A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Two New Stones; The Sins of the High Priest

This week we will look at Exodus 34. There is a big front porch at the beginning, however.

We are actually only a week away from finishing Exodus. Today we're going over chapter 34, then chapters 35-39 simply record the construction of the tabernacle and the furnishings and the priestly garments we've already delved into in detail. So chapter 34 and chapter 40 will really be all we have left. Today we’re going to study a subject we find in Exodus 32 that I kinda passed right by when we were reading that chapter. Exodus 32:21—And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?" look at what he’s saying—Moses tells Aaron that Aaron brought the sin upon the people—even though the people were the ones clamoring for Aaron to make the golden calf. This is a principle that we find throughout the OT—the people are punished for the sin of either their high priest or their king. We see an example of this in Leviticus 4:1-3—1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying…“3 if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people...” (The KJV says “If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people.” Not quite accurate). God considers the high priest to be the representative of the people. And when the high priest sins, being the representative of the people, he brings guilt not only on himself, but on the entire people. We see this fleshed out in 1st Samuel 3:12-13—“12 I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.” And we see that promise fulfilled in 1st Samuel 4:10-21—10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died…19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured…she bowed herself and gave birth…21 Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel!" Was all of Israel involved in the sin of Eli and his sons? BUT—because Eli, being high priest, knew his sons were corrupting the most important office on earth, God laid that iniquity on the entire nation.

We see an example of a king bringing God’s wrath upon Israel for his own actions in the life of David. 1st Chronicles 21:2-12—2 So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it." 3 And Joab answered, "May the LORD make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?" 4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab...5 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David…7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck—David? No, He struck Israel. 8 So David said to God, "I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly"…11 So Gad [the prophet for David] came to David and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Choose for yourself, 12 either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the LORD—the plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.'" It was David and David alone who decided to number Israel because of his own pride—but it was the entire nation who bore the brunt of God’s anger.

And as with many of the principles we’ve seen over the last couple weeks, this also goes back to the Garden of Eden and the sin of Adam. Were you born yet when Adam sinned? Not hardly. If you were, you look pretty good for your age. I haven’t met many 6000-year old people in that good a shape. We were not yet born when Adam sinned—but guess whose head that sin fell upon? Romans 5:12, 14—12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned…14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam. Why do we die? Because we sin. If you don’t want to die, don’t sin. Oops, too late. We die because we sin—and why do we sin? Because we inherit that from our father Adam. Did we choose to inherit that sin? BUT—just as the sin of Eli the high priest was imputed—or, put on the account of—the people of Israel; just as the sin of David was imputed to the people of Israel; and just as Moses told Aaron that he had brought sin upon the people, the sin of our great-great-great-skip a few-great grandfather Adam was imputed to us. How? Through birth. Psalm 51:5 (NET)—I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me. Psalm 58:3 (NET)—The wicked turn aside from birth; liars go astray as soon as they are born. Let’s go back to Genesis, right after the flood. The waters subside, Noah builds an altar and makes a sacrifice to God, and God says, Genesis 8:21—“I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth.” 

That’s the bad news. However—that just gets you ready for the good news. Just as the sin of the high priest was laid on the people; just as the sin of the king was laid on the people; just as the sin of Adam was laid on us—we have One on whom our sin was laid, if we believe. In Romans 5:15-19 Paul lays out his case that even though all men were made sinners by Adam’s one sin, all who believe in Christ are made righteous by Christ’s one act of obedience. We’re gonna break it down verse-by-verse. Romans 5:15 (NASB)—But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if [since] by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many—because of Adam’s one act of sin, every man dies; grace and life were given to many because of Jesus’ one act of righteousness. Romans 5:16—The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification—the judgment is: Adam’s one sin brought condemnation to all who will ever be born; by one free gift we are justified and pardoned from many sins. Romans 5:17—For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ—pretty easy: because of the sin of one man, death reigned in all men; but because of the gift, righteousness will reign in those who receive grace. And then he sums it all up in Romans 5:18-19—18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. Just as Adam’s sin led to death to all men, Christ’s one act of righteousness is put into the account of all who will ever believe. He has perfected us, he has given us His righteousness to the point that we even become the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21).

And if we are in Christ, we are united to Him and we are one with Him. When Christ appeared to a young Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus, what was the question He asked him? Acts 9:4—"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Did Saul arrest Christ? Was Christ being led to Jerusalem to be imprisoned and murdered? No. Who was it that Saul was leading to Jerusalem to be put in prison and killed? Christians. And as a matter of fact, they were not yet being called “Christians.” These people who were thought of as following the teachings of a dead Jewish rabbi were being called simply “The Way.” Acts 22:4—“I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.” What does Jesus call Himself in John 14:6—“I AM the Way, the Truth, the Life.” Matthew Henry— 

“He thought he was persecuting only a company of poor, weak, silly people, that were an offence and eye-sore to the Pharisees, [not thinking] that is was one in heaven that he was all this while insulting…Note, Those who persecute the saints persecute Christ himself, and he takes what is done against them as done against himself, and accordingly will be the judgment in the great day.” 

In fact, Jesus makes this very fact plain when He tells the people what He will say to the unrighteous in that Day, in Matthew 25:44-45—“44 Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'” However, when a good work is done for one of those who belong to Christ, it is counted as being done for Him. Matthew 10:40—“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” And when we receive Christ, we receive pardon for our sins, we are seated in the heavenly places with Him (Ephesians 2:6), and we are given His righteousness and His life—all because His one act of righteousness has overcome the one transgression committed by our father Adam.

So now turn to Exodus 34:1-7—1 And the LORD said to Moses, "Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. 2 So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. 3 And no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain." 4 So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. 5 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.

