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The Law of Moses Versus the Law of the Spirit – Part 15

We concluded our last study on the third phrase which was “that which is abolished”. We will continue our study today on Paul’s fourth phrase:

Phrase #4 – Blotting Out the Handwriting of Ordinances (Col 2:14)

Col 2:14  Blotting out [G1813: ‘exaleifo’] the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

The Greek word here is exaleifo – Strong’s #1813. This is the only place it appears in Paul’s writings. This Greek word does appear four more times elsewhere in the New Testament, however:

• Act 3:19 – “Repent…that your sins may be blotted out [G1813, ‘exaleifo’] when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
• Rev 3:5 – “He that overcometh…I will not blot out  [G1813, ‘exaleifo’] his name out of the book of life.”
• Rev 7:17 – “… And God shall wipe away  [G1813, ‘exaleifo’] all tears from their eyes.”
• Rev 21:4 – “And God shall wipe away  [G1813, ‘exaleifo’] all tears from their eyes.”

It is translated “blotted out” three times and “wipe away” twice. Once again the “handwriting of ordinances… written and engraven in stone” has the same fate as sin. Sin is destroyed (katargeo – Rom 6:6), and here the “handwriting of ordinances” is exaleifo – “blotted out [and] done away” (Col 2:14, 2Co 3:7).

We really need to know what the “handwriting of ordinances” is. The Greek word for “handwriting” is cheirographon – Strong’s G5498. It is a compound of G5495 cheir, the Greek word for hand and G1125 grapho, to grave or write. This just happens to be the exact description given of the Lord writing the two tables of the old covenant:

Deu 4:13  And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote [H3789: kathab, to engrave] them upon two tables of stone.

How were they “written” or “engraven”?

Exo 31:18  And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written [H3789: ‘kathab’] with the finger of God [“handwriting of ordinances” (Col 2:14)].

How about the word “ordinances”? The Greek here is dogma, Strong’s G1378. Strong defines it as “a law (civil; ceremonial or ecclesiastical) a decree, ordinance.”

The most prominent handwritten “dogma” in the history of mankind is the old covenant, ten commandments, written with the “finger of God.” Every commandment begins with “Thou shalt” or “thou shalt not”. That is about as ‘dogmatic’ as you can get.

We have demonstrated that the carnal mind can be subject to the law of Moses. After hearing Christ quote the ten commandments, the rich young ruler answers “all these have I kept from my youth up” (Mat 19:20).  Yet there was “one thing” he was lacking:

Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Luk 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

“Touching the righteousness which is in the law, [I was] blameless” declares Paul of himself before his conversion (Php 3:6).

Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Christ teaches us that righteousness which is in the law is yet “lacking”. Outward obedience to the ten “carnal commandments” does nothing to cleanse the inner man, any more than outward circumcision would give one a circumcised heart. “Cleanse first that which is within…” (Mat 23:26). This admonition can never be performed by obeying the ten commandments and the law of Moses.

How can we say this? There is no change of heart or spirit because the commandments which were written and engraven in stone are “carnal commandments” for “lawless” carnal men, and “the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawless and the disobedient…” (1Ti 1:9).

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Notice this very clear statement in:

Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. [The Words of a resurrected Christ]

In verse 11, Paul points out that the people “received the law” under the Levitical priesthood. He maintains that the priesthood now, under Christ, has reverted back to the priestly system in place before Levi or Aaron, a priesthood “after the order of Melichisedec.”

Heb 7:11  If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
Heb 7:12  For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

Why change the law? Here is why the law had to be changed:

Rom 7:5  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

“For by the law is the knowledge of sin… the law is not for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient” (1Ti 1:9).

Rom 3:20  Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is [simply] the knowledge of sin.

Both “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and “the law… the law of Moses” do nothing more than make us know and see that we are “exceeding sinful.”

Rom 7:13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

“By the commandment” certainly includes the ten commandments, which did nothing more than make sin “become exceeding sinful.” The ‘law’ and ‘the commandment’ do nothing to change the hearts and minds of men. All the law does is to serve as a mirror into which we can look and perceive just how filthy and unclean we are. No mirror yet has ever washed anyone clean as does the blood and doctrine of Christ:

Jas 1:23  Because if any man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this resembles a man observing his natural face in a mirror [The helpless, unmerciful and hopeless law of Moses].
Jas 1:24  For he observes himself, and goes away, and straightaway forgets what kind of man he was.

