15, 16. What important spiritual lessons embodied in the Law covenant also point to its temporary nature?

¹⁵ The Law covenant also highlighted the need for atonement, incorporating a well-​defined system of sacrifices that were an integral part of Jewish worship. (Leviticus 1:1-17; 3:1-17; 16:1-34; Numbers 15:22-29) From the time of the rebellion of Adam and Eve, mankind lost the perfection that would have enabled them to live everlastingly in perfect health. (Genesis 2:17) As a result of the first sin, Adam and Eve’s offspring (all born after the rebellion) inherited imperfection and the innate tendency to sin. (Genesis 8:21; Psalm 51:7 [51:5, NW]; Ecclesiastes 7:20) Imperfection led to sickness, aging, and death, as well as to the creating of a barrier between man and God. (1 Kings 8:46; compare Lamentations 3:44.) Some basis was needed to undo this damage as well as to overcome and bring about atonement for man’s imperfect state. Men of faith were always acutely aware of that need.​—Job 1:4, 5; Psalm 32:1-5.

¹⁶ The Law covenant emphasized that God has legal standards that must be met. It also provided the basis for understanding how God’s standards of justice would be fully satisfied.c The provisions of sacrifice in the Law covenant could never restore God’s original purpose for mankind, since their effect was temporary, highlighting the condition of sin but not removing or preventing it. Therefore, the Law was a transitional step to help this organized nation of worshipers understand at the appropriate time how to identify the Seed and how that Seed would undo the damage caused by Adam’s sin. Where did the Torah indicate this?

²¹ If the prophet like Moses is to serve as a new mediator of a new covenant, then it also becomes clear that all the specific details of worship required under the Mosaic Law would be in force not permanently but rather only until the new covenant would be established. Certainly, when God would provide a basis for ‘forgiving their iniquities and remembering their sins no more,’ there would no longer be a need for the entire system of sacrifices provided by the temple arrangement, which brought about only temporary forgiveness.