God Has Spoken

(Hebrews 1:1-3)

The Temporary Law

            “God has spoken,” but how can we sort out what He has spoken? Are we to consider that everything He has said to others in the past is also our law for today? Probably most people would assume that you and I don’t have to obey God’s words to Abraham in Genesis 22:2: “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” Just where do we draw the line between those instructions that don’t apply to us, and those that do?

            One major source of confusion at this point in Bible study is a mis-understanding of the Old Testament, specifically regarding the temporary nature of the Law of Moses. Both in the Law itself, and in the rest of the Bible, we find clear statements that the Law was never meant to be in force as long as the earth stands. It was to be replaced, and the Bible tells us how, when and by whom. In upcoming articles we shall see that the Bible’s answers to six basic questions about the Law will lead to answers helpful to many of our other Bible study efforts.

            Consider, for example, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the express purpose of which was to show that the gospel of Christ has replaced the Law of Moses. Chapter 8, verses 8-12 directly quote Jeremiah 31:31-34 in which the prophet calling the people to obedience to the Law even then told them that something different would replace it. Let’s study it.

            Question #1: When was the Law given? The record begins in Exodus 19:1, “In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai.” After God had given the people instructions how to prepare themselves for the receiving of the law (chapter 19), He “spoke all these words...” (20:1, which begins the giving of the Ten Commandments). The record continues until Exodus 31:18 says, “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” Ever after, the Jews recognized this as the beginning point of their unique Law. Jeremiah wrote about 1,000 years later of “the covenant that I made with their fathers in that day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt” (Jeremiah 31:32). Nearly 100 years later the people in Jerusalem prayed, “You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments” (Nehemiah 9:13).

            Question #2: To whom was the Law given? In Deuteronomy 5 Moses, a Jew called by God to lead Jews out of slavery, spoke to them saying (verse 2), “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.” The Law was not given to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob.

            Question #3: Where was the Law given? “Horeb” was the location of Mt. Sinai in the Sinai Peninsula between Egypt and Canaan. It was in “the Wilderness of Sinai” (Exodus 19:1). “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them’”(Exodus 24:12). “You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them” (Nehemiah 9:13).

            These are obvious and simple matters, but they are fundamental to defining the subject of our study, and to understanding the answers to other questions.

            Question #4: Why was the Law given? God gave the Law to the Jews by Moses because the people, whom God had created, had become sinners and needed to learn righteousness. Referring to God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) of a blessing in his seed, Paul wrote in Galatians 3:16-19,

“Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘and to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. What purpose then does the law serve: it was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.”

            The Law was not given so that we could be blessed in Christ. That promise was given 430 years earlier. The Law was given because people were in sin. The Law taught the meaning of sin (Romans 7:7), admonished repentance and prepared people for Christ (Romans 15:4).

            Question #5: How long was the Law to last? Remember Paul’s inspired statement in Galatians 3:19, that the Law “was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made” (referring to the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3). The Law was never intended to last as long as the earth stands, but only “till the Seed should come.” That Seed is Christ (Galatians 3:16), and Christ, of course, has come (John 4:25-26).

            Remember also Jeremiah’s prophecy, in which God said, “I will make a new covenant ... not according to the covenant that I made ... in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt” (Jeremiah 31:31-34). In Hebrews 8 when that prophecy is quoted, we are told in verse 7 that “if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.”

            The Old Testament had a purpose (to teach about sin – Romans 7:7) for a people (Israel – Deuteronomy 5:1-3) for a time (till Christ came – Galatians 3:19). It was not to save souls eternally. It was not for Gentiles. It was not for anyone living today. The Old Testament was a temporary law. It is not now, nor will it ever again be, binding on anyone as God’s will for current or future faith or behavior.

But Isn’t the Law “Everlasting”?

            It is often rightly pointed out that God said, for example in Exodus 12:14 regarding the Passover, that the provisions of the law were “everlasting” for the Jews. God defined His terms clearly so that we may know precisely what He meant when He said that. In this passage and at least 16 other times in the Pentateuch alone God said that the Law was to last forever “throughout your generations.” There is a distinct difference in the use of the term with regard to Christ and the New Testament. In Psalm 89:4 it is prophesied of Him, “Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.” In Psalm 102:12 God said of Himself, “You, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of Your name to all generations.”

            We might say today “I have always believed (or done this or that).” We say, “Oh, I would never to that!” The words “always” and “never” are understood in the framework of a lifetime – or less, of an adulthood. A dictionary might define the words all-inclusively, but we use them with a more limited meaning. And so God spoke of the First Covenant when He gave it.

            When Jesus died the Old Testament ended. Its requirements and restrictions were fulfilled in Him (Matthew 5:17), as were also its promises and prophecies (e.g. Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:17). The Bible clearly teaches that the Law of Moses was intended to be temporary, but there are specific statements made about this that have a major bearing on people living today.

            For example, as the Law was given only to the Jews (Deuteronomy 5:1-3), it’s removal brings great hope to the rest of the world (Isaiah 62:2). This hope, prophesied even while the Law was in force, was brought into the world when Jesus died. In Colossians 2:13-14 it is written that forgiveness of sins is made possible because Jesus “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” That the Law was “against us” is explained in Hebrews 10:3 (among other verses), but see here that Jesus took the Old Testament “out of the way.”

            Man is not left without law, however, as Jesus Himself has become the replacement for the Law (Ephesians 2:11-13). In obeying the gospel we have what the Law could not provide (Hebrews 10:1): salvation.

            Question #6: If the Old Testament with its rules, rituals and restrictions has been taken “out of the way,” then why do we still keep it and read it today? Isn’t it inconsistent to say that it is not our law, but then quote it as an authority? That might depend on the reason for the quotation.

            It is still true, for example, that “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1), and that “the Lord our God is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). What is different under the New Testament includes such doctrines as the object of the blessings (the whole world, as opposed to the Jews only), the pattern of worship (“in spirit and in truth,” John 4:24, as opposed to Temple ritual and animal sacrifice), and the promise to the faithful (eternal life, as opposed to a coming Messiah and New Covenant). Statements of fact in the Old Testament are still authoritative; the fulfillment of the prophecies and the replacing of the worship requirements did not change the authorship of any of it.

            We may still learn from the Old Testament such truth as the origin of the universe, and the importance of strict obedience to the word of God. What we are to obey today, however is written in the New Testament.

            The New Testament says of the Old Testament, “whatever things were written before were written for our learning” (Romans 15:4), “and they were written for our admonition” (I Corinthians 10:11). We don’t avoid the Old Testament just because it is no longer the law by which we serve God. In fact, the Old Testament helps us understand the New Testament.

            The whole Bible is the word of God (II Timothy 3:15-17; II Peter 1:21; 3:15-16), and must be studied as one complete revelation from Him (Revelation 22:18-19). When we are “rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15) we are keeping a proper perspective on the different parts of the Bible, and profiting spiritually from the exercise.

            In this way we learn that living right before God requires today that we believe that Jesus is the Son of God (John 8:24), that we turn from our sins and follow Him instead (Luke 13:3), that we profess our faith in Him (Acts 8:37), that we are baptized into Him (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27), and that we continue always afterward to walk in the light of His word (I John 1:7). One great lesson of the Old Testament is that we are excluded from God’s blessings if we do not believe and do exactly what God’s word requires (Hebrews 3:7-19).

A. L. Parr