Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
Christ himself declared in taking human nature that he came from heaven to do God's will in willing submission with God's law in his heart. Doing that will meant a whole life of obedience displaying God's commandments, redeeming Adam's failure, and culminating in offering his own sinless life on the cross bearing the world's sin and the law's curse. The first taken away is the former order of repeated animal sacrifices, ceremonial types, temple services and priesthood that pointed to him but in themselves had no power to remove sin or make worshipers perfect. At his death type met antitype in his one great offering, so the former sacrifices were fulfilled, abolished and nailed to the cross and are no longer acceptable to God. The second established is sanctification through the once-for-all offering of his body under the new covenant, bringing remission, perfection and access to God, while his death did not abolish God's moral law but honored it, magnified it and upheld its continuing claim to perfect obedience.
Coming to Do God's Will
The words are Christ's own declaration, spoken when He took human nature and became man's substitute, that He came from heaven as the Sent of God to do God's will. His coming was willing submission to the divine plan, with God's law in His heart. He was sent last of all to do the Father's work of cultivating God's vineyard so that it would produce the most fruit, after the earlier messengers had been beaten, killed and stoned, only to be rejected and killed Himself by the husbandmen to whom He came.
Doing God's will meant a whole life of obedience displaying God's commandments in human life, and by that perfect obedience redeeming Adam's failure and fall. That life led to and culminated in the offering of His own sinless life on the cross, when type met antitype and His one great offering fulfilled what the earlier animal sacrifices had foreshadowed. As the antitype and substance of the offerings, He surrendered His sinless life for the sins of the world, taking the place of the former sacrificial system. In that mediatorial work He bore the world's sin and the curse of the law and suffered separation from His Father as the punishment for transgression.
His statement sets the pattern that every follower must make the sentiment of the heart and the continual practice. It means entire consecration of soul, mind and strength to God, withholding nothing, in walking in the Redeemer's footsteps. Receiving His life means receiving His Word and doing His will.
First Taken Away
The first taken away is the former order of repeated animal sacrifices, ceremonial types, temple services and priesthood, the Hebrew manner of worship with its restrictions, ceremonies and national peculiarities that kept the Jews distinct. Christ came to do God's will by offering his own body, setting aside that first arrangement and establishing sanctification through his once-for-all offering, which accomplishes remission of sins and a basis to draw near to God that the repeated offerings could not give. Those repeated sacrifices were only a shadow of what was to come and could not remove sins or make worshipers perfect, and when they met their fulfillment in him animal blood no longer had value as sacrifice. Christ observed the law binding on the Jews until his death, and his death removed the former sacrificial system and established the new order centered on his one great offering, with the sacrifices, his priesthood and the sanctuary ministry finding their antitype and fulfillment in him.
Those sacrifices and offerings were symbols and types explicitly planned and appointed by God himself, with many bleeding victims given to rivet in mind and heart that forgiveness comes through Christ's blood alone. The cattle and sheep slain were innocent victims symbolizing Jesus himself, their blood prefiguring the blood of God's dear Son soon to be shed for the sins of the world and the life of the world, directing men toward a crucified Redeemer. The figurative system was to give way to Christ the perfect offering it represented, for the sacrifices and priesthood pointed to his death and mediating work through which he opened access to God for guilty sinners, but had in themselves no power to save. Relying on their outward forms brought no spiritual life or rest of conscience, since they could not take his place, and God's people must rest in Christ to whom the ceremonies pointed rather than trust in the ceremonies themselves.
The sacrificial system was temporary by design, established because sin brought the penalty of death and to last only until the Lamb of God was slain, who is the great antitype of all those offerings. God gave definite directions about them because his people had confused ideas about the sacrifices and had mixed heathen traditions with their ceremonial worship, and he wanted them to understand their true meaning. Christ was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy and in his specific directions set the ceremonial observances apart from the Decalogue, and those ceremonial types were to pass away when type met antitype in his one great offering for the sins of the world. His death brought the system to its intended fulfillment and made a way to escape sin's penalty while preserving the honor of God's law, for if the law had not been transgressed there would have been no death or need for additional precepts suited to fallen humanity.
