THE TWO GOVERNMENTS AND THE TWO LAWS.
By W. L. Iles
God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and formed them into a government at the base of Mount Sinai. He was their King and Ruler, but they rejected their King and crucified him, and, as a result of their sin, they, as a nation, were rejected of God, and the theocracy closed, or ended. "Thus saith the Lord God: Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it; and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Eze. 21:26, 27. "Israel" is God's chosen people to-day, and they are ruled by Christ, who sits upon the universal throne, and not on the throne of David. When Christ shall come the second time, and resurrect his saints, he then takes the throne of his father David. Luke 1:32, 33; Matt. 25:31. At Sinai God gave laws to Israel, by which they were to be governed. These laws were of a moral, civil, and ceremonial nature. All will admit that no man is required to obey the laws of a government of which he is not a citizen. The people of the United States while in the United States, are not required to obey the laws of England. Yet it is true that the United States and England may have laws just alike, so that when a citizen of the United States obeys the laws of his government, he also obeys the laws of England. He does not obey the law because enacted by England, but because enacted by the government to which he belongs. We are citizens of God's universal government, and surely we ought to obey the laws of that government. We do not obey the law of Ten Commandments because that was a law of the Jewish theocracy, but because it is a law of the universal government of God. The theocracy of Israel was a government within a government. It was limited to this world. Had Israel obeyed God, their government would never have extended beyond this earth. God's universal government extends as far as his creation, and takes in this world. The United States Government embraces all of the State governments. The State of Ohio has a law against murder the same as the general government. Suppose by some means Ohio would cease to be a State government, what would be done with a man who would commit murder in Ohio? If the government has ceased, it can not condemn the man, or punish him. He must be tried and condemned by the laws of the general government, of which the State of Ohio was only a part. The theocracy of Israel and God's universal government have each a Sabbath law, and they are just alike. The penalty is the same in both governments, which is death. Ex. 31:14; Rom. 6:23. Because the "theocracy of Israel" has ceased, can I now break the Sabbath law and go unpunished? The government of Israel can not inflict the penalty, but I will be tried (2 Cor. 5:10) in the court of God's universal government, and he will inflict the penalty of death (Mal. 4:1-3), unless I accept of pardon through Christ. Those laws that the government of Israel had, that are in common with God's government, are just as binding now as when spoken by God from the summit of Sinai. We have found that the Ten Commandments given at Sinai were only a duplicate of the law in the ark of heaven. Rev. 11:19. Many of the laws of the theocracy are only an exposition of the Ten Commandments, and the principles expressed in those laws should be carried out by all Christians. Another well says:— Moses was commanded to write, as God should bid him, judgments and laws, giving minute instruction as to what was required. These directions relating to the duty of the people to God, to one another, and to the stranger, were only the principles of the Ten Commandments amplified and given in a specific manner, that none need err. They were designed to guard the sacredness of the ten precepts engraved on the tables of stone.—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 364. Connected with the theocracy of Israel were many types and shadows. The Passover lamb was a type of Christ, and the Passover feast, or the eating of the lamb, represented our feasting upon Christ. 1 Cor. 5:7-9; John 6:56. All the lambs offered upon Jewish altars, as a sin-offering, or as a sacrifice, were a type of the "Lamb of God," who offered himself as a sin-offering, or a sacrifice. "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." Isa. 53:10. The priesthood work of the old dispensation, connected with the theocracy of Israel, was a shadowy work. "Who [priests] serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle; for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount." Heb. 8:5. The feasts connected with the theocracy of Israel were shadowy. Connected with these feasts were annual sabbaths, which were also shadowy. See Leviticus 23. These Sabbaths were "beside the Sabbaths of the Lord." Verse 38. When "type" meets antitype the type must cease. When we reach the substance which casts the shadow, the shadow disappears. As types and shadows reach a time that they must cease, and are only temporal, all laws that regulate them must be temporal. There was a law regulating the priesthood of the theocracy, not found in God's universal government, that ended when type met antitype, and when the shadow emerged into the substance. "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." Heb. 7:12. The law referred to is not the law of Ten Commandments, but the law regulating the priesthood. The priesthood work was "shadowy," and the law regulating it must be temporal. As the result of the transgression of God's law, or the Ten Commandments, by which transgression we became sinners, another law was given regulating the priesthood, by which atonement was made in type for that sin. "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. . . . Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day [feast day], or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Col. 2:14-17. That which was nailed to the cross was the "handwriting" of ordinances, not God's finger writing (Ex. 31:18), but Moses' handwriting (Deut. 31:9). That which was "nailed to the cross" was "against us" and "contrary to us," and in our way. Connected with it were "meat," "drink," "feast days," "new moons," and "sabbath days," which were shadows. How can this refer to the law of Ten Commandments? The Sabbath referred to is not the weekly Sabbath of the Lord, but the "shadow" sabbaths connected with the feasts of the old dispensation. They are the sabbaths that are "beside the Sabbaths of the Lord." The New Testament speaks of a law which is not binding upon us. It never refers to the Ten Commandments as not binding, but to the law of ceremonies, connected with the theocracy of Israel. The law of Ten Commandments is a law of God's universal government, but the law regulating the Levitical priesthood is not. The last battle to be fought by the church of Christ will be upon the question of the Sabbath and the law. The battle will not be to the "strong," but to those who yield to the Spirit of God, and enlist under the banner of Christ. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual." The "sword of the Spirit" must pierce the heart. Christ is our commander-in-chief. Against the Sabbath and the law of God will be arrayed the hosts of darkness and the governments of earth. Sabbath-keepers will be persecuted, but Jesus will be with them, and sustain them. In the judgment day how glad we will be that we listened to Jesus, and heeded his instruction by keeping the law, even the "least commandment." "Hear ye him." W. L. ILES.
Prescott, Arizona.