Everyone can imagine utopia.

It’s easy to do. Just shut your eyes and picture a world where every difficulty and struggle you’ve ever faced has been eradicated, and there you have it—a very flawed, very shallow, very one-dimensional utopia.

The trouble is, a world that fixes all of your problems is not a world that fixes everyone’s problems. Neither is a world that fixes all the problems of the people you know or of the people you can imagine.

No matter how well-traveled, well-studied, or well-imagined we are, the simple truth is that the scope and specificity of humanity’s struggles are more vast than any mortal mind can hold.

There are people out there facing problems you will never relate to or even begin to comprehend. What will your utopia do for them?

What would their utopia do for you?

* * *

The great irony, of course, is that we had utopia once already—two humans, living in a state of harmony with their Creator, surrounded by a literal paradise that required little and provided much.

They made an absolute mess of it.

Given another utopia, we’d find a way to make a mess of it, too.

The reason is simple:

We want utopia on our terms.

* * *

We want utopia to be perfect while still allowing everything we want it to allow, never stopping to wonder if “perfect” requires leaving some of those things behind. How could it be perfect if it’s not exactly how we imagined it would be?

But of course, that’s exactly the problem. Eight billion people, each coming to the table with their own idea of perfect, could never construct a utopia that would suit everyone.

Or anyone, for that matter.

Have you ever gotten exactly what you thought you wanted, only to discover that, actually, it was exactly the sort of thing you never wanted?

Why would our version of utopia would be any different?

* * *

A few thousand years ago, a small little nation had an opportunity to build a utopia—not on their terms, but according to the blueprint of Someone with a much better perspective of what “perfect” means.

That nation—and I know this will come as something of a shock—made an absolute mess of it. But the point here isn’t the mess they made. The point is that God preserved the blueprint.

In his final message, Moses told Israel,

Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?

(Deuteronomy 4:5-8)

The statutes and judgments of the Old Testament—the ones mainstream Christianity seems so eager to wash away with the sacrifice of Christ—were the very ones designed to set Israel apart as a great nation full of wise and understanding people.

These statutes and judgments were not an elaborate series of hoops Israel had to jump through in order to earn God’s blessings.

They were the blessings.

No single statute was enough to create utopia, but taken as a whole—obeyed as a whole—they were intended to create something close to it.

Not perfect, because the people involved weren’t perfect.

But the framework was designed to compensate for those imperfections and provide a way forward when they happened.

The end result would be a world where…

• People built things with intention and care, mindful of the safety of others (Deuteronomy 22:8).
• Close-knit communities protected and cared for each other’s possessions, even when it was inconvenient (Exodus 23:4-5; Deuteronomy 22:1-4).
• Financial ruin was far more difficult because loans were made without predatory interest rates (Exodus 22:25-27; Leviticus 25:35-38).
• Debts were cancelled every seven years (Deuteronomy 15:1) and ancestral lands were restored every 50 years (Leviticus 25:10).
• If someone became completely destitute, they could temporarily become an indentured servant, guaranteeing that their needs would be met and that they would eventually leave wealthier than they had arrived (Deuteronomy 15:12-15, 18).
• Marginalized and otherwise helpless members of society could expect protection and assistance from the community as a whole (Exodus 22:22-24; Deuteronomy 24:17; 15:15).

I like the sound of that world.

But here’s the thing—there’s an important thread designed to tie that world together, and without it, the whole thing falls apart.

God reveals the thread in the context of sacrifices, but the principle applies on a much bigger scale:

One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you.

(Numbers 15:15-16)

One law, for everyone.

Not “one law for everyone else, but not me because I am too important.”

Not “one law for everyone else, but not me because I am the wealthiest.”

Not “one law for everyone else, but not me because I come from a different culture.”

There’s only one right standard. None of this works unless everyone accepts it and no one tries to exist outside of it. King or servant, elder or youth, native or foreigner—to live among God’s people was to be subject to one law.

* * *

We don’t get to utopia on our terms. We don’t get there by making exceptions for wealth or status or preference. We don’t get there by leaning on trial and error until we end up with something that works.

Which is why we’ll never get there on our own.

But we will get there.

When the mountain of the LORD has finally put an end to the pretensions of all the little hills trying to play at kingship, we’re promised a future where

Many people shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

(Isaiah 2:3)

Imagine an entire world coming together and saying, “We’ve seen how good life is when people listen to God, and we want that, too. We want to learn.”

Imagine a world where “ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you'” (Zechariah 8:23) and where “they shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).

I’m excited for that world. But I know I can’t get there on my own terms.

My time to learn God’s ways and walk in His paths is now.

There’s no other road to utopia.