An important aspect of spiritual understanding versus human knowledge is the illumination the Holy Spirit provides to be able to see the correlation between what is a physical foreshadow, and what is the spiritual real substance that foreshadow represents. So much spiritual error comes from not seeing that the foreshadow is never the actual substance, but only an object lesson to aid in understanding something spiritual by seeing a physical representation of it.
Both christianity and the Hebrew Roots cult lack this understanding to one extent or another, and the HR cult is an open blindness to spiritual real substances, thinking that truth lies in the physical shadow rather than in the actual spiritual substance.
To delineate all the different “physical foreshadow to spiritual real substance” constructs in scripture would fill many volumes. The inability to see those correlations is one of the reasons so many christians see the Old Testament and New Testament as two different volumes, and why so many people think that the Old Testament presents nothing relevant today in terms of practical faith. Scripture is indeed ONE volume, and physical foreshadows are presented in the OT, while the real substances of those foreshadows are revealed in the NT.
One of the important physical foreshadows we see in the OT is the temple itself. The tabernacle, which later became the temple, is a picture of Messiah’s bride. When we see that, at Messiah’s crucifixion, the veil in the temple was torn in two, who wears a veil? The reason the veil on the physical temple was torn is that the real substance was going to be revealed, and that occurred on the Feast of Weeks, seven Sabbaths plus one day after the Passover crucifixion, which is what we see in Acts 2.
Now, most folks understand that the lambs that were sacrificed on Passover were merely a symbol of the perfect Lamb of Yah, whose sacrifice was the revealing of the real substance of Passover. It was a specific sacrifice that dealt with a specific issue—the redemption of Messiah Yahoshua’s bride Y’isra-el.
The fulfillment of the Passover sacrifice is what provided for the new covenant, which is the eternal seal of the Holy Spirit upon the bride, making her eternally righteous before the Father. Identifying with the singular Passover sacrifice is the necessary requisite to be able to receive the covenant, which is exactly what we are shown with the Israelites’ journey from Egypt to the mountain.
But, what about all the different animal sacrifices that took place at the temple (bride) on a daily basis? Many christians falsely believe that all animal sacrifices were symbolic of Messiah’s sacrifice, but that is not the case. We see many different animals required for various types of sacrifices. During the week of the Feast of Tabernacles (the final of the judgment feasts each Fall), there were 172 different animal sacrifices!
The sacrifice of animals is a sacrifice of flesh. And, the flesh that was sacrificed at the temple represents the sacrifices that the bride is told to perform on a daily basis. And, what sacrifices would those be? We see them in Galatians 5:19-21. “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these . . .”
These are the works of the flesh, and these fleshly deeds are what the bride is to crucify daily. The reason the Passover sacrifice is a very specific, singular one is that it represents a singular sin of the bride—the sin of unbelief, which is what condemns people to hell. To repent of unbelief is to believe, and that is what is necessary for the bride to be able to be born again (receive the covenant).
But, the daily animal sacrifices at the temple are varied and numerous, and it is because they represent the many different works of the flesh the bride is supposed to strive to sacrifice (to sacrifice the flesh is to deny the flesh what it lusts after). The flesh always works in concert with the world and the devil—they are a package deal.
Now, some folks believe that animal sacrifice at the temple was stopped simply because there is no longer a physical temple in Jerusalem, but that is error. In Hebrews 10, we see that the Holy Spirit declared the end of ALL animal sacrifice (because the Passover sacrifice is what provided for the revealing of the spiritual real substance of the temple, who is the bride). And, Hebrews 10 was written around 63-64 AD, which was 6-7 years prior to the destruction of the physical temple.
1 Corinthians 6:19 explains exactly who the physical temple foreshadowed: Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from Yah, and that you are not your own?
Who was required to abide by the animal sacrifice laws? