Wars of this world are inherently lawless, people behave wildly in war and commit various crimes during such times. However, there are international laws which regulate conditions of war and the conduct of the belligerents (warring parties). Such laws include The 1925 Geneva protocol and the 1945 United Nations Charter.
Modern laws of war prohibit the attack of people who are parachuting from an aircraft in distress regardless of what territory they are over. The 1949 Geneva Conventions outlaws firing at a person or vehicle bearing a white flag, as it signifies an intent to surrender or a desire to communicate. Attacks on ambulances and doctors which display logos of humanitarian organisations related to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are forbidden.
When the war comes to an end, those who breached the laws of war may be held individually accountable for war crimes. Such violators are known as unlawful combatants. In 2019 Bosco Ntaganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of 18 counts of war crimes against humanity and sentenced to a total of 30 years of imprisonment.
In this spiritual war between good and evil, there are sets of laws which govern our conduct. We just don't live and fight anyhow but we have laws which regulate our conduct. Just like in this world were unlawful combatants are brought before the courts to be tried for their offences, Satan and those who break the law of God shall be judged.
The Commander-In-Chief and His commandments
The supreme commander of the armed forces of an entire country is known as a Commander in Chief and in this spiritual war that we are in, God is our Commander-In-Chief. He gave us the Ten Commandments. Commanders are very knowledgeable people with regards to war tactics, when they give orders to their juniors it is for the good of the juniors to follow these instructions. At the time of giving the instruction, the order might not make sense to the juniors but it is for their good to follow it. That's why soldiers are taught to obey orders.
When a commander tells you to take cover during a gunfire exchange, he is not trying to restrict your movement but he is seeking to protect you from getting harmed by the enemy’s bullets. If you decide to be disobedient and continue exposing yourself though you were told to take cover, you might get yourself killed.
When God gives us commandments on what to do and what not to do, it’s not like He is trying to restrict us but He wants to protect us. Some people think God Is a sadist who derives pleasure by giving us laws which take away our fun, but that's not true. God is actually there to take care of us and this He can fulfil through giving us laws to live by. When God says we must not steal, He is trying to protect us from going to jail. When He says you must not commit adultery, His goal is not to restrict you from having fun but He is trying to protect your marriage from collapsing and from the consequences of that sin. The commandments of God are there for our protection, they are not barricades to restrict our movement but are a guardrail to protect us from falling into dangerous things. That's why Apostle James calls it the law of liberty (read James 2:12), it is there to liberate us from things that can destroy us.
No commander of an army would want to go to war with juniors who are rebellious and don’t want to take orders. Such soldiers might even turn their guns against their fellows or commanders. Can you sincerely say that you are a child of God when you go against His commandments? Can you come out a victor in this war against evil when you do not follow what God the Commander in Chief says? Satan together with his angels were kicked out from the heavenly army because they disobeyed the law of God, what makes you think that you can go to the same heaven where Satan was kicked out by doing exactly what the devil did?
"Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' Matthew 7:21-23
Not everyone who claims to be on the Lord’s side will enter heaven but only those who do the will of God. Where do we find the will of God? It is found in His law for Psalms 40:8 says “I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart." Though some might be prophesying in the name of Jesus, casting out demons and doing many other miracles, Jesus will tell them to depart from Him because they practised lawlessness. They did not obey the law of God. A blessing is pronounced upon those who keep the commandments of God and they will be allowed to enter into paradise (Revelation 22:14)
The law as a mirror
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25
A person who looks into a mirror and immediately forgets what his face looks like, the Bible equates him to someone who hears the word of God and does not do it. There is something in the word of God which when one reads is like a person who is looking into a mirror and that something is explained further by the preceding scripture as the perfect law of liberty. The law of God is like a mirror which one can look into so that they can see how they look like.
Just imagine that your face has some dirt on it, you will need a mirror to be able to see that there is something wrong with your face. You need the law of God to show you where you have erred. Be that as it may, a mirror on its own is not able to remove the dirt that is on your face, its role is just to show you that you got dirt on your face. Indeed, the law cannot take away the dirt (sins) that we have, it’s just there to show you that you have committed adultery, you have stolen someone’s property but it cannot take away your sins. Though a mirror cannot make you clean, there is no need to be angry at it like many folks who are angry at the law because it exposes them. The role of the law is just to reveal to you the things you need to sort out in your life and afterwards you have to seek another power which will clean you of your filthiness.
After seeing that your face in the mirror is unclean, you will then need to look for water, soap and a towel to remove the filth. Afterwards, how can you be sure that you are now clean? You will need to go back to the mirror again, the same mirror that once told you that your face is dirty is the same mirror which can reveal that you are now clean.
