— The Perfect Law of Liberty: Lawful Looking-glass into Heaven or Lawless Looking-glass into Hell...?

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Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952), in his The Holy Spirit,® in one of the last chapters, “The Transforming Spirit”, astutely pointed out that the [looking] “glass” of the Law of the Lord is a revelation of His Glory (even as I have often expressed that God’s Word, God’s Law, is an expression of God Himself, of His Divine Nature, an extension of God’s Mind to us).  Pink says, “The Law is a transcript of the very character of God...”

Pink quotes Romans 7:12: “Wherefore the Law is holy, and the Commandment holy, and just, and good” and then Pink rhetorically queries—

“what is that but a summarized description of the Divine perfections?* ... the Law is an immediate reflection of his very nature... and the Law is a glass in which His perfections shine, then that which the Law requires, all that is required, will be love.”  

[* —by Divine perfections Pink means “attributes” — God’s Attributes: God is Good, Holy, Just, Love, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Perfect, Immutable, etc.  Note mine.  R.A.B. ]

However, this “love” is not to be understood as the mainstream church has watered down its meaning into “Scriptural Homeopathy” in which only 1 molecule of the original life-giving nutrient / medicine remains in the formula (the rest water or filler, having shaken it up a bit giving it some “good vibrations” and then diluted it 10,000 times; “making the Word of God of none effect”).  This love is not indiscriminate and not undefinable (Scripture itself says that it is not good to have zeal without knowledge—that’s an accident waiting to happen), and love is not an emotional discharge or nebulous feeling.  Christ defines what love is: “If you love Me keep My Commandments.” (John 14:15)  “If ye keep My Commandments, ye shall abide in My Love; even as I have kept My Father’s Commandments, and abide in His Love.” (John 15:10)  Love is obedience and self-sacrifice.  Even as faith without works is dead, so also love without obedience is non-existent.  Love is proved by actions.  The Law was not abolished.  The Law was never a means for salvation, the Law is God’s Moral Code by which He expects us to live.  Keeping the Law does not make us His children (we are that by birth); keeping the Law demonstrates that we are honorable children.  No amount of keeping the Law can make up for previous breaking of the Law.  Accounts have to be settled.  Sin confessed and turned from.  However, God said the penalty for sin is death.  Christ took that penalty for us, if we have truly come under the Blood of His Sacrifice and been cleansed thereby.

As evidence of his assertion concerning God’s Law and love, Pink then references Matthew 22:

“37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  38This is the First and Great Commandment.  39And the Second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  40On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

The mainstream church has many things backwards, and thinks inversely, inside out, and upside down.  A nebulous, undefineable “love” does not replace the Law.  If a parent told his son to do his chores and instead the child gave the parent a hug and a kiss and went outside to play, who in his right mind would think that was obedience?  Obedience is the demonstration of love—and love, true love, is the motivational force that empowers a person to obey (which is also self-sacrifice, forsaking what self wants to do).  The word “hang” in the above verse does not mean “hang by the neck until dead.”  It refers to support.  As as nail supports a picture on the wall (upon which it hangs); even as a foundation supports a house, so love, true love (not indiscriminate or so-called “blind” “love”; not crossing the moral boundaries that God Himself established) is the foundation of the Law.  How is love the foundation?  If we truly love God we will not violate His Law.  Children honor their parents, and we honor God our Father if we truly love Him by obedience—which is love not merely in word, but also in deed, otherwise, we are merely self-deluded (James 1:22) into thinking that we love Him (see also I John 4:20).  

Love is also self-sacrifice: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation [apeasement of Divine Holiness and Wrath] for our sins” (I John 4:10).  When a father or husband puts himself in harm’s way to protect his child or spouse, what is the motivating factor for such self-sacrifice?  It, of course, is love.  Merely saying “I love you” or giving a final kiss or hug would not replace actually protecting them.

If we love God, we will obey Him, to show ourselves honorable sons.  One cannot obey a mere nebulous “love”.  Though this is what the modern church defines as “love”, erroneously thinking that if you “love”—in some “undefined, mystical, unlegislated” way—that you have then magically “fulfilled” the Law.  But this is backwards to what God’s Word intends.  Obedience demonstrates that your love is real.  The Law is fulfilled when you keep the Law: which is what love is—obeying God and not sinning against your kinsman.  We show our love by obeying all that God commanded.  God does not expect perfection, but He does expect obedience and for you to study what He commanded and do it, and repent when you fail.

