MOSES
AND THE PROPHETS
A few years ago, Dr. John Warwick
Montgomery, a distinguished Lutheran scholar, debated Dr. Joseph Fletcher, the
infamous situation ethicist. Dr. Fletcher insisted that Jesus had no more
philosophical sophistication than a guinea pig. It is strange that someone with
so little philosophical sophistication has for two thousand years been the most
influential teacher and leader in the world. What marvels could he have wrought
if he had had the philosophical sophistication of Joseph Fletcher? Tragically,
if our Lord had promoted the ethical values of men like Joseph Fletcher, John
Shelby Spong and Leslie Weatherhead, our world might have already destroyed
itself. Fletcher and Spong believed and taught the ethics of barnyard animals.
Most liberal theologians would not
employ the crude language Joseph Fletcher used concerning Jesus Christ. The
great majority of liberal theologians profess some respect for Christ, but few,
if any, of them accept the Bible's teaching about Christ. They seem to believe
that Christ was a great teacher and a good man, but they deny that Jesus turned
water into wine, stilled the storm on the
We know from Christ's own words that
God gave Christ all authority in heaven and in earth (Mt. 28:18). We know that
he spoke on many occasions by his own authority. But we also know of his reliance
on God's word as revealed through Moses and the prophets. Do you remember what
he said to the rich man in Luke 16? Jesus told the story of the rich man and
Lazarus. The Bible says that angels carried Lazarus to the bosom of Abraham.
But the rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham afar
off, and Lazarus in his bosom. The rich man cried out, "Father Abraham,
have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in
water, and cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame." Abraham told
the rich man that there was a great gulf between the two of them. There was no
possibility of passing from one side to the other. The rich man explained that
he had five brothers. He did not want them to come to the place of torment. He
asked Abraham to send someone to warn them. "Abraham says to him, They
have Moses and the prophets; let them (your brothers) hear them. And he (the
rich man) said, No, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead,
they will repent. And he (Abraham) said unto him, If they will not hear Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead" (Lk. 16:22-31).
Before we discuss the topic,
"Moses and the Prophets," I must say a few words about Abraham's
response to the rich man. He said to the rich man: "If they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead" (Lk. 16:31). Does Abraham's response to the rich man make sense to
you? Surely if one were to come back from the dead people would believe his
word and obey him. Jesus Christ predicted his own resurrection. When he was
raised from the dead, thousands and thousands of his own countrymen refused to
believe in him. There is an abundance of evidence to prove that Christ was
raised. But for the past two thousand years, multiplied millions of
people-including many liberal theologians-have denied our Lord's resurrection.
They have failed to be persuaded even though Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
The writers of the Old Testament
claimed to be revealing God's will for the people of
You shall not add unto the word which
I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it, that you may keep the
commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (Dt. 4: 1-2). Over
and over, Moses reminds the Israelites that the law he was teaching them did
not come from his own heart; it came from the very mind of God almighty.
When Moses died, God appointed Joshua
to be the leader of the nation. God demanded of Joshua: "Be strong and of
good courage: for unto this people shall you divide for an inheritance the
land, which I swore unto their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very
courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my
servant commanded you: turn not from the right hand or to the left, that you
may prosper wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your
mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do
all that is written therein: for then shall you make your way prosperous, and
then you shall have good success" (Josh. 1: 6-8). Joshua obeyed the voice
of the Lord. "There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which
Joshua did not read before the whole congregation of Israel, with the women,
and the little ones, and the strangers that lived among them" (Josh.
8:35).
Tragically and inexplicably, the
Israelites did not always obey the Law of Moses. Eventually, because of their
disobedience, the Jews had to spend seventy years in Babylonian exile. Daniel
was one the young men who spent those seventy years in
After the Jews returned from
The Old Testament has much more to say
about keeping the law, but I shall turn now to the New Testament. The book of
Luke, written by a Greek physician, sometimes appeals to the Law of Moses. He
says concerning Christ: "And when the days of her (Mary's) purification
according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him (Jesus) to
Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord" (Lk.
