QUESTION:

“Bob, if God intended for the Israelites to someday live under a New Covenant, one in which the law was no longer in operation, why didn’t He say as much when He gave them the law?”

Part of the law is the book of Deuteronomy. At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses, in his farewell address, tells the congregation of Israel that God will continue to communicate with them through prophets (Deut 18). This is a very important passage, for in it, Moses, is elevating the prophets to the law.

Now we can flash forward to the time of Jeremiah, a prophet with all the authority that Moses ascribed to future prophets. Jeremiah speaks of a time when God will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, in which their rapport with the law will be different. God will write the law on their hearts (Jer 31).

“But many do not care for the idea of a prophet. They want God alone to come down and make Himself known.”

That is just exactly what God did. He came down to Mt. Sinai with trumpets, with fire, and with special effects that would make George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg pop their jaws. The first ten of His commandments were uttered audibly, right out of the sky.  God did just exactly what people always ask Him to do. And how did the Israelites respond? They freaked out!  They couldn’t handle it. They took Moses aside and said, “Look, why don’t you go up to the mountain, let God give the rest of His law to you, and then you can come back down and tell us what He said.”

So Moses did this. He was up on the mountain with God for 40 days and 40 nights. When he returned, the people mumbled and grumbled, “How do we know God really spoke to Moses?  Why should we listen to him?  He could be making all this up.”

At the end of his life, while reminding the Israelites that God would now be sending additional prophets, Moses also reminded them: “This was your idea. God offered to speak directly and you chose another way. You chose prophets, so you’d just better listen to them!”

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