The sacrifices taught fallen people humility about their condition, led them to repentance, and taught them to trust God and the promised Redeemer for pardon. Every dying victim impressed in solemn, sacred ceremony as explained definitely by the priests that the blood of Jesus Christ alone cleanses from all sin and without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. God gave the law of sacrifices to prove and test the faith and obedience of his people, and those sacrifices as types of the Lamb of God illustrated his great atonement. The solemn service of the sanctuary typified grand truths to be revealed through successive generations, with the cloud of incense ascending with the prayers of Israel representing his righteousness that alone can make the sinner's prayer acceptable to God, the bleeding victim on the altar testifying of a Redeemer to come, and the visible token of divine presence shining from the holy of holies, so that through age after age of darkness and apostasy faith was kept alive until the advent of the promised Messiah.
At Christ's death, when type met antitype in his one great offering for the sin of the world, the former sacrifices were fulfilled, abolished, blotted out and nailed to the cross. With that fulfillment the divinely appointed offerings and national peculiarities were rendered valueless, and the former temple ceremonies and animal offerings taken away on the cross had no moral efficacy and were no longer acceptable to God, since eternal life comes through faith in Christ the Lamb who takes away the world's sin. His coming to do God's will culminated in offering his own life as the spotless Lamb, and those sacrifices that foreshadowed him ceased at his death.
Second Established
The second established is sanctification through the once-for-all offering of the body of Christ, the new covenant and new order of salvation centered on His atoning sacrifice. It is the faith of Christ and gospel truths received without obligatory Jewish ceremonies, taking the place of the first arrangement of repeated animal sacrifices. Those former offerings and national peculiarities, with their restrictions and ceremonies that kept the Jews distinct, only prefigured the death of the Son of God, and when type met antitype in that death they were abolished and rendered valueless. Through that sacrifice transgressors of God's law may find peace and pardon, for the sacrifices had always centered on Christ and fulfilled their purpose in Him.
His one effective offering accomplishes what repeated offerings could not, bringing remission of sins and sanctifying those who receive Him by faith. The repeated animal sacrifices were only a shadow and had no power to save on their own, to remove sins, to make worshipers perfect, or to give spiritual life. Through His death and mediating work He opened access to God for guilty sinners, so that believers can draw near to God. Eternal life comes through faith in Christ, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
What is established in place of outward ceremony is heart service in Christ, a second and altogether different worship that is spiritual worship. Israel had made outward forms all important and lost the spirit of true worship, corrupting the services with heathen traditions and practices and not looking beyond the shadow to the substance, while sacrifices were enjoined without proper instruction and offered without understanding until spiritual worship was fast disappearing. God therefore suspended the temple services and removed the outward glory, even with the temple destroyed in the Babylonian captivity, in order to take away the first that He might establish the second, so that outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion. By that ceasing of ritual service principles and practices would be purged from heathenism, heart service would be revived, and the spiritual would be revealed, and when the people turned to the Lord in repentance without outward forms He shone into their minds with visions of the overthrow of oppressors, the coming Redeemer, and the everlasting kingdom. The second thus confirmed is perfect and entire obedience to the immutable law of God, which does not destroy the validity of the Old Testament Scriptures, does not lessen human obligation to be perfectly obedient, and does not set men free from the law, but fulfills what God predicted, magnifies the law and makes it honorable, reveals its spiritual nature and far-reaching principles, and opens a way by which humanity allied by living faith to divinity can keep all God's commandments, since disobedience can never be rewarded with eternal life.
As the antitype of the offerings Christ became their substance, surrendering His sinless life, bearing the world's sin and the law's curse, and suffering separation from His Father as the punishment for transgression in His mediator's work. His sacrifice upheld God's justice, magnified the law, and testified that the law is unchanging. It made a way to escape sin's penalty while preserving the honor of God's law, teaching fallen people humility about their condition and leading them to repentance and trust in God and the promised Redeemer for pardon. Once the purpose of the former offerings was fulfilled they were no longer acceptable, yet His sacrifice did not abolish God's law or reduce the duty of obedience but showed the law's unchanging character and opened the way for people to obey it.
