… For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and NOT the
very image of the things, can NEVER
with those sacrifices which they
offered year by year continually make
the comers thereunto perfect.
Hebrews 10:1-3
Last time we talked about Israel’s way of escape from Exodus 15:11-12. They are now in the shadow of Sinai, camped, being organized into a great Nation. God has intervened, bringing them out of bondage and into freedom. Israel’s national history begins as God gives the Commandments, Judgments, and Ordinances of which giving the Law at Sinai was an important part.
The Law taught them how to approach a Holy God with sacrificial offering, and it gave them an understanding of the “blood.” The Children of Israel were required to listen to the awesome thundering voice of God. They were fearful and begged Moses: “…let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20). They didn’t want the Word to be from God’s mouth directly to their ears. They wanted Moses to listen to God, speak on their behalf, and bring word back to them. In essence, they were fearful of a Holy God. And they wanted Moses to be their mediator.
Fast-forward with me from the giving of the Law to a time when Jesus, our Savior, went to the Cross and shed His precious blood so that we could have life everlasting. Hebrews 10 talks about it in our text and continues in verse 2-3 “…But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
God called Moses to the top of Mt. Sinai, hid Himself in the cleft of the rock and gave Moses the Law; and He gave instructions concerning animal sacrifice, ceremonial offerings, and religious duty. “…make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (Exodus 25:8). All the elements of the “dwelling place” God gave Moses, including the priests’ garments and the furnishings – the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat. Moses came off that mountain with all of this wonderful information from God’s mouth directly to him.
Israel pledged obedience to a Holy God in Exodus 24:3-8. How many times they broke that promise! But God in love and compassion was quick to forgive and He led them on. Fear and unbelief kept them from the Promised Land for forty long years. The Lord kept them well and fed them, and their clothes never aged upon their bodies (Exodus 8:4). Amazing!
Forty years they wandered, delayed because of stubborn unbelief and fearfulness, taking this as a disciplinary punishment from God for their ungratefulness and doubts (Numbers 14:32-33). But they wandered on – and unbeknownst to them, it was only an 11-day journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Just like us, neglectfully and disobediently going our own way, ignoring God (the Way) because we are just too smart and full of pride not to!
Moses led a new generation of Israelites to the border of the Promised Land. Before his death, he spoke to the people, reminding them of God’s patience, the Blood Covenant, and the Ten Commandments. He told them to keep themselves separated from the world (Deuteronomy 27, 28, 29). And to “remember and obey.” In chapter 30, he reviewed the Palestinian Covenant and its tie to possessing the land. The land is still theirs. Read it from scripture and remember – we do not have the answers. We have the questions and the problems! God has the answers and solutions!
When he was 120 years old (Deuteronomy 34:1-8), God gave Moses a look over into the Promised Land. These are the beautiful words of the old Patriarch from Deuteronomy 33:27 … “The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms ….”
There are many elements of “The Law” – far too many to discuss in a short newspaper article. You must read the rest of the Books of Moses – the Pentateuch – the first five books of the Old Testament – to put it all together.
The Law did not end until after the close of the Old Testament Canon of the Scriptures and through the beginning of the New Testament, up to the crucifixion of Christ.
My responsibility is to stir your mind to study. Yours is to open the Word of God. Psalm 119:130 says, “The entrance of thy word giveth light: it giveth understanding unto the simple.” This verse is for you, for me. We are without excuse.
Next time, we will “view” the Dispensation of Grace from Pentecost to the Rapture of the Church. Remember, this is a bird’s-eye look of the Dispensations. If we tried to give every detail, we could not call these “articles.” They would be “volumes.” So, your responsibility is to read and study the Scriptures in the light of history and prophecy to know where we have been and where we are going.
Think of Law/Grace in this way as we continue our study:
The Law/ Grace – The Church Age / Tribulation (The Law again as parenthetical. We will discuss the reason why.)
In His Service,
Victor W. Baugh, Sr., Th.D., Ph.D.
Pastor, St. Luke AME Church
Havana, AL
Author of The Anchor Holds, Victor’s Story
http://www.thatgracemayabound.blogspot.com/ ©2012
That Grace May Abound Ministries International ©2014