A couple things before we get to the main point. Here is another example of the simultaneous judgment and the mercy of God, or as Paul called it Romans 11:22 (NASB)—The kindness and severity of God. He had just commanded the sons of Levi to slaughter 3000 of their fellow Israelites for their idolatry—yet He spared for the time being those who fled from that very same idolatry. A second thing I want to mention is this—in verse 7 God says He will “visit the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” There are folks who make a lot of money on the myth of the “generational curse.” If you “Send your $1000 seed and Pastor Pete will show you how to break your generational curses.” In the Hebrew, I believe the word they would use is “baloney.” Under the old covenant, did God “visit the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations”? Yes. However, does He do this under the NEW covenant, does God “visit the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations”? No. Ezekiel 18:1-4—1 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying, “2 What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: ' The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? 3 As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.” And in that chapter God lays that out in more detail, that each man will be punished for his own sins—not for the sins of his father.

In fact, Jeremiah 31—in that passage where God announces He will make a new covenant—He says this very same thing, Jeremiah 31:29-32—“29 In those days they shall say no more: ' The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' 30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. 31 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” says the LORD. So this notion that there are still “generational curses” is false—if you sin in the same way your father sinned, it’s because you chose to sin that sin—not because you are under some “generational curse.” People are responsible for their own sins—not for the sins of their parents. 

Exodus 34:8-9—8 So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9 Then he said, "If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance." Do “good people” go to Heaven? Did Jesus come to save “good people”? No. In fact, I could stand here and rattle off verse after verse, chapter after chapter, that says that there is no such thing as a “good” person. And if anyone ever tells you that “Ya gotta get right before ya get saved,” tell them they're full of baloney. I won’t go so far as to call it heresy—but it’s a whole lot closer than I ever want to get. In fact, the first step in salvation is realizing that we are a filthy worm; we are a dirty, disgusting sinner who has hated God and that we need to be saved. In the Beatitudes, Jesus does not say, “Blessed are the wealthy…Blessed are those who know that they deserve to be saved…Blessed are the healthy and prosperous.” Matthew 5:3-10—“3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful…8 Blessed are the pure in heart…10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.” And then, in Luke, we find Jesus reading off a list of woes to those who thought they were good enough to be saved. Luke 6:24-26—“24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” 

A little later on, when He called Matthew, a tax collector, to be one of His apostles, Matthew 9:11-13—11 When the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" 12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Charles Spurgeon— 

“What was it that made Christ a physician at all? Was is not because men were sick with sin? Suppose they had been perfect—would Christ have ever been a Savior if men had not been lost? Brethren, it would have been…a folly, a monstrous folly, on His part—to undertake an office which was not required of Him! It is sin which makes room for His work as a Savior...It is sin which makes room for His work as a Savior…He is only a Savior because there are sinners and His Saviorship is based upon our sinnership!…What was it that made Him shed great drops of blood? Was it human guilt? Or do you think, perhaps, human merit? Why guilt, and guilt alone! What made Him give His back to the scourgers and His cheeks to the smiters? What made Him stretch His arms to the Cross and give His feet to the nails? What made Him bear the insufferable wrath of Almighty God? Was it man’s goodness? Why you cannot think of such a thing! It was human vileness, villainy, degradation, iniquity which made such sufferings as these all necessary! As I see, then, Christ…I see Him every moment thinking of sin! Sin! Sin! SIN! Man’s sin makes Him die.” 

And of course the apostle Paul picked up on that theme when he wrote in Romans 3:10-16—10 There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God…13 their throat is an open tomb…15 their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 destruction and misery are in their ways…18 there is no fear of God before their eyes. Who is the “they” in that paragraph? You. Me. The person sitting next to you. Let me read it for you the way if we want to get real about it. Romans 3:10-16—10 There is none righteous, no, not one—and that means me; 11 I do not understand; I do not seek after God…13 my throat is an open tomb…15 my feet are swift to shed blood; 16 destruction and misery are in my ways…18 there is no fear of God before my eyes. So, who deserves to be saved? No one! That’s why Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, in Ephesians 2:8-9—8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works. And because God has laid our sins to the charge of His Son Jesus Christ, He can truly say that He is Exodus 34:6-7—“6 The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty.” He does not simply brush off sin. There must be payment. Either you make the payment in Hell forever, or you accept that Christ made the payment for you.

Then in Exodus 34:10-26, God gives Moses a condensed version of that first covenant. If you recall, when Moses saw the people dancing around the golden calf, he took the two stone tablets which contained all the terms and conditions and commandments of that covenant and threw them down and they shattered—the first case of someone “breaking the Law.” So He tells Moses to cut out another set of tablets like the first. The first thing He commands is that the people not make a covenant with any of the pagan nations around them. We talked about that last week, and how it we are to be holy—sanctified, separate, set apart to God. Does that mean that we as Christians should completely avoid anyone who is not saved? Absolutely not! 1st Corinthians 5:9-11—9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. Jesus commands the church that if anyone is living in sin, and they won’t stop sinning, to go them personally, then take one or two witnesses, and then take them before the entire congregation, and then if they refuse to bend to the commands of Christ, to put them out of the church. And to not have anything to do with them. Can we be friends with people who do not know Christ and do not even claim to know Him? Yes. Are we to take part in the sinful things they do? No. And we are commanded to separate ourselves form those who claim to be a Christian while they are in the midst of living a life that is filled with things like fornication, idolatry and other such things. 

Exodus 34:27-28—27 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." 28 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. “The Ten Commandments”—the Hebrew word translated ‘commandments’ is דַטַר (davar). It literally means ‘word.’ So, the “The Ten Commandments” would be more accurately translated “The Ten Words.” Therefore, we could read this to say, And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words. It’s almost as if God was saying, “OK, you people couldn’t follow those commands, so let Me make it real simple for you. See these words? Follow them.” So God, again, takes His finger and writes on these tablets The Ten Words He wrote the first time. And one point I want to make before we finish up is this—here again we see in Moses almost a visual prophecy of Christ. Between Exodus 20 and Exodus 34, Moses goes up and down the mountain three times. Up in Exodus 20, down in Exodus 24. Back up again in Exodus 24, back down in Exodus 32. Went up in the beginning of Exodus 34, came back down at the end of the chapter.

