The Ceremonial Law and the Moral Law
The “ceremonial law,” so called, of the Levitical dispensation, was nothing more than directions as to the way offerings should be made, what these offerings should consist of, when and what feasts should be held, etc. These sacrifices and feasts pointed forward to the work of Christ, our great High Priest. The priests were typical of Him. All those ceremonies existed to manifest faith in a Redeemer to come. They were the gospel ordinances of that dispensation, just the same as the ordinance of humility, the Lord’s Supper, and baptism are gospel ordinances of this dispensation. The moral law is independent of all, in both dispensations. When the Levitical dispensation ceased, those ordinances, through which faith in the Son of God was manifested, pointing forward to a Saviour to come, ceased also. When the priestly work of Christ closes, the gospel ordinances of this dispensation will cease. But the precepts of the moral law “stand fast forever and ever.”