For the benefits of our readers, I will quote the scriptures you mentioned. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we ESTABLISH THE LAW” (Romans 3:31). “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

The common theme in these verses is “keeping the commandments.” Based on these verses you then say, “I am of the understanding that the whole of Scripture is centered around THE OBSERVANCE OF THE ORIGINAL INSTRUCTIONS found in the Torah.” I wish you were here right now for I would ask you exactly what you mean by that. It SEEMS that you are speaking of “observing God’s commandments” that He gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai, for 3 of your references refer to those who “keep His commandments.” Yet I am confused, because you go on to add, “…where Christ is our sacrificial lamb, and our propitiation for sin.” It seems to me that you are “mixing LAW and GRACE together” when you speak of keeping/observing the Law and then you speak of Christ’s work on the cross where He died as a sacrificial lamb for all men (John 1:29) to make propitiation for sins (1^st John 2:2; 4:10). As we shall see, the Law that was given to Moses (in the Torah….the first 5 Books of the Bible) had two main purposes, neither of which could take away the sins of sinners. We shall also see that once Christ did die as the propitiation (i.e., satisfying sacrifice) for sins, the purpose of Law for the believer passed away. Here are the two main purposes of the Law.

1) In Romans 3:20 we read, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN.” If you read verses 9-19 you will see how God proved, by the Law of Moses, that “all (Jews and Gentiles) are under sin” and that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (verses 9-10). Then He brings out in verses 11-18 what characterized sinful men who are in bondage to sin. In verse 19 he teaches us that “all the world is guilty before God.” What effect should this have on all men? Ah, it should “show them that they are sinners!” The Law “reveals to lost men and women their sinful state before God.” That, dear friend, is the first main purpose of the Law.

2) In Hebrews 10:1-4 we read, “For the law, HAVING A SHADOW OF THE GOOD THINGS TO COME, AND NOT THE VERY IMAGE OF THE THINGS, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Here is the second main purpose for which the Law was given, to FORESHADOW the coming of Christ and His death on the cross as the sacrificial lamb. God instituted the sacrificial system in the Law (the Torah) to point men to the One who could offer a “perfect sacrifice of infinite value that could take away their sins.” Every animal offered on Jewish altars was a PICTURE to men that they needed someone to take their place in death and judgment that was “without sin” in order to make atonement for their sins. Jesus Christ (the Son of God and the perfect Man) was the One, as we see in 1^st Peter 1:18-19, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold….but with the precious blood of Christ, as of A LAMB WITHOUT BLEMISH AND WITHOUT SPOT.”

Once a sinner sees his sinful state and need of a Savior and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior (John 3:16; Acts 13:38-39; 16:31), the Law has served its purpose and they are no longer “under law, but under grace” (see Romans 6:14). I would encourage you to read Galatians 3:19-25 where the apostle Paul takes up this very subject, though I will quote verses 23-25 now: “But before faith came, we were kept under the guard of the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, THE LAW WAS OUR TUTOR TO BRING US TO CHRIST, that we might be justified by faith. BUT AFTER FAITH HAS COME, WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A TUTOR.”  I would encourage you to also read 2^nd Corinthians 3:2-11 and Hebrews 7:18-28 and 8:7-13 which clearly teach that the “Old Covenant of Law” has passed away, being replaced by the “New Covenant of Grace.”

A word is in order regarding the verses in Revelation you cited. Those who are “keeping the commandments of God” will be the “Jewish Remnant” who have turned to Christ during the coming Tribulation Period. They will still be “under the law” even though they have “believed on Christ for salvation.” Once Christ returns, He will “make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and they will be taught that the Old Covenant of Law did indeed pass away forever. As to the phrase in Romans 3:31, “we establish the law,” the law had demanded death to the sinner and when Christ died as a “penalty for sin” he “established the law” by proving the penalty of the broken law had been paid. In other words, His death “upholds the law by insisting that its utmost demands must be and have been fully met” (William MacDonald).  (DO)  (576.5)