The End of the Law?
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Last week we continued our study on the book of Hebrews by looking at the perfect sacrifices of Jesus.
We looked at the sacrifice the was called for in the Temple and how it could only offer a temporary solution. We saw that the blood of animals could cover sins for a year but it could not deal with the actual issue of the sin itself. It could not provide forgiveness of sin because it was symbolic of what Jesus would provide by his obedience to death on the cross.
Introduction
Introduction
This week we move on from that and move into Chapter 10 where we read the following.
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
A Better Covenant
A Better Covenant
Again, the writer of Hebrews reminds them that what they were doing before could not remove sin, it could not make them perfect. It could not fulfill them. He said if it could, then once the sacrifice was made, all of that stuff would have been done away with.
So when Messiah comes into the world, He says,
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
but a body You prepared for Me.
In whole burnt offerings and sin offerings
You did not delight.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I come to do Your
will, O God (in the scroll of the book it
is written of Me).’ ”
The writer goes on to quote various passages in the Psalms and declares that when Messiah enters the world, he will come to do the will of God. What will specifically was that?
Well it says that God did not really desire the sacrifices and offerings, so then why did he require them? Because the law required that a sacrifice would be made in order to provide righteousness. So now Messiah is quoted in Psalms, and look at what he says: “In the scroll of the book it is written of Me”.
What book? Well he goes on, beginning in verse 8.
After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (those which are offered according to Torah), then He said, “Behold, I come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. By His will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Messiah Yeshua once for all.
So then the book, the scroll, represent the Torah, or the law of Moses. So what was He proclaiming here? Well let’s look at what Jesus himself has to say about Torah.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. Amen, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or serif shall ever pass away from the Torah until all things come to pass. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and Torah scholars, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven!
Not Abolishing, but Completing
Not Abolishing, but Completing
Did Jesus actually say that the Law of Moses, or Torah was in effect? Well yes, In fact in the passages that follow, Jesus goes on to describe Torah, and then He even expands on it. He expands their understanding of the true requirements of Moses’ law as he touches on such subjects as murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, love, charitable deeds, prayer, fasting, wealth and judging and more. But in so doing, not only was he affirming the Torah, he was expanding upon it. He was adding a deeper understanding of what was required to actually fulfill Torah. So what exactly was Jesus fulfilling? Well to understand that, we need to look at the Greek word here. The Greek word for fulfill actually more specifically means complete. What exactly did he come to do? Let’s go back to Hebrews to see for ourselves.
Indeed, every kohen stands day by day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But on the other hand, when this One offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God— waiting from then on, until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected forever those being made holy. The Ruach ha-Kodesh also testifies to us—for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will cut with them:
‘After those days,’ says Adonai,
‘I will put My Torah upon their hearts,
and upon their minds I will write it,’ ”
then He says,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Now where there is removal of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
The writer of Hebrews quotes the Prophet Jeremiah in saying that God was not done writing Torah because the blood of lambs and goats could not deal with in once and for all. So God would cut a better covenant, one where He would write Torah directly on the hearts and minds of men! If then, this is what Jesus came to do, how could we say that the Law of Moses no longer applies to us as Christians? We can’t! But you see the word Torah means instructions. In this case instructions for living a life that will please God. So if you were able to somehow live a life where you could completely observe all 613 commandments in Torah, you will have live a life that perfectly honors God. But we know that there is no one who is righteous.
Surely there is not a righteous person
on earth
who does what is good and doesn’t sin.
An Impossible Standard
An Impossible Standard
So now when we look back at what Jesus preached, we see that He was requiring that we live a life that exceeded the righteousness of even what was given in Torah, which He knew was impossible. Any yet here he was, saying that he came to complete Torah, and the complete Torah is everything in the Old Version (which was already impossible), plus all the stuff he added n the new! Saints, are you feeling it? Are you feeling the depth of helplessness that exists for mankind?
