The 5th period of testing is the age of the Law. The length of this period goes from the exodus of Israel out of Egypt with Moses through the remainder of the Old Testament to the preaching of John the Baptist and the coming of Messiah (Exodus 12 – Matthew 2).
Now, the nation of Israel (established with Abraham in the previous lesson) enters into this period with the greatest advantages afforded any people since Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall in the Age of Innocence.
They witnessed firsthand the power and miracles of God in Egypt that led to the Exodus.
Then, during the Exodus there were visible manifestations of God’s presence day and night with the pillar of fire, manna from heaven, etc. It is estimated that they experienced over 12,000 miracles up to the time they finally arrived to the Promised Land after 40 years in the desert.
And the most important aspect of this time was the fact that God spoke directly to Moses (Exodus 33:11) giving Him revelation, direction and a complete code of laws to teach them how to have a relationship with Him (the ritual or ceremonial laws illustrating the Gospel in Christ and the coming of Messiah) and how to conduct their lives (the civil law that taught them how to regulate their relationships with each other).
Therefore, the test was to obey the Law, follow the revelation God had given and have a relationship with Him based on what He had said. It is important to remember at this point that, as from the beginning, redemption is by grace through faith (the same in every age). It is graphically illustrated in this age by the ceremonial law that depicted the future substitutionary death of Christ (no different in substance from the instruction obviously given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:21, and Cain and Able in Genesis 4:3-5). As Paul correctly states in Romans 3:20, “no one was ever declared righteous by keeping the Law”.
Why did God give the Law? It served two purposes: first, it represents a necessary reality - the character and nature of God (Who He is and what He does) for man to follow and emulate. This is also important when you realize the purpose of God for all believers as presented in the New Testament by Paul (Romans 8:28-29), that is, to conform us into the image of His Son, Who is the exact image of the Father (Colossians 1:15). You cannot emulate something you don’t understand or submit to God in ignorance. Then secondly, it was symbolic – an illustration of what would eventually come in Christ, Who would completely fulfill all the promises of the Law and God’s plan of redemption (Matthew 5:17, Colossians 2:14-17).
There is another purpose that should be mentioned that is not specifically related to the Law. It is during this time that God uses Israel as a sword to rid the world of the giant races (Deuteronomy 20:16-18), to preserve the seed of the woman from which Messiah would come. That there were giants on the earth both before the flood and after (Genesis 6:4) is evident and was discussed in Lesson 17. I realize, and by now you must as well, that some of the content of these lessons is redundant. This is simply reinforce these things and possibly to introduce you to additional information on the website not included here.
As stated then, the purpose of this Satanic plot involving fallen angels co-habiting with the daughters of Adam was to destroy the seed of the woman by producing a race of giants, described by Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews as “evil tyrants whose bodies were so large and their countenances so entirely different from other men that they were surprising to the sight and terrible to the hearing”.
Now, to completely understand how this race of giants could, in fact, destroy the seed of the woman, you will probably have to study the second section of the article on the website “Grace, Faith and the Plan of God” – God condemns Us. In this section I discuss the perpetuation of the sin nature through the man, the difference between the cell division in the production of the male sperm and the female ovum and how Messiah was born of a woman, but without the contamination of the sin nature.
Then, along with this understanding, you must compare what is found in Numbers 13:33, II Samuel 21:16-22 and I Chronicles 20:4-8, which tells us that giants were able to reproduce more giants. Then apply the principle of myim, “after their kind”. In the creation of the first man and woman (and the design and function of their reproductive systems), God made provision for the eventual birth of the Messiah, the perfect, sinless God-man, the only one qualified to redeem mankind. Born of the union of the perfect “seed of the woman” and the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:34-38).
It was Satan’s plan to produce a race of evil tyrants who would wipe out the race that God had created (with the ability to eventually produce the promised Messiah) so that all who remained on the earth were those giants who had only the ability to reproduce after their own kind. And where do you think Satan got the idea for this plan? Was it not from his knowledge of God’s plan and the understanding that it was possible for those in the spirit realm (whether fallen angels or the Holy Spirit, it made no difference) to come into this earthly realm and affect it in a real, physical way? This is, at least to my understanding, what the facts of scripture point to.
So, what was man’s failure during this time? It starts with Israel’s disciplinary wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Then it continues with the history of Israel’s 42 kings, of which 33 “did evil in the sight of God” and only 9 “did what was right”. This apostasy is documented in the writings of the books of the prophets in the Old Testament and is the preparation of Israel for the rejection of the Messiah when He comes, as documented in the New Testament.
What is God’s judgment? The Kingdom of God (representing the future fulfillment of the Law in Christ) is taken from the Jews and given to the Gentiles (Matthew 21:33-46).
Israel is rejected as a nation until Christ’s 2nd coming (Matthew 23:37-39). The Jews will not know peace and God’s favor until Christ’s 2nd coming, starting with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD (Luke 21:20-24), but will experience all the desolation and destruction promised them in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
The affirmation of God’s grace is the sacrifice of His Son for the sins of man as promised in the Law and fulfilled in Matthew 27. The Law, as given to Israel during this time contains two important principles. The first and foundational principle that makes God’s covenant plan of redemption possible is substitutionary death – the death of Christ on the cross, taking the sins of mankind upon Himself.
This principle started with Adam and Eve with God providing them with coats of skins, continued with Cain and Able and passed to all successive generations and ages. Noah built an altar, Abraham built an altar, as did Isaac and Jacob, and on and on. The substitutionary death of a perfect, flawless, valuable animal (illustrating the eventual death of Christ on the cross) was the centerpiece of the Law, which was then fulfilled (I Corinthians 1:23). God the Father gave what was most valuable to Him, His only Son (John 3:16).
The second principle that must accompany the first is the fact that God’s covenant plan of redemption is exactly what a covenant illustrates – a two-sided agreement in which both parties have responsibilities. God only obligates Himself to give what He promises when we give what He requires. There is no such thing as the free or unmerited grace of God. God’s grace is the open opportunity to access what He offers. But, as in every age, His obligation to give what He offers is conditioned on whether or not we are obedient to what He says.
The combination of these two principles leads us to this one inescapable conclusion – those who would enter into God’s covenant plan of redemption must follow His example and be willing to give what is valuable to gain what is infinitely more valuable. And, to this you must draw your own, personal applications, but the reality of a true, intimate relationship of submission, obedience, dependency and trust (which He uses to personally participate in our lives to conform us to the image of His Son) starts with these two principles.
In the Old Testament the Jews under the Law were required to give the most valuable animals from their flocks and herds to follow the ritual animal sacrifices illustrating the future death of Christ. The culmination of this is found in the New Testament in words of Jesus Himself. Read Matthew 16:24-26 where Jesus tells us to give up what is most valuable to us (our own lives) to gain what He has to offer.
The history of man and his religions make it necessary to remind us all of these facts: (a) God alone sets the conditions of His covenant; (b) man is not free to set his own conditions; (c) nor can he alter the conditions set by God (the religions of the world are all guilty of this); and (d) man cannot ignore the conditions set by God as if they did not exist - he will still have to answer to God (Matthew 16:27).