In looking at the LAW of GOD, we saw that God gave us the moral law that could be summarized as love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.
God also gave us ceremonial laws. These included the sacrificial system, the dietary regulations… we learn that these were temporary, and that they served the purpose of pointing us to Christ. In the Old Testament, we learn about Christ’s suffering, sacrifice, God’s love and grace through these laws.
But we also learn that when Christ came he fulfilled these laws and as a result we no longer practice them. Today’s confession uses the term abrogate meaning the laws have been fulfilled by Christ and are no longer binding to us.
One example can be seen with the Apostle Peter in Acts 10. Jewish customs forbade eating unclean animals. But God gives Peter a vision to kill and eat. Thus abrogating this restriction. It symbolically showed how God allowed both Jew and Gentile to come to him through faith in Jesus Christ.
Another example comes from Hebrews 9 in which it is explained that Christ is the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, he did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption…
So if someone asks you: why don’t you have to sacrifice goats and calves? you can safely tell them that the sacrificial system of the Old Testament pointed to Christ who is the greater and more perfect sacrifice. His blood is the greater and more perfect offering, as a result we no longer need to offer up goats and calves
and bulls and sheep.
Let’s read today’s confession together and praise Jesus for being our righteousness..
3. In addition to this law, commonly called the moral law, God was pleased to give the people of Israel—as the church under age—ceremonial laws, which contained several typological ordinances. These ordinances consisted partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, his graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits, and partly of various instructions of moral duties. All these ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the new testament.
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