July 2

TREKKING WITH ABRAHAM

“ What then was the purpose of the Law?”

Galatians 3:19

Jeremiah could speak of the “ The purpose of the law was to develop a huge expectation and desire for Messiah by the way it revealed the depths of human sinfulness and depravity and a hunger for spiritual reality. This is not just something revealed in New Testament times. Old Testament prophets saw the demise and obsolescence of the Law on the horizon. For that reason even in the midst of the days of the Law (the Old Testament aka The Old Covenant),could speak of the “ New Covenant ” that was coming (Jeremiah 31:31 – 34). This meant that Jeremiah knew the Old Covenant (i.e. the Law as given by Moses ) was temporary and was one day ending.

David, whom scripture refers to as a prophet (Not many people know that, see Acts 2:29-30), prophesied that an eternal priesthood was on the way i.e. the Messiah Himself, which had to mean that the Even, whom scripture refers to as a prophet (Not many people know that, see Acts 2:29-30), prophesied that an eternal priesthood was on the way i.e. the Messiah Himself, which had to mean that the Levitical priesthood was coming to an end. He declared, in the Spirit, what the Father said to the Son; “You are a priest for ever after the order and manner of Melchizadek” ( Psalm 110 :4.). David also knew that his “Lord” (Psalm 110:1) would simultaneously be his Messiah, as well as his Son (Matthew 22:41–45).

Isaiah too saw that He, who would be referred to as “the Branch” (Isaiah 11:1), would be of the household of Jesse, and therefore of the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 5:2). Since the word for, “Branch” or better still, “sprout,” in the Hebrew is netser, I believe the verse will have inspired the basis for Matthew 2:23, where he says it is indicated by the prophet that Messiah would be called “the Nazarene”. This obviously meant that there was to be a change of priesthood, Law and mediatorial representation with Jehovah, coming in the future.

So follow me as I assert that, because the Levitical priesthood was the foundation of the whole of the first five books of scripture, a change of priesthood suggests a removal of the Law that governed the status of the Levites. So from the minute comments from Jeremiah, David and Isaiah we know for a fact, that it was to be seen by pre-Christian Jewish readers of what we refer to as “The Old Testament,” that the Mosaic Law was not and could not be forever. In the mind of God, a day was coming when it would be reduced to utter obsolescence.

Allow me also to test your grace and attitude of love towards me, when I also assert that the Law as given (in the context of Moses, Sinai, the Levites and the Tabernacle) was not given to ALL people. It was given to the nation of Israel alone. Psalm 147:19-20 tells us this when it states, “He shows his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He has not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them.” As delivered by Moses, and stated in the Law, the Sabbath was a sign between Israel and Yahweh (Exodus 31:13,16-17. Ezekiel 20:12, 20). Paul says in Romans 2:14 that all the other nations (i.e. the Gentiles) have “no Law”. This also, even if it was the only piece in the puzzle, and it definitely is not, should stop us in our tracks when we carry the statutes of Sinai into the Gospel of the grace of God. Legalistic, teaching of holiness as a mere outward practice is a sin, and detracts from what Christ has done. If I was not surrounded by the care of a loving, Pastor when I was first converted in the late sixties, I might have succumbed. “Do not go to the cinema”. “Always carry your Bible to church”. “Do not smoke – it’s demonic”. “Do not drink alcohol – that is sin. All the wine Jesus made and drank was non-alcoholic”. All this kind of rubbish, and there was much more of it than I have expressed, whenever I heard it on my travels amongst Christian youth groups, I would take such stuff to Pastor Jack , or his son, John Glass.





Thankfully, I was taught soundly.



So let me round off our days on, “The reasons for the Law,” by throwing out a few more thoughts in a way that will enable you to remember what I have said. Bullet points are always best. These headings are not mine to claim as original, but plagiarised insights from many different writers.





1. The Law was an addition, added to hedge people’s approach to God and each other, until faith came. (Galatians 3 : 19)

2. The Law was a teacher to lead us to Christ (Galatians 3:24)

3. The Law was an insertion “until” the Seed should come. It was inserted for the following reasons.

a. Outwardly hedge us in to having expectancy for the Messiah, and a moral life style.

b. It was reins from above, a bridle with which the nation of Israel should have been submitted to Yahweh.

c. It was a restraint to sin (Galatians 2:15. 1 Peter 4:3).

d. It was a mirror to reveal to us the true state of our own hearts (James 1: 23, 25).

4. The Law also, on the positive side, made a statement about the holiness of God, and the glory of the immortal, invisible only wise Yahweh who dwells in light unapproachable.

a. The smoke to heaven, the rumblings of the ground and the angelic trumpets at the giving of the law revealed the majesty of God’s holiness.

b. God’s holiness in its unapproachableness. The children of Israel were not allowed near even the mountain where God was.

c. God’s holiness was seen in His jealousy that no glory should be given to anybody, or anything else.

d. God’s holiness was manifested in the moral perfection of the Law (See Isaiah 6:3).

e. God’s holiness is seen in that the Law, the Tabernacle, and the angels that mediated the Decalogue with Moses , were totally and utterly heavenly. That is, it came from heaven.

f. God’s holiness was presented as deep agape type love that God carried for His chosen people the descendants of Abraham.

So even the most cursory Bible read cannot fail to leave the stamp of a steadily increasing revelation of God’s dealings with man, and the revealing of His character and purpose as generations came and went. The ultimate revelation, of course, came in the life, person, death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Through the impact of the Law on human hearts that believe the record of the Five Books of Moses, one is aware that it points to things in advance. It arouses conscience and sin within us. The strength of sin is the Law. The Law was a covenant of death. The Law points us to Christ. It may be totally inappropriate to include it in the preaching of the Gospel, but it is equally inappropriate to leave it out of the history of the development of the revelation of God’s salvation.





WHAT’S THE POINT? In Christ is the fulness of the Godhead, and the fullness of relationship with God.