Mount Sinai is also called in the Scripture by another name: Horeb. Though the two names - Sinai and Horeb - refer to the same place, the etymology of the word Sinai is unknown, while Horeb means "dry ground". As I looked at those words in a Bible dictionary the other day, they seemed to leap from the page. I thought of Isaiah 53:2, where the Lord Jesus is said to grow up like a "root out of dry ground". What a dry ground God had provided through the Law of Moses! What stark contrast to the law given by Moses was the grace and truth that came by the Lord Jesus Christ! (John 1:17).

But there is another aspect of this that we need to consider: The Law is the place where the Root breaks through. And it is the dry ground of the law that provides the best background against which the Branch can stand out, easily seen and admired by all who look.

It is uncommon that the law is presented today in the preaching of the Gospel, yet the law was the tool designed by God to bring men to the Gospel. Romans 3:19-20 states:

"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin."

Note that Paul states that the purpose of the law is not to bring salvation. No man will ever stand just before God by means of the law of Moses.

This does not, however, mean that the law has no purpose. The principle purpose of the law is to shut men's mouths, to leave all the world clearly and manifestly guilty before God.

It is not for nothing that the law was written in stone. When I compare my behavior to others, I am using an elastic yardstick and a subjective application. I judge others by their actions, while I judge myself by my motives - or the motives I claim. I am the final verdict on my own behavior and therefore have no difficulty finding myself "Not guilty." This is what Proverbs 21:2 means when it tells us, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts." When, however, I am forced to look at the law of God, written inviolably in stone, my self-congratulations fade and my self-justification vanishes like smoke in the wind.

Paul tells us in this passage that all the world, every man, woman and child, is under the law. He also tells us that the law brings the knowledge of sin. We note that he does not say "sins" only, though that would also be true. The first work of the law is to show us our deficient behavior - our sins. Sins are incorrect actions which can be numbered and listed. When first we encounter the law of Moses, we are made uncomfortable because we see that our actions fall short of God's requirements. We purpose to do better, to change, to be more careful. This is the knowledge of sins.

As time passes, however, something begins to happen. We fail in our purpose to improve. We decide to try harder and we fail again. We become discouraged, then strengthen ourselves with new resolve to keep the law, to obey the Ten Commands. And yet, we still fail.

We discover that while, with our mind, we serve the law of God, we agree that it is correct and true and just, we find another law working in our members, a law that is contrary to the law of God. The good that we want to do we don't do, but the evil we don't want, that´s the very thing we do! We delight in the law of God mentally, but we find that there is that other law warring against the law of our mind and pulling us in the opposite direction: into captivity. The discovery that we cannot keep the law, the discovery that there is something deeply wrong in our very nature, is the discovery of sin. Sin (singular) speaks of a nature, something in us much deeper than our behavior. And coming to a knowledge of sin leads inevitably to the realization that there is nothing, absolutely nothing which we can do to save ourselves. When Paul expresses the horror of this reality, he puts it this way:

"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

Gone are the cries of "What shall I do?" "How can I manage?" "Which program or method or experience do I need?" The 'what' and 'how' and 'which' have become 'Who?' as the law has brought us to the end of believing we have the resources to save ourselves.

That is the work of the law! It shuts our mouths in our self-satisfied opining and brings us to the realization that we are in desperate need of a Saviour!

Again, it's the Apostle Paul that reminds us who the law is for:

"But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." (1 Timothy 1:8-11).

The law is good, is the good and adequate and correct tool when it is used legitimately. The legitimate use of the law is its application, not to the man who is righteous, justified by faith in Christ, but to the lost, the man who is outside of Christ. Paul clearly follows the Decalogue here, naming the commandments by their antithesis. The law is designed to make men confront their own sin. It has no power in itself to save, but it shows men the problem and, by contrast, shines the light on the Gospel of glory.

The law shows men their sin. The Gospel shows men the glory of God.

But to see clearly, to even look for or be cognizant of the glory of God, it is necessary first to see our own lack of glory, our helplessness and need.

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 we read a summary of what the Gospel is:

"...that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures"

For someone to understand the personal significance of the Good News, that person must understand that he or she is a sinner, and to understand what sin is, the tool God has provided is His law, written in stone. Thus it is that Paul said to the Gentile churches in the region of Galatia that "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Gal. 3:24).

Acts 17:30 says that God "now commands all men every where to repent." In Acts 20:21 we are told that Paul preached "to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Luke 24:46-48 presents us with some of the final words of the Lord Jesus before His ascension:

"Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

In each of these, repentance is set forth as an integral response to the message of the Gospel. Yet how will a person know what to repent of, if we do not lay out the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, that they might see their sins?

When God desired to give to the children of Israel a picture of the living water which the brokeness of Christ makes available, He did so at Horeb, the very "dry ground" where the law had first been given (Ex. 17). Just as the Root is best seen when it comes up in dry ground, the water is best appreciated where there is thirst. As we explain the Good News to others, we need to be certain they understand their sin and their desperate need for a Saviour, and the legitimate tool for that is the law of Moses, designed to show forth the glorious gospel of the blessed God.