Bible Studies

FOLLOWING YAHWEH RIGHTLY 3

by Jeff Van Hatten
02/15/21
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Hebrews 10:38 – “The righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him.”
A shadow is caused by a light source shining upon a reality from behind that reality. The shadow points to the reality. If you take away the shadow, you are clueless about the reality that caused the shadow to appear.

The Older Covenant Shadows
Hebrews 8:4-5 – “There are priests . . . who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.”
The earthly Tabernacle was a shadow of the real Tabernacle in heaven. The law is a shadow of the good things to come. The bronze snake on the pole was a shadow of Yeshua nailed to a tree. Shadows of the real are found throughout scripture.

The Millennium Realities
Zechariah 14 – All of the people from all nations who survive the battle of Armagedon will gather each year to keep the Moed of Sukkoth (Tabernacles or Booths).
Isaiah 33 – Yeshua will be King, David will be Prince of Israel, and the Levitical priests will offer burnt offerings, burn grain offerings, and make sacrifices forever.
Scripture tells us that the Older Covenant style sacrifices and moedim will once again be observed during the millennial reign of Yeshua from Jerusalem after his second coming. The shadows of history become reality of the future.

The Newer Covenant Shadow
Colossians 2:16-17 –Eating, drinking, feast days, new moons, and Shabbat “are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Mashiach’s.”
Paul states that the feast days, new moons, and Shabbats are a shadow of the reality to come, cast by the light shining behind the real body of the Mashiach, who is Yeshua. For centuries the Jews have celebrated Yahweh’s moedim in anticipation of the real event. Four of those shadow events became reality when they were fulfilled in Yeshua’s first coming. The final three shadow events are yet to be fulfilled and become reality.

The Misinterpretation
Colossians 2:16-17 – “Let no man therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or Shabbat, which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Mashiach’s.”
Many have misinterpreted the Colossians 2:16-17 verse to mean that one should not judge another person for what kind of meat one eats, or for which day he worships or attends “church”. This interpretation cannot be farther from what Paul is actually saying.

In Galatians Paul admonishes the people not to go back under the rituals that had been fulfilled by Yeshua as a way to salvation, but to celebrate them in memory of what had already been accomplished (Galatians 3:1-5), nor to go back to observing weak and worthless elementals to be once again in bondage (Galatians 4:8-11). In Acts, Paul, after healing a crippled man in Lystra admonishes the people who wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas as the gods Jupiter and Mercury for the healings they had performed. Paul admonishes them not to do so and says why are you worshipping these pagan gods when the real the real GOD has already come. Don’t go back to stupid pagan methods – turn to the living god, Yeshua.

The verse above, Colossians 2:16-17, is yet another of Paul’s admonishments. This verse is not about Sunday worship, or Saturday worship. It is not about eating pork or eating chicken instead of beef. Paul was telling the Colossians not to pay attention to the pagans who were judging them for having begun celebrating the feasts of Yahweh. Paul admonished them not to worry about it but now that they had the real thing, now that they had accepted and begun to worship on Yahweh’s moedim, to continue no matter how much opposition they received. He says the same to us today.

So, when Constantine and the Nicene council took away the feasts and instituted new celebrations on what were previously pagan holidays, they went back to stupid, pagan methods and worship of false gods, and took the church along with them. Since then, the church has included these pagan rituals in their own services. In other words, now that you have been made aware of Yahweh’s feast days, do not go back to the lies of Satan.

Conclusions
2 Peter 2:20 – “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, but are entangled in it again and are overcome, their last state is worse than their first.”
Luke 9:62 – “No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
The admonition of Colossians 2:16-17 has nothing to do about worship days or what one eats. It is an admonition to leave behind the lies of Satan and to eliminate the pagan gods, practices, and festivals from one’s life. It is an admonition now that you have accepted and begun to worship on Yahweh’s moedim, to stay on Yahweh’s calendar and to remain on Yahweh’s calendar no matter how much opposition you receive. The moedim are shadows of the reality that is to come. Don’t return to false worship, false gods, false celebrations.