2:22-23). Luke also records a conversation between Christ and two disciples who
were walking along on the road to Emmaus. As they walked, they talked about the
events that had been transpiring in
Jesus said to the two disciples:
"0 fools, and slow of heart to believe, all that the prophets have spoken:
ought not the Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his
glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them all
the scriptures concerning himself' (Lk. 24:25-27). Later in the meeting with
the two disciples, Christ asked them for something to eat. They offered him
broiled fish. He then said to them: "These are the words that I spoke unto
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were
written in the Law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning
me" (Lk. 24:42-44).
Jesus identified three divisions of
the Old Testament: the Law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms. These three
divisions encompass every book in the Old Testament. The late Dr. Edward Young
was one of
John Hagee's latest book, In
Defense of Israel (
Hagee says that our Lord
"personally validated the divine authority of the Old Covenant by saying, I
did not come to destroy but to fulfill (Mt. 5: 17). He continues in the
next verse to declare that the Old Covenant would be valid 'till heaven and
earth pass away." Since heaven and earth have not passed away; neither has
the Old Covenant" (p. 169). There is no doubt that Jesus Christ validated
the old covenant. I have given you evidence of that from Luke 24. But if the
Mosaic covenant is still binding, the book of Hebrews needs to be revised. Do
you remember reading these words about the two covenants-the new covenant and
the old covenant? "In that he says, A new covenant, he has made the first
old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8:
13). The English Standard Version renders that verse. "In speaking of a
new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete
and growing old is ready to vanish away."
You have heard preachers discourage
the practice of taking a passage out of context. That is precisely what John
Hagee has done in this most recent book and in his other books. Will you please
listen to these verses from Christ's great Sermon on the Mount? "Think not
that I have come to destroy the law, and the prophets: I have not come to
destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass
away, one jot or one tittle shalt in no wise pass, until all be fulfilled (or
accomplished)" (Mt. 5:17-18). Did you take note of the expression,
"until all be fulfilled?" The word "until" suggests a time
when the law and the prophets would be fulfilled. We know that covenant has
been fulfilled and has been removed. Is that not what Christ meant when he said
to the Father: "Lo, I come to do thy will, a God?" The author of
Hebrews comments: "He takes away the first, that he may establish the
second" (Heb. 10:9). "First" and "second" what? He was
speaking of the first and second covenants-the Law of Moses and the gospel of
Christ. Robert Miligan's New Testament Commentary on the Epistle to the
Hebrews (St. Louis: Christian Board of Publication, 1875) says
concerning the expression, "He takes away the first that he may establish
the second": "The thing taken out of the way is not merely the
Levitical sacrifices, but the whole arrangement under which they were offered,
and the thing established is the more gracious and perfect arrangement
according to which the offering of Christ was made once for all" (pp.
271-272).
These passages teach as plainly as
words can be made that no one is authorized to obey any of the precepts and
commandments of the Mosaic covenant. Sometimes preachers argue: "Nine of
the Ten Commandments are binding on us." That cannot be scripturally
justified. We do not live under the law that requires that we keep even one of
the Ten Commandments. If we must keep any of the Ten Commandments, we must keep
all of them. Is that not what Jesus meant when he told his disciples: "Whosoever therefore shall break one of
these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in
the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt. 5: 19)?
The truth which John Hagee and other
preachers ignore is the fact that Jesus Christ did not live under the new
covenant. From the time he was born until his death, he lived under the Mosaic
covenant. He strongly condemned any of his Jewish contemporaries for breaking
any of the commandments of the Law of Moses. He loved the law of God as
revealed in the Old Testament, but he came to establish the New Testament.
Every serious student of the Bible is familiar with these words: "For the
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:
17).
John Hagee affirms: "The Old
Covenant is not dead" (p. 158). The apostle Paul must have thought it was.
He informed the Colossians: God blotted "the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way,
nailing it to the cross." How do we know Paul had in mind the Mosaic
covenant? He tells us very plainly. "Let no man therefore judge you in
meat, or in drink, or in respect to a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the
Sabbath days" (Col. 2: 14, 16). All of these items were significant parts
of the Mosaic covenant. They have all been nailed to the cross. They are no
longer binding on anyone-either Jew or Gentile. Anyone who seeks to be
justified by the Law of Moses has fallen from grace (Gal 5:4).
Winford
Claiborne
The International Gospel Hour