Sermon Tone Analysis

Malachi 4:4 (AV 1873)

4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, Which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments.

What is the Context?

Malachi 4 (AV 1873)

1 For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; And all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, That it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise With healing in his wings; And ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet In the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, Which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments.

5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, And the heart of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

We know this is speaking of the time when Christ shall come to destroy the wicked in flaming fire.

See 2 Thes.

1:7-8 and Matt.

3:11.

This passage is a prophecy for those alive at the 1st and 2nd coming of Christ.

Whose Law is it?

Many say that God came up with the 10 commandments and Moses came up with the Law of Moses, but is that the case?

Deuteronomy 4:13–14 (AV 1873)

13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

What is the Foundation of God’s Government?

A: Love

1 John 4:8 (AV 1873)

8 He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.

Everything that comes from God is a manifestation of love.

Matthew 22:36–40 (AV 1873)

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The main principle on top of God’s government is selfless love.

From this single principle God further elaborates and explains that we are to love God and others, explaining what that basically looks like.

What are all of the “Extra Laws” in the Law of Moses?

First, what is “the law of Moses”?

The law of Moses refers to the first 5 books of the Bible, and consists of different types of laws, traditionally totalling 613 laws.

These laws generally fall into 4 categories:

Ceremonial

Civil

Health

Moral

Law of Moses Abolished?

Many believe that everything within the Law of Moses was done away with, because:

It was kept on the side of the ark, while the 10 commandments were inside.

It was written on parchment, while the 10 commandments were written on stone.

It was written by Moses, while the 10 commandments were written by God.

The following passage is also used to support this belief:

Colossians 2:14–17 (AV 1873)

14 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

There is a lot in this passage, but we will only touch the surface.

According to Colossians 2:14-17, what was involved in the thing that was abolished?

Meat

Drink

Holydays

New Moons

Sabbath Days

All of which are “shadows” of Christ

What law was a “shadow” of Christ?

Hebrews 10:1 (AV 1873)

1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

According to this passage, the laws which were abolished were the sacrificial laws which were a shadow of Christ.

Hebrews 9:8–10 (AV 1873)

8 the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Here we see that the sacrificial law had meat and drink offerings, as well as ritual purifications.

This passage also mentions “carnal,” or fleshly/physical, ordinances, which seems to be speaking concerning things which are external and can do nothing for the heart, such as physical circumcision, tzitzits, phylacteries, etc.

The feast days and ceremonial sabbath days were also shadows of Christ’s earthly and heavenly ministry.

According to Colossians 2:14-17 and Hebrews 9:8-10; 10:1, the “laws of types and shadows” were done away with when Christ was nailed to the cross.

Clear that 10 commandments (love) not a type or a shadow

Does the Law of Moses ONLY consist of these “shadow laws”?

Q: Do the “shadow laws” comprise the entirety of the Law of Moses?

The “Law of Moses” also contains health, moral, and civil laws.

Let’s look at a few of these laws in the other categories to see if they were also “shadow laws” which were nailed to the cross.

Health Laws

Leprosy in the House

Leviticus 14:33–48 (AV 1873)

33 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 34 When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; 35 and he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: 36 then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house:

37 and he shall look on the plague, and behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; 38 then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: 39 and the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; 40 then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:

41 and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: 42 and they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.

43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered; 44 then the priest shall come and look, and behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean.

45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.

46 Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.

47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.

48 And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.

Do we want mold in our houses today?

Of course not.

The above is not a shadow, but is a health principle.

A quick Google search will show the fact that modern science has found that having mold in the home is extremely serious and terrible for our health.

Of course we have other ways of dealing with mold, and don’t necessarily have to destroy our house, but the principle of getting rid of mold is still valid.

Consumption of Swarming Bugs

Deuteronomy 14:19 (AV 1873)

19 And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.

According to a 2021 article by the Canadian Health Alliance:

“Insects are mycotoxins and fungi powerhouses”

“Insect consumption is an easy excuse for another zoonotic pandemic”

“Crustacean allergies in humans and pets can kill”

Q: Was this law concerning eating unclean bugs a “shadow law”?

The statutes God gave regarding the consumption of “unclean animals” is backed by modern science.

God did not give arbitrary laws concerning these health principles just to give us more “rules.”

He wants us to be a happy and healthy people!

Moral Laws