Colossians 2:16-17 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Ezekiel 46:1,9 “Thus says the Lord GOD: The gate of the inner court that faces east shall be shut on the six working days, but on the Sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.
9 “When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed feasts, he who enters by the north gate to worship shall go out by the south gate, and he who enters by the south gate shall go out by the north gate: no one shall return by way of the gate by which he entered, but each shall go out straight ahead.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul reveals the prophetic nature of Shabbat and the Biblical Feasts as “shadows of things to come”, whose substance is the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). My study of the feasts therefore seeks to discover their relevance to the Lord, His identity, work, and purpose for my life in relationship to Him.
The prophet Ezekiel, in chapters 40-48, lays out a detailed pattern for a future Temple that is so large, encompassing territory so vast, that it’s physically impossible to fulfill in the current environment. This material is theologically challenging and many scholars have struggled to interpret and understand the implications of a “Millennial Temple”, sometimes, simply “spiritualizing” the nine chapters to refer to the “Church” in some allegorical way. Even the Talmudic Rabbis’ considered removing Ezekiel from the Tanach because of the complexities and variant worship described therein. We believe this temple is literal and will be fundamental to spiritual realities during the Millennial reign of Messiah.
But I discovered something relevant to Paul’s point in Colossians as I pondered the content of these chapters in Ezekiel. Ezekiel 46:1 specifies that the doors of the inner court are only opened on Shabbat, the New Moon, and the Feast Days. This Inner Court is the designated place where the King of Glory will sit on His throne. Typically, one must be summoned to see the King during the other six days of the week, but on these special days, everyone is granted the opportunity to have audience with Him.
The accessibility of the King on Shabbat, New moon, and feast days in Ezekiel’s temple points to the days which, though they are “shadows” according to Colossians, are an open invitation for audience with Yeshua. Why? Because they are days of rest from normal responsibilities of work, and because they also speak of different aspects of His nature and divine purposes.
And one more revelation from this chapter: verse 9 stipulates that when visiting the King of Glory, one who enters the North Gate must exit the South Gate, and one who enters the South Gate must exit the North Gate. No one must exit the same way he entered. What’s the point? Enter the presence of the King and you will be changed, you will leave different than you arrived. And it’ll be a “walk” a journey which will take you the whole way from one side of the inner court to the other.
Shabbat, and the Feast Days, are opportunities to transform your relationship with the Lord. Your audience with Him as our Sabbath rest, is wide open as you rest and celebrate His Presence. And the longer you dwell there, having once entered, be sure you will not leave through the same “gate”, but will find yourself “coming out the other side” a different person. That’s the real point and purpose of Shabbat!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]One of my favorite ministers of the Gospel is D.L. Moody. He tells a story about having heard Pastor Henry Varley once say that, “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”
The Lord is quoted in this scripture in Matthew and it contains an important principle which I think we sometimes tend to overlook. Many believe and even teach that if someone acquires much material prosperity, then God has surely given them favor, and that if someone is undergoing extreme trial, it must be because they have sinned or that they lack faith. But the Lord says that the sun rises and the rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous alike. A life of good circumstances does not necessarily mean that God is with us. And likewise, a life of trial and suffering does not mean that God is not with us!
The African Impala (an African antelope) are amazing creatures that can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance greater than 30 feet. Yet Impalas can be kept in a zoo inside an enclosure with a simple 3 foot wall. Why? Impalas will not jump if they can’t see where their feet will land. Do we have something in common with these antelopes? Able to take great leaps of faith, but refusing to do it unless we can see where we’ll land?
An aging king woke up one day to the realization that should he drop dead, there would be no male in the royal family to take his place. He was the last male in the royal family in a culture where only a male could succeed to the throne – and he was aging. He decided that if he could not give birth to a male, he would adopt a son who then could take his place but he insisted that such an adopted son must be extraordinary in every sense of the word. So he launched a competition in his kingdom, open to all boys, no matter what their background. Ten boys made it to the very top.
For centuries in Ethiopia, there have lived a people we now know as the Falashas. They kept all sorts of Biblical traditions and call themselves Beta Yisrael (House of Israel). As experts began to study the matter, it became clear that these were descendants of the Jewish people who came to Africa in ancient times and intermarried. Unbeknownst to many, a percentage of them became believers in Jesus over the years. Jesus (or Yeshua, as they called Him) became a part of their identity as Jewish people. Many Falashan Jews worshipped Jesus as their Messiah and continued to practice Jewish tradition.
So often in our walks with the Lord, we become focused on what we can see, what we can hear and what we can sense in the physical realm. Like that young man, we focus on the enemy’s attacks around and about us. At times we can get so focused on our physical circumstances that we forget that the Lord has already provided for us the victory!
Why is it that some believers seem to go much deeper in their walk with God than others? I believe it has to do with a desire to pursue God and not to stop until they feel His very presence in their lives. These believers decide not to settle for anything less than a growing, vibrant relationship with God, and God honors that desire for those who seek it.