Type Meets Antitype Fulfilled
Christ himself originated, grounded and founded the entire Jewish system of sacrifices, priesthood and sanctuary ministry, and the rites of that economy were instituted by him as Redeemer from the beginning, from Adam's day onward. The offerings pointed to him as the great antitype and were fulfilled in him, for he was humanity's Redeemer from the beginning and the priceless gift on which that system was founded. When type met antitype in his death he took away the first to establish the second, so the need for sacrificial offerings ceased. In his specific directions the ceremonial observances were set apart from the Decalogue as temporary types to pass away in his one great offering for the sins of the world.
In his death on Calvary as the spotless Lamb and one great offering for the sin of the world, the types met their fulfillment in him their great antitype. God's word concerning them did not fail but became history. His work vindicated the Father's law and fulfilled prophecy, for he came for the express purpose of vindicating that law and not making it of none effect. The Hebrew nation had been shown beforehand through the sacrificial system the Saviour who would be crucified for the sins of the world, and when the type met its antitype the instruction given through those figures ceased to be needed. He came just as prophecy predicted in humiliation as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief to die.
The ceremonies and temple service were the shadow and Christ is the substance, the true offering for the sins of men. His death reveals the true significance of the sacrifices and gives meaning to the whole Jewish economy. The light of the cross reaches back to explain those earlier types, while on this side of the cross the truth is revealed in Jesus. The repeated animal sacrifices were only a shadow of what was to come and could not remove sins or make worshipers perfect, whereas his one bodily offering sanctifies those who receive him by faith.
Even before the cross God brought the people into captivity and suspended the services of the temple and removed the outward glory in order to take away the first that he might establish the second. In the Babylonian captivity, with the temple destroyed and the temple service suspended, God removed the outward glory and representation of his presence. This was done so outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion, so principles and practices would be purged from heathenism, so ritual service ceasing would revive heart service and reveal the spiritual. When the people turned to the Lord in repentance without the outward forms, he shone into their minds and hearts and gave visions of the overthrow of oppressors, the coming of the Redeemer, and the everlasting kingdom.
The appointed sacrifices and priestly rites hallowing the temple were sacred because they pointed ahead to the sinless offering of God's Son. The daily sacrificial offerings that hallowed the temple prefigured his coming and symbolized his death, and the animal offerings at the sheep gate pointed forward to him the great antitype whose sacrifice was for the sins of the world. By their ceremonies the Jews were saying come, for Christ was the one whom all these ceremonies represented. At the first advent their purpose was fulfilled and the sacrifices and offerings under the law were taken away. He came in humility as predicted, giving sufficient evidence to unprejudiced minds that he is indeed the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, come to limit Satan's power and set free the captives Satan had bound.
Law Continues and Obedience Required
The taking away spoken of is the ending of the laws governing Jewish sacrifices and offerings at Christ's death, not the ending of the Ten Commandments. His death did not abolish God's moral law but honored it, upheld its continuing claim to obedience, and showed its unchanging character. The offerings had pointed to Christ, and once their purpose was fulfilled in his perfect sacrifice they were set aside and were no longer acceptable, yet that sacrifice did not reduce the duty of obedience but opened the way for people to obey.
What was taken away was the typical sacrifices, while the original law engraved on tables of stone stands immutable with its claims upon man in all ages. The distinction between the sacred and the common given through Moses must still be strictly observed, and the lessons of practical obedience given from the Mount of Blessing remain binding on those with greater light. The tithing system enjoined upon the Hebrews was not repealed or relaxed by the One who originated it, but is to be more fully carried out and extended as salvation through Christ alone is more fully brought to light. Duty in the Christian age is not limited but more especially defined and simply expressed, and because the widening gospel requires greater provisions to sustain its warfare, almsgiving becomes more urgent than under the Hebrew government, with greater gifts required than at any other period of the world.
