SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/11/2020 9:37 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Jesus
Fulfilled the Ceremonial Law
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:17
Message
of the verse: “17 "You must not think that I have come to abolish the
Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to complete them”
(Phillips).
Some
may ask the question “exactly what was the ceremonial law?” The ceremonial law governed the form of
Israel’s worship is how John MacArthur describes this law. When Jesus died on the cross He fulfilled the
ceremonial law along with the judicial law.
We have into look back at the OT to see that sacrifice was the heart of
all of its worship, and so Jesus brought all the other sacrifices to an
end. I want to look at Matthew 27:51 to
show us what happened in the temple once Jesus died on the cross, thus
fulfilling these OT laws “And
behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and
the earth shook and the rocks were split.”
Jesus Christ was the new and perfect way into the Holy of Holies, into
which any man could come by faith. Let
us again go to the book of Hebrews and look at 10:19-22 “19 Therefore,
brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of
Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil,
that is, His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house
of God, 22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water.” As we look on
later in the book of Matthew we see that Jesus told the Jewish people that
Jerusalem would be destroyed soon, and it happened in 70 A. D. thus ending the
Levitical priestly sacrificial system.
MacArthur
writes “Symbolically they had no more significance. The Tabernacle and Temple sacrifices even
before Christ’s death never had power to cleanse from sin. They were only pictures of the Messiah-Savior’s
work of cleansing, pictures that pointed to the supreme manifestation of God’s
mercy and grace. ‘But when Christ
appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered
through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves,
but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having
obtained eternal redemption.’
“The
ceremonial law ended because it was fulfilled.
Because the reality had come, the pictures and symbols had no more place
or purpose. On the final Passover night
of our Lord’s life, He instituted new symbols to commemorate His death. (The prophet Ezekiel points to a future time
in the kingdom when Old Testament symbols will be a renewed part of worship by
the redeemed: see Ezek. 40-48).” I have
been told that there are two very difficult portions of the OT to understand,
and one of them is Ezekiel 40-48, and the other is the book of Zachariah. I have written comments on both books and in
the case of Zachariah it took me six months to go through that rather small
book.
We
can compare Aaron who was the first high priest with our Lord Jesus Christ who
is our eternal High Priest. Aaron
entered the Holy of Holies once a year, but this did not take away sin, while
Jesus entered the heavenly and this did take away sins. Aaron entered beyond the veil, but Christ
tore the veil in two. I might comment
that Christ tore the veil from the bottom to the top and also that veil was a
very heavy veil, something that could not just get torn easily, especially from
the bottom to top. Aaron offered the
blood of bulls, while Christ offered Himself, His own blood. Aaron sacrificed for his own sin, while
Christ only for the sins of others, because Christ could never sin, thus not
needing a sacrifice for Himself. Aaron
was a temporary priest, while Christ is an eternal priest. Aaron was fallible, Christ was
infallible. Aaron was changeable, Christ
was unchangeable. Aaron was continual,
Christ is final. Aarons sacrifice was
imperfect, Christ’s was perfect. Aaron’s
priesthood was insufficient; Christ’s was all-sufficient.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I have to say that the book of Hebrews is a
very important book in the NT, and that even though it is difficult to
understand it is worth studying as I can see from this portion of the book of
Matthew. I would not know the things
about Christ’s priesthood without the book of Hebrews.
7/11/2020 10:17 AM
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