Moses and the New Covenant
Exodus 35:1 – Moses assembled the whole community of the Israelites and said to them, “These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do. 2 – In six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Anyone who does work on it will be put to death. 3 – You must not kindle a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day.”
The penalty for breaking the Sabbath under the old covenant was severe. If you look back at yesterday’s devotional (‘From Glory to Glory’) we learned that any interaction Moses had with the Israelites was with veiled face, after talking with God. This law was given with the veil up.
What did Jesus do when He gave us the new covenant? With His death the veil was torn and removed giving us access to His throne of grace. Jesus came to show us the law with the veil down. He came to show us the Spirit of the law.
Consider Hebrews 10:28 – Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 – How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace?
Is the law still important? Of course it is or Jesus would not have had to die. Jesus was put to death according to the veiled understanding of the law given to Moses. In response to Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda, John 5:18 says – For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.
Look at what the Jewish leaders said to Pilate in John 19:7 – The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!”
The Jewish leaders refused to move past the veil and see Jesus as the fulfillment of prophecy. We also need to move past the veil and have a one-on-one connection with Jesus. In this way our worship and obedience to Him will be out of love for it is Jesus who said: “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.” (John 14:15). We do not have to fear the veiled presentation of the law through Moses. Jesus has magnified the law and made it so we can love Him directly.
What we face today is this: death is no longer the immediate result for breaking the Sabbath or any of the other 9 commandments. It is actually much deeper. Wilfully breaking any of the commandments even in thought is actually the symptom of a deeper problem: contempt for Jesus and profaning the blood of the covenant, which ultimately results in death!
Our first step in keeping the Spirit of the law is in getting beyond the veil to know Jesus. The more time we spend with Jesus reflecting Him, the more we will follow the Spirit of the law – even our thoughts will be transformed! Let Jesus be our alpha and omega! Let Jesus be our beginning and ending! Let Jesus be our everything and we will learn to live and love Jesus beyond the veil, enjoying the promise of His new covenant forever and ever!
Where two are gathered 