Page 55 - Laying Down the Law

Galatians 4:24-30
For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth
to bondage, which is Hagar - for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and
corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children -
but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all... What does the
Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the
bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman."

Consider this parable found in the life of Abraham. Abraham wanted a godly heir
that came from his own loins. His wife Sarah, though exceedingly beautiful, was
barren. Sarah is a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem.

Hebrews 12:22-24
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the
Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Yahshua the
Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better
things than that of Abel.

Abraham and his descendants were covenanted to the heavenly Jerusalem
PRIOR to being joined to the Jerusalem below. God gave Abraham the covenant of
promise 430 years before his descendants received the covenant of Law.

Galatians 3:16-18
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And
to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. And this
I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul
the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make
the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of
promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Note that Paul says that this earlier covenant was “confirmed before by God IN
CHRIST.” When was this done? The sacrifice of Christ was foreshadowed when
Yahweh cut a covenant of blood with Abraham. Abraham was instructed to divide
various animals in half, and a deep dread fell upon him. A smoking pot and a lantern
were seen to pass between the pieces. These things pointed to the work to be
accomplished by Christ.
A brother wrote to me some days back objecting to my current teaching on the
Law. He defended the continuance of the Mosaic covenant by saying that Christ did
not bring in a new covenant, but merely RENEWED the covenant. There is truth in
that the new covenant in Christ’s blood is a RENEWED covenant. One must
understand, however, that it is not the covenant instituted by Moses that was