Pastor John,
My daughter and I were talking this morning about the law and ceremonies as being a shadow of what God was going to write on His children’s hearts after the sacrifice of Christ. I told her that God used the law to teach His children about Him and to prepare their hearts for being led by the spirit. She asked a question and I don’t think I was able to make it very clear.
How would you answer this?
Her question:
So before the sacrifice, they didn’t have a conscience?
Beth D.
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Hi Beth.
Yes, people had a conscience before the Spirit was given, unless they had done so much evil that their hearts were dull to shame. Israel got that way, and God complained that, like a harlot, they could no longer be made to blush (Jer 6:15; 8:12). No sin was shameful to them.
What is important is that the conscience of ancient people would bother them if they had not obeyed the rules they had been taught. They were taught what was good, and if they didn’t do that good, and they still had a heart that could feel, they were ashamed. This holds true regardless of whether or not what was taught as good was, in fact, not good in the sight of God. A lot of Gentile nations were like that. Remember, God told Jonah (4:11) that the Ninevites didn’t know their right hand from their left (as far as good and evil were concerned).
Because of Jesus, the Spirit now creates a true knowledge of good and evil in our hearts so that we need not be taught rules of conduct by others. This was prophesied by Jeremiah: “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their heart. And I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will no longer teach, each his fellow and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord!’ For they will all know me, from the least of them even to the greatest, says the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:33–34).
Hope that helps.
Pastor John
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