DIVINE ORDINANCES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE
When God called Israel out of Egypt and established for them His principles and methods of worship, He included certain ordinances that were to be observed perpetually.
The faithful Israelite was diligent in observing these Old Testament ordinances right up to the time of Christ's first Advent into the world.
Outstanding among the last faithful Israelites of the Old Testament were the parents of John the Baptist. The Scripture testifies that "they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Luke 1:6. Here Holy Writ associates the careful keeping of the ordinances with being "righteous before God."
Time-wise, the Old Testament ordinances had both a backward and forward significance.
They were provided and designed by God to keep alive in the memory of Israel their miraculous deliverance from Egyptian bondage and point them forward to the coming of the redeemer of the world and the cleansing would provide for His corrupted and corruptible creatures. As sinful men nailed Jesus the cross and He fulfilled that which Old Testament ordinances typified, Jesus also nailed those Old Testament ordinances to His Cross thus blotting them out and taking them forever out of the way. Col. 2:13-17.
Although Jesus blotted out the handwriting of Old Testament ordinances, He did not blot out the continued need for His people to observe divine ordinances.
The New Testament establishes ordinances for observance by the Church just as clearly the Old Testament established them for Israel.
The accompanying Ordinance Chart will show how these ordinances symbolize the great principle of the gospel and comprise the outer circle of protection for the heart and life of the gospel. In II Thessalonians 2 the Apostle Paul declares that keeping the traditions (ordinances) faithfully will be a safeguard against the delusion that comes to those who receive not the love of the truth.
These outward ordinances can be likened unto the bark of a tree which protects the life of the tree. If we take the bark off the tree, life cannot be sustained. Furthermore, we know that when the bark loosens and falls off, the interior heart of the tree has died. We may well believe that when the literal observance of these outward ordinances is discontinued, something bad has happened to the heart and spiritual life of the Church.
We should be warned, however, that a careful observance of the ordinances is no guarantee of inner spiritual life. In natural life it is possible to have a normally good outer protective shell with something very bad on the inside of that shell, such as a spoiled egg or a hollow or rotten nut, etc. It is possible that one could be baptized, partake of Communion, wash another's feet, give a greeting with a kiss, practice the veiling, etc., and fail to be motivated by the inner spiritual principles these ordinances teach us. Paul warned the Corinthians that those who would partake of Communion with a wrong motivation would eat and drink damnation to themselves. I Cor.
11:29. See also Isa. 1:11-14. To observe the outward ordinances without possessing the true inner spirit of the ordinance may bring a curse upon us.
While it is true that there can be a good shell without a good kernel, it is just as true that there is no such a thing as a good egg, a good nut kernel, or a good grain germ without an outward form of protection. Therefore, in order to possess the heart and kernel of the gospel we must obey from the heart that form of doctrine given to us. There is no such a thing as an inner possession of principle without an outward expression of practice.
There are no substitutes for Divine Ordinances. They are a part of the authoritative and final Word of God. To substitute the wedding ring for the veiling, as one ex-Mennonite writer does, is to place that which is of heathen origin above that which comes to us by divine inspiration. God warned the Children of Israel not to observe the ordinances of the Canaanites. Leviticus 18:1-4. Jeremiah pled with his people to "learn not the way of the heathen."
This writer heard a theological student from a Mennonite Seminary argue that if Jesus were here today, He would probably shine His disciples' shoes and give commandment accordingly instead of washing their feet. This we believe is a gross insult against our loving and humble Lord Jesus Christ.
On another occasion, at a study conference on the authority of the Church, a prominent Church leader promoted the idea that the Church might have the authority to take the customs and cultural practices of the heathen and make religious ordinances to replace some of the Bible ordinances. He based his argument on the assumption that in Eskimo Land it would hardly be practical to wash feet. We think our Lord knew that where ever it is practical to be born it is practical to wash feet.
If the ordinances are properly observed, there is not one inhabitable part of the earth where their observance is impractical.
Bible ordinances are holy commandments given to us by a Holy God, for observance by a holy people, to help to prepare us for our coming Holy Lord Jesus.
AARON M. SHANK
Myerstown, Pa.
November 1974