God established the Old Covenant with the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai, and in that covenant God promised to bless Israel with great physical blessings if they kept the law.

Deut 28:2,4,7
2 "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:
4 "Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
7 "The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. (NKJ)

If anyone broke the law, they were to be deported or expelled from Jewish society.

Num 15:30-31
30 'But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people.
31 'Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.'" (NKJ)

God had already established that standard when He gave the sign of circumcision to Abraham.

Gen 17:14
14 "And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant." (NKJ)

Jewish society was to be a testimony to the nations of the world concerning the glory of God’s righteousness, but God never promised them eternal life in return for keeping the law. God knew that the law would prove to be a burden they would not be able to bear. It was given to prove that man can not live up to God’s perfect standard of righteousness.

The Apostle Paul proved from the Old Testament scriptures that God’s standard for eternal salvation had always been faith.

Rom 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." (NKJ)

The Bible declares that God allowed the nation of Israel to be defeated by the Babylonians because they had broken God’s law, but those who had faith in God did not lose their salvation. Daniel and Ezekiel proved that point when their relationship with God flourished even in the spiritual desert of Babylon. They could not offer the sacrifices required by the law, but their faith sustained them.

When the Jews returned from Babylon to the promised land, they were dedicated to the ideals of the law. But as time went on, their dedication to the law resulted in a society that suffered under the oppression of its religious leaders because its religious leaders had no spiritual relationship with God. The Pharisees and the Sadducees established a society in which the people had to submit to their traditions or be cut off from society. Those who refused to submit were called “sinners” and were social and economic outcasts. Furthermore, any one who failed to treat them as outcasts was labeled as a “sinner” and treated accordingly.

This set the stage for Jesus Christ to enter the world, offer His blood as the sin offering, and make possible the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit set the world free from the bondage of the law.

Rom 8:3-4
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (NKJ)

Write me at: jimjoan77@juno.com

Church links:
http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/
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http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/