The Law and the Prophets
"Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12). The Law was the Ten Commandments, the statutes and the judgments. It did not include the sacrifices, which were added later (Jer. 7:22). The Ten Commandments and the statutes and judgments are like the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution forms the basis for all our statutes, laws and judgments, which then clarify and expound upon the Constitution.
Now, if a person keeps the laws of the land begrudgingly, he is not as good a citizen as one who keeps them with a good attitude, an attitude of service to his country. If a person is loyal to his country and practices doing what is right, by obeying the laws with a right attitude from the heart, he will be in favor with God and man, as long as those laws are not contrary to God’s Ways. All governments exist only by the consent of God, and the leaders of the government are servants of God, whether they know it or not (Rom. 13:1-7).
"The Law and the Prophets," then, is the method by which we are to keep the law - by practicing righteousness for God. We are to walk in the Law and put it into daily practice in our lives (Luke 8:21; 1 John 2:6, 29; 3:7; 2 John 4, 6). We are to continually practice living as God lives (Eph. 5:1; 1 Peter 4:11). This is what it means to do God’s Will on earth as it is done in heaven (Matt. 6:10).
Why are so many blind to this truth (2 Cor. 4:3-4)? Find out for yourself what the message of the prophets was. Read Isaiah 1:16-20; Jeremiah 4:22; 5:1; 9:23-24; 22:15-16; Ezekiel 33:13-16; Zephaniah 2:3; and Zechariah 7:9-10.
The prophets were stoned for telling the people how to walk righteously before God and keep His Ways. They were stoned because they told the people to practice righteousness one to another daily and be honest in all their dealings. They told people to glorify the God of heaven and earth in the way He wants to be glorified and worshiped - by doing good works daily for God (Matt. 5:16). This was the message of the Law and the Prophets.