the law.