The second established is perfect and entire obedience to the immutable law of God, for Christ does not destroy the validity of the Old Testament Scriptures, does not lessen human obligation to be perfectly obedient, and does not set men free from the law. As Substitute and Surety and head of humanity he fulfills what God predicted, magnifies the law and makes it honorable, reveals its spiritual nature and far-reaching principles, and declares that disobedience can never be rewarded with eternal life. He came into the world for the express purpose of vindicating his Father's law, and as Author and Finisher of the faith he opens a way by which humanity allied by living faith to divinity can keep all God's commandments. In the light of the law a man sees himself a sinner even where he thought he kept it zealously, dies to sin and becomes obedient to its claims, repents and believes in Jesus as Saviour, is baptized, and proclaims him.
Rejection Reception and Practice
The daily offerings that hallowed the temple prefigured the coming One and symbolized His death, yet when He came in humility there was no preparation to welcome Him and no eager waiting to receive Him. The sacrifices had been given to prove faith and obedience as types of the Lamb of God illustrating His great atonement, but the nation was so blinded and deceived that when He whom their offerings prefigured appeared they would not receive Him but led Him as a lamb to the slaughter. He stood among the worshipers unrecognized and unhonored as the One symbolized by all their service, for the sacrifices were by then enjoined without proper instruction, offered without understanding, perverted and misunderstood, while spiritual worship was fast disappearing and priests and rulers had no living link binding them to God. The offerings for hundreds of years had foreshadowed His death and He is their antitype, coming exactly as prophecy predicted in humiliation as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, yet priests and rulers rejected Him with contempt because they taught and expected only a victorious conqueror to break the Roman yoke and reign as a temporal prince on David's throne. Holding their own chosen standard of virtue and purity, the unbelieving would not be taught by the Just One, though the prophecies gave sufficient evidence to unprejudiced minds that He is the Son of God and Saviour of the world come to limit Satan's power and set free his captives.
The first, symbolic ritual service gives way to the second fulfilled in Christ, for the sacrifices and ordinances pointed to Him but could not take His place, and relying on outward forms brought no spiritual life or rest of conscience. Israel had made outward forms all important and lost the spirit of true worship, not looking beyond the shadow to the substance, corrupting the services with heathen traditions and practices in the performance of the rites. The innocent cattle and sheep slain in sacrifice symbolized Jesus Himself, and their blood prefigured the blood of God's Son soon to be shed for the sins and life of the world to direct men to a crucified Redeemer, but priests and elders lost sight of that solemn meaning and made the great convocations scenes of bloodshed and cruelty and a noisy market ruled by avarice, sharp trading, exorbitant prices and false dealing for immense profit. They multiplied sacrifices while continuing in sin without repentance and obedience, so sacred purpose became empty service, and their continuing to perform sacrifices and offerings while still looking forward to a Messiah already come proves those sacrifices had become useless. God therefore brought the people into captivity and suspended the temple services and removed the outward glory in order to take away the first that He might establish the second, so outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion, principles and practices would be purged from heathenism, heart service would be revived and the spiritual revealed. When the people turned to the Lord in repentance without outward forms, He shone into their minds and hearts with visions of the overthrow of oppressors, the coming Redeemer and the everlasting kingdom.
His work was to take away the first worship and establish a second altogether different worship, replacing empty ceremony with spiritual worship. Worship of God is no longer confined to temples made with human hands, so that believers throughout the world can worship in Spirit and in truth. The ceremonies have no value if the Saviour they represent is rejected, for Christ is the key to understanding the Old Testament and its symbols.
The taking away of the first to establish the second also accomplishes the desolations of Zion, purging out those who were in the Advent faith when they become rebellious and removing them. Others who had not heard the Advent doctrine, and had even rejected it, embrace the truth and take their places. This leaves a people who rise never to fall again, bearing fruit and working to the glory of God, with warning to be careful lest as branches they be cut off and others raised up in their stead.
The former sacrificial system gave way to the new order established through Christ's obedience to God's will. Israel's typical system pointed forward to Christ, the one great and effective Offering at the center of what is established.
