Remember the Law of Moses
By Jeff Ward
Last chapter in the Christian Old Testament: Malachi 4
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts. 4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, [with] the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
What was that in the middle?
Uh-oh…..what’s this?
Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments
Ooooo outch, isn’t that “terrible law” what Jesus came to “set us free from”? Is there any way we can just edit that thing out of there? Maybe we’ll just ignore it, quote the stuff before, and quote the stuff after.
The pickle Christianity finds itself in
- The beginning of that passage is clearly “Day of the Lord” stuff. It’s a keeper, we can’t toss it out. It’s “second coming of Jesus” stuff that has obviously not taken place yet.
- The ending of that passage contains the prophecy that Matthew 11:12-14 cites as fulfilling. That’s a keeper, because by necessity, Matthew is infallible.
- Right smack in the middle is something that makes the Law of Moses center stage in this day. Whoa, THAT wasn’t supposed to happen!
- It says in the passage to remember the law of Moses. It’s very obvious in 2000 years of Christian tradition, we have indeed marginalized if not forgotten it, because we think it’s been “done away with”.
- We can’t allege this prophecy speaks of some new law, because it specifically mentions Horeb and Moses.
- Even though Jesus and his apostles didn’t dismiss the validity of the law, Paul did. Profusely.
- Tradition has given Paul authority to speak for Jesus and God.
- Since Paul’s epistles have been inspired for over 2000 years of tradition, we cannot reverse ourselves, because the traditions being imperfect is deemed impossible.
- Paul saying it is same as “Christ” in the spirit world saying it.
- Since we say Jesus is God and Jesus speaks to Paul in the spirit world, then Paul saying it is the same as God saying it. Maybe we should claim God changed his mind.
How does this sound for an alibi?
“Everything between verse 1 and 3 is valid, and everything between verse 5 and 6 is valid, but verse 4 has been officially nailed to the cross!”
Will that fly? Hmmmmm…..
How about this?
“God had this as plan-A, but he delegated to Jesus an authority to override him on this and revert to plan-B.”
How about you, can you come up with a good answer….?