"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)
There seems to be a strange prejudice against Moses, on the part of a great number of professors of religion. If anything is quoted from his writings, the reply is, "Oh, that was written by Moses;" or, "That is in the law of Moses;" as though that fact were sufficient impeachment of its authority. Doubtless the reason for this prejudice is found in the text above quoted: "The law was given by Moses."
The prejudice against Moses is not against him primarily, but against the law, with which he was so closely associated. We do not find people taking exceptions to other portions of Scripture, on the ground of their authorship. Men do not say, "Oh, that was given by Paul," or, "That is in the writings of Jeremiah," when passages are cited from those writers. And the reason doubtless is that in the writings of Moses are found the things that most directly cut across the man's ideas and practices. "The law was given by Moses," (John 1:17) and therefore Moses is discredited. The law is not despised because Moses wrote it, but Moses is discredited because he wrote the law.
No matter what men may think of Moses and his writings, neither he nor they are in the least discredited in the Bible. To those who spoke slightingly of Moses, the Lord said, "Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold; wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" (Numbers 12:6-8)
Again, after the death of Moses, it is recorded, "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, In all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel." (Deuteronomy 34:10-12)
Almost the last word of the Old Testament refers to the very last days of the earth's history, when "the works that are therein shall be burned up," (2 Peter 3:10) and the righteous saved; and to the people at that time is given this exhortation: "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments." (Malachi 4:4)
And then Elijah the prophet is promised, to bring these things to remembrance so that utter destruction may not come upon the earth. The above text presents the fact that the law of Moses is not something that originated with him. "Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel." (Malachi 4:4)
Throughout the books of Moses we find the teaching prefaced thus, "And the Lord said unto Moses." Accordingly Moses said to the children of Israel, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the land where you go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." (Deuteronomy 4:5-6)
So we find that Moses, like all the other prophets, spoke only the words of the Lord. He made no claims for himself, and nothing originated with him. It is customary to speak of him as a great legislator, but he was such only because he acted as the mouthpiece of the Lord.
The law was given by Moses in the same way that precepts were given by the other prophets, and by the apostles. Peter said that he himself wrote, "That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour." (2 Peter 3:2)
But the Apostle Paul said, "The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 14:37)
He thanked God that the Thessalonians received the word which he preached, not as the word of men, "but as it is in truth, the word of God." (1 Thessalonians 2:3)
The apostles did not give commandments on their own authority, but from God.
While the Lord spoke the ten commandments with His own voice, in the hearing of all the people, the details of the law were communicated to them only through Moses. He it was who wrote them in a book, for the permanent use of the people (for none could look upon the tables of stone in the ark); and to him we are indebted for a knowledge even of the fact that they were ever spoken by the Lord.
To throw discredit upon Moses, is to throw discredit upon Christ. The Lord spoke thus unto Moses, concerning Christ, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put my words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which He shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
And Christ said to those who did not believe Him, but who professed to believe Moses, "Had you believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if you believed not his writings, how shall you believe my words?" (John 5:46-47)
So whoever slights Moses, thereby rejects Christ.
Grace and Truth
Turn again to the statement that the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That is not an intimation that there is a contrast between the law and the truth, for the law is the truth, as we read, "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth." (Psalm 119:142)
The contrast is between the power of Moses, and that of Christ. The contrast is the same that would be between Christ and any other man than Moses. The greatest man that ever lived is only a man, while Christ is God, having life in himself.
In order to get the full force of the words which we have quoted from the 1st of John, we should read from the fourteenth verse to the eighteenth. With these connect the first verse. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth. And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:1,14-18)
Neither Moses nor any other men can put truth in the hearts of men. The righteousness of God is that which we are exhorted to seek: "But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)
And that righteousness is expressed in the law of God: "My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on my arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their revilings." (Isaiah 51:5-7)
Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Men may preach, but He alone can put the righteousness and truth of God into the hearts and lives of men.
The law was given by Moses; but although the law is righteousness and truth, no man ever yet obtained righteousness and truth from the law. All the law can do is to tell us what we ought to do; but it does not work out its own requirements for us, and in us.
It is a grand thing to declare the law to men; it is a most wonderful thing to be used as a speaker for God, to declare His word faithfully; but the best man who ever lived could not save a single soul. "But grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (Psalm 119:142)
Remember that the law is the truth. "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is the truth." (Psalm 119:142)
So the law comes by Jesus Christ, but it comes with grace.
He says that the law is in His heart: "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart." (Psalm 40:7-8), so that when He dwells in the heart by faith "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:17-19), the law is necessarily there; and thus the truth is in the inward parts, as the Lord desires "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part You shall make me to know wisdom." (Psalm 51:6) Moreover since in Him is life "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1:4), it is manifest that when the law comes into us in Christ, it is life to us. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." (Romans 8:2)
Christ is the declaration of God. The exhortation to us is, "Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
God says, "Be you holy, for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:16)
But no man has seen God at any time, and therefore how can we know how to be holy as He is holy? "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:18)
Christ is in the bosom of the Father. That is His home. He is with God, because He is God. All the attributes of the Godhead are His, "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Colossians 2:9) "And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16)
That is, in Christ all the fullness of God is conveyed to us "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:17-19), and consequently all the righteousness of God.
Now it is evident that no man, however good, could do this for us, because in the first place no man can have any goodness except what is necessary for himself, and, in the second place, no man can live in another. No man can live another's life for him.
Only Christ, who gave himself for us, and who is able to live in us, can bring into our lives the righteousness of God, making His life our own.
Grace and Truth from the Beginning
And now comes the most important question,
• When did grace and truth come by Jesus Christ?
• At what particular time in the history of the world does Christ bring the righteousness of the law into the hearts of believers?
• Is it only since His first advent, and His resurrection?
• Did God lay upon men before Christ came, the burden of getting righteousness out of the law by their own efforts, and only since His crucifixion give to men the blessing of righteousness through Christ?
What says the Scripture? The 1st chapter of John is sufficient to settle the matter for us. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. ... And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:1-4,14,16-18)
What is the Word? The Word was God. Who is the Word? Christ is the Word. When was the Word? "In the beginning was the Word." (John 1:1)
How far back does that reach? "But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, and yet out of you shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth has been from of old, from the days of eternity." (Micah 5:2,margin)
Where is Christ always? "[He] is in the bosom of the Father." (John 1:18)
What always dwells in Him? He is always "full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
The law is ever in His heart: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8)
What then is the necessary conclusion? Simply this, that there has never been a time since the existence of man, when the righteousness of the law could not be fulfilled in everyone who would allow Christ to dwell in his heart by faith.
The Entering of the Law
But let us particularize. We will take the days of Moses, and the very time of the giving of the law. Surely if we can find that the righteousness of the law came through Christ then, and through Him only, the question will be settled for all time. "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)
Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, said of Moses, "This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the Angel which spoke to him in the mount Sinai, and with our fathers; who received the lively oracles given unto us." (Acts 7:38)
The Angel that spoke to Moses in the mount Sinai was the Angel in whom is the Name of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ. "Behold, I send an Angel before you, to keep you in the way, and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not; for He will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in Him. But if you shall indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto your enemies, and an adversary unto your adversaries. For my Angel shall go before you, and bring you in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off." (Exodus 23:20-23)
That angel was to go before the children of Israel, and lead them into the promised land; and we read that: "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed [went with] them; and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:4) "The law was ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator." (Galatians 3:19)
And there is but "one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5)
Christ, therefore, was in Mount Sinai, and gave the law to Moses, to give to the people. "Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound; that as sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5:20-21)
The law could only make sin to appear "exceeding sinful": "Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." (Romans 7:13) "By the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:20)
Therefore the giving of the law could only make prominent the sins which already existed by the law. "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." (1 Corinthians 15:56)
The law makes sin to abound, not because the law is sin, but because it is the declaration of perfect righteousness. "But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." (Romans 5:20)
Where does sin abound? Where the law is. Where was the law? It was most emphatically at Sinai. Then when was sin made to abound? Most certainly at Sinai. But what superabounds wherever sin abounds? "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." (Romans 5:20)
Then what was in infinite abundance at Sinai? The grace of God, which is by Jesus Christ. And what does grace do? "By grace are you saved." (Ephesians 2:8) "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:5-7)
So we find that in the very giving of the law, by which is the knowledge of sin, the grace of God which brings salvation from sin, was present. For Christ was there, the giver of the law to Moses, and He is always full of grace. Grace and truth come by Jesus Christ.
Very forcible are the words of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians concerning this matter. He says that: "God has made us sufficient to be ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Corinthians 3:6)
Men are associated with Christ in the work of salvation: "As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:20) "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." (Colossians 1:29)
God does the work, the apostle says of his desire to "present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily." (Colossians 1:28-29)
Ministration of Death and Life
Following on in the 3rd of the 2 Corinthians, we find the apostle making a contrast between the ministration of death and the ministration of life; the ministration of the condemnation, and the ministration of the righteousness.