Christ himself declared in taking human nature that he came from heaven to do God's will in willing submission with God's law in his heart. Doing that will meant a whole life of obedience displaying God's commandments, redeeming Adam's failure, and culminating in offering his own sinless life on the cross bearing the world's sin and the law's curse. The first taken away is the former order of repeated animal sacrifices, ceremonial types, temple services and priesthood that pointed to him but in themselves had no power to remove sin or make worshipers perfect. At his death type met antitype in his one great offering, so the former sacrifices were fulfilled, abolished and nailed to the cross and are no longer acceptable to God. The second established is sanctification through the once-for-all offering of his body under the new covenant, bringing remission, perfection and access to God, while his death did not abolish God's moral law but honored it, magnified it and upheld its continuing claim to perfect obedience.
Coming to Do God's Will
The words are Christ's own declaration, spoken when He took human nature and became man's substitute, that He came from heaven as the Sent of God to do God's will. His coming was willing submission to the divine plan, with God's law in His heart. He was sent last of all to do the Father's work of cultivating God's vineyard so that it would produce the most fruit, after the earlier messengers had been beaten, killed and stoned, only to be rejected and killed Himself by the husbandmen to whom He came.
Doing God's will meant a whole life of obedience displaying God's commandments in human life, and by that perfect obedience redeeming Adam's failure and fall. That life led to and culminated in the offering of His own sinless life on the cross, when type met antitype and His one great offering fulfilled what the earlier animal sacrifices had foreshadowed. As the antitype and substance of the offerings, He surrendered His sinless life for the sins of the world, taking the place of the former sacrificial system. In that mediatorial work He bore the world's sin and the curse of the law and suffered separation from His Father as the punishment for transgression.
His statement sets the pattern that every follower must make the sentiment of the heart and the continual practice. It means entire consecration of soul, mind and strength to God, withholding nothing, in walking in the Redeemer's footsteps. Receiving His life means receiving His Word and doing His will.
First Taken Away
The first taken away is the former order of repeated animal sacrifices, ceremonial types, temple services and priesthood, the Hebrew manner of worship with its restrictions, ceremonies and national peculiarities that kept the Jews distinct. Christ came to do God's will by offering his own body, setting aside that first arrangement and establishing sanctification through his once-for-all offering, which accomplishes remission of sins and a basis to draw near to God that the repeated offerings could not give. Those repeated sacrifices were only a shadow of what was to come and could not remove sins or make worshipers perfect, and when they met their fulfillment in him animal blood no longer had value as sacrifice. Christ observed the law binding on the Jews until his death, and his death removed the former sacrificial system and established the new order centered on his one great offering, with the sacrifices, his priesthood and the sanctuary ministry finding their antitype and fulfillment in him.
Those sacrifices and offerings were symbols and types explicitly planned and appointed by God himself, with many bleeding victims given to rivet in mind and heart that forgiveness comes through Christ's blood alone. The cattle and sheep slain were innocent victims symbolizing Jesus himself, their blood prefiguring the blood of God's dear Son soon to be shed for the sins of the world and the life of the world, directing men toward a crucified Redeemer. The figurative system was to give way to Christ the perfect offering it represented, for the sacrifices and priesthood pointed to his death and mediating work through which he opened access to God for guilty sinners, but had in themselves no power to save. Relying on their outward forms brought no spiritual life or rest of conscience, since they could not take his place, and God's people must rest in Christ to whom the ceremonies pointed rather than trust in the ceremonies themselves.
The sacrificial system was temporary by design, established because sin brought the penalty of death and to last only until the Lamb of God was slain, who is the great antitype of all those offerings. God gave definite directions about them because his people had confused ideas about the sacrifices and had mixed heathen traditions with their ceremonial worship, and he wanted them to understand their true meaning. Christ was the foundation of the whole Jewish economy and in his specific directions set the ceremonial observances apart from the Decalogue, and those ceremonial types were to pass away when type met antitype in his one great offering for the sins of the world. His death brought the system to its intended fulfillment and made a way to escape sin's penalty while preserving the honor of God's law, for if the law had not been transgressed there would have been no death or need for additional precepts suited to fallen humanity.