Understand, Christ had no Commandments of His own: He was in complete submission to the Father in all things to set the example for us—so that we could then do it too.  He did not replace God’s Commandments with a new set or a “scaled down” set of “bare-bones basics” “top ten” Commandments.  The God of the New Testament is the very same God of the New Testament and He declared in both: Be Holy for I am Holy—and He told us how that holiness was achieved: by obedience, which sets us apart as His people.  If the New did away with the Old (which is nowhere claimed in Scripture and would violate God’s Own Nature), why then does the New quote the Old so proliferously (about 855 times)...?  However, due to the Fall of man, we all share in Adam’s transgression (whether we think it “fair” or not) and we are all born with a sin nature.  Because of this sin nature we are born sinful; we do not merely have “a predisposition” to sin; we cannot not sin.  This does not mean that we will always sin to the ultimate possibly frequency and extreme, but it means we have no power not to sin.  Any time that we do not sin it is only by the Grace of God.  But that General Grace does not cover the times that we do sin.  It is for this reason that Christ died: to both forgive us of the Judgment against us for our sin nature as well as the sins it produces, as well as to then give us special grace, the power not to sin, when we abide in Christ.

Christ kept God’s Commandments to show us by example (by deed, not mere word).  Furthermore, rather than diminsh God’s Commandments (Christ Himself said that He did not come to destroy the Law, and not one pen stroke from God’s Law would cease as long as heaven and earth existed; so who are Christians listening to when they think that the Law was abolished?).  Christ did not diminish the force of the Law, nor scale down God’s Law of those Laws that we need to keep to a mere 10, or 9, or 8... (it seems to get less each congressional year—and the corrupt congress eventually dictates how the corrupt church conventions view sin: as sinful man views it, “perfectly acceptable and normal behavior and lifestyle choices” not as God views it—as abominable death sentences upon us).  Christ seems to have expanded the interpretation of the Law to a higher plane, to show that sin committed in the heart / mind is sin itself, even if it never translates itself into actions (though in reality, this is actually the teaching of the 10th Commandment itself).  Jeremiah said that the heart (mind) is deceitful, above all things desperately wicked—who can know it...?”  and Christ said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19).  Irrational sinful Christians think that a mere 613 Laws that God gave are “too much” and “too burdensome” and “too many to remember” —even though they were all given for our good (and even though many of them are common sense that we follow anyway); and yet these same irrational, carnal Christians bow down to the tens of thousands of laws that corrupt politicians pass every year, which strip them of their rights, their wealth, and oppress and enslave them.  Go figure.  You reap what you so.  Ye are servants to whom ye yield yourselves to obey.

God’s Law is a reflection and an extension of God Himself: Holy, Good, Just, Love.  God is Immutable.  His Law is Immutable.  God will not alter the thing that has gone forth out of His Mouth and His Word will not return unto Him void but will accomplish that which He sent it forth to do and as He has thought it so shall it come to pass.  God cannot contradict Himself, change His Mind or have a better idea; God does not have senseless thoughts or thoughts that become obsolete.  God’s Law is Immutable for God is Immutable.  If God’s Law has been abolished then God Himself has died.  

David wrote, “The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7).  This word “converting” has nothing to do with salvation for sins.  It is a poor word choice.  The Hebrew word is #7725 (shoob) and means in various ways, “to turn.”  What is this turning that the Perfect Law accomplishes: James 5:20 tells us, “Let him know, that he which converteth [turns] the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”  This turning a sinner from the error of his way refers to turning him back to God’s Law.  Scripture tells us, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) and “In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.” (12:28).  This “hiding” a multitude of sins refers not to covering them up to evade rightful judgment (which would make one an accessory after the fact), but it refers to preventing a multitude of sins from ever being committed by turning the sinner back to obedience to the Law of God so that he does not sin.  The Law does not convert or save (Christ alone does that); the Law shows the way, the narrow way, the path of life: “This is the Way: walk ye in it.”  Those who think that God’s Law was abolished believe that God Himself died, whether they realize it or not.  God is Holy and Perfect and Immutable.  His Standard of Morality cannot change.  If it has, someone else killed Him and is impersonating Him (which, of course, can never happen: so He did not die).  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever: He changes not, neither is there any shade / shadow of turning in Him.  Those who violate God’s Law with impunity have no fear, respect, love, or worship for God and nothing that they have to offer will God accept.  David said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18); so of course, God does not receive worship either.  Solomon wrote God’s declaration, “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer shall be abomination” (Proverbs 28:9).  Again, this is no different than a father telling his son to clean up his room, mow the yard, and wash the car, and the son saying, “No thanks pop, but I love ya’,” then giving his dad a quick hug and a peck on the cheek and then ignoring his father and going out to play with his friends.  Faith without works is dead.  Love without obedience is dead.