Turn to Matthew 26:36-45—36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." 39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." 40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.” 

What happens when the people of God take their eyes off of God? They go to sleep. They get carried away into areas they shouldn’t ought to go. We see that with Moses—the people declare, “All that the LORD has said we will do and be obedient!” And yet when Moses goes up the mountain, what happens? “Hey Aaron, make us a cow to worship!” And Aaron says, “Duh, OK!” The people forgot the goodness of God and Aaron let himself get swept up into their idolatry. We see that here with Peter—who said, “Even if I go to prison, or even if they threaten my very life I will never deny You!” And yet, not too long after Christ leaves to pray in the garden, the apostles fall asleep, they scatter when the Romans come, and even Peter would eventually wind up denying he knew Christ—not once, but three times. Again, Charles Spurgeon— 

“He left 8 of His disciples at the entrance to the Garden…Thus, there ought to have been two [groups] watching and praying. If they had all been on the watch, they might have heard the footsteps of the approaching band and they would have seen…the lights of the lanterns and torches of these who were coming to arrest their Lord.” 

Or, as Jesus warned them in Matthew 26:41—“Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.” Knowing that we are just as human as those apostles; we are just as human as the people at the bottom of the mountain who wanted to worship a cow, if we are not watching and praying, guess what we’re going to enter into? Temptation, and if we enter into temptation what else are we likely to enter into?

We conclude Exodus next time.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--Consecrating Aaron and his sons (part 1)

We’ve seen what the tabernacle and all its furnishings probably looked like. We have seen what the garments of the high priest probably looked like. And today we are going to see Aaron and his sons set apart—consecrated—for the priestly service. And before we read our text, I think it would behoove us to understand the reason for the priesthood. And that reason is quite simple. We are vile, wicked, sinful, prideful people who have sinned against a perfectly righteous God. We have broken His law, despised His commandments, and rebelled against His authority. And because we have done these things, we are spiritually separated from God, and cannot approach Him directly. We need someone to plead with Him on our behalf, to ask Him to have mercy on us because of our sins. And that is where the office of priest comes in. Now most people, when they think of the word ‘priest’ they think of a guy in a black robe with a funny-looking collar. And the Roman Catholic church has indeed misappropriated the term ‘priest’ and has convinced those who have been deceived into following her that only the ‘priest’ can forgive you of your sins. The Roman Catholic priest can do nothing for you.

Now here’s the good news—we have a High Priest who has already entered God’s courtroom and who continually intervenes on our behalf. Hebrews 7:24-25—24 He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. And He has made us priests as well. Revelation 1:5-6—5 To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And because we are kings and priests we can call upon this holy and righteous God at any time. Hebrews 4:16—Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. However, until that Great High Priest came, the only way for a person to come to God was—well, first you had to become Jewish, and then you had to go to the Jewish priest, and you had to have an acceptable offering to give. The priest would then kill it, cut it up and burn it, thus making intercession for you. Now, as we've seen in the videos we've watched over the last couple weeks, God was very particular about how things were to be done. Very detailed in His descriptions of the building of the tabernacle and its furnishings and the garments of the high priest. Very intricate details.

And not only was God very specific about the tent and the furnishings and the garments, He was also very specific about who could serve as priest. And it was God’s will that only the “sons of Aaron” could become priests. If we go way back to Genesis, we know that God made a covenant with Abraham that all nations would be blessed through faithful Abraham. Genesis 22:18—"In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." Then Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. But the promise was only to come through Isaac. Genesis 21:12—“In Isaac shall your seed be called.” Then, Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob was eventually given the name “Israel.” And Jacob—Israel—had 12 sons, who became the heads of what we call the “Twelve tribes of Israel.” These 12 sons were Simeon, Reuben, Gad, Naphtali, Dan, Issachar, Benjamin, Zebulon, Joseph, Judah, Asher and Levi. Levi had sons who had sons who had sons and eventually the line of Levi produced two sons named Moses and Aaron. The duty of serving in the tabernacle was given, in general, to the male descendants of Levi. And only the descendants of Levi. If you belonged to the tribe of Benjamin—forget it. If you belong to the tribe of Simeon—sorry. If you belong to the tribe of Reuben—not a chance. Gad, Dan, Naphtali? Step aside. To serve in the tabernacle you had to be a descendant of Levi. Not only that, but in order to enter the priesthood, not only did you have to be a descendant of Levi, more specifically you had to be a descendant of Aaron.

And it is in chapter 29 of Exodus that we see these sons of Aaron set apart for the priesthood. Exodus 29:1-4—“1 And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, 2 and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour). 3 You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams. 4 And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.” Now, I want to stop right here for a moment. What we have here is this: These commands were to be carried out once the tabernacle and the furnishings were finished. So, chronologically, this would have taken place some time after about Exodus 39 or 40 (And in fact we read about this ceremony taking place in Leviticus chapters 8 and 9). At any rate, Moses is to bring the sons of Aaron—Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar—to the door of the tent, and to bring a bull and two rams and all these unleavened breads and wafers. And the first thing that Moses was to do was to wash them with water. Head to toe, not just a little dab under the pits and behind the ears. This was to be a full-body bath. And here we have one of those places where the Law pointed to Christ. Once Aaron and his sons were washed at the door of the tabernacle—and of course they had to go through all the other rituals we’ll be looking at—they were then admitted into the priesthood. After that, the only time they needed to undergo a washing was when they would offer a sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering. One of their priestly duties was, of course, to kill, cut up and burn the sacrifice on the altar of burnt offering. After they burned the offering, before they could go into the tent they had to go to the bronze laver and wash their hands and feet. But they did not have to wash the whole body. That had already been done. How does this act as a prefiguring of Christ? I'm glad you asked. Hold your place here, and turn with me to the gospel according to John.