The reason we “forget what kind of man [we] are” is that we actually believe that being a good person according to the law makes us deserving of life eternal because “[our] righteousness which was in the law [made us] blameless”:

Php 3:4  Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Php 3:5  Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Paul reveals that the righteousness which is of the law is nothing more than self-righteouness:

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Paul contrasts “mine own righteousness which is of the law” with the righteousness which is of “the gift of the faith of Jesus Christ” and he tells us that “gift of faith” is not of himself:

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Paul teaches that ‘[our] own righteousness is of the law’ of Moses and is therefore nothing more than the filthy rags of self-righteousness.

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our [own] righteousnesses [of the law] are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

This is therefore his conclusion concerning the law of Moses:

1Ti 1:9  Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

We are told clearly “for the law made nothing perfect…” (Heb 7:19). “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: FOR BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN” (Rom 3:20).

This is the reason given for changing the law. This statement brings us to our fifth phrase.

Phrase #5- A “Carnal Commandment Has Been Disannulled”

Heb 7:16  Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Heb 7:17  For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:18  For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

Christ is made [a priest] not after the law of a CARNAL commandment, but after the power of an endless life” (vs 16). “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the WEAKNESS AND UNPROFITABLENESS thereof” (Heb 7:18)

This verse doesn’t say the law “was weak through the flesh”. “The weakness and unprofitableness thereof” is a verbal description of the subject preceding it which is…  “the commandment”. Which commandment?

Matthew 5 mentions only two of the ten commandments; the two against murder and adultery. How did Christ demonstrate their weakness? Christ chose these two commandments to demonstrate to us that outward obedience to any law does nothing for the inner man. What has a man gained if he abstains from murder and yet hates his brother?  He is still a murderer:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

What spiritual profit is it to abstain from adultery while lusting after a woman in our hearts?

Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

The law of Moses, all 613 laws, are so spiritually weak that it tells you to hate your enemy. It is so spiritually weak that it favors the concept of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Paul says “the law is good, if a man use it lawfully” (1Ti 1:8-9). How does one use the law lawfully? By “knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…”

Here is the only lawful use of the law of Moses:

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Many a sermon has been preached quoting “All thy commandments are righteousness” (Psa 119:172) and “sin is the transgression of the law” (1Jn 3:4) as if Christ had never said ‘But I say unto you… love your enemy’ contrary to the law of Moses; as if he never told a man to pick up his bed on the Sabbath, contrary to the law; as if his teachings on divorce and remarriage were not contrary to the law of Moses, which is so spiritually weak that it teaches us that if we find no pleasure in our wife, then just write her a bill of divorcement, and send her on her way:

Deu 21:14  And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.

Christ is our spotless and blameless Savior but not because he kept the law of Moses. If he had done so, he would not be spotless. You do “… by the letter…transgress the law [of the spirit of life” (Rom 8:1-2).

Rom 2:27  And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?

How can that be? How can one keep the letter and break the law? If you can’t answer that question, then Matthew 5 means nothing to you. The letter is the problem. The letter of the law of Moses is signified by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; “I had not known sin but by the law” (Rom 7:7). “… The law is NOT made for a righteous man but for the lawless and disobedient” (1Ti 1:9). “The letter killeth” (2Co 3:6). It was “the letter” that killed Christ, and by breaking the letter Christ kept His “law of love” (Rom 13:10).

Rom 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [keeping the law of Christ (1Jo 5:2-3)] is the fulfilling of the law.

Let us at this point give a couple of examples of how a person “by the letter…dost transgress the law” (Rom 2:27). These examples will also demonstrate the “weakness and unprofitableness thereof” (Heb 7:18).

We will examine the two most distinguishing parts of the old covenant in the days of Christ and Paul – Sabbath keeping and circumcision.

One could be a Gentile in those days and honor parents, abstain from murder, adultery, lying, stealing, etc. but if that person were not circumcised, he was still not distinguished as a keeper of the law. On the other hand, if a Jew simply kept the Sabbaths and practiced circumcision, in those days, one was definitely recognized as a “son of the covenant” whether he honored his parents or not. He could be like Jacob and lie, cheat, and steal, and he was still considered to be a son of the covenant with Abraham.

Outward Sabbath Keeping

How did Christ feel about the Sabbath? As demonstrated above, He broke the Sabbath regulations repeatedly, admitted it and defended it: “David…did…[that] which was not lawful…” and “the priests…profane the Sabbath, and are blameless” (Mat 12:4-5). That sounds like a confession to me.