“On these two laws hang all the Law and the prophets.”  If we love God, we will not worship other gods (including false concepts of God that differ from God’s own self-revelation of His Divine Nature—a graven image in ones own mind), take His Name in vain, or violate the Sabbaths, and we won’t sin against our kinsmen who themselves were made in the Image of God.  If we truly love our kinsman-neighbor, we will not steal from him, bear false witness against Him, beat him up, rape his daughter, commit adultery with his wife, and murder him and his son.  Some nebulous “love” does not replace the need to obey all these commands, obeying all these commands is the proof of true love:

“8Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law.   9For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other Commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  10Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law.” (Romans 13)

“The warm fuzzies” and emotional experience do not replace the Law; keeping the Law is true Love.  Love is the motivation that causes us to do what is right.  This love is not within ourselves to demonstrate: since we are all born sinful and there is none that doeth good, no not one.  Love is a fruit of the Spirit and if Christ is truly in us, Christ will live His Life through us so that we walk in the Spirit and do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (the violation of the Law of God).  God knows we are imperfect, sinful, and incapable of perfectly keeping the Law (apart from His General Grace, no one could even keep a single law once from a pure motive).  He made us that way on purpose to show us that we need Him, ever and completely.  Christ Himself died (the ultimate expression of Love: self-sacrifice) for us His own, to take the Divine punishment that we deserve... but that payment Christ made to appease God’s Divine Wrath and settle the Sin-Debt Books of Heaven is not automatically applied to every person’s sin account.  Those whom the Holy Spirit truly leads to the Father through Christ (having been chosen before the foundation of the world) acknowledge to God’s Godhood and Lordship, submit to His Law, recognize God’s Right to establish that Law and demand it be observed, will then confess their sins, cry out for mercy and forgiveness and ask that Christ’s Sacrifice be applied to their sin-debt, and will then, if truly converted, if truly regenerated, will walk in newness of life in obedience to God.

Read all of Psalm 19 and 119 and see what God has to say about His own Law.  That which is perfect needs no replacing.  Any change of perfection could only be imperfection.  Hebrews 8:8 informs us that it was not the Law that was faulty—but us: “Finding fault with them” (Israel and Judah).  We, God’s people are born with a sin nature from Adam and on our own we cannot not sin.  We are cursed from Adam.  

Scripture tells us:

“22But the Fruit of the Spirit is love,[1] joy,[2] peace,[3] longsuffering,[4] gentleness,[5] goodness,[6] faith,[7] 23Meekness,[8] temperance:[9] against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5)  

Nine (9) is the number of Judgment in the Bible.  It seems odd that God would give us 9 elements comprising the Fruit of the Spirit.  What is the lesson here to be learned...? —the way to avoid Judgment is to walk in the Spirit!: “...walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:17)  

[It is also a dictum of natural law that “the whole is more than the mere sum of its parts.”  Thus, all 9 elements of the Fruit of the Spirit when fulfilled in a believer, possibly form the 10th (Divine Perfect Order) element: the whole new man: For they are not individual fruits, but a fruit basket; the Greek word “fruit” in Fruit of the Spirit is singular; not plural.  If any believer demonstrates only “1 individual” element of the Fruit of the Spirit, here and there, most probably it is “false fruit” (the flesh masquerading as spirit).]  