John chapter 13. This is the night before the crucifixion, Christ and His apostles are in the upper room celebrating Passover Seder. And Jesus does something interesting. John 13:5-10—5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" 7 Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." 8 Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." 9 Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" 10 Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean." Once a person has been cleansed by Christ, they need only go back to “have their feet washed” so to speak, because their whole body is clean.


Listen to Jesus’ words again, John 13:10—"He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean." Notice He uses several different words here—bathed and washed ans clean. And these are two different words in the Greek.The first is λούω (louo), which means to bathe—that is, to bathe the whole body. The second word, νίπτω (nipto), means to wash various parts of the body. Then "clean" is translated from καθαρός (katharos). And this is the point that we see Jesus making here. The priest washed his hands and feet, but only because he was handling offerings for sin. Christ is our offering for sin, so we no longer need to handle dead animals. But what Christ is saying is that as we walk through this world, we build up dirt and grime on our feet—spiritually speaking. But we have already been bathed—spiritually speaking. Titus 3:4-5—4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing—literally, the λούω (louo), the bathing—of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. We have been washed, regenerated, renewed, consecrated, set apart to God by being bathed by the Holy Spirit. First John 1:9—If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse (καθαρίζω (katharizō)) us from all unrighteousness. The word ‘cleanse’ is from the same Greek word (καθαρός (katharos)) that Jesus uses in John 13:10 that is translated ‘clean.’ “He who is bathed…is completely clean (καθαρός (katharos)).” If we have been bathed λούω (louo) in the Holy Spirit, we wash νίπτω (nipto) our feet by asking for forgiveness, and God will cleanse (καθαρίζω (katharizō)) us from the dirt and grime that we have built up on our feet from our daily walk in this world. Because we are never going to be perfect. In these bodies, we will get messy from time to time. But if we have been bathed by the Holy Spirit, we only need to go back to have our feet washed. 

Exodus 29:5-7—“5 Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod. 6 You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban. 7 And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him.” And again we stop here. Once Aaron put on the garments that signified his office, they took the anointing oil that we will look at in Exodus 30, and they poured it over him—they were to pour the oil over his head, and it was to run down to his beard. Thus he was set apart as belonging to God and ministering for the people. This of course was a picture of Christ, specifically our fellowship in Christ, the Holy Spirit having been poured out upon all Christians. Psalm 133:1-3—1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the LORD commanded the blessing—Life forevermore. This was not a neat and tidy ritual. It’s a good thing this was done in the desert, in the sand, than on a marble floor because that could have gotten very messy and slippery.

In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-2—“1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” And it is this section of the scroll of Isaiah that Jesus read from in one of the earliest parts of His ministry (see Luke 4:16-21). The pouring of oil—many times you will run across the phrase “poured out”—it is a picture of the Holy Spirit being “poured out” upon either Jesus as the Christ or on the individual believer. The Greek word “Christ” is a synonym for the Hebrew word “Messiah” and both of these words mean “anointed.” And in the OT, we see the act of anointing being performed in order to set apart certain men to certain important positions. We of course have Aaron anointed to set him apart as high priest:

• We see Elisha anointed as prophet in 1^st Kings 19:16—And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
• We see David anointed as the future king of Israel in 1^st Samuel 16:13—Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.

Aaron was anointed as high priest; David was anointed as king; Elisha was anointed as prophet. What’s the connection I'm making here? This anointing of priest, prophet and king with oil was symbolic of God anointing Christ—King, Prophet and Priest—with the Holy Spirit. But I also think there was another event in Christ’s life that this pointed to. And it’s not one that we like to think about.

Many times when we read about what Pilate and Herod and the Roman soldiers did to Christ during His crucifixion, we often point out how the crown of thorns and the purple robe were meant to mock the claim that Christ made to being king of the Jews. And during His ordeal we read about the servants of the high priest spitting in the face of our Lord in Matthew 26:67—Then they spat in His face and beat Him. The Roman soldiers also did the same, in Matthew 27:30—Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. And remember this: these men that we’re talking about here, both the servants of the wicked priests as well as the Roman soldiers. They were driven in their disgraceful actions by Satan. These were men that would eventually drive metal spikes through the flesh of His wrists. Do you think they were going to stop with a few drops of spittle? They, for all intents and purposes, “anointed” Him with their spit. The servants of the high priest “anointed” Him as prophet and priest, the Romans soldiers “anointed” Him as king. We see this foreshadowed in another place, Isaiah 50:6—I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. Job 30:10 (NET)—They detest me and maintain their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. I wonder what they will say when they stand before the Great White Throne of Christ? The very same Christ that these wicked men treated with such contempt—will be the one who passes ultimate judgment on them. But here is the grace of God—if one of those servants or one of those soldiers had followed Christ up Golgotha, and watched as He was lifted up, and if that man had fallen down and begged forgiveness—he would be forgiven.

So, coming back to Exodus, Aaron was to be bathed head to toe. He was to be clothed in the high priestly garments and anointed. Verses 8-9 we will take next week. For now we’ll look at Exodus 29:10-14—“10 You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull. 11 Then you shall kill the bull before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 12 You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar. 13 And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. 14 But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.” Going all the way back to the book of Genesis, even to that point immediately after Adam sinned, we see that the cost of sin is what? Death. Whenever and wherever there is sin, there must necessarily be death. And blood. By placing their hands on the heads of this bull, they were acknowledging their sins, and are confessing that this animal was being killed to cover over their sins. And until these men confessed their sins and made restitution for their sins, they could not be set apart as priests to God.

Oh, and you see those beautiful, hand-made garments up at the top of the page? The ones that God gave the instructions concerning their intricate detail and to make these garments that would glorify God? Well, after killing and cutting up these animals, guess what happened to these lovely works of man's hands? They were covered with blood. Almost symbolizing the fact that no matter how much work you did, unless your works were covered by blood, they were useless. Just like our "good works" today. Many people do "good things." But unless those things are done in the name of the Lord Jesus, and for the glory of God, and unless one is covered by the blood of Christ--all those "good works" will not do the person a bit of good. And unless the garments of these priests were covered in blood, they were useless as well.

