Looking back on Part 1, how does all this relate to us as New Testament believers? Why aren’t our backyards filled with animals to use as sacrifice for our sins? Do we still have to follow the laws of Moses in the Old Testament? These are excellent questions. Let’s explore them together.
God gave Moses the Law for the Israelites to follow. In Old Testament times, a person’s obedience to the Law determined his standing with God, meaning his salvation. God knew man would sin so He put in place a system of sacrifice. When a person sinned or disobeyed the Law, God commanded the sinner to bring a sin offering to Him to cover his sins. [To cover sin means to be forgiven.] God had Moses build the tabernacle as a place of sacrifice and worship as the Israelites traveled through the desert. Later, God had Solomon replace the traveling tabernacle with a permanent place of sacrifice and worship which He called the Temple. These altars remained busy with sacrifices. God used the story of the Israelites in the Old Testament to show the world what is required of man to have his sins forgiven where he can have a relationship with Him.
If the story of man’s relationship with God ended after the Old Testament, then it does not have a good ending. Man would still be bound to the Law for salvation. No person would be able to live with God for eternity because there would be no acceptable sacrifice. Man needed someone like himself that had no sin that could take on his sin and pay the penalty of death. Thankfully, because of the love of God and His endless mercy, we have that payment in the life and death of Jesus Christ, our Savior.
When Christ died on the cross, he became the accepted sacrifice. The Bible says, “He (God) made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). His one sacrifice permanently removed the sin for all those who believe in Him that lived and died before and after the cross (Heb. 10:14-17). The writer of Hebrews says, “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (vs.17). Through Christ, our sins are forgiven (1 John 4:15) and our relationship with God is restored. That is why our backyards are not filled with animals for sacrifice.
So is the Law important for the New Testament believer? Absolutely. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). He fulfilled the Law by living a sinless life that met all its requirements (Rom. 8:3-4). That is why the believer is not under God’s wrath or His judgment (Gal. 5:18; Rom. 8:1). For the believer, the Law helps him to live the abundant life in Christ (John 14:15; Matt. 22:36-40). Even though God will never leave us (Heb. 13:5), when we disobey His commands, our disobedience of the Law hinders our relationship with Him. A good illustration of this is when a child disobeys his father. Until the disobedience is dealt with, the relationship between the father and the child is strained.
The Law is also not abolished because the non-believer is still under the Law. Since a non-believer does not accept the sacrifice of Christ’s death on the cross, he is still under the Law. A payment of death is needed for his sins. This is not physical death. We all die. What this refers to is spiritual death. After you die physically, your spiritual life continues. All will live on for eternity. The question is where will you live? If you are a believer, you have been made holy by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10:10-14). Therefore, you will live with God (Jn. 3:16). But if you do not have the blood of Christ covering you, you will go through spiritual death which is separation from God (Is. 59:2). The Bible says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov. 14:12).
Hopefully, now you see better that the Old Testament shows us why we need a Savior, while the New Testament introduces us to our Savior, Jesus Christ. But the love of Jesus is on every page and weaved into every story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelations. Truly the Bible is a love story of God’s love for mankind, constantly calling us back into relationship with Him.