God also told us

“16...six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto Him: 17A proud look,[1] a lying tongue,[2] and hands that shed innocent blood,[3] 18An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,[4] feet that be swift in running to mischief,[5] 19A false witness that speaketh lies,[6] and he that soweth discord among brethren.[7]” (Proverbs 6)  

[The number six (6) represents “Sin” and “Man” (or even “Sinful Man”); seven (7) represents “Spiritual Perfection”, but when paired here with 6 it represents the epitome of sinfulness (or “unspirituality”, “the inverse of spirituality”—“anti-spirituality” (possibly even, ungodliness / carnality masquerading as spirituality).]

The elements of the Fruit of the Spirit (9) surpass these “seven deadly sins” (as they are sometimes called) by a margin of 2.  Two (2) in Scripture implies “a Difference, Distinction” or I believe, “an Alternative” (in some cases, I believe, a “Remedy”).  

[This is clear throughout Scripture.  Even as we shall see (the deeper implications of) later, Scripture commands: “[1.]be not drunk with wine... but [2.]be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18)  Further, Scripture informs us, “[1.]But not as the offense, [2.]so also is the free gift...” (Romans 5:15)  “[1.]For as in Adam all die, [2.]even so in Christ shall all be made alive.... [1.]The first man Adam was made a living soul; [2.]the last Adam [Christ] was made a Quickening Spirit...” (I Corinthians 15:22,45) “...[1.]where sin abounded, [2.]Grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20).]

Why are there 9 elements to the Fruit of the Spirit...? —because Christ took our Judgment for us, and in the supreme expression of magnanimity, after taking our Judgment for us, Christ then “gave gifts unto men” [those whom He regenerated] (Ephesians 4:8).  What was the first gift that Christ asked God to give His people...? —the Holy Spirit.  Why...? —because the Holy Spirit cannot lead into sin (and our sin is what caused Christ’s death).  “Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.”  What are the lusts of the flesh...? —the violation of God’s Law (His declared Standard of Morality).  Paul said he would not have known sin, had it not been for the Law (Romans 7:7) and John tells us sin is transgression of the Law (I John 3:4).  If  the Law had been “done away with” there could be no sin and if there is “no sin,” there would be no reason for us to walk in the Spirit to avoid “non-existent” lusts of the flesh (violation of God’s Law)—and no need to repent or be saved.  Where there is no Law there is no sin (Romans 4:15; 5:13).  

The Law was not abolished.  The modern Christian has been seduced by the very same Serpent who whispered the first words of doubt against a Loving and Good and Perfect Creator: “Yea, hath the Lord said...?  Ye shall not die... ye shall be as gods yourself.”  As long as Christians remain in sin (ignorant or wilfull) God will not hear their prayers and will not deliver them from their enemies—those enemies being the very thing that God uses to bring His people to their knees to recogize their sin, when they realize that the Glory has departed, and they begin to soul search to discover the reason, then turn to God’s Word and rend not merely their garments, but also their hearts, when they realize how far they have departed from what God commanded; and then and only then will God hear their prayers and deliver. 

“If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14)

The Law was never abolished; not one jot.  Christ said so.  The blind mainstream church, being spiritually cross-eyed, misunderstanding many Divine truths, imagining them to be the very opposite of what they actually say, imagines that the “Perfect Law of Liberty” means that we are free from the Law.  This is blasphemy, and once one realizes the truth, its profundity is overwhelming.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed,

“Our eyes are beholden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened.  Then we behold them, and the time when we saw them not is like a dream.”  

So then, what is the Perfect Law of Liberty? —it is the Liberty (by the Power of the Holy Spirit) to not sin!  On our own, we cannot not sin.  But Christ died to free us from the Penalty (Curse, Judgment) of the Law—not the Law itself.  It would be senseless for the entire New Testament to call us to repentance and to turn from sin if the Law had been abolished.  If the Law had been abolished there would be no need to even be saved, converted, turned... turned to what if the Law was abolished? forgiven of what if the Law was abolished?  “Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh” (the violation of God’s Law).  This is the Law of Liberty—God’s Holy Spirit within us... if we are truly of God and if we are truly converted and if Christ is truly in us.   In John 15 Christ further tells us,

“4Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.  5I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.  6If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.  7If ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

Note here that abiding in Christ is the key not only to obedience,*1 but abiding in Christ is also one of the secrets to having ones prayers answered.  “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His Commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His Sight.” (I John 3:22)  Doing that which is pleasing in His Sight is going above and beyond the mere ritualistic observance of a law in the letter, but keeping it also in the spirit as well (for the right motive, with the right attitude) and even going above and beyond the requirement of the Law (such as instead of tithing 10%, tithing more; helping law-abiding, godly*2 kinsmen in need, etc.).

