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The Covenant of the Law between God and the people of Israel
« Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of Jehovah your God that he made with you »
(Deuteronomy 4:23)
The mediator of this covenant is Moses: « At that time Jehovah commanded me to teach you regulations and judicial decisions, which you are to observe in the land you will enter to take possession of » (Deuteronomy 4:14). This covenant is closely related to the covenant of circumcision, which is the symbol of obedience to God (Deuteronomy 10:16 compare with Romans 2:25-29). This covenant would be until Messiah coming on earth: « And he will keep the covenant in force for the many for one week; and at the half of the week, he will cause sacrifice and gift offering to cease » (Daniel 9:27 ). This covenant would be replaced by a New Covenant, according to prophecy of Jeremiah: « “Look! The days are coming,” declares Jehovah, “when I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers on the day I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, ‘my covenant that they broke, although I was their true master,’ declares Jehovah » (Jeremiah 31:31,32).
The purpose of the Law given to Israel was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. The Law has taught the need for liberation from the sinful condition of humanity (represented by the people of Israel): « That is why, just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned—. For until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not charged against anyone when there is no law » (Romans 5:13). This Law of God uncovered the sinful condition of humanity, represented in that time by the people of Israel: « What, then, are we to say? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! Really, I would not have come to know sin had it not been for the Law. For example, I would not have known covetousness if the Law had not said: “You must not covet.” But sin, finding the opportunity afforded by the commandment, worked out in me covetousness of every sort, for apart from law sin was dead. In fact, I was once alive apart from law. But when the commandment arrived, sin came to life again, but I died. And the commandment that was to lead to life, this I found led to death. For sin, finding the opportunity afforded by the commandment, seduced me and killed me through it. So the Law in itself is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good » (Romans 7: 7-12). Therefore, the Law was a « tutor », « guardian », a teacher or an instructor leading to Christ: « So the Law became our guardian leading to Christ, so that we might be declared righteous through faith. But now that the faith has arrived, we are no longer under a guardian » (Galatians 3: 24,25). The perfect Law of God, having uncovered the sinful condition of humankind through the transgression of man, showed the necessity of a sacrifice. It would lead to the redemption of the transgressing human by his faith in Jesus Christ Ransom because of his faith (and not the works of the Law). This sacrifice would be that of Christ: « Just as the Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his life as a ransom in exchange for many » (Matthew 20: 28).
« For since the Law has a shadow of the good things to come »
(Hebrews 10:1)
Even though Christ is the end of the Law, the fact remains that at present it continues to have a prophetic value that enables us to understand the mind of God (through Jesus Christ) about the future: « Indeed, since the Law possesses a shadow of good things to come, but not the substance of things « (Hebrews 10: 1; 1 Corinthians 2:16). It is Jesus Christ who will make these « good things » come true: « Those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ » (Colossians 2:17).
Let it be the statements of Christ, such as those of the apostle Paul, the Law given by God to Moses, for the people of Israel, has a prophetic significance. A good understanding of its symbolism allows one to understand a very detailed description of the future of all of humanity. This understanding enables one to discern the prophetic riddles of the book of Ezekiel, Zechariah of Revelation, and other biblical prophetic books. As an example, consider two brief statements made by Christ. He shows that the nation of Israel and its administration were the prefiguration of the governance of the Kingdom of God on earth: « Jesus said to them: “Truly I say to you, in the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel »” (Matthew 19:28). “However, you are the ones who have stuck with me in my trials; and I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and sit on thrones to judge the 12 tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:28-30).
In two statements above, Jesus Christ shows that the nation of Israel and its people, under the administration of the Law given to Moses, were the prototype or prophetic model of the future humanity in the earthly paradise, composed of the Great Crowd, of humanity who will have survived the Great Tribulation (Revelation 7:9-17) and of the righteous and unrighteous resurrected ones (John 5:28,29). In the same way, the apostle Paul showed that the Law, which was the constitution given by God to the nation of Israel, was a foreshadowing of the reality of the administration of the Kingdom of God on earth: « For since the Law has a shadow of the good things to come, but not the very substance of the things » (Hebrews 10:1). “Those things are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality belongs to the Christ” (Colossians 2:17). Of course, it should be remembered that Christians are no longer under the authority of the Law given to Israel, because Christ has been the end of the Law (Romans 10:4). However, the Law has in no way lost its prophetic value: « Remember the Law of my servant Moses, the regulations and judgments that I commanded at Horeb for all Israel to obey » (Malachi 4:4).
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