Now, getting back to the sacrifice. What functions do the kidneys, intestines and liver perform? They get rid of stuff. What these men were doing was acknowledging the despicableness of sin. These were—and are—some of the most disgusting parts of an animal. I don’t care if you like chitterlings, they're disgusting. They were to burn them on the altar, right then and there. Now, let me finish up with what they were to do with some other parts of that bull. Exodus 29:14—“But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.” I like how the NET renders it, it says “It is a purification offering.” Now, the word “offal” literally means, how can I say this nicely, ‘dung’. The flesh, the skin, the dung—these were the only things that were to be taken outside the camp. Once they had gotten the tabernacle finished, and had gotten all the tents of the various tribes in their proper places, they perform these rituals, everything that was to be killed, cut up and burned to consecrate Aaron and his sons and the tabernacles and all its furniture was to be burned on the altar of burnt offering—except the flesh, skin and dung of this purification offering. This purification offering was meant to bear the sins of the men who were set apart as priests.

And wouldn’t you know it; we have a picture of Christ. Where was Christ crucified? Golgotha. Was Golgotha inside the city walls of Jerusalem? No, it was outside the city. Christ is not only our High Priest; He is also our offering for sin, true? He is the Offering that purifies us—our Purification Offering, since we too are priests to God. Listen to Hebrews 13:10-13—10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. Only the sin offering—that we will see in Leviticus 4—and this purification offering for Aaron and his sons were to be burned outside the camp. Christ, our sin offering, bore our reproach when He was crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem, and what I think the writer is saying here is, “Let us no longer serve the weak and beggarly elements of the Law that could not make us righteous. Let us instead look to Christ as being the author and finisher of faith and righteousness, since we have been crucified with Him.” By fulfilling these things that were symbolized in these rituals, He has fulfilled all righteousness.

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--The First Covenant (Part 3)

Two weeks ago we saw God make a covenant with the people that He brought out of Egypt. The physical descendants of Abraham, through his son Isaac, through the twelve sons of Isaac’s son Jacob. God has brought these descendants of Abraham into the land He promised them and has made a covenant with these people that He would be their God. He also promised that He would appoint priests to mediate on their behalf so their sins could be covered over. And that covenant was made only with Israel—if you were not a Jew, you had to become a Jew in order to enter into the “covenant of works,” as it was called, if you wanted to enjoy the privilege of worshipping the one true and living God. God also promised His people Israel that one day He would send the last Mediator of the new and better covenant. But we saw last week that the people, even after seeing the mighty works of God and entering into those promises, they did not slack in breaking them. In fact they broke their covenant with God so frequently that God told them through the prophet Hosea that because of their spiritual adultery He would “You are not My people and I will not be your God” and that all the privileges that He had given Israel would be offered to all nations, both Jew and Gentile.

Fast forward to the NT, the apostle Paul refers to himself as “a Hebrews of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5), “of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin” (Romans 11:1)—but also as “the apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:3; Ephesians 3:8). And being a Jew who was called as the apostle to the Gentiles, what he did most often was to take the OT Scriptures—the writing of those Scriptures being entrusted to the Jews—and he shows the Gentiles that the promises once made only to ethnic Israel were now available to both Jew and Gentile. For example, Romans 1:16—I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. And in his letter to the Ephesians, he expands on that promise. Ephesians 2:11-18—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Under the Old Covenant, Gentiles were “far off”; we—us—would have been strangers, foreigners, and aliens. In fact, the only part of the temple we would have been allowed into was called “The Court of the Gentiles”—an area in the outermost part of the temple, and in fact the place where the moneychangers and those who bought and sold did their business when Jesus came and cleansed the temple. One of the most horrendous displays of blasphemy that is recorded even in secular histories was the Greek general Antiochus Epiphanes entering into the Most Holy Place of the temple in 186 BC and commanding swine to be offered on the altar. In the time leading up to the Advent of Christ, there was a rabbinic tradition that said if a Jew went into the house of a Gentile the Jew was ceremonially unclean. In Acts 21:27-30, the apostle Paul was accused of bringing a Gentile into the inner part of the temple.

BUT—but now, in Christ, both Jew and Gentile are allowed access to the Father. We are not separated by genetics. We don’t have to go through various rituals to be allowed entrance into the saving grace of God—He pours out His grace on whomever He will. Under the covenant made on Mt. Sinai, God promised the people of Israel that if they sinned, they could bring an offering, and that offering would cover over their sin. And we have to be real careful here not to say that the offering would pay for their sin, or take away their sin. Because the OT offerings and sacrifices were never intended to pay for or take away sins. They simply covered them over until the time when God would take them away, as God promised in Jeremiah 31:34—“I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Now, this promise, to “forgive their iniquity” and to “remember their sin no more” was not fulfilled by the OT offerings and sacrifices. Hebrews 10:4—It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. So, for God to completely and utterly forgive sins, take them away, and remember them no more, He would have to make a new covenant, because the old covenant—the Covenant of Law, Covenant of Works—could not do that. Hebrews 8:7—For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

And the reason that the Covenant of Law could not take away sins was because it was built upon the strength of the human flesh. It would be like taking a door made of 2 ½” thick steel, bulletproof, able to withstand a rocket-propelled grenade—and mounting that door on a frame made of papier-mâché. Romans 8:3—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. The Law is the 2” thick steel door, the flesh is the papier-mâché frame. The first covenant was not faultless—not because God could not fulfill it, but because we sinful humans could not fulfill it. And because we humans, through the weakness of our flesh, are not able to fulfill all the conditions and commands contained in the Law, there had to come a new covenant.

