Grace of Christ and the New Covenant
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cerning the sacrificial service. The ceremonial law was given to Moses,
and by him written in a book. But the law of Ten Commandments had
been written by God Himself on tables 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 perversion of the Scriptures. The ceremonial system was
made up of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and priesthood.
This ritual law with its sacrifices and ordinances was to be performed
by the Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of Christ. Then all
the sacrificial offerings were to cease. It is this law that Christ “took ...
out of the way, nailing it to His cross.”
Colossians 2:14
.
But concerning the law of Ten Commandments the psalmist de-
clares, “Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.”
Psalm 119:89
.
And Christ Himself says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the
law... . Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Matthew
5:17, 18
. Here He teaches that the claims of God’s law should hold as
long as the heavens and the earth remain.
Concerning the law proclaimed from Sinai, Nehemiah says, “Thou
camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from
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heaven, and gavest them right judgments, 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 Saviour’s death brought to an end the law of types and
shadows, it did not detract from the obligation of the moral law. The
very fact that it was necessary for Christ to die in order to atone for
the transgression of that law, proves it to be immutable.
Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant
Those who claim that Christ came to do away with the Old Testa-
ment represent the religion of the Hebrews as consisting of mere forms
and ceremonies. But this is an error. Through all the ages after the Fall,