Was the Law Nailed To The Cross?

Before we begin our study, let us pray…
“Merciful Father, we come before You reaching out for a deeper understanding of Your word. I ask You father to please open my eyes, my heart and my mind, that I may understand Your word clearly. I pray for all evil spirits around me to be removed, and I ask You to bless me today. Thank You Father, for the blessing of understanding. In Your Precious and Holy name Jesus, I pray Amen!!”

Yes. The law was nailed to the cross. But which law? There were five sets of laws in effect before the cross. There was natural law, civil law, dietary law, the moral law and the Law of Moses.
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In Bible times there were and still are:

• natural laws, which govern the physical things such as gravity, weather, the paths followed by the planets, etc. 
• civil laws, which govern human behavior for the good of society 
• dietary laws regarding health, and when those laws were violated, disease and death were the result.
• moral law of God, the Ten Commandments, and fifth
• Law of Moses, regarding religious ceremonies

Jesus did not nail natural law to the cross, since we still have gravity, weather, etc. He certainly did not nail civil law to the cross; as such laws are needed to protect citizens from the behavior of others. They are needed in any civilized society. It could not have been health laws since disease usually results from transgressing health principles.

So what did Jesus nail to the cross? Could it have been the Ten Commandments? I will explain why it could not have been the Ten Commandments.

Do you believe that Jesus was the Creator God? 
Do you believe it was He who on Mt. Sinai wrote the Ten Commandments in stone with His own finger?

“And he gave unto Moses …upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Ex. 31:18 

It was a reflection of the very character of God and it was not to change or be changed. Psalm 111:7,8 “The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever”.

Now I would like to ask you. Do you believe God’s works stand fast forever?

Now listen closely friends, Jesus Himself said in Matthew 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” And fulfill the righteous requirements of the law is exactly what He did, leaving us a perfect example to follow.

Now look at Matthew 5:18. “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”
Jesus made it very clear about the perpetuity of the Ten Commandments. Heaven and earth have not yet passed have they? No, so by the words of Jesus, those Ten Commandments are still in effect, and God has never changed them.

Now look at the fearful warning Jesus states regarding any transgressor of the law and any religious leader or layperson that dares to teach contrary to the Ten Commandments. Matthew 5:19. “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

To be called the least in heaven means that the person will not be there.
Friends we have to be very careful of the position we take in regards to the Ten Commandments as such persons who speak against them, are actually an enemy of God. Be sure your preacher stands firmly on all Ten Commandments.

TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO REST AND REFLECT...

Jesus came to save us from sin, not in sin. So what is sin? The Bible clearly defines sin in 1 John 3:4. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

Paul stated the importance of the Ten Commandments in Rom. 7:7 “What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” That is the tenth commandment. 

Romans 7:12 he states further, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”

What does commandments keeping show? It shows that we know Him. 1 John 2:3. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” But read very carefully what is in the next verse. 1 John 2:4. “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Friends on the authority of God’s Word, if we are not keeping God’s Ten Commandments, the Bible says that we are a liar and my Bible tells me liars are lost.

Furthermore friends, I read many of your comments on posts and it appears you love Jesus. Do you? You don’t have to prove it to me, but to Jesus who said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15

Keeping them shows that we love Him. 1 John 5:2,3. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.”

Keeping them receives the blessing of God. Revelation 22:14,15 “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”

John said above, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar…” Revelation says liars will not have access to the tree of life. This is serious business friends and we have to be so careful that no man steals our crown, Revelation 3:11. We have to study for ourselves and I will give you keys, to unlock Scriptures week after week so you will not be confused.

Remember most importantly, no one will keep the Ten Commandments in order to be saved; rather they will keep them because they are saved. Saved by grace through faith in what Jesus did for us. But grace does not excuse obedience. God makes that very clear.

All right, so one thing is very clear and that is that Jesus did not nail the Ten Commandments to the cross. That leaves only the Law of Moses that pertained to religious ceremonies and sacrificial offerings.

First let’s take a look at two scriptures that pinpoint this fact. First Colossians 2:14 “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;”

And then Ephesians 2:15 “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;”

The Bible interprets itself and should never be explained with faulty human reasoning.

TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO REST AND REFLECT...

We will now look closely at the wording and explanation of these verses in the light of scripture.

First the word ordinances. Both of these scriptures refer to the commandments that were contained in ordinances. Ordinances, as applied in scripture, are requirements regarding religious festivals, feasts and sacrificial offerings. There are no such ordinances in the Ten Commandments, which were written with the finger of God on stone.

Now as to the word “handwriting”. The Law of Moses was handwritten by Moses. Deut. 31:9,24 “And Moses wrote this law,” “And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book” See also 2 Chronicles 33:8. “…take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses.”

The words “ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us.” There is nothing in the Ten Commandments that was either against us or contrary to us. So what was against us? Deut 31:26 “Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee.” It was the handwritten book of the Law of Moses placed in the side of the ark, showing it was temporary in nature and at some time in the future, they would no longer be necessary.

But as far as God’s moral law, the Ten Commandments, they were placed in the ark, showing its permanence. You can find that in Deuteronomy. 10:1-5. “At that time the Lord said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.
2 And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
3 And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me.
5 And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the Lord commanded me."​
Now, looking at Colossians 2:16,17 we read, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

There were Jewish Christians that were always trying to get the Gentile converts to keep the ceremonial laws. Paul was constantly trying to repair the damage. In Galatians it was primarily over circumcision. But here it was regarding the meat and drink offerings as well as trying to get them to keep the seven yearly ceremonial sabbath days found in Leviticus 23:4-34, which include Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of First Fruits, the Feast of Weeks (which was called Pentecost in the New Testament), the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah), the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) and the Feast of Tabernacles or Ingathering.

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,” The meat and drink offering is found in Leviticus 23:13. And by the way, the word meat was not speaking of flesh food at all. The meat offering was a fine flour from grains (meal) mingled with oil. The drink offering was wine. In Numbers chapters 28 & 29 Meat or meal offerings are mentioned 32 times and drink offerings are mentioned 27 times.

Paul’s message was two-fold. To the Jewish Christians: If you want to continue keeping the law that was nailed to the cross, stop judging the Gentile Christians, who know it was done away with. And to the Gentiles: Stop judging those who persist in keeping the old ceremonial law. This whole controversy that Paul was dealing with was over judging. The fact is, judging is not the work of a Christian, then or even now.

And finally verse 17. “…Which are a shadow of things to come…” Just about everything found in the ceremonial Law of Moses pointed to Jesus and His ministry, the cross and the resurrection.

For example, the Passover pointed to Jesus the Passover lamb, Jesus died on the Passover, He was in the tomb on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and He was resurrected on the first day of the Feast of the First fruits, which Jesus was the first fruits of the resurrected ones. They were the shadow of things to come. In each case type met anti-type in Jesus. The shadow met the substance. Jesus was the substance and when He came and finished His work on earth, the shadow ended. 

But praise God, His moral law the Ten Commandments, are still with us. Jesus who wrote those commandments in stone says in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Now, let’s look at Colossians 2:16,17 once again, we read, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

Do you see folks; this verse had nothing to do with food or God’s Seventh Day Sabbath. It was all about Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians judging each other about keeping or not keeping the old Law of Moses that ended at the cross. And that is clear.

His commandments are a transcript of His character. They are His wisdom. And when we look more closely at them they come alive for us. In fact they become His Ten Laws of Liberty.

So from tomorrow we will begin studying each Commandment exploring their profound meanings and importance for our relationship with Him.