And Jesus came and preached that new covenant—not only to Jews but also to Gentiles. Ephesians 2:17-18—17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. 18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Jews in Jesus’ day thought that this promised “new covenant” was to come to them and them alone. They read what Jeremiah said in that passage, where God said He would “make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31). They thought that God was finally getting ready to do away with Gentiles once and for all and establish His throne upon the earth. And there were many who thought that Jesus was the one who would usher in that earthly kingdom. Even some of Jesus’ apostles thought that. And not only when He walked the earth, but even after His resurrection, some of His apostles were thinking that the Kingdom was about to come. Listen to Acts 1:4-6—4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" But Jesus let it be known, many times, that He did not come to establish an earthly kingdom. John 18:33-36—33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"…36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."

And even though many Jews were believing in Christ, there were some believing Jews who were teaching that outward, physical circumcision was necessary in order to be saved. Romans 9:6-8—6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called." 8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. Romans 2:25-29—25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

Even after Paul had preached salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the churches in Galatia, he was forced to ask them, Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? (Galatians 3:1). It’s almost like there was this spirit of jealousy among the ethnic Jewish Christians—and we could almost say Jewish “Christians”—it’s like they were saying “Hey now wait a minute! Our fathers had to go through all this trouble of building the tabernacle, carrying it around through the desert, making all the priestly garments, spending years learning how to cut up the animals for the sacrifice, standing knee-deep in the blood of bulls and goats day after day, year after year. And all Gentiles have to do is believe in Christ and turn away from their sins? We need to at least make them get circumcised!”

What they didn’t understand was that the gospel for the Gentile was the same gospel for the Jew. That is the point of the Parable of the Workers in Matthew 20:1-16. Salvation for Gentiles comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone—salvation for the Jew comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Listen to Romans 3:21-23, 28-31—21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…22 the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

The goal of the Law, the consequence God intended to produce, was not having people bring bulls and goats to the priest to have them killed, cut up and burned. That was not what God wanted. The goal of the Law was to produce in His people a conviction of their own sinfulness. Psalm 51:16-17—16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise. Isaiah 1:1-23 catalogs the crimes of Israel against God. And all they ever offered to God was the blood of bulls and goats with a pinch of incense. Isaiah 1:11-14—“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats…13 Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me…14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.” Proverbs 21:27—The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with wicked intent! God did not want their dead animals. He had become sickened by the constant smell of the incense that the wicked were burning, hoping to purchase His pardon. They did not want to stop sinning; they wanted to have their cake and eat it too—they wanted to keep sinning but still have God overlook their sins. God said, basically, “I don’t want your sacrifice—I want your heart.” Joel 2:18—So rend your heart, and not your garments. That was the goal of the Law; that is the goal of the gospel—to bring about the death of sin and to bring about life in Christ.

So the Jews who either rejected Christ or preached Christ plus circumcision were missing the point. No one was ever saved because they had a priest kill an innocent animal. Men are saved because they trust in God, they desire His righteousness, and they understand that their righteousness doesn’t count for anything. They are saved because they believe that God allowed His Son to die and that that blood—and now we can use these phrases—the blood Christ shed is what paid for and took away their sins. John 1:29—“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” And it is by the blood of Christ that we who were once Gentiles in the flesh have now been brought near—along with all the OT saints who had to become Jews and go through all the rituals contained in the Law—and we are now one body, both Jew and Gentile, in Christ. Ephesians 2:19-20—19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. One of the things we hear a lot when we share the gospel is people will use other people as the standard by which we judge whether we’re saved or not. “Well, I'm not as bad as that guy over there.” Well, that may be true, but what’s the problem with that statement? We could probably find 100 people who are “better” than them. That was the problem for the Pharisees. They thought they were better than the common man because they had devoted their lives to memorizing Scripture. They thought that their outward appearance made them “holier than thou.”

But Jesus told a parable that quenched that fire, Luke 18:9-14—9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “10 Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” And I think in this passage, when Jesus uses the phrase “He who exalts himself” I think He may be calling to the minds of the Pharisees the words of Lucifer, in Isaiah 14:12-15—“12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God’…15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” Under the “old covenant”—what is called by some the “Covenant of Works”—it was not the works themselves that were the goal the people were to aim for. The goal was to aim for the righteousness of God—all the while knowing one could never attain it. Now that may seem like a contradiction and that God is setting us up to fail, but that’s not what is really going on.

When we understand that we cannot keep His Law perfectly; when we understand that, as Paul says, nothing good dwells within me (Romans 7:18); when we realize that our sins are exceedingly sinful; when we see that we deserve nothing less than the perfect justice of Almighty God—then the Law has done its work, and we ask God to be merciful to us and to give us His righteousness and lead us in His ways, and as Paul says in Romans 7:21-24—21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! What he’s saying in this passage is that until God flips on the light and we see the perfection of God’s Law, we do not understand that we are sinful creatures. But when that switch is flipped, we see that we are now in a struggle between what the Spirit calls us to do and what our flesh desires. Galatians 5:17—For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another.

And that war goes on inside every believer. And it is not a war that can be won by using physical means. However, the physical actions of a believer are dictated by how one responds to the prompting of the Spirit. The Law is good, in that it shows us what is required by God. But it cannot make us do what He commands—that has to be purposed in each person’s heart. To illustrate, suppose you're heading home, and you see a stop sign. Can that stops sign make you stop? No, its purpose is to tell you that you must come to a complete stop before you proceed through this intersection. But it cannot make you stop. You must, before you arrive at that intersection, purpose in your heart that when you see an octagon-shaped piece of red sheet metal with the letters “S-T-O-P” that you will stop. In much the same way, the commands in the Law cannot make a person stop sinning. The person who reads “Thou shalt not steal” must purpose in his heart that when he sees something that does not belong to him he will leave it alone—but that command cannot make the person keep their paws off of what is not theirs.

