Time Keeper
Today, I wanted to jump in and provide a quick reflection on something that I am continually reminded about in God’s Word.
“Time is pointing to Jesus.”
This simple truth is remarkable and something that theologians, physicists and many others have examined over the years. Nevertheless, I want to take you into something that I learned a while ago, but has always struck me as something being missed by the Church in general. The feasts of the Lord are time stamps of the actions of Jesus Christ. When I was younger, I heard people claim that when Jesus said in John 19:30, “It is finished!” that the law was done away with. Even in my younger years of Christianity used this to argue against the Seventh Day Adventist and other heretical cults who believed we needed to follow the Levitical Law. Yet, in my studies, I found something rather remarkable: the feasts of the Lord are not done! Examine Colossians 2:16-17 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” When you read Colossians, you will quickly come to realize that Paul is making perfectly clear that during the Church age, the Levitical laws discussed in Leviticus chapter 23 and other places are something pointing to Christ that the Jews were supposed to observe.
However, in the Church age, Paul clearly defines that the mystery of the Gentile is that they are adopted into the faith and yet are excluded from having to observe such requirements. Now, do Jewish believers in the Messiah today have to? No! See Colossians 3:10-11“and have put on the new [man] who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave [nor] free, but Christ [is] all and in all.” The entire book of Hebrews was written to the Jewish believers in the Messiah who were tempted to go back to the traditions of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus publicly warned the Jewish people that a coming judgment was to come upon the temple in chapter 21 of Luke.
Now, why am I bringing all this up? If the Church is defined by the love we have from the Lord and us being unified in Christ, see John 17:25-26, and John 13:33-35, we know that we are neither Jew nor Gentile. So what does this have to do with “Time is pointing to Jesus”? We are not to practice the law, but we are to study it! See what Jesus said to the Pharisees in John 5:45-47 “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is [one] who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust. 46 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. 47 “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” Jesus is pointing us to study the Old Testament and see what it said about Him. When you study the four Gospels, you will see that Jesus fulfills the first four spring feasts to the letter! Now there are three fall feasts that He must fulfill. We need to study these coming events so that we can better understand what Christ will do. Paul confirms this theory in Colossians 2:17 “which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Christ is the substance and the things to come. Don’t take my word for it, Hebrew language and Dead Sea Scroll Scholar Dr. Ken Johnson details the Hebrew word used to describe these events written in scripture, “The Hebrew word "‘Moedim’ (Strong’s H4150) refers to one of the festivals that God instituted for the nation of Israel: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, New Wine, New Oil, Trumpets, Atonement, and Tavernacles. The rituals performed on each of these festivals teach prophecy.” (1) Jesus is the time keeper; we should be good students and recognize the actions taken by Christ so as to properly learn more about Him. This is difficult for the Church, which has grown accustomed to almost 2,000 years of gentile thinking, but it is time we go back to the Word of God, recognize we are not Jews, but study the Word for what it is. The Bible is written by Jews, from a Jewish Messiah.
Stay the course for the Kingdom,
Austin
1) Paul’s Ancient Hebrew Thessalonians Epistles Proof of a Pre-Trib Rapture Interlinear Included by Ken Johnson, Th.D.