Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

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DISCOVERING THE NEW COVENANT
Jesus says to his accusers that the Law of Moses regarding
circumcision takes precedence over the Sabbath. If the day
to be circumcised happened to be the Sabbath, the
circumcision was carried out. Now I asked myself again,
“With which category of law is the Sabbath placed in each
of these scenarios?” The ceremonial! In each case Jesus
places it with the temporary or ceremonial rules and
restrictions, not the moral absolutes of all time. He even
states this one more time when He says:
But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy
and not sacrifice,” you would not have condemned the
guiltless. Mt. 12:7
One more time Jesus contrasts the temporary system
“sacrifice” with the eternal moral absolute of “mercy.” The
Sabbath is classified with the temporary ceremonial system
every time. In what category does this place Sabbath?
Ceremonial shadows of course! Jesus is saying to the
accusers, “If David could eat showbread (breaking a
ceremonial law), if the priests could do work in the temple
on Sabbath, if circumcision could be carried out on the
Sabbath, if Sabbath is part of the sacrificial system not the
eternal moral principles, then the Anointed One, the Son of
Man, surely is Lord of the Sabbath. He is over and above
these ceremonial regulations.
I must admit that this discovery affected me deeply.
Jesus Himself placed the Sabbath with the things that we
know now were shadows of what was to come. He placed
the Sabbath with the ceremonial system. He set the stage
for Colossians 2:17, where it clearly states that the entire
Sabbath system was a “shadow of things to come, but the
substance (reality) is Christ.” Jesus, prior to the Cross, was
already teaching the New Covenant. What I had been
taught in the sabbatarian educational system had
completely passed over Jesus’ intent in this passage. Jesus’
pre-Cross teaching fits exactly with what He revealed to