So to use other human beings as the rod by which we measure our own righteousness is really foolishness. 2^nd Corinthians 10:12—But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. That’s why Paul refers to Christ as the chief cornerstone. Because the cornerstone of a building is much more than a commemorative piece of architecture. It is the most important part of the building. It is by the cornerstone that every other angle in the building is measured. And if every angle of that cornerstone is not a perfect 90º, then nearly every angle in the building will be off, and the building will not stand. And if we are measuring our own righteousness against that of people who are just as far off of 90º as we are, then we will not realize that our house is, “up to code” so to speak. BUT—if we measure ourselves against Christ—who is the perfect cornerstone—then we will see where we come short of perfection, we trust in Him to be our righteousness, and as he says in Ephesians 2:20-22—20 Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Law and He is the cornerstone of the gospel. He is the one the Law pointed to as our perfect sacrifice, the mediator of the new covenant that included not only Jew but also Gentile. And He is the one we will be measured against when God brings about the judgment of the world.

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.

A Survey of the Old testament Law--The First Covenant (Part 2)

We are still comparing and contrasting the old covenant with the new covenant. Now, when I say “old covenant” I mean what some call the “Sinai covenant” (since it was made on Mt. Sinai) or the “Mosaic covenant” (since it was made through Moses). Because God made several other covenants with certain men. He made a covenant with Noah; He promised He would never again cause the rains to utterly destroy life on earth. He made two covenants with Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed and that he would be the father of many nations. God made a covenant with David, that through him the Messiah would come. He made a covenant with Aaron, that his descendants would be priests and intercede for the people. And of course He made the New Covenant whereby He would forgive sins and remember them no more, that being the covenant we Christians live under today.

And even before the people made it to Mt. Sinai, God promised Moses that these people would be His people. Exodus 4:22-23—22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD: "Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me."'" Then, once He led the people out of Egypt, He promises the whole group, Exodus 19:3-6—3 And the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'" These promises were made strictly to the Israelites. To Jews according to the flesh.

And that is why we see that Paul says, Ephesians 2:11-12—11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Before Christ came, God divided the world up into two groups of people—Jew and Gentile. If you were born into a Jewish family, you were a Jew. If you were born into a family from any other ethnic group, you were not a Jew—you were a Gentile. And God only made covenants with the Jewish people. He never made a covenant with any Gentile nation. Not only that, but if you wanted to worship God, you had to come to God through the Jewish nation, the priests and so forth. Let’s say our friend Richard was a Moabite and our other friend David was a Jebusite. They have both seen the mighty hand of God in destroying the Canaanites and the Amorites and the Amalekites and the Hivites and the Parasites and the Termites.

David, the Jebusite, sees all these mighty works, and he says “Yeah, but I just don’t know about all that circumcision stuff. I believe this God exists; I'll worship this God in my own way. But I won’t have anything to do with those dirty Jews.” Uh, sorry, it don’t work like that. Any Gentiles who did not submit themselves to the Law of God and accept all the terms of the Law and the Covenant were, as Paul says, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. And the same was true for any Babylonian, Assyrian, Greek, Persian or Roman, African, etc. Unless one became a Jew, one could not worship what they may call “the God of the Jews.” Gentiles were not simply outside of the commonwealth of Israel—they were outside of the commonwealth of God. They may have known the true God was the true God, but unless they abided by His Law and entered into the commonwealth—or nation—of Israel, they had no access to any of the promises of blessings that God promised His people.

Richard, the Moabite, on the other hand, says “I have seen and heard of His mighty works and I want to serve Him. I want your God to be my God.” Much like the “mixed multitude” that came out of Egypt with the Israelites during the exodus. So he submits himself to circumcision, vows to abide by all the commands contained in the Book of the Law and the Book of the Covenant, he takes an oath that "All that the LORD has said I will do, and be obedient." He can now take part in the feasts of Passover and Firstfruits and Ingathering. And even more importantly, if he sins he can now bring an offering to the priest who will kill it, cut it up and burn it to cover over that sin. He can now be counted among the people of God. A couple examples of Gentiles turning to worship the one true and living God. Ruth, like Richard, was a Moabite. Listen to Ruth 1:15-16 (NASB)—15 Then Naomi said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.” Uriah—the husband of Bathsheba—was a Hittite.

But, by the same token, being a Jew did not necessarily guarantee that person a trip to Heaven either. Under the OT Law, there were some sins that were punishable by death. But there were also many other sins and violations of that Law that required the person to be “cut off” from the people. We’ll see those down the road, but there is a huge difference. Romans chapter 2 is another passage that I would recommend reading because it shows that sin is a universal problem, and it also shows that the whole world is under the same Law, both Jew and Gentile. And in Romans 2, Paul puts the Jewish teachers on the spot, saying, basically, “You who are teaching the Gentiles not to steal or commit adultery or practice idolatry—why are you doing the very same things?” And then he says in Romans 2:25—For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. And here, as in other places, he makes the case that it is not physical circumcision that justifies one before God, because the circumcision of the man who lives a sinful lifestyle was of no effect. He might as well have never been circumcised. And it is not by being a physical Jew—whether by birth or by circumcision—that one is saved. But listen to what Paul says in Romans 3:1-2—1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. God entrusted the writing of His Law and the proclamation of that Law and of His various judgments to the Jewish people. In fact, Luke is the only Gentile to write any of the 66 books of the Bible. Every other book was written by a Jew.  

The Jews were God’s chosen people. God chose to act and speak through these people. And in Exodus 24, He made a covenant with them and them alone. Of all the nations that He could have chosen, it was the good pleasure of His will to choose the Israelites. He appointed for them priests, who would mediate between the person and God that if the person had sinned. And God said that if the person sinned—and if that person had accepted the Law and the Covenant—their sin would be forgiven. And the people kept His covenant…for a little while. Then they broke that covenant. Then they returned to God…and broke the covenant again. They returned once again…and guess what happened? But by the time God called Hosea to prophecy, things had gotten about as bad as they could get. And in Hosea, God tells the people of Israel that because they had broken their covenant with Him, God would one day be done with Israel as a nation—but not as a people. And we’ll clear up that distinction shortly. It’s not that He would cast away all who were ethnic Jews, but that He would call all nations to Himself, that He would call both Jew and Gentile “My people.” And one day, Gentiles would not have to “become Jews” in order to come to Him, and Gentiles would not have to enter into the Jewish nation to come to God.

