THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 1, JANUARY 9, 2005

UPON THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK

PART 5

            Once again, we continue the text of a lecture I will be delivering in Florid in February.  I pray you are benefiting from the study.

            Is this distinction between the Law of God and the Law of Moses, the moral and ceremonial law, valid?  Will it hold up under the microscope of scripture?  The answer is no.  In Ezra 7, we find two descriptions of Ezra that bear upon this question.  IN verse 6, he is described as “a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of  Israel  had given” and in verse 12 he is described as “the scribe of the law of the God of heaven.”  Thus, the Lord God of  Israel gave the law of Moses, making the law of Moses the law of the God of heaven.  In 2 Chronicles 34:14, we find that, “Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses.”  Therefore, Moses gave the law of the Lord and the Lord God of  Israel gave the law of Moses.  In the beautiful scene depicted in Nehemiah 8 when the children of  Israel gathered in the square before the Water Gate to hear Ezra the scribe, we find that he read from the book of the law of Moses (v. 1), from the book of the law (v. 3), and from the book, from the law of God (v. 8).  There is no difference; the terms are used interchangeably.

            Additional problems arise for those who make the moral and ceremonial law distinction when 2 Chronicles 31:3 is considered.  It says, “He also appointed the king’s portion of his goods for the burnt offerings, namely, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings fort he Sabbaths and for the new moons and for the fixed festivals, as it is written in the law of the Lord.”  Those offerings, which are most certainly ceremonial, are said to be written in the law of the Lord.

            But what about the eternal and unchangeable nature of the Ten Commandments?  In Who Are Seventh-Day Adventists?  the assertion was made that “these commandments constitute a holy law (Rom.  7:12 ), and they stand fast forever as the very foundation of God’s government throughout the universe” (66).  In the booklet Amazing Facts That Affect You, Number One, the question is asked, “But haven’t the ten commandments been changed?” The answer given is, “No, indeed!  It is utterly impossible for any of God’s law ever to change.  All ten commandments are binding today” (3).  This assertion does not stand.  2 Corinthians 3:1-16 tells us,

            “Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?  Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?  You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.  And such confidence we have through Christ toward God.  Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but  the Spirit gives life.  But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how shall the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?  For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.  For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory on account of the glory that surpasses it.  For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.  Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not as Moses, who used to put a veil over his face that the sons of  Israel might not look intently at the end of what was fading away.  But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.  But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

            What was it that Paul said was fading away?  What was it that he called the ministry of condemnation?  What was it that he called the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones?  Was it not the law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments, written with the finger of God (Ex. 31:18)?  Did not Moses cover his face with a veil when he gave the children of Israel all the commandments that God had spoken to him on Mt. Sinai , which included the Ten Commandments (Ex. 34:33-35)?  Nine of the ten commandments are to be kept today, not because they were part of the law of Moses, but because they have been incorporated, and expanded upon, in the law of Christ.  Sabbath-keeping is no longer bound upon anyone, including the only people ever required to do so – the Jews.

More to come next week, Lord willing.  

                                                                        Greg Litmer

THE QUESTION

Were the whole world good as you – not an atom better –
Were it just as pure and true, just as pure and true as you;
Just as strong in faith and works; just as free from crafty quirks;
All extortion, all deceit; schemes its neighbors to defeat;
Schemes its neighbors to defraud; schemes some culprit to applaud-
Would this world be better?

If the whole world followed you – followed to the letter –
Would it be a nobler world, all deceit and falsehood hurled
From it altogether; malice, selfishness, and lust,
Banished from beneath the crust,
Covering human hearts from view,
Tell me, if it followed you, Would the world be better?