Yet Christ called himself “the guiltless.” “If you had known what this meaneth I will have mercy [on those breaking the outward Sabbath] and not sacrifice; ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (Mat 12:7). What was Christ’s purpose in doing what He admits was “unlawful” and “profane”? His purpose was to “enter into [the real] rest”:

Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Physically resting has no more to do with ceasing from our own self-righteous works than the lamb slaughtered on the altar of the temple was the real sacrifice for sin. The real Sabbath has everything to do with ceasing from our works, not one day in seven, but twenty-four hours a day seven days a week! That attitude of “Not my will, but thine be done” is the true sabbath:

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Joh 5:17  But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

According to Strong, ‘hitherto’ (G2193: heos) is “a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance.” What Christ is telling the self-righteous Pharisees, and us, is that… “My Father is on the job seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and so am I.”

As mentioned earlier in this series of studies, creating this world had not tired our Creator. He simply ceased from working on His physical creation on the sixth day. The very fact that He ceased His work on the sixth day signifies that His work was not yet finished. It was not yet completed. Here is the link to the meaning of the number six:

Numbers – The Number Six

The Lord is in the process of completing His creation. The Hebrew is in the ‘Qal stem’ which tells us that a process is taking place, and the Lord has not yet completed the spiritual creature which will be in His image and likeness. The fact God hallowed the seventh day and made it holy makes it no more permanently holy than the holy ground in Arabia where Moses was told to take off his shoes. The only reason that ground was ‘holy’ was the fact that Moses was in the presence of Christ. The only thing making the seventh day Sabbath ‘holy’ was that Christ had commanded Moses to cease from work on that day. The seventh-day sabbath was given to ancient Israel as a type and shadow of Christ, “the Lord of the sabbath” (Mat 12:1-8).

“For we which have believed do enter into [Christ, our] rest…there remaineth therefore a Sabbath [Christ in us] to the people of God. [Because] he that is entered into his rest hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Heb 4:3, 9-10). This “ceasing from our own works” is the Sabbath that “remaineth”. Entering into Christ is not a one-in-seven Sabbath.

How does observance of the weekly Sabbath break the law of the new covenant? Keeping the weekly sabbath when Christ broke it (Joh 5:18) is clinging to a “carnal… ordinance” (outwardly entering into rest) imposed on them only until “the time of reformation” (Heb 9:10). When we observe a weekly sabbath, we are confessing that we are reserving six days of the week for our own works just as surely as the scribes and Pharisees were bearing witness against themselves by “garnishing the sepulchers of the righteous” whom their fathers had killed.

Mat 23:29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31  Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

Had Christ kept the seventh-day Sabbath, He would have been bearing witness against Himself that six days in seven He was doing His work, not the work of His Father.

The Law and circumcision are All or None at All

If Christ’s righteousness was in the law of Moses, then He would also have been required to keep the whole law.

Gal 3:10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Gal 5:3  For I testify again [Paul had been down this road before] to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

James agrees with Paul. After encouraging us to “fulfill the royal law [not torah] according to the scripture”, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”, he then makes the same point about the law that Paul makes. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all…So speak ye and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. [Because] he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment” (Jas 2:8, 10-13).

Jas 2:8  If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Jas 2:9  But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Jas 2:10  For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Jas 2:11  For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
Jas 2:12  So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
Jas 2:13  For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

This “law of liberty” of James 2:12 is the same “liberty” Paul speaks of in Galatians 5:1 and which Paul also calls “the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). Of this “law of libery” James goes on to tell us it is a law of mercy, and he tells us that the law he has in mind shows mercy, and “mercy rejoices against judgment”.

Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

There was no “mercy” in the law of Moses:

Heb 10:28  He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

Therefore, James and Paul are in complete accord with each other. We are indeed saved by chastening grace without our own self-righteous works of the law… because we are HIS workmanship, created unto good works which He hath before ordained that we should walk in them:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that [faith] not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our own] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. [“Faith without works is dead”]

Jas 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jas 2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Tit 2:11  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12  Teaching [G3811: Paideuo, chasten] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Grace… chastens us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and to live righteously…” Paul obviously agrees with James that “faith without works is dead”. When Paul says “Not of works”, his very next words demonstrate he is referring to works of our own:

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our own] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them [“Faith without works is dead”].

Jas 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Jas 2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Our works are not of ourselves. It is the Lord Himself who performs what He has “before ordained that we should walk in”:

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

Modern Theology

Those who think that the law of Moses is to be kept by all who are in Christ will tell you “the only thing nailed to the cross (besides an innocent man) was the animal sacrifices and the blood offering and the rituals surrounding them. All the other laws of God are still in effect today…” [Was Jesus a Racist? by Glen Myers]

While most professing Christians are not willing to go as far as Mr. Myers, saying “all the other laws are still in effect”, they do agree with him in varying degrees. Most professing Christians think more in line with Mr. Frank Brown quoted earlier in the studies. The common reasoning is that the ten commandments are not part of “the law of commandments contained in ordinances”, “abolished” in Ephesians 2:15, and “blotted out and nailed to his cross” in Colossians 2:14.