An Unsatisfactory Fix
An Unsatisfactory Fix
If you understand how impossible it is to serve God as He requires, then you understand why the world is in the state in which it finds itself. So what was Torah’s answer to the sinful state of man? Well it was the animal sacrifice. It was the annual atoning sacrifice.
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a person sins unintentionally against any of the commandments of the Lord in anything which ought not to be done, and does any of them, if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, then let him offer to the Lord for his sin which he has sinned a young bull without blemish as a sin offering. He shall bring the bull to the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, lay his hand on the bull’s head, and kill the bull before the Lord. Then the anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it to the tabernacle of meeting. The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord, in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
This was the process by which sins were covered in the Old Covenant.
The animal had to be sacrificed in a specific way and then the blood had to be sprinkled in front of the veil in the sanctuary.
A Permanent Fix
A Permanent Fix
And guess what? It was a completely unsatisfactory way of doing things for God. It was incomplete. We read it earlier in Psalms, it’s not what he wanted. But let’s continue in Hebrews.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
The blood of Lambs and Goats could only cover the sins of a person or a nation, on the other hand the blood of Jesus could take away the sins of the world! So we see how he fulfilled the law by completing and replacing an unsatisfactory method of dealing with sin, but what about the rest of the law? Are we still under the law?
No doubt many of you will say we are not under the law any more at all! We are under grace now that Jesus came, and you will no doubt quote Galatians 3 to me. So let’s go there really quick.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
So is he saying the law is a curse? Or is he saying the law has a curse? Hmm… Let me have you turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy.
“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
So the Law contains both a blessing and a curse. The curse if you don’t do the mitzvot (or commandments) has been removed. How? Because Christ paid the penalty for sin. But the blessing remains. The blessing if we obey his commandments still stands. So let’s go back to Galatians and let’s read a little further up.
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
So, Dump the Torah?
So, Dump the Torah?
Paul is not teaching them something new, because Torah never says that you can gain salvation by obeying the commandments! Paul points out this principle in verse 11 and 12.
But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.” Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
So then do we reject the law, because it is somehow anathema to the Christian faith? Well Paul certainly doesn’t think so.
Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
But then Paul says this about Torah
Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Wait! see there pastor, we don’t need the law anymore! Well if it actually said what it seems to say there, I could see the argument, but that word tutor, is perhaps not the best translation. Let’s look at a different translation.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
Hmm, that is a little bit different isn’t it? While Messiah had not come, we were given a guardian. A guardian with a stick, a guardian that contained a curse to keep us in line. We no longer need that, but does that mean we stop obeying his commandments?
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
What commandments are those? Well, the same commandments that He kept.
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
So then, we don’t dump Torah, because it never was there for salvation. It was there as a guardian because it couldn’t save. There is a big difference between a guardian and a family member right? The law was a guardian that was there to keep us safe. The law had a curse, and Jesus came to deal with that curse, and yet we see Jesus still says that we should keep the commandments or Torah. How does this make sense?
Well if Jesus came to complete the law and remove the curse of the law but he didn’t come to abolish the law, then what remains? Well remember, the law had two parts. What were they?
“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
So then what possible motive would Jesus have for telling us to continue to keep the Law if it wasn’t going to provide salvation. Because as Paul pointed out to the Galatians, the Law was never intended to provide salvation. Nevertheless, the writer of Hebrews goes on to warn them that just because the curse of the law has been done away with, that doesn’t mean that they are free to disregard its teachings.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Putting it All Together
Putting it All Together
So what are we to make of all this? Well if Jesus is still asking us to observe the law from which the curse has been removed because it is no longer our guardian, then why? Why would he ask us that? Why would he write the Torah on our hearts, and as us to follow it if we are no longer under it’s guardianship? Because there are two parts to the law. While the curse from not obeying the law has been removed, the blessing remains!
So it is important to understand Torah, the spirit of the law, and not the strict traditions of the Pharisees. Jesus himself said that our righteousness had to exceed that of the Pharisees and Torah teachers. The difference is that the blood of Christ has given us that boldness to enter in to the holy of holies because our sin is finally dealt with and it didn’t have anything to do with our own righteousness.