glory to GOD FOR TRUTH Amen ! BY GOD I have pointed out that God knows the need of the whole man, not only did He provide for the inner man, the spirit and soul realms, But He also gave His people a day of physical rest. But we praise God for that quickening of the Spirit which enlightens our minds and hearts to the knowledge that not only is there a LAW AND ORDER for the body realm, but there is that higher and more glorious LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS. All the natural laws find their fulfillment in Christ, in the law of the Spirit of life. IN HIM we find the fulfillment of the seventh day Sabbath, for HE IS BECOMING OUR REST, body, soul, and spirit. The seventh day is far more than a period of time; the seventh day is the whole REALM OF GODS REST, and that rest is found in Christ. Just as surely as Christ is our salvation, our sacrifice, our passover, our high priest, our peace, our wisdom, our righteousness, our anointing, and our life, so also is Christ our Sabbath. Is not this the plain and forceful teaching of Paul in his letter to the Colossian saints? Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: WHICH ARE A SHADOW of things to come; but the body is of Christ (Col. 2:16-17). All the things contained in the law, good and wondrous as they are, are only SHADOWS of things to come. A shadow falling upon the ground tells us that there is a body nearby, and if you will lift your eyes away from the dusky shadow on the surface of the ground, you will see the body that made the shadow. You will behold the reality rather than the reflection. All earthly things are but the shadow of heavenly things, and all physical things are the shadow cast by higher realities in the realm of the Spirit. Therefore Paul says, The body is of Christ. The Amplified Bible reads: Such things are only the shadow of things that are to come...but the reality - the SUBSTANCE, the SOLID FACT of what is foreshadowed, the body of it - belongs to Christ. If I see the shadowy image of a snarling bulldog on the ground beside me, then I can be assured there is a SUBSTANCE, a REALITY behind the shadow - and I had better move quickly! The dog is the substance, the body of the shadow. So is Christ the substance of the law. Meats and drinks and holydays and sabbaths are but shadows, lying darkly upon the surface of the ground (the earth realm), but look a little farther and you will behold the reality - CHRIST OUR SABBATH IN WHOM WE FIND GLORIOUS REST! That there is physical blessing in keeping physical laws, that there is God-ordained bodily profit in keeping even the seventh day Sabbath for the body is evident, for, if there was no value nor benefit to the physical man in meats and drinks and Sabbath days, these could not then stand as the shadow of the reality in Christ. But let us never settle for the mere shadow when God is also offering us the substance!
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 14:18:11 +0000
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