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The Beginning of the End
worship, so the Lord gave them specific instructions concerning the
sacrificial service. The ceremonial law was given to Moses, and he
wrote it in a book. But the law of Ten Commandments had been
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written by God Himself on tablets of stone and preserved in the ark.
Two Laws: Moral and Ceremonial
Many try to blend these two systems, using the texts that speak
of the ceremonial law to prove that the moral law has been abolished,
but this is a twisting of the Scriptures. The ceremonial system con-
sisted of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and priesthood.
The Hebrews were to perform this ritual law with its sacrifices and
ordinances until type met antitype—symbol met fulfillment—in the
death of Christ. Then all the sacrificial offerings were to stop. It is
this law that Christ “has taken ... out of the way, having nailed it to
the cross” (
Colossians 2:14
).
But speaking about the law of Ten Commandments the psalmist
wrote, “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (
Psalm
119:89
). And Christ Himself says, “Do not think that I came to
destroy the Law. ... For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth
pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law
till all is fulfilled” (
Matthew 5:17, 18
). Here Jesus teaches that the
claims of God’s law will last as long as the heavens and the earth
remain.
Concerning the law proclaimed from Sinai, Nehemiah says,
“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
). And Paul, the “apostle to
the Gentiles,” declares, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy
and just and good” (
Romans 7:12
).
While the Savior’s death brought to an end the law of symbols
and shadows, it did not lessen the obligation of the moral law. The
very fact that Christ had to die in order to atone for the breaking of
that law proves it to be unchangeable.