OLD TESTEMENT The Old Testament includes many commands not found in the New Testament, such as the seventh-day sabbath, animal sacrifices, the Levitical priesthood, circumcision, special holy days, burning incense, tithing, instrumental music, and dancing in worship. Many people wonder whether we today must keep these commands. A few people try to keep all Old Testament laws. Others keep only New Testament laws. Still others try to keep some Old Testament laws but disregard others. To please God and to be united religiously we must determine which Old Testament laws, if any, apply to us today. The purpose of this study is to address these issues. THE SACRAFICE OF JESUS AND NEW COVENANT From ancient biblical times the sacred union of covenant was constituted by means of a sacrifice and/or a sacred banquet (e.g. Gen 24:30; 31:54; Ex 24:1-11). The Lord Jesus used these familiar methods at the Last Supper to establish God's New and Everlasting Covenant. To establish this Covenant, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which He made both a sacrifice and a sacred meal. Jesus expressed his eager anticipation to celebrate this covenant event through the institution of the Eucharist when He exclaimed at the Last Supper: "I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (Lk 22:15). By establishing the New Covenant through the Eucharist, Jesus made His Spouse the Church to be a Eucharistic People by reason of her very origin. Covenantally, the law has a three-fold purpose: 1. to restrain wickedness, 2. as a perfect rule of righteousness, the law revealed sin and brought sinners to their need for Christ, and 3. a rule of obedience for God's people. God's law shows His rightful demands upon each and every creature. God's law reflects His holiness and purity as He declares that only the righteous may be in His presence, while violators will be cast out and punished (Psalm 15). Christ upheld the righteous demands of this law and earned access to the Father for those who would be made "just" through His righteousness. The ceremonial law, which was given to the people of Israel, with its sacrifices and purification rituals, did not actually save but prefigured and pointed towards the purity of Christ and His sacrifice as a High Priest (Heb. 9-10). Finally, the moral law was given to God's covenantal people after they had been delivered from bondage, as a rule to govern their lives, in gratitude and service to their Savior, God and King (Ex. 20.2). The law then is not contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but reveals it and complies with it (Rom. 3.31).

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