Of course he wasn't talking about martial law or civil law, but God's Law. In addition, this guy took the analogy further to say that the Law actually sets one free, instead of being a set of restrictive or inhibitive rules. Now the Law certainly inhibits us and restricts us from doing certain things, but, perhaps counterintuitively, this is actually liberating.
Here is why: by the force of gravity, we are able to move. We can walk around, jump up in the air, run, skateboard, play basketball, drive to work, bike to school, etcetera etcetera all with the confidence that we won't fly off into space or that if we are temporarily suspended in the air that we will inevitably fall back to the earth; our feet will hit the pavement again. However, if we try to jump off a four-story building or a bridge, we will feel the negative effects of gravity (i.e. we will probably get hurt or die). The law of gravity, in this case, hasn't done anything wrong or differently, we have just behaved differently in relation to it.
Why should we act any differently toward God's Law? Whether or not the law of gravity is perfect, God's Law is. He "lays down the Law", so to speak, for our best interests and protection. He knows that we don't know what's best for ourselves, even though we think we do. It is like a baby trying to crawl across a hot grate and a parent repeatedly keeping them from doing so even though the baby whines, pouts, and still tries with all its might to crawl across that thing. It doesn't know that in keeping the law "don't crawl on something that will burn you" is actually in its best interest. (This example is flawed, of course, because God does not physically prevent us from breaking the Law, but gives us the choice as to whether we will keep the Law or not.) In another example, if a husband and a wife remain faithful to on another, they are free to love each other without fear of injury--the husband will not feel hurt when they are intimate with one another, because the wife cares for him only. Likewise, the wife will not be jealous, because the husband has eyes for her alone. When they keep the laws of marital faithfulness, they are able to freely love one another.
Nevertheless, when we slam ourselves against the Law, it breaks us. The Law is perfect; it cannot be broken. Fortunately for us, the Law alone is not the harbinger of salvation:
"23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." (Galatians 3)
"8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, 9 not by works so that no one may boast." The passage continues to say, "10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2)
Here we see that we are saved from the stairway to heaven aspect of works into the joy of doing good works for God--we become his living, moving, breathing, working masterpieces.
We still have the Law, yes (Jesus said not the least stroke of a pen will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished [Matthew 5 Luke 16]), but we are now granted pardon for the parts of the Law we have broken and the parts of the Law we will break again. It's not that we ought to continue breaking the Law just so God can have mercy on us, but eventually God wants us to be able to be keepers of the spirit of the Law.
(Übrigens, the Law also tells many things we SHOULD do, not just we ought not do! Also, as i learned during this whole "aha" moment, the Law, (in this case the Ten Commandments) do not begin with "thou shalt not", but rather with "I AM"!)
That first time we say "yes" to Him, he sends His angels concerning us. In the famed showdown between The Christ and The Accuser, Satan quotes Scripture to Jesus from the Psalms, urging him to cast Himself off the highest point of the temple in the holy city: 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' Jesus responds with Scripture, this time from Deuteronomy 6, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." Jesus calls Satan on his bluff, as he obviously has taken the verse out of context (look at Psalm 91 in its entirety, it's quite beautiful!), but what a magnificent picture these words portray of how God will treat us if we make Him our dwelling, if we seek refuge in Him!
Finally, i'll leave you with a cool image i found. Take this shield with you! Keep the Law, break the lawbreaker in you.
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