The law of God is just like a mirror, it won't save you but will tell you that you have sinned. It is not its purpose to save you because Romans 3:20 says “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” No amount of law-keeping will make you justified in the eyes of God. The purpose of the law is to make you aware of what is sin. If you then want your sins to be cleaned, then you will need the blood of Jesus. Getting rid of the mirror will not solve the sin problem.
“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” 1 John 3:4
The Bible defines sin as breaking the law, so basically the law is there to reveal that you are about to sin or you have already sinned. Then the power to be able to overcome sin does not come from the law but comes from Jesus.
We cannot depend on our carnal judgement to determine whether something is right or wrong, sometimes yes our judgement can seem to be correct but not all the times. Even Proverbs 16:25 says “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Some things may seem right in our eyes yet the end of them is the way of death, so we need another standard to help us judge between right and wrong, and that other standard is the law of God.
Some professing believers then argue and say we are not obligated to keep the law, Jesus just tells us to love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself.
Jesus Himself said on John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” You can't claim to love Jesus and at the same time break His commandments. The sign that you love Jesus is not in just saying it by word of mouth but it is by keeping His law.
He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:4
If you claim that you know God then it must be shown in you keeping His commandments. Knowing God is not reflected by how much Bible scriptures you have memorized but it is revealed by how you keep His commandments.
In many examinations especially those written in schools, you can give wrong answers on up to fifty per cent (50%) of the questions presented to you and give correct answers on the other half and still be considered to have passed. However, when it comes to God's law, you have to get everything correct because James 2:10 says “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” If you just break one law out of the Ten Commandments you are considered to have broken them all. This is so because the same God who says you shall not commit adultery is the same God who says you must not steal. So we cannot cherry-pick what commandments to obey and deliberately break the others, we have to obey them all.
Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:14
John in the Book of Revelation in a vision saw the Holy City New Jerusalem and the Bible records that blessed are those who do His commandments, for they will have a right to partake of the tree of life and enter through the gates of that city. If we want to make it to heaven then we have to keep the commandments of God.
A war against commandment keepers
Satan generally is against every human but he has a special group of people who he mainly focuses on bringing down and those are they that keep the commandments of God.
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:17
The dragon, who is Satan (read Revelation 12:9) was angry with the woman (a woman represents the church of God) and went on to make war with those who keep the commandments of God and have a testimony of Jesus Christ. Satan doesn't just fight anyone but his attacks are specifically aimed at those who observe the commandments of God and have a testimony of Jesus. This war is not physical its spiritual and various methods are employed against this special group. One form of attack is through wrong teachings, Satan makes use of his agents to preach and teach messages which attack the law of God and those who keep them. Many wrong teachings have been put forward which suggest that we ought not to keep the commandments of God. This is done not just by people from other religions but even from preachers who profess to be sent by Jesus yet Jesus Himself says He didn’t come to destroy the law but to fulfil it.
This special group of commandment keepers who have the testimony of Jesus is mocked by Satan for living by the standards of God. The world makes fun out of those who keep the law of God, a man who is faithful to his wife and does not commit adultery can be mocked by other men, a youth who abstains from pre-marital sex is mocked by his fellows for missing out on the fun, an upright man or woman who doesn’t take or give bribes is disdain by others as being a fool. Once you walk the path of keeping the commandments of God just know that you will be ridiculed for obeying God.
Another method which Satan uses to war against the remnant of God is through persecution. Since Bible times those who keep the commandments of God were persecuted, the three Hebrews were thrown into the furnace of fire because they had obeyed the 2nd commandment which forbids the worshipping of idols. John the Baptist was thrown into prison and later beheaded for he had preached the seventh commandment which forbids adultery in his rebuke to Herod.
Not by works of the law
We are not saved by keeping the law, no amount of law-keeping will make you justified before the Lord (read Galatians 2:16). We are saved not by our own works but by grace through faith (read Ephesians 2:8). The reason why we should keep the law is not that we want to earn salvation by our works but we keep the law because we are saved. Jesus said if you love me, keep my commandments (read John 14:15). It is that love we have for Jesus that leads us to keep His commandments. You can't claim to love God yet go against His commandments, that love is fake. Grace does not lead us to break the commandments of God but leads us to uphold the law, as Romans 6:1-2 says “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
We cannot continue in the path of sin (breaking the law) under the banner of grace.
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”
Philippians 4:13
Jesus is there to help us keep the law of God, on our own we have our shortcomings, we have our weakness but Christ strengthens us to uphold the law. He was tempted in all points like we are yet without sin (read Hebrews 4:15). He was subjected to invitations to break the law of God just like what we are subjected to today but He didn’t break not even a single commandment. That same Jesus if He resides in our hearts through faith, surely we are able to live the same Holy life which He lived on this earth. Do not despair, seek Jesus He will empower you.