THE HANDWRITING OF ORDINANCES/MOSAIC LAWS

 Blotting out the Handwriting of Ordinances

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There is much confusion and different teachings pertaining to the Laws of the Ordinances written by Moses and the Ten Commandments written and given by God. These are separate Laws. One major difference is - The Ten Commandments were spoken, written and given by God while the Laws of the Ordinances were written by Moses under the anointing of the Spirit of God.

How many Laws are in the Old Testament?

Since the third century after the resurrection of Christ it has been said that there is a total of 613 Laws. This cannot be truly verified because some Laws written by Moses are duplicated in the different books of the Torah, moreover our focus should not be on how many Laws there were but on the purpose of these Laws then and now.

Disobedience of the Ten Commandments led to the Mosaic Laws

During the Edenic time, it was customary for Jehovah to come into the Garden of Eden and speak with the couple, Adam and Eve. During such meetings God would have taught them how He wanted the couple to live. These teachings were not given in writing but were just as important as The Ten Commandments which were given in writing to remind humans of how God expected everyone to relate to Him and their neighbours. Thus, it is factual that the Ten Commandments were in effect from the beginning of life in the Garden in Eden. If they were not, then, Adam and Eve could not have been guilty of disobedience to God. When they disobeyed God, they took another god and the First Commandment says – Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Cain was guilty of murder because of the sixth Commandment tells us – Thou shalt not kill. We must also remember that God instituted the Fourth Commandment as recorded in Genesis 2:2-3:  And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.

Israel in and out of Egypt

Joseph was the son of Jacob and his brothers sold him as a slave and he was taken to Egypt. While he was in Egypt, God honoured him and he became Pharaoh’s chief advisor.  Later, his father and siblings came to live in Egypt. After more than four hundred years the Children of Israel left Egypt. For a portion of these years, they were captives in Egypt and while in this state of oppression the Lord delivered them. He used His servants Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Micah 6:4 - For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

Although they had witnessed the might and power of God the Israelites were disobedient to the leading of the Lord. Although they were usually corrected, they still continued to displease God. At this time God reminded the people of His precepts by giving them the Ten Commandments in written form. Despite being reminded, they remained in disobedience.

God told Moses to meet Him at the top of Mount Sinai and he remained there for forty days and forty nights. While being there God wrote the Ten Commandments and handed the stone tablets to Moses. Exodus 31:18 - And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

While Moses was returning with the first tables of stones, he was surprised to find the people engaged in idolatry. He flung away the tables of stone and they were broken. God rewrote these Commandments. Exodus 34 verse one, And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.

Moses returned to God and spent another forty days and forty nights in His presence.

Later the table of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written was placed inside the Ark of the Covenant.

Although the Israelites had the Ten Commandments in written form they still lived in disobedience. Moses, the inspired leader, examined the situation and under the direction of the Spirit of God wrote sets of Laws to help the Israelites live in obedience to God. These Mosaic Laws were intended to point the people to Jesus the coming Messiah and the New Covenant which Jesus Christ would put in place. Galatians 3:24,25- 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

When was Christ born?

Jesus was born when the Laws of the Ordinances were in effect. Galatians 4:4, But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.

Why was He sent? Jesus came to set us free from the laws of bondage contained in the Ordinances. Galatians 4:5 tells us that Jesus came to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

What did Christ do to the Mosaic Laws of sacrifices, rituals, ceremonies and festivals?

Ephesians 2:14-16-  For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

15 Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

16 And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Should we still obey the Mosaic Laws? No, while the Mosaic Laws contain basic instructions for neighbourliness we should not be adhering to the laws of rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices. Galatians 3:24- Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

Why should we not obey them? The Mosaic Laws of Ordinances were intended to point us towards Christ and His sacrifice. Today they are obsolete because Christ had put an end to these rigid laws that give no inner peace. Galatians 3:10-12-For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.

What was said to those who still intended to adhere to the Mosaic Laws?

Galatians 4:9-11 -But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

What did Apostle Paul say about him continuing to live by the Laws of Ordinances? Galatians 2:18, For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

The Gentiles who accepted the gospel during the Apostolic era endured much reproach from the Jews but they were taught by the Apostles to adhere to the New Covenant. Despite the teachings there were some who were swayed to adopt the Mosaic Laws as their guideline to God.

What is the New Covenant?

Hebrews 8:6-8- But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

8 For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

Hebrews 8:13 - In that He saith, A new covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

2 Corinthians 3:6 - Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

When Jesus rose victoriously from the grave, He put an end to the letter of the Mosaic Laws and placed the redeemed in spiritual connection with God.

Let us closely examine Apostle Paul’s words in Colossians 2:14-17

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;

The handwriting of ordinances are the laws written by Moses. Deuteronomy 31:9,24, 25,26- And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel.

25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying,

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.

In the book of Hebrews we learn that the Mosaic Laws were only a shadow of things to come and they were incapable of making one perfect. These Laws could not give the repentant sinner a clear conscience.

Hebrews 10:1-3,11,12,14- For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

3 But in those sacrifice, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:

12 But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

14 For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

During the Old Testament era the rules and regulations were numerous yet they could not effectively lead anyone into the sweet communion that we now enjoy in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 2: 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

When Jesus arose victoriously from the death after spending three days and three nights (seventy-two hours) He rightfully reclaimed from Satan what man had lost when they had sinned in the Garden of Eden.

1Peter 3:19-20 - By which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison;

20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Every disobedient being saw that Jesus had triumphed over them. They knew that mankind now had the avenue to be truly reconnected to God. They knew that they had lost the battle and that their time was short.

Colossians 2:16 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:

Apostle Paul was contending with the Gentile believers who were indecisive about obeying the Mosaic Laws. The Jews were insisting that all believers should follow these Laws but Paul was reminding the brethren that these Laws were abolished by Christ.

Meat and drink in this context are not referring to the eating of the unclean meat listed in Leviticus chapter 11 but to which of the sacrifices an offeror could eat or drink. While they could not eat of the burnt offering or the sin offering, they could eat of the peace offering. No one could partake of the drink offering because it was totally poured out to the Lord. It is called a libation.

You can read about the Sabbaths that are linked with the various Feast Days/Festival Leviticus 23. These Sabbaths are different from the weekly seventh day Sabbath. Let us use the Week of Unleavened Bread as an example. On the fourteenth of Abib is the Jewish Passover (now the Lord Supper under the New Covenant). The day following this event marks the beginning of the Week of Unleavened Bread. This is the fifteenth of Abib; it is a Holy Day/Sabbath and is called the High Day Sabbath in John 19:31. The seventh day of the Feast is also a Sabbath/Holy Day. Jesus’ resurrection put an end to these Holy Days thus Paul was advising that the believers not allow the Jews to judge their sincerity in God based on their adherence to these abolished festivals.

It was customary for the Jews to have a celebration to welcome the new moon because the first siting of the new moon is the beginning of a new month.

Psalm 81:3- Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

This practice is not detrimental to our salvation therefore Gentiles do not need to adopt this practice.

Colossians 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

A shadow is something that is unreal but the body is real. The Laws of Moses which were written by Moses in a book contained the ordinances of rituals, sacrifices, ceremonies and whatever was needed to point the people to the coming Messiah. However, these things could not grant perfect connection to God. Jesus represents the body and He has abolished those shadowy laws.

We are now under a New Covenant. This New Covenant is built upon the Ten Commandments. Revelation 14:12- Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Revelation 22:14- 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.

Writer - A. E. Fisher

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