The law was death, and so it is still to every sinner. Moses ministered only the law to the people, and therefore his was the ministry of death. Yet it was with glory, for as he talked to the people the skin of his face shone so that they could not bear to look upon it. "The ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away." (2 Corinthians 3:7) "And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone while He talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he took the veil off, until he came out. And he came out, and spoke unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him." (Exodus 34:29-35)
But the ministration of the righteousness was there also, for Christ was there in His glory, with grace "according to the riches of His glory." (Ephesians 3:16)
So we read, "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech; And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished; But their minds were blinded; for until this day remains the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ." (2 Corinthians 3:12-14)
The veil over the face of Moses was indicative of the veil that was over their hearts. If their hearts had not been veiled by unbelief, he would not have needed to veil his face from them. "Which veil is done away in Christ." (2 Corinthians 3:14)
Not now merely, but whenever the heart turns to the Lord. It was at that very time done away in Christ. For Moses, "[who] endured as seeing Him who is invisible," (Hebrews 11:27) and who talked with God face to face, did so without a veil over his face. He took the veil off when he went into the mount to talk with the Lord. That which was possible for Moses, was possible for all the people, if they had possessed the same faith that he did. For read what the apostle says further: "Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
Instead of "open face," read "unveiled face," as in the Revised Version, and the thought is preserved, for the references to the face of Moses, which was veiled.
The veil, however, as we have seen, was on account of the children of Israel. Moses put a veil on his face, to save them the trouble of putting veils on all their faces. It was the same as if all the people had veils upon their faces.
For himself no veil was necessary, for He talked with the Lord with unveiled face. Now that the veil was significant of the unbelief that was in their hearts, and was made necessary because of that unbelief, we learn definitely from the next chapter, in which the apostle says: "If our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that are perishing; In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4,RV)
The veil, therefore, is unbelief, and that was the great trouble with the Israelites. "And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." (Hebrews 3:18-19) "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." (Hebrews 4:1-2)
Christ was with them, "full of grace and truth," (John 1:14) but they did not believe, and consequently they were not saved. Moses believed, and he entered into close communion with the Lord, and his face was transformed by the heavenly glory. If they had believed, then they could have viewed the glory of the face of Moses, and even greater glory, for the progress is "from glory to glory," (2 Corinthians 3:18) in an increasing measure. What is the glory of God? It is His righteousness: "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
Sinning is coming short of the glory of God; therefore righteousness is the attainment of His glory. In the account of the first miracle that Jesus performed after He began His earthly ministry, we read, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory." (John 2:21)
This miracle, like all others that He did, was one of helpfulness. It was done for the purpose of supplying need. Therefore we learn that the glory of God is manifested in helping the needy. The glory of God is shown in His grace. So John says of the Word which dwelt among us, "We beheld His glory, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
Those who are made children of God, are "To the praise of the glory of His grace." (Ephesians 1:6)
Therefore the glory of God which transfigured the face of Moses, was an indication of the change in character that would be effected by the glory of His grace, in all who believe.
Moses himself received the law not only in his hands, but in his heart, through the grace of Christ, with whom he conversed in the mount. If the children of Israel had possessed the same faith, they also would have found the same grace and truth by Jesus Christ. Then Moses would have been as much a minister of the new covenant as anyone can be.
Not all the Israelites were unbelieving. There were seventy elders who were permitted to see the glory of God, and they at least would be able to look upon the face of Moses. So God made him, as well as the apostles, sufficient to minister the grace of life.
In closing, note that fact that the law was ordained "in the hand of a Mediator," (Galatians 3:19) namely, Christ, who is the "one Mediator between God and men." (1 Timothy 2:5)
What does that signify? Simply that although the law in itself is death to any man, God did not leave men to deal with it alone. He did not give the law to them by Moses, simply, leaving them to meet it face to face in their own strength; He gave it to them in Christ, in whom it is life, if they would but receive Him.
Christ receives the curse of the law again himself, and passes the blessing of it along to all who believe in Him. He takes the death sting from it, so that in Him it becomes "The law of the Spirit of life." (Romans 8:2)
The law is in the heart of Christ: "I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart." (Psalm 40:8) "Out of the heart are the issues of life." (Proverbs 4:23)
Therefore the life of Christ is the law of God. It is not a substitute for the law of God, but it is the very law of God. His life on earth was the manifestation of the law as life; it was a specimen of the life which He will live in everyone who will receive Him. He does not change. "[He is] the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8)
Therefore His life today is the same that it was eighteen hundred years ago.
Looking to Sinai we see a statement of the law of which Christ is the Mediator; looking to Judea we see the same law in action; and looking to Calvary we see the life flowing for us, by means of which the law may dwell in us.
He is the Mediator of the new covenant, to write the law in the hearts of men; for He dwells in the heart by His Spirit, and thus becomes the Medium through whom the righteousness of the law is wrought out in men.--Present Truth, November 30, 1893--John 1:17.