[*1 Obedience, keeping the Law of God, bearing fruit, good works are all synonyms, there are no “good works” apart from obeying God’s Law; that is a modern myth that replaces God with secular (unconverted) notions of “charity”.
*2 God calls us to discriminate and try the spirits, to judge and discern.  Not even widows were to be helped by the church, had they not been submissive to their husbands and godly women in the church who set a good example for the younger women.  You reap what you sow.  If someone lives in sin and then God brings calamity into his life, kinsmen are not to help bail him out of the Judgment God is sending—unless that person truly repents and brings for fruit meet for repentance (not just a “jail house” conversion and temporary “repentance” until the tribulation passes).]

Understand also that in Christ’s declaration, “if My Words abide in you” this “abide” does not refer to mere storage, like a book locked in a vault.  Abide means dwell, live, endure.  It is not passive, but active.  Christ also said in the same chapter,

“16Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit [obedience], and that your fruit should remain [lasting obedience]: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it you.  17These things I command you, that ye love [not sin against] one another [your kinsmen].”  

[This obedience and lasting obedience refers not merely to “witnessing” to our kinsmen to bring the under the Blood of Christ.  It refers to keeping the entire Law of God—from which the call to repentance and salvation cannot be separated.  We are saved “unto good works” (obedience); which is repenting from doing what was wrong and then doing what is right.  It would do no good, and would be senseless, to call our lost brethren to “accept Jesus” if they then could continue living in drunken whoredom!  God’s Law sets His people apart from the heathen.  Christ’s Holy Spirit in His people enables them and gives them the desire to keep it to please God and be an honorable reflection of their Heavenly Father.]

Again, bearing fruit (obedience to the Law of God)—the natural purpose and activity of trees—is demonstration of love.  
[And again, this love is not indiscriminate: God’s Word clearly tells us who we are to love and who we are not to love—and again, the mainstream Church has misunderstood this and it is for this reason that the Trojan Horse of Antichrist and Babylon has been brought inside the Church and it is eating it inside out like an aggressive cancer.  “Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is Wrath upon thee from before the LORD.” (II Chronicles 19:2)  This passage is even more sobering when you realize it was God speaking to the godly King Jehoshaphat of Judah who was about to confederate with the ungodly King Ahab of northern Israel against a common foe.  If God’s Wrath is kindled against us for helping our own brethren who are in sin and wickedness, what then can we expect from God if we help those who are God’s sworn enemies, heathen who follow pagan religions and evil practices and even those others who are the tares sown in among God’s wheat by God’s enemy (who masquerade as God’s people)...?  At least the wicked Ahab followed some of God’s Law, and like modern Christian churches, at least followed some of the doctrine and prescribed worship that God commanded, though hybridized with paganism.  However, the heathen worship false gods, follow their own vile laws and customs, and make no pretense about it—and even brazenly state their objectives openly that their intention is to overthrow our nations and force us to submit to their religion and law or die.  If we then help such enemies of ours and God’s, what can we expect from God?  We can expect no help at all from God, but He will allow us to reap what we have sown: utter destruction (though He will preserve the faithful remnant, just before total extinction).  

God discriminates.  He commands us to.  This is what God’s Law reveals.  The difference between good and evil; the difference between holy and defiled; the difference between clean and unclean—and God even said that He separated us from all other peoples even as He separated clean animals from the unclean.  Understand; God did not walk among the animals after they “fell on their own”* and God passively noticed that some became clean and some unclean.  God separated the clean and unclean by their very design at the time of creation.  So He did with His people: before the foundation of the world.  God commands separation, purity, segregation.  

[* —nothing fell on its own any more than anything “evolved” on its own.  God fore-ordained and planned and controls all.]

This evil world, Babylon (which means “confusion by mixing”), communism, atheism, evolution, all preach the same rhetoric and false doctrine and philosophy of death; that we are “all the same” and that we should all intermarry into one lovely mocha stew.  That is Antichrist.  It is the destruction of God’s creation; the destruction of God’s children; the destruction of Christ’s bride.  God promised to preserve His seed* and it is not merely “spiritual.”  

