111: The Letter Kills, but the Spirit Gives Life

The Letter Kills, but the Spirit Gives Life.

We see in Exodus chapters 20-31 that God spoke the 10 Commandments from the mountain, and then Moses went up the mountain for forty days to receive the entire law and the instructions for building the tabernacle, the portable temple that would be a dwelling place the presence of the Lord. The tabernacle showed that God always had a plan to redeem His people. In the tabernacle, blood sacrifices would be offered for the sins of the people, and each year on the Day of Atonement the high priest would go in to the presence of God in the Holy of Holies as a representative of the people. He would offer the sacrifices and sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant so that the nation of Israel could be blessed and protected for another year. All of these things were shadows of the better things to come in Jesus.¹

After receiving all of these instruction, Moses came down the mountain to deliver the law to the people.

And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. (Exodus 31:35)²

When Moses came down the mountain with the two tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments, he stopped short of reaching the bottom. Why? Because he saw the people breaking the first commandment which was written on those stones: “You shall have no other Gods before Me. You shall not make any graven image.”³

The Israelites had formed a golden calf from the gold they had brought out of Egypt. In righteous anger, Moses broke the two tablets of stone.⁴ Because of the judgment of the law, three thousand people had to die at the hands of the Levites (the priests). Because of God’s mercy, Moses didn’t come all the way down the mountain lest they all would be slaughtered. God told him to go back up and receive another set of stones.

Fast forward to the New Covenant when on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover when our Lamb of God was slain, one hundred twenty disciples were in the upper room waiting for the promise of the Spirit. All of a sudden a mighty rushing wind blew through, tongues of fire landed on each of them, and the Holy Spirit not only filled the house, but also filled the people! The next thing we see is Peter preaching the Gospel, and three thousand people were saved!

When the law was given, 3000 died. (Exodus 32:28)
When the Spirit was given, 3000 were saved. (Acts 2:41)

Which goes to show:

…the letter kills, but the SPIRIT GIVES LIFE… (2 Corinthians 3:6, again, emphasis mine)

(from pages 184-185 of Unveiling Jesus)

Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.

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¹Hebrews 8:5, Hebrews 9:23, Hebrews 10:1
²All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.  Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.  Used by permission.
³Exodus 20:4
⁴Exodus 32:19