Antecedent Grace – Abiding Principles from the Ceremonial Law: Mediation (1)

Antecedent Grace

Abiding Principles from the Ceremonial Law: Mediation (1)

Everything about God’s Covenant is all of grace.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Exodus 20:2

The now-eclipsed ceremonial or religious laws of ancient Israel still have much to teach us today. Thus far we have seen that these statutes and rules encourage us to seek the presence of God, that we might enter into His glory and participate in Him. They also initiate a pattern of sound worship, helping us to understand how we may approach our holy God in ways that please Him and benefit us as His people. Thus, while we no longer keep the ceremonial laws, we may study them with benefit to discover abiding principles and practices to help us grow in our relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Everything about God’s Covenant—within which His Law was given—is all of grace. Grace is the experience of God’s love which comes to us in many ways and is the basis of our ability to know and love Him. The ceremonial laws show us the antecedent nature of God’s grace: His grace comes to us first, then draws us into Him and His blessings. Human beings do not earn God’s grace; they receive it and, if they are faithful, acknowledge it in thanksgiving, praise, and obedience.

We can see this in the deliverance of Israel from bondage in Egypt. God was not obligated to bring His people out of Egypt by anything other than His promise to do so (Gen. 15:14). He was not obligated to make such a promise except on the basis of the promise He had previously made to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3) to create from his offspring a great people and to give them a land of their own. But God was not obliged to this by anything other than His promise to Adam and Eve that He would deliver them from the effects of their rebellion through an offspring to be born at a later time (Gen. 3:15), and He was not obligated to promise even that except by His original plan and determination to fill the world He had created with His glory and goodness (Gen. 1:31).

Everything God does toward His creation, toward human beings, is all of grace. Our continuing existence is not the result of inexorable “laws of physics” but of the steadfast love and faithfulness of Him Who sustains the world and all things in it by His Word of power.

As we read and meditate on the ceremonial laws of Israel—and we should do so regularly—let us be conscious and alert to the ways they instruct us in the grace of God and what we can learn from them concerning how that grace is mediated to us.

For a fuller study of the pattern of worship revealed in Scripture, order the book, The Highest Thing, by T. M. Moore, from our online store. These studies and brief essays will help you to see how the pattern of sound worship, which began in the Law of God, comes to complete expression in the rest of Scripture. Pastors, we’re getting ready to start the next season of The Pastors’ Fellowship. Write to me today at tmmoore@ailbe.org for information about how you join in these online discussions. Our theme for the coming series is “The Worldview of God’s Law.” There is no charge for participation, but you must reserve a place for these monthly gatherings. Subscribe to Crosfigell, the devotional newsletter of The Fellowship of Ailbe.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.