Let’s look at the Mosaic covenant and how it prepared for the new covenant. After freedom from Egypt the people were still slaves, to sin.
“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.’ “ (John 8:34 ESV)
The old covenant was established to expose sin and prepare for Christ.
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24 KJV)
Was the law bad?
“So the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.” (Romans 7:12 CEB)
The law was not weak in itself, but we are weak.
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:2-3 NKJV)
Murmurings
Israel complained a lot. Do Christians also complain a lot (Exodus 16)? Are we satisfied with the bread from heaven? How important is communion to us?
“And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’ “ (John 6:35 NKJV)
Do we complain to God that we are thirsty for physical things (Exodus 17) or spiritual things?
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6 NIV)
Have we come to the One who can freely give us the water of life?
“but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14 WEB)
“To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.” (Revelation 21:6 NLT cf. Revelation 22:1, 17)
The Covenant
Did you know that there are about 8 different ways that Christian and Jewish groups count the Ten Commandments? No matter how they are counted, nobody leaves any commandment out, though some make ignorant and false accusations that they do.
Did you know that the Ten Commandments were the Old Covenant?
“And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” (Exodus 34:28b KJV)
“So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.” (Deuteronomy 4:13 NASB)
Posting a plaque listing the Ten Commandments, the Old Covenant, is not wrong, but it gives the impression of legalism. Ought not Christians post something of faith in Christ?
“These things are an allegory: the women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to slave children; this is Hagar… Throw out the slave woman and her son, because the slave woman’s son won’t share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” (Galatians 4:24, 30 CEB)
Does this contradict Jesus’ instructions?
“Don't suppose I came to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I did not come to do away with them, but to give them their full meaning. Heaven and earth may disappear. But I promise you not even a period or comma will ever disappear from the Law. Everything written in it must happen. If you reject even the least important command in the Law and teach others to do the same, you will be the least important person in the kingdom of heaven. But if you obey and teach others its commands, you will have an important place in the kingdom. You must obey God's commands better than the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law obey them. If you don't, I promise you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-20 CEV)
How can we obey the law better than the meticulous Pharisees? Isn’t the old covenant obsolete?
“In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” (Hebrews 8:13 NKJV)
The harmony of such seemingly contradicting statements is that Christians keep the law in a transformed manner, in the spirit not the letter.
“who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 3:6 ESV)
How does the spirit of the law operate in practice? One excellent example is the law of circumcision.
“But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” (Romans 2:29 KJV cf. Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4)
The heart was actually God’s intention, even under the old covenant.
Slavery
Slavery in Israel shocks us unless we realize that it describes something quite different to modern history. First of all, kidnapping was forbidden, as occurs in many examples of modern slavery. Slavery in Israel was often a way to pay off debts, to do an apprenticeship, to pay for crimes like theft, or to punish foreign war prisoners, and it was usually time limited to seven years maximum, unless a slave voluntarily stayed as a kind of work for welfare. (Exodus 21-22)
“If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall leave as a free man without a payment to you.” (Exodus 21:2 NASB)
Various Laws
Why were weekly and annual Sabbaths important (Exodus 23)? How is the principle of these laws applicable to Christians? Do Christians also have three major festival seasons like Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles?
Why did God want the Canaanites driven out of the land? Faith in God’s commands often comes before understanding. We only learn later that the Canaanites practiced idolatry (Deuteronomy 7:1-6), ritual sex acts (2 Kings 23:7; Amos 2:7), and abominable child sacrifice (2 Chronicles 17:31; 28:3; Ezekiel 16:21).
What is the difference between an idol and the cherub statues used in the sanctuary (Exodus 25)? What did the showbread and lampstand foreshadow? What did the tabernacle picture (Exodus 26)? What did the altar of sacrifice prefigure?
What does incense picture (Exodus 30:1-10; Psalm 141:2; Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4)? What do washing rituals picture (Exodus 30:17-32; John 13:14; Acts 22:16; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5; Hebrews 9:10; 10:22; Revelation 1:5; 7:14)?
Bezalel was filled with the Holy Spirit. What was the evidence?
“I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship” (Exodus 31:3 ESV)
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not limited to the twelve mentioned to Corinth (1 Corinthians 12; Matthew 7:11; John 4:10; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 7:7; Ephesians 2:8). God’s gifts are unlimited.
The Golden Calf
Do some Christians bow down to images in a manner like pagans worshiped idols? Do others go to the opposite extreme, avoiding all pictures or statues, forgetting the covering cherubs and pomegranates decorating the tabernacle? Israel never bowed down to the covering cherubs. They were mere reminders.
Yet, Israel wanted to build a golden calf to bow down to (Exodus 32). How much do the idols of the world haunt our church worship? As Aaron made the calf, have we tolerated some of our church leaders bringing bad practices into the church?
The Tabernacle
The offering for the tabernacle was from “whosoever is of a willing heart” (Exodus 35:5b KJV). Could that apply to church offerings? Could the details of the tent of worship encourage how we construct church buildings and what our elders wear (Exodus 35-40)? What is more important than physical clothing?
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12 NIV)
“All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Galatians 3:27 CEB)
The law was good and holy, and Christians obey the spirit of the whole law, not the letter, focusing on righteousness by faith. Will you have a change of heart and mind, and believe the good news of God’s reign? You decide!