We will be looking at Hosea and Romans today and next time. Hosea 1:2—The LORD said to Hosea: "Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD." God had had enough—God had betrothed Israel to Himself, and now the people were committing spiritual harlotry—or, adultery—by worshipping other gods. And because of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God commands Hosea to take a wife who would become unfaithful, and commanded him to give his children prophetic names. Hosea 1:4—“Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.” The second child was named Lo-Ruhamah, Hosea 1:6—“Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away.” The third child was named Lo-Ammi, Hosea 1:9—“Call his name Lo-Ammi, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God.” Now this seems pretty harsh, doesn’t it? Doesn’t it sound like God is going back on His word by saying “You are not My people and I will not be your God”? Had He not made a covenant with these people that He would be their God and they would be His people—forever? How can He say this and still be just? Well, listen to Hosea 2:7-11—“7 She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better for me than now.' 8 For she did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold—which they prepared for Baal…11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her New Moons, her Sabbaths—all her appointed feasts.” 

The people had taken all the things that God had blessed them with—those things that were supposed to be set aside, set apart, consecrated, sanctified to God, and they had used them to worship Baal. They had broken the covenant God had made with them back on Sinai. Remember what they said in Exodus 24:7—"All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient." Well, what were the first two things that “the LORD has said”? Exodus 20:3-5—“3 You shall have no other gods before Me. 4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image.” The people said "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient." and yet the commands that “You shall have no other gods before Me” and “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” got thrown out the window before Moses even made it down the mountain. And these were the two commands that were broken more frequently than nearly any other, and through Hosea God says something that should have caused every person who heard it to shudder and fear more than anything else. “I will not be your God.”

Now, there are some who take this idea and teach further than it really goes. While some teach that Jews are saved because they're Jews, there are still others who say God wants nothing to do with ethnic Jews, or the nation of Israel. They say that God is finished with them and they are done. One passage of Scripture they use is when Jesus is standing before Pilate, and Pilate declares, “My hands are innocent of this man’s blood.” And they answer “His blood be on us and on our children.” And these folks say “See! It was the Jews that killed Christ, so God has done away with them.” Wrong. Turn to Romans 9:1-5. In chapters 9 and 10 of Romans, Paul lays out his argument against the Jew who is putting his hope for salvation not in God, but in his own works and in being a son of Abraham. Paul, being a Jew who once put his hopes for salvation not in God but in his own works and in the fact that he was a son of Abraham, opens up his heart to show how deeply he longs for his fellow countrymen to see that they are saved by God, and not by their own works or by being a son of Abraham. And he is pleading with them, almost as if he is saying “Brethren, you know the Scriptures, you see in the Law and the prophets that the Messiah would come through us. That Messiah has come—trust in Him!” Romans 9:1-5—1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. 

He almost echoes the words of Moses, when the people made the golden calf and Moses pleads with God and asks that he be blotted out of God’s book rather than have the whole people perish. And here, Paul says He would just as soon be separated from God so that his fellow Jews may be spared. He knows that because they have been given more truth and more light than any other people, God will judge them more harshly and they will receive greater condemnation. In fact, Jesus says nearly the same thing, Matthew 11:23-24—“23 And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” John Gill— 

“Though the punishment of the men of Sodom will be very great, their iniquities being horribly dreadful and enormous, yet [their sins were] more easy to be borne than the vengeance, which…will fall upon [those] who have had the means of grace, and have despised them.” 

Those who have been given much wisdom into the things of God will be judged more harshly than those who are ignorant of the things of Christ. The Jews who rejected Christ thought they were doing a great service to God. The Pharisees thought they were keeping themselves pure through the Law and denouncing this one whom they thought was doing away with the Law. Problem was, they were denouncing the one who was explaining the Law and declaring to them that He was the fulfillment of that Law. Which is why we read what Paul says over in Romans 10:1-4—1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. And even though they rejected that righteousness; even though they crucified the Lord of Glory; even though many of his countrymen according to the flesh were seeking to establish their own righteousness by trying to keep the Law, God is not utterly and completely through with the nation Israel. In fact, when John writes about the 144,000 in Revelation, they are all Jewish. There will be 12,000 from each of the tribes of Israel.

Now, the Jews who rejected Christ were not doing so to try and establish the worship of some other, false god. They were doing so out of a zeal for the true God. Paul even almost defends them in such a way in Romans 10:2—They have a zeal for God. They thought they were doing good. But they did not realize that Christ did not come to destroy the Law and the prophets but to fulfill them. And so they killed their Messiah. BUT—God does still have people among the ethnic Jews. And one of the strongest declarations that God is not done with ethnic Israel is Romans 11, and it is another chapter I would recommend reading, because it shows that even after all of the spiritual adultery, even after their fathers delivered their Messiah to the Gentiles to be scourged and murdered, God is not done with them. Romans 11:1-5—1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"? 4 But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 

Even after 3000 years of spiritual adultery, even after they went after Baal and Ashtaroth and the pagan gods of their neighbors, and even after they sent the very Son of God to be delivered to wicked men to be scourged and beaten and crucified, God has reserved for Himself a remnant among the Jewish people. They are not saved because they are Jewish; they are saved the same way we are—they are saved because they have been chosen by God, according to the election of grace, to believe in Christ.

To finish up on the passage we started with, we were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But as we will see next week, we Gentiles who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. We were aliens and strangers to the people of Israel. But now, we are brothers and sisters with all those of Israel who believe in Christ and we are now invited into a new and better and everlasting covenant with them, Christ being the Mediator of that covenant.

Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen.