A Type of the Coming of Christ

I searched in the Book of Mormon today for specific references to the law of Moses. I was surprised by a consistent theme that I saw which I hadn’t noticed before. Nephi wrote, “Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him” (2 Nephi 11:4). Here he connected the law of Moses with the “coming of Christ.” Similarly, he also wrote, “And, notwithstanding we believe in Christ, we keep the law of Moses, and look forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law shall be fulfilled. For, for this end was the law given; wherefore the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made alive in Christ because of our faith; yet we keep the law because of the commandments” (2 Nephi 25:24-25). They kept the law of Moses as they looked forward for Christ’s coming. His brother Jacob wrote, “For, for this intent have we written these things, that they may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us. Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him” (Jacob 4:4-5). Here Jacob suggested that the law of Moses pointed his people to Christ, which is how I think most of us would summarize the Book of Mormon’s teaching about the law of Moses. But in full context, Jacob was more specifically talking about “his coming.” The law of Moses was given and practiced to point the people to the coming of Christ.

               This link is also made in several other passages of the Book of Mormon. Sherem, the anti-Christ, said this, “Ye have led away much of this people that they pervert the right way of God, and keep not the law of Moses which is the right way; and convert the law of Moses into the worship of a being which ye say shall come many hundred years hence” (Jacob 7:7). He understood that Jacob and his priests were teaching the people to connect the law of Moses with Jesus who would come. King Benjamin quoted these words of the angel to his people, “Yet the Lord God saw that his people were a stiffnecked people, and he appointed unto them a law, even the law of Moses. And many signs, and wonders, and types, and shadows showed he unto them, concerning his coming; and also holy prophets spake unto them concerning his coming; and yet they hardened their hearts, and understood not that the law of Moses availeth nothing except it were through the atonement of his blood” (Mosiah 3:14-15). The types and shadows of the law of Moses were all about the coming of the Savior. Abinadi similarly taught the priests of Noah, “Therefore there was a law given them, yea, a law of performances and of ordinances, a law which they were to observe strictly from day to day, to keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him. But behold, I say unto you, that all these things were types of things to come.” So the performances and ordinances of the law were types of what was to come. He clarified what that was which would come: “For behold, did not Moses prophesy unto them concerning the coming of the Messiah, and that God should redeem his people?” (Mosiah 13:30-33) Mormon described the people of Ammon with a similar link between the law of Moses and the coming of Christ: “Yea, and they did keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. But notwithstanding the law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances until the time that he should be revealed unto them” (Alma 25:15). The law of Moses was a type of the coming of Christ. So why don’t we keep the law of Moses anymore? Well, one answer is that its purpose was fulfilled: He came! The whole law—with its sacrifices and requirements and ordinances—was meant to point the people to His future coming. And once He came, the law was no longer needed. We now have other practices, such as the sacrament, that help us look back on His coming. And so perhaps the message for us today is that as we read the law in the five books of Moses and try to understand things that seem foreign to us, we should ask how these things point to the coming of the Messiah.