That the phrase “the law”, when standing alone, is always intended to include the ten commandments is demonstrated by the scriptures:

Gal 5:3  For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Gal 5:4  Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from [chastening] grace.

This means the whole law, not just the ten commandments. In other words, if one believes that Torah (the law) will help to save him, then he is required by Torah to keep it all: “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in ALL THINGS WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW to do them” (Gal 3:10 which quotes from Deuteronomy 27:26 and Jeremiah 11:3):

Deu 27:26  Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Gal 3:10  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

 The words “written and graven in stone” (2Co 3:7), the ten commandments, are in the “book of the law” in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. That “the book of the law” includes the ten commandments is unquestionable: “… I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet” (Rom 7:7).

“The law” is a single package. Any attempt to dissect or parse it so as to preserve some part of it will bring the curse of these verses down on those who do so. Our salvation is in ‘the faith of Jesus Christ’:

Rom 3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Gal 2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Circumcision

Why does Paul mention circumcision so often? If the whole law is meant by the phrase ‘the old covenant’, why does he make it so clear that circumcision is no longer required? Why, for example, did he not say “I testify again to every man that keeps the Sabbath that he is a debtor to keep the whole law”?

The answer is that the Sabbath, important as it was to the old covenant, was only a sign, a token (Hebrew – owth; Strong’s H226) of the covenant. “Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for a sign between me and you throughout your generations” (Exo 31:3).

Circumcision, on the other hand, is called “the covenant of circumcision.” “And he [God] gave him [Abraham] the covenant of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed to them also” (Rom 4:11).

Circumcision is the original sign of the old covenant and is used by Paul as a single word to express the thought of being a physical Israelite and considering that physical pedigree to be of some consequence to God: “And they of the circumcision which believe were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Act 10:45).

Act 10:45  And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

It’s obvious from this scripture that even Jews who believed in Christ at the time of Peter’s visit to Cornelius’s house still had quite a high degree of “confidence in the flesh”:

Php 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Php 3:4  Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

Luke’s use of the phrase “of the circumcision” encompassed both the “confidence in the flesh” and the confidence in “works of the law”; circumcision being “the sign” of the old covenant.

God’s “Tabernacle” and His “Rest” are the Same in Scripture

With this in mind, let’s continue the thought in Hebrews 9: “Carnal ordinance[s] [were] imposed on them [only] until the TIME OF REFORMATION. But Christ being come an high priest of GOOD THINGS TO COME by a GREATER AND MORE PERFECT TABERNACLE, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this [stone and mortar] building” (Heb 9:10 and 11). And what is that “greater and more perfect tabernacle? It just happens to be the same as His real rest:

Psa 132:13  For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
Psa 132:14  This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

 The Lord’s dwelling IS His rest, and our dwelling is our rest. “The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them… who have entered into His rest” (Rev 21:3). It is those who are “in Christ” who are the Zion of Psalm 132:13-14 and are also the “…bride adorned for her husband”, the “holy city New Jerusalem” of Revelation 21:2.

Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

Christ is our rest, and we in Christ are His rest: “On that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (Joh 14:20). If we are in Christ, then He is in us and we are all in God through Christ.

If we insist on observing the seventh day Sabbath and all the holy days, why are we not still offering sacrifices? If we don’t offer sacrifices because the type is fulfilled in Christ, why are we still observing all the other types which Christ has fulfilled? His own words are “it is finished” (Joh 19:30). “For we which have believed do enter into rest…” (Heb 4:3). Christ IS our Sabbath every day. Is he not also our Passover every day, living his life in us, is he not also our days of unleavened bread every day? Is he not the Spirit coming to us, our Pentecost, every day?

In Christ we “lift up our voice like a trumpet and show God’s people their transgressions” (Isa 58:1). Therefore Christ is our festival of trumpets every day.

Being “seated with him in heavenly places” (Eph 2:6) are we not at one with God? Is he not therefore our day of Atonement?

Knowing that we will reign with Him a thousand years, is He not our feast of Tabernacle?

Knowing that “as in Adam all die SO in Christ shall ALL be made alive” (1Co 15:22), is he not also our “last great day”?

Joh 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Yes, Christ is our last great day of the feast! All of the festivals God gave Israel were all a celebration of Christ and who He is. They were a celebration of Him fulfilling every “day, month, time, and year” mentioned in all the Old Testament festivals of ancient Israel.