The sacrifices taught fallen people humility about their condition, led them to repentance, and taught them to trust God and the promised Redeemer for pardon. Every dying victim impressed in solemn, sacred ceremony as explained definitely by the priests that the blood of Jesus Christ alone cleanses from all sin and without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. God gave the law of sacrifices to prove and test the faith and obedience of his people, and those sacrifices as types of the Lamb of God illustrated his great atonement. The solemn service of the sanctuary typified grand truths to be revealed through successive generations, with the cloud of incense ascending with the prayers of Israel representing his righteousness that alone can make the sinner's prayer acceptable to God, the bleeding victim on the altar testifying of a Redeemer to come, and the visible token of divine presence shining from the holy of holies, so that through age after age of darkness and apostasy faith was kept alive until the advent of the promised Messiah.
At Christ's death, when type met antitype in his one great offering for the sin of the world, the former sacrifices were fulfilled, abolished, blotted out and nailed to the cross. With that fulfillment the divinely appointed offerings and national peculiarities were rendered valueless, and the former temple ceremonies and animal offerings taken away on the cross had no moral efficacy and were no longer acceptable to God, since eternal life comes through faith in Christ the Lamb who takes away the world's sin. His coming to do God's will culminated in offering his own life as the spotless Lamb, and those sacrifices that foreshadowed him ceased at his death.
Second Established
The second established is sanctification through the once-for-all offering of the body of Christ, the new covenant and new order of salvation centered on His atoning sacrifice. It is the faith of Christ and gospel truths received without obligatory Jewish ceremonies, taking the place of the first arrangement of repeated animal sacrifices. Those former offerings and national peculiarities, with their restrictions and ceremonies that kept the Jews distinct, only prefigured the death of the Son of God, and when type met antitype in that death they were abolished and rendered valueless. Through that sacrifice transgressors of God's law may find peace and pardon, for the sacrifices had always centered on Christ and fulfilled their purpose in Him.
His one effective offering accomplishes what repeated offerings could not, bringing remission of sins and sanctifying those who receive Him by faith. The repeated animal sacrifices were only a shadow and had no power to save on their own, to remove sins, to make worshipers perfect, or to give spiritual life. Through His death and mediating work He opened access to God for guilty sinners, so that believers can draw near to God. Eternal life comes through faith in Christ, the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world.
What is established in place of outward ceremony is heart service in Christ, a second and altogether different worship that is spiritual worship. Israel had made outward forms all important and lost the spirit of true worship, corrupting the services with heathen traditions and practices and not looking beyond the shadow to the substance, while sacrifices were enjoined without proper instruction and offered without understanding until spiritual worship was fast disappearing. God therefore suspended the temple services and removed the outward glory, even with the temple destroyed in the Babylonian captivity, in order to take away the first that He might establish the second, so that outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion. By that ceasing of ritual service principles and practices would be purged from heathenism, heart service would be revived, and the spiritual would be revealed, and when the people turned to the Lord in repentance without outward forms He shone into their minds with visions of the overthrow of oppressors, the coming Redeemer, and the everlasting kingdom. The second thus confirmed is perfect and entire obedience to the immutable law of God, which does not destroy the validity of the Old Testament Scriptures, does not lessen human obligation to be perfectly obedient, and does not set men free from the law, but fulfills what God predicted, magnifies the law and makes it honorable, reveals its spiritual nature and far-reaching principles, and opens a way by which humanity allied by living faith to divinity can keep all God's commandments, since disobedience can never be rewarded with eternal life.
As the antitype of the offerings Christ became their substance, surrendering His sinless life, bearing the world's sin and the law's curse, and suffering separation from His Father as the punishment for transgression in His mediator's work. His sacrifice upheld God's justice, magnified the law, and testified that the law is unchanging. It made a way to escape sin's penalty while preserving the honor of God's law, teaching fallen people humility about their condition and leading them to repentance and trust in God and the promised Redeemer for pardon. Once the purpose of the former offerings was fulfilled they were no longer acceptable, yet His sacrifice did not abolish God's law or reduce the duty of obedience but showed the law's unchanging character and opened the way for people to obey it.
