another way of looking at it:
Recently I've wondered about Matthew 5:17-19
which states that the Law of God is not done away, and wondered
how this squares with others who possess the Holy Spirit and
are Christians by definition of not only having the Holy Spirit
but show the evidence of being actively led by the Holy Spirit
(Romans 8:9-17). If taken literally, Matthew 5:17-19 says that
Christians need to be observing all the 10 Commandments, including
the Sabbath Command, the 4th commandment, along
with the Holy Days, which Leviticus 23 show are part of the
Sabbath command. Does Matthew 5:17-19 really imply that those
who don't observe the Sabbath and Holy Days are not Christians? But we've just seen that Hebrews 4 gives us
another way to interpret Matthew 5:17-19.
The Sabbath and Holy Days, according to Matthew 5:17-19
are not done away. But
Paul shows us in Hebrews 4 that these days have been transformed and that the reality of
them is lived in us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When I was considering all this, I remembered
a wonderful person who was our family's cleaning lady when
I was growing up. She
died recently, and at her funeral I heard one of the most
beautiful eulogies a person could have spoken about her.
If the minister wasn't just laying it on deep, and
I knew Beatrice Berry, so
he wasn't, according to his eulogy and what he said about
her, she clearly exhibited the fruits of the Holy Spirit. So was she fulfilling Matthew 5:17-19 in her
life? She never observed
a single Old Testament Holy Day in her life.
She didn't even know about them, as far as I knew.
Her day of worship and Christian fellowship was Sunday
and not the Old Testament Sabbath which is on Saturday.
Let's plug what we know about the Sabbath and Holy
Days into Beatrice's life and see if she wasn't fulfilling
them even without knowing of their importance and deep symbolic
meaning. She
was a woman who was at peace spiritually, in spite of having
three hellion children to deal with as she tried, and succeeded
to clean our house. She
was in the Sabbath-rest Paul spoke of in Hebrews 4, without
a doubt--so she was living in the reality of the Sabbath 24
hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Also with the Holy Spirit dwelling in her,
she was covered by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and thus
was living the New Testament Passover and the deep symbolic
meaning of the Old Testament Passover, 365 days a year.
The Holy Spirit in her helped her live a life of overcoming
sin, so she lived the Days of Unleavened Bread 365 days a
year also.
When the Holy Spirit entered her, she was
now fulfilling the Day of Pentecost, the day on which the
Holy Spirit first anointed Jesus Christ's disciples and entered
3,000 souls, thus starting the New Testament Christian Church.
Also when the Holy Spirit entered her, Jesus Christ
had his 2nd coming in her, so she was observing
the reality of the Feast of Trumpets. Also when the Holy Spirit entered her, she was
no longer under the influence of Satan and his world. Satan no longer had a claim on her life. So now she was also living the meaning of the
Day of Atonement in her life.
With the Holy Spirit in her, she had now entered into
the Kingdom of God
spiritually and thus was fulfilling the meaning of the Feast
of Tabernacles. Without
ever having any significant knowledge of God's Old Testament
Holy Days listed in Leviticus 23, Beatrice Berry was living
the reality of each Holy Day, and the Sabbath as well, each
day of her life. The actual observance of the Seventh Day Sabbath
and Holy Days is a mere
shadow of their fulfillment in us by the indwelling of
God's Holy Spirit. So my question about Matthew 5:17-19 is answered
by the knowledge that we
are living the reality of the meaning of the Holy Days and Sabbath by the indwelling
of God's Holy Spirit, and thus fulfilling the law in the
reality of the spirit, whether we ever physically observe
an Old Testament Holy Day or not!
Most new covenant Christians don't even understand
that. I fully expect
to see Beatrice Berry in the first resurrection to immortality
at the literal 2nd coming of Jesus Christ.
I'm not even sure of the Church denomination she was
a part of. Does it matter?
So what is the real
New Testament meaning that God is trying to convey to us through
these Holy Day shadows? Each
and every one of them is like a particular facet or side of
a precious diamond, and that diamond is Jesus Christ in us
through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit--Jesus Christ covering
our sins (Passover), Jesus Christ continually taking us out
of sin (Days of Unleavened Bread), Jesus Christ writing the
precious Law of God (read Matthew 5:17-48) in our hearts and
minds (Pentecost), Jesus Christ having his second coming in
us (Trumpets), Jesus Christ taking us out of Satan's influence
and into his glorious influence (Atonement), and the effect
of all of this takes us in advance, spiritually into his glorious
kingdom of light, the kingdom of God (the Feast of Tabernacles).
[Colossians 1:12-13]
Does
God require that we keep the physical shadows, as beautiful
as they are, if we chose not to, or if they are not a part
of our particular custom of worship?
No, not at all. The new covenant has no such requirement.
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