It's becoming popular amongst some Christians these days to observe Jewish sabbaths, feast days and food laws - even circumcision.
Is that really what God requires? Does God really expect Gentile believers to do precisely that? Does He even expect Jews to do all that?
First of all, it's nice that people are showing an interest in the symbolism contained in some of the Old Testament Scriptures.
And it's nice that believers are willing to relate to unsaved Jews in order to win them.
A believer who considers special dates and diets to be important, and a Christian who doesn't, are both seeking to honour the Lord in their conscience. So it's not something we need to make a divisive issue out of.
Even if a whole new church or denomination is formed around how a group of Christians feels about such matters, we can still have the attitude of 'live and let live' - and make unity our higher objective.
But is it Gospel? Is it New Testament? Does God really expect all that.
The answer, in my opinion, is No - God doesn't expect us to observe all those things. Not even Jews. Not even Israel.
It's impossible for anyone to keep all those requirements today in the manner that the Law demanded.
In fact, it wouldn't comply with Moses' Law to even try.
The Passover
Consider the requirements for the Feast of the Passover, for example:
Moses stipulated that the Feast of Passover had to be kept in the Spring in the month of Nisan. It's never Spring during the month of Nisan in the southern hemisphere. So that limited the observance of the Passover to the northern hemisphere alone. Aussies, take a break.
Then Moses stipulated that it had to be observed exclusively in Jerusalem. So that ruled-out any other city in the entire northern hemisphere. Only Jerusalem. Every other city in the northern hemisphere, bow out.
It had to include an animal blood sacrifice. And not just anywhere - but offered exclusively on the altar in the tabernacle or Temple. So that narrowed down the location in the city of Jerusalem even further.
Then it was required that a Levite priest had to be in attendance. If a priest couldn't prove his descent from Levi by written genealogy, he wasn't allowed to officiate at the altar.
Plus Jews with certain physical conditions, and certain races such as Canaanites, were point blank forbidden from participating - ever.
Problem: some of you who are reading this live in the southern hemisphere where it's never going to be Spring during the month Nisan;
and even if you were to travel to the northern hemisphere to Jerusalem, the altar and Temple don't exist there anymore;
plus the Levite genealogies were lost long ago - therefore a priesthood cannot legitimately function today -
and some people reading this may even have one or more of the physical conditions which would have excluded them from participating in the first place;
not to mention that the New Testament has made animal sacrifices completely irrelevant.
Yet Moses stated that failure to comply with any of the above details - keeping the Feast in any other way and in any other place - would mean that a person would be cut off from Israel forever. Neither a jot nor a tittle could be diminished nor added.
So where does that leave us? Thankfully the Gospel, which revealed God's plan to save everyone freely by God's love in Jesus without needing to keep the Law, was introduced before it became impossible to comply with all those requirements, when the Temple was destroyed (in AD70).
But for first-century Jews who didn't believe in Jesus, the loss of their genealogies, priesthood, altar, and Temple when the armies of Titus destroyed the city of Jerusalem and deported Jews all over the empire, left them in a real conundrum.
It meant that it was no longer possible for them to keep the Feast of Passover without actually breaking the requirements of Moses' Law in the very process. They hadn't accepted the New Covenant, yet the Old Covenant had become impossible to comply with.
In order to fill that void, various Jewish leaders began authorising various new ways of keeping the Feast of the Passover, replacing Moses' requirements. What they created were branches of a new religion which still influence Israeli culture today. And many Christians are desiring to join in. But let no-one kid himself - no meal today can strictly speaking be called the Feast of Passover in terms of Moses' Law.
And there are many other things in the Law besides the Passover which similarly can't be kept today - neither by Christians nor by Jews in Israel.
What is God's Plan?
So let's have a look at God's plan as He began to reveal it from the beginning.
God gave a promise to Abraham that in his seed (not 'seeds' plural, but 'seed' singular, which is Christ) ALL NATIONS of the earth would be blessed (forgiven, saved). From the beginning it was always God's plan to save all nations through Jesus.
The nation of Israel came into existence only after the above promise was already spoken. Ethnic Jews became the original custodians of the promise.
While they waited, the Law of Moses was inserted as an interim thing for them. It was never intended for Gentiles; never intended for the southern hemisphere (where the Passover month of Nisan never fell in the Spring); and the Law - as a package deal - was never intended to be something permanent.
When the time of the promise arrived, Christ came to do two things:
First, He came to call sinning, lost Israelites back into qualifying to experience the fulfilment of the promise; and
Secondly, He came to set in place the fulfilment of the promise for the whole world,through His death and resurrection.
He set in place everything that was promised to Abraham, and everything that was later symbolised by Moses' temporary system of Law, and everything that was foreseen by the Prophets.
As the Gospel spread, Gentiles as well as Jews began enjoying the fulfilment of God's plan as it had been promised to Abraham. Abraham himself had foreseen this day and rejoiced!
For some time after the Gospel began to be announced, many Jewish believers in the Seed of Abraham (Jesus Christ) continued observing Jewish feast days, especially the believers in Jerusalem. Then without authorisation from the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem, some of those who had come to Christ from a Pharisee background began demanding that Gentile believers observe certain Jewish traditions. The Apostles and Elders responded by categorically refusing to demand that Gentile believers observe any such traditions. Quite the opposite. Paul taught that observing such traditions was already no longer necessary from God's point of view, and was about to be practically phased-out even for Jews. That came true when it forever became impossible to comply with the requirements of Moses' Law after the Temple was destroyed (in approximately AD70). It became clear that there was neither Jew nor Gentile in Christ Jesus. God had made one new identity. The Church. The Body of Christ.
Ethnic Jews are loved dearly because of the forefathers. And like every distinct ethnicity, they have the right to a homeland. But being ethnically Jewish or Gentile is no longer of any spiritual and eternal consequence.
All of us today whether Jew or Gentile are free from the Law; free from its requirements - including its special dates and food laws. Unlike the Feast of Passover, no-one is forbidden from participating in the love of God as revealed in the Gospel.
We all can experience the fulfilment of the promise which was originally given to Abraham - the promise which included all nations before the nation of Israel was ever formed, and before the Law which excluded the Gentiles was ever given.
An Ordinance 'Forever'
I think some people get hung up over the fact that Moses had said the Passover was to be an ordinance in Israel 'forever.' That simply meant, For as long as the [Old] Covenant still stood.
The Levitical priesthood was also said to be 'forever'. Paul said it was annulled.
Animal blood sacrifices were also said to be 'forever'. None of us doubt that's ended.
Many other details of the Law were said to be 'forever' - things which the New Testament states are no longer valid.
Since we concede that 'forever' doesn't mean literally forever for all those things, it's inconsistent to say that 'forever' literally means forever only for the Passover!
The Law itself included its own sunset clause. When the Law stated that a New Covenant was coming, it follows that the Old Covenant would pass. You can't have two covenants covering the same thing at the same time.
When the Law (in the Book of Genesis) stated that the promise was to bless all nations, it follows that Moses' Law, which came later and which excluded the Gentile nations, would have to be put aside before the promise given earlier could possibly be fulfilled.
So when it mentioned keeping the Passover with all its requirements 'forever', it just meant, For as long as that [Old] Covenant still stood.
The Gospel of the Grace of God
We are blessed (justified) in Him (Jesus), the promised Seed of Abraham - the only begotten Son of God!
The Gospel fulfils an original promise of God spoken to Abraham.
Justified freely (without the works of the Law) by the grace of God through faith that is in Christ Jesus.
This is the Gospel (the good news) of the love of God in Christ Jesus! The Apostles' doctrine.
This is the message of the New Testament.
You need not feel any additional obligation.
Be secure in that.
Enjoy it.
Live it.
Go - preach it!
Jesus is everything.
This is the message that saves hearts.
This is the message which the Holy Spirit confirms with signs following.
Finally
Once again - when you meet another person with a different conscience about calendar dates and diets - we can all determine not to be needlessly offensive to the others' conscience. It's still okay to be all things to all men in order to save some. Treating each others' conscience with love fulfils the ethics of the Law.
Live and let live. It's no biggie!
No comments:
Post a Comment