[* How would any father—and especially a king—like it if someone else impregnated his wife and then said, “What are you complaining about? —the child will still have your last name!  He will inherit your throne, kingdom and wealth.”  God will not tolerate it either.  As I explained in a previous article, “Muslim Trojan Horse” (p.105) subversives in Lithuania are desensitizing the people to helplessly accept, to embrace, the supplantation of the Lithuanian people with Africans and Arabs.  Though man is immoral and foolish and self-destructive and violates sacred covenants, God will not allow His people to be supplanted by another in the Kingdom.  The dogs and pigs will not replace the sheep; and the tares sown by the Devil will not replace God’s wheat.  Christ said that the Good shepherd seeks out the lost sheep, and brings back the sheep; not dogs and pigs or wolves.  Gos said He scattered Israel as a man does wheat and that He would regather whom He scattered and not a grain would be lost (that is, not a grain of those of His people, whom He foreordained unto salvation; even as Christ said, all of the sheep whom the Father had given Him shall be drawn unto Him and that He would not lose even one).]

That which is spirit is spirit and that which is flesh is flesh.  Someone who literalizes that which is figurative and spiritualizes away that which is literal will always be confused (and it is psychosis).  If God’s true people are a mere “spiritual entity” then we did not need a physical Messiah—just a good “spiritual one”: someone or something that “symbolized” what a real, literal, physical Messiah should have been had there been a real, literal, physical people who needed redeeming.  What poor planning and fore-sight it was for Christ to have gone through all that trouble to be born and fulfill prophecy and then all that shame, suffering, and pain, if only a “spiritual” (a nice idea) Messiah was needed to redeem a “spiritual” people.

Such a notion, of course, is blasphemy.  If God’s people is merely a spiritualized concept (figurative, not literal and physical) then all of God’s Covenants and Promises have failed and God, therefore, could not be God (not the Omnipotent, Perfect, Immutable God of the Bible).  “Let God be true and every man a liar”; that is, while God will ever be true, man will ever be untrue.  This is not a statement of God’s Plan for us, but a statement of reality apart from God’s Grace: there is none that doeth good, all have turned away, gone astray, none seeketh after God, or even inclineth toward God; none, not a single one.  The remedy is for us to submit to God and put on Christ and walk in the Spirit so that we can be true.  If anyone does it is only because God draws him.  Is He drawing you?  If He is, each day you will become more like Christ and reflect the Perfect Law of Liberty and reflect God’s Nature through being an honorable son who walks in obedience to the Father’s Will, in the Father’s steps, reflecting His Very Character, His Attributes.  If you do not become more like Christ each day and do not reflect the Image of the Father (which is outlined in God’s Word in His Law, in the letter and the Spirit), then Christ is not in you and you are none of His.  God created us in His Image and gave us His Very Breath / Spirit, part of His Being, Essence, and Nature.  God gave us His Law for us to follow for us to reflect His Holiness: to glorify Him and set us apart as His people.  Sons should bear the reflection of their father; if they do not, they are bastards, and not sons.  
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear...

Scripture tells us:

“21...receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.  22But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.  23For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.  25But whoso looketh into the Perfect Law of Liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” (James 1)

What is this engrafted Word, except the Promise:

“But this shall be the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be My people.” (Jeremiah 31:33)

The Perfect Law of Liberty is not the Liberty (license) to ignore the Law of God and blatantly or carelessly sin; the Perfect Law of Liberty is the ability—the freedom through Christ in us (when we walk in the Spirit) to not sin.  Trees were designed by the Creator to bear fruit.  Christ said, speaking of people, “every tree is known by its fruit.”  As I have written in numerous books of mine, “Where no fruit is evident the Holy Spirit is not resident.”  Christ said that if a branch or tree does not bring forth fruit (a sign of it being dead or diseased) then He prunes it from His orchard.  Fruit-bearing orchards are not graveyards for driftwood.  If a Christian is not bearing the fruit that God ordained to be borne (not the world’s rancid fruit, which is often the exact opposite of what God commanded), it is a possible sign that there never was any conversion, or that a person was spiritually still born sometime after conception, or died a spiritual crib death.  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.

“6Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; 7And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Christ Jesus: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord, and from the Glory of His Power; 10When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe...” (II Thessalonians 1)