As has been stated several times, when christianity abolished the Father’s traditions, and replaced them with pagan counterfeits of them, it rendered itself just another false religion—a counterfeit of the true faith.
But, there is another important dynamic that evades the understanding of both christianity and the Hebrew Roots cult, and that is this: scripture presents physical foreshadows of future revealed spiritual real substances. Yah provides physical object lessons, or pictures, to help us understand things that are spiritual.
Now, when there is a physical and spiritual correlation, the actual truth is what is spiritual, not what is physical, as the physical is only a picture of the truth, not the truth itself. The spiritual is mirrored by the physical, but the image in the mirror is not the real substance.
Understanding what is physical and what is spiritual, then, is vital to understanding the whole of scripture (which is comprised of ONE VOLUME, not two). Things like the lambs that were slaughtered on Passover, or the Ark of Covenant, or the priesthood, or the temple—these are all physical foreshadows, which represent actual spiritual real substances later revealed.
Of course, most christians understand that the physical lamb foreshadowed the perfect Lamb of Yah who was sacrificed on Passover, but most want nothing to do with the Passover, and choose, rather, to celebrate a pagan fertility ritual that takes Messiah’s name in vain (attaches Him to what is false, worthless, and idolatrous).
Now, the Ark of the Covenant, the priesthood, and the temple are ALL physical foreshadows of the bride. The Ark of the Covenant was made of wood (corruptible), and covered with gold (divinity), and into it were placed Aaron’s budding rod (Yah’s power), some manna (Yah’s provision), and the ten commandments (Yah’s covenant). Above the Ark was the Mercy Seat, made of solid gold (divinity), which represents the union of the Bridegroom and the bride—ultimately, the New Jerusalem, which is also symbolized by the matza tash in the Passover Seder.
The priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) and the temple (1 Corinthians 6:19) are both shown in scripture to be foreshadows of the bride. Once the bride was revealed, the physical symbols of her were no longer necessary, but they still provide vast instruction for us, as there is usually far more detail given in the physical than in the spiritual. The physical is where we learn the details of the spiritual.
And, just like the priesthood and the temple, there was a group of people that Yah used as a picture of Messiah’s bride—they were the physical Jews. And, as a symbol, they were Yah’s chosen people, just as the physical temple was the “house of Yah.”
But, just like the temple, we are told that after the bride was revealed, Yah does not dwell in a physical temple any longer (Acts 7:48, 17:24), neither are the physical Jews (most of whom reject Messiah Yahoshua) Yah’s people (the real substance). They were merely a physical symbol of His Son’s bride.
The physical Jews receiving the physical covenant (ten commandments) on the Feast of Weeks is a physical foreshadow of Messiah’s bride (spiritual) receiving the spiritual covenant (Holy Spirit) on the Feast of Weeks (Acts 2). The physical Yahoshua (son of Nun) taking physical Y’isra-el to the physical promised land foreshadows Messiah Yahoshua taking His bride to her heavenly land.
The veil in the temple was torn in two (who wears a veil?), as the true bride would soon be revealed (Acts 2), and the clean vs. unclean laws (including the dietary restrictions), which separated the physical Jews and Gentiles, was the barrier between the two groups, and that barrier was broken down in Messiah (Ephesians 2:14-22).
There was no longer a distinction between the two groups (Galatians 3:28-29), and the real substance was revealed that the true Jews are a spiritual people, not a physical one (Romans 2:29), and they are the true Y’isra-el, who is Messiah’s bride (Romans 11).
Now, there are some false teachers out there (some of them are famous) who teach that Yah has two covenants—one for Gentiles, and one for physical Jews. The theological term for such teaching is this: GARBAGE!
There is ONE COVENANT, ONE BRIDE, ONE HOLY SPIRIT. And, those to whom that covenant is given are a spiritual people—it has NOTHING to do with physical race. Not understanding that has blinded many christians about who the true Jews are in Yah’s eyes, and who the true Y’isra-el is.
The physical Jews in physical Israel who reject Messiah Yahoshua are just as lost as folks in any other religion, be it islam, buddhism, hinduism, or christianity.
Yah’s people are those who have the Holy Spirit. Period. Those who have the Holy Spirit are Messiah’s, those who don’t aren’t (Romans 8:9).
However, there will be ONE EXCEPTION: during the tribulation, there will be 144,000 physical Jews who will be sealed by the Holy Spirit in the same manner that the bride was (the bride will no longer be on the earth); however, they are not the bride, but a specific group within the friends of the bride (who are the tribulation saints). They are the bridesmaids.
And, we see in the New Jerusalem (which is the bride), the spiritual real substance of the two physical groups being made one, for the 144,000 are the pillars within the temple (New Jerusalem), for, as the bridesmaids, they support the bride, and that is what the pillars do (Revelation 3:12).
Lacking the spiritual understanding to see these physical-to-spiritual correlations contributes to many of the false teachings in both the christian and Hebraic Roots cults.
For more information: Circumcision and Spiritual Reproduction