Have you ever thought of the covenants as being a mirror image of each other? The pre cross covenant being a mirror image of the post cross covenant.
The Bible uses the term "shadow".
Let's consider Sinai.
The law spoken there was not something new. It existed from the beginning pointing out what sin is and outlining the principles of godly living. Men of faith, like Enoch, Noah, Abraham had found the relationship with the Creator and Savior that enabled them to be righteous, both in having forgiveness of sins, and walking in humble obedience by faith.
So why did God give such an awesome and grand display of His power in giving the Israelites the commandment law?
1. To give them a vivid sense of the importance of those commandments 2. To give them a sense that sin is a terrible thing 3. To give them a glimpse of the immense holiness of God 4. To give them a sense of their own unworthiness and need for a Savior.
It was the most awesome display ever witnessed by mankind, but did you know it was also a shadow of a future event?
12:18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 12:19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which [voice] they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 12:20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 12:21 And so terrible was the sight, [that] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than [that of] Abel. 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more [shall not] we [escape], if we turn away from him that [speaketh] from heaven: 12:26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 12:27 And this [word], Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Yes, once again there will be trumpets, fire, tempest, the whole world will be in the most awesome trumoil as as Christ descends with His cloud of angels.
2 Thess. 1:7-8 when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Deut. 33:2 The Lord... came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all,
We also know there will be trumpets -- 1 Thess. 4
Rev. 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
"Then there appears against the sky a hand holding two tables of stone folded together. Says the prophet, "The heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is judge himself." [PS. 50:6.] That holy law, God's righteousness, that amid thunder and flame was proclaimed from Sinai as the guide of life, is now revealed to men as the rule of judgment. The hand opens the tables, and there are seen the precepts of the decalogue, traced as with a pen of fire. The words are so plain that all can read them. Memory is aroused, the darkness of superstition and heresy is swept from every mind, and God's ten words, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, are presented to the view of all the inhabitants of the earth. It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those who have trampled upon God's holy requirements. The Lord gave them his law; they might have compared their characters with it, and learned their defects while there was yet opportunity for repentance and reform; but in order to secure the favor of the world, they set aside its precepts and taught others to transgress. {GC88 639.}
The mirror presents many pictures relevant for our time!
While they were still in Egypt we see the Israelites sprinkling the blood of the lamb on their doorposts.That was the first passover, when the Israelites escaped the angel of death. Jesus Christ is "the same yesterday and to-day and for ever."Heb. 13:8 Faith in His blood, (His atoning sacrifice) which was signified by the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb upon the doors of the houses, accomplishes the same result to-day that it did back then. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper we show by faith that we accept Christ’s provisions for our redemption and that He will preserve us from sin and from the destruction that is coming upon the earth because of The inheritance for which we look is not of this world, but in the new heavens and earth.Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, understood this for they looked for "a better country, that is, an heavenly" and for the city which God has prepared (the New Jerusalem).
"The sprinkling of the blood" (compare Ex. 12: 5-14; Heb. 11.:27, 28; xii. 24; and 1 Peter i. 2-10) is the grand link that unites us in our Christian experience with ancient Israel. It shows that the deliverance that God was working for them was identical with that which He is now working for us.