Type Meets Antitype Fulfilled
Christ himself originated, grounded and founded the entire Jewish system of sacrifices, priesthood and sanctuary ministry, and the rites of that economy were instituted by him as Redeemer from the beginning, from Adam's day onward. The offerings pointed to him as the great antitype and were fulfilled in him, for he was humanity's Redeemer from the beginning and the priceless gift on which that system was founded. When type met antitype in his death he took away the first to establish the second, so the need for sacrificial offerings ceased. In his specific directions the ceremonial observances were set apart from the Decalogue as temporary types to pass away in his one great offering for the sins of the world.
In his death on Calvary as the spotless Lamb and one great offering for the sin of the world, the types met their fulfillment in him their great antitype. God's word concerning them did not fail but became history. His work vindicated the Father's law and fulfilled prophecy, for he came for the express purpose of vindicating that law and not making it of none effect. The Hebrew nation had been shown beforehand through the sacrificial system the Saviour who would be crucified for the sins of the world, and when the type met its antitype the instruction given through those figures ceased to be needed. He came just as prophecy predicted in humiliation as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief to die.
The ceremonies and temple service were the shadow and Christ is the substance, the true offering for the sins of men. His death reveals the true significance of the sacrifices and gives meaning to the whole Jewish economy. The light of the cross reaches back to explain those earlier types, while on this side of the cross the truth is revealed in Jesus. The repeated animal sacrifices were only a shadow of what was to come and could not remove sins or make worshipers perfect, whereas his one bodily offering sanctifies those who receive him by faith.
Even before the cross God brought the people into captivity and suspended the services of the temple and removed the outward glory in order to take away the first that he might establish the second. In the Babylonian captivity, with the temple destroyed and the temple service suspended, God removed the outward glory and representation of his presence. This was done so outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion, so principles and practices would be purged from heathenism, so ritual service ceasing would revive heart service and reveal the spiritual. When the people turned to the Lord in repentance without the outward forms, he shone into their minds and hearts and gave visions of the overthrow of oppressors, the coming of the Redeemer, and the everlasting kingdom.
The appointed sacrifices and priestly rites hallowing the temple were sacred because they pointed ahead to the sinless offering of God's Son. The daily sacrificial offerings that hallowed the temple prefigured his coming and symbolized his death, and the animal offerings at the sheep gate pointed forward to him the great antitype whose sacrifice was for the sins of the world. By their ceremonies the Jews were saying come, for Christ was the one whom all these ceremonies represented. At the first advent their purpose was fulfilled and the sacrifices and offerings under the law were taken away. He came in humility as predicted, giving sufficient evidence to unprejudiced minds that he is indeed the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, come to limit Satan's power and set free the captives Satan had bound.
Law Continues and Obedience Required
The taking away spoken of is the ending of the laws governing Jewish sacrifices and offerings at Christ's death, not the ending of the Ten Commandments. His death did not abolish God's moral law but honored it, upheld its continuing claim to obedience, and showed its unchanging character. The offerings had pointed to Christ, and once their purpose was fulfilled in his perfect sacrifice they were set aside and were no longer acceptable, yet that sacrifice did not reduce the duty of obedience but opened the way for people to obey.
What was taken away was the typical sacrifices, while the original law engraved on tables of stone stands immutable with its claims upon man in all ages. The distinction between the sacred and the common given through Moses must still be strictly observed, and the lessons of practical obedience given from the Mount of Blessing remain binding on those with greater light. The tithing system enjoined upon the Hebrews was not repealed or relaxed by the One who originated it, but is to be more fully carried out and extended as salvation through Christ alone is more fully brought to light. Duty in the Christian age is not limited but more especially defined and simply expressed, and because the widening gospel requires greater provisions to sustain its warfare, almsgiving becomes more urgent than under the Hebrew government, with greater gifts required than at any other period of the world.
The second established is perfect and entire obedience to the immutable law of God, for Christ does not destroy the validity of the Old Testament Scriptures, does not lessen human obligation to be perfectly obedient, and does not set men free from the law. As Substitute and Surety and head of humanity he fulfills what God predicted, magnifies the law and makes it honorable, reveals its spiritual nature and far-reaching principles, and declares that disobedience can never be rewarded with eternal life. He came into the world for the express purpose of vindicating his Father's law, and as Author and Finisher of the faith he opens a way by which humanity allied by living faith to divinity can keep all God's commandments. In the light of the law a man sees himself a sinner even where he thought he kept it zealously, dies to sin and becomes obedient to its claims, repents and believes in Jesus as Saviour, is baptized, and proclaims him.
Rejection Reception and Practice
The daily offerings that hallowed the temple prefigured the coming One and symbolized His death, yet when He came in humility there was no preparation to welcome Him and no eager waiting to receive Him. The sacrifices had been given to prove faith and obedience as types of the Lamb of God illustrating His great atonement, but the nation was so blinded and deceived that when He whom their offerings prefigured appeared they would not receive Him but led Him as a lamb to the slaughter. He stood among the worshipers unrecognized and unhonored as the One symbolized by all their service, for the sacrifices were by then enjoined without proper instruction, offered without understanding, perverted and misunderstood, while spiritual worship was fast disappearing and priests and rulers had no living link binding them to God. The offerings for hundreds of years had foreshadowed His death and He is their antitype, coming exactly as prophecy predicted in humiliation as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, yet priests and rulers rejected Him with contempt because they taught and expected only a victorious conqueror to break the Roman yoke and reign as a temporal prince on David's throne. Holding their own chosen standard of virtue and purity, the unbelieving would not be taught by the Just One, though the prophecies gave sufficient evidence to unprejudiced minds that He is the Son of God and Saviour of the world come to limit Satan's power and set free his captives.
The first, symbolic ritual service gives way to the second fulfilled in Christ, for the sacrifices and ordinances pointed to Him but could not take His place, and relying on outward forms brought no spiritual life or rest of conscience. Israel had made outward forms all important and lost the spirit of true worship, not looking beyond the shadow to the substance, corrupting the services with heathen traditions and practices in the performance of the rites. The innocent cattle and sheep slain in sacrifice symbolized Jesus Himself, and their blood prefigured the blood of God's Son soon to be shed for the sins and life of the world to direct men to a crucified Redeemer, but priests and elders lost sight of that solemn meaning and made the great convocations scenes of bloodshed and cruelty and a noisy market ruled by avarice, sharp trading, exorbitant prices and false dealing for immense profit. They multiplied sacrifices while continuing in sin without repentance and obedience, so sacred purpose became empty service, and their continuing to perform sacrifices and offerings while still looking forward to a Messiah already come proves those sacrifices had become useless. God therefore brought the people into captivity and suspended the temple services and removed the outward glory in order to take away the first that He might establish the second, so outward ceremonies would not become the sum-total of religion, principles and practices would be purged from heathenism, heart service would be revived and the spiritual revealed. When the people turned to the Lord in repentance without outward forms, He shone into their minds and hearts with visions of the overthrow of oppressors, the coming Redeemer and the everlasting kingdom.
His work was to take away the first worship and establish a second altogether different worship, replacing empty ceremony with spiritual worship. Worship of God is no longer confined to temples made with human hands, so that believers throughout the world can worship in Spirit and in truth. The ceremonies have no value if the Saviour they represent is rejected, for Christ is the key to understanding the Old Testament and its symbols.
The taking away of the first to establish the second also accomplishes the desolations of Zion, purging out those who were in the Advent faith when they become rebellious and removing them. Others who had not heard the Advent doctrine, and had even rejected it, embrace the truth and take their places. This leaves a people who rise never to fall again, bearing fruit and working to the glory of God, with warning to be careful lest as branches they be cut off and others raised up in their stead.
The former sacrificial system gave way to the new order established through Christ's obedience to God's will. Israel's typical system pointed forward to Christ, the one great and effective Offering at the center of what is established.