The Covenant with Moses Ex.19-20 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
To rightly divide the word of truth [2 Tim 2:15] we are studying the covenants of the Bible. Today, we are studying the covenant with Moses. God instituted the covenant with Moses on Mt. Sinai when the Jews were in the wilderness shortly after leaving Egypt.
The covenant with Moses covers the period from Moses to Calvary, and then it starts up again in the Tribulation and runs through the Millennium. The token of the covenant with Moses is The Sabbath (Ex. 31:16).
Under God’s covenant with Moses, the Jews were put under the law. The land grant to Abraham was confirmed (Ex. 34:10-16; Deut. 11:22-25). When Jesus Christ entered his earthly ministry, he did not abolish the law; but rather he fulfilled it (Matt. 5:16-17).
From Calvary to the Tribulation, the period commonly referred to as the Church Age, men are not under the law but under grace (Rom. 6:14). From the Tribulation to the end of the Millennium, men are back under the law (Col. 2:16-17; Matt. 24:20; Rev. 12:17; Rev. 14:12; and Rev. 22:14).
The world’s view of God’s covenant with Moses is that the 10 commandments are not allowed in all local and federal government public places. Men have set up myriad religions to replace the law, keep men under the law, or complicate the simplicity of salvation in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 11:3-4). These religions are nothing more than man’s efforts to regulate and legislate morality so that men can enter the afterlife in self-righteousness.
In fact, Moses and Israel had to have faith and the works of the law for salvation. There are men and women, today, who think that they can get to heaven by keeping the law. They are mistaken, because the law cannot save (Gal. 2:16, Jas. 2:10, Rom. 3:19-20). Old Testament saints didn’t go to heaven when they died, they went to Abraham’s bosom (Lk. 16:22). They didn’t go to heaven until after Christ rose from the dead (Eph. 4:8-9). Likewise, the simple salvation of trusting Jesus Christ was not known before Calvary. No one in the Old Testament was born again (Jn. 3:3-7).