having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances…
—Ephesians 2:15

You may have asked yourself: Did God do away with the law of Moses (the Ten Commandments), or is this law still in force? What did Paul mean when he wrote that God “wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us… having nailed it to the cross” [Col.2:14]? What does the law of Moses have to do with us believers who live under God’s grace? These are interesting questions, and I would like to find out what the Word of God says about them.

In the Epistle to the Galatians Paul writes that Mount Sinai and the present Jerusalem represent the old covenant of the law, whereas Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem represent the new covenant of grace. Mount Sinai is still standing today, but if we read chapter 12 of Hebrews, we will see that there is no one there. The whole holy assembly — God, thousands of angels, the church, the spirits of just men and Jesus — is on Mount Zion, in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. And what does this mean? It means that we now live by the principles and rules of the place where we are. We are no longer at Mount Sinai, and we do not live by its laws, because, as Scripture says, “we have become dead to the law”. Mount Sinai is still standing, but it has as much to do with us as Western Sahara and its laws have to do with someone living in England.

Paul writes to the Ephesians: “and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” [Eph.2:16] Some people, misinterpreting the law as a tutor, think the law brings people to God, but in fact the law makes people hostile to Him. The law makes a person think that God is angry with him and set against him, and such a person always expects punishment from God. When Adam ate from the tree and came to know good and evil, he hid from God and blamed Him for giving him a wife. That is why God abolished the working of the law in the body of Jesus. The law was in God’s presence until Jesus went up to Calvary. There on the cross the law finished its work and its purpose. And when Christ rose, He rose in a new place, on a new mountain, in a new city, where a completely different law is at work — the law of the Spirit of life.

Once the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which is a type of the law, stood in the midst of the garden [Gen.2:9]. Colossians 2:14 says that God “has taken it out of the way” — literally, “out of the midst”. God removed the law from the centre, from the place where He Himself is. Jesus was crucified outside the city, outside the camp. There is no longer any law with its requirements in God’s presence. If we look into heaven, we will see that “in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain” [Rev.5:6] On Mount Sinai there was the law; darkness, fear, trembling and death reigned there. In God’s presence there is no longer any law with its requirements, no fear, no trembling, no death, but only joy, peace, rest and life! All the requirements that were against us were left on the cross. By abolishing the law, God untied His own hands. Now nothing prevents Him from loving us and pouring out His grace. As our beloved Paul wrote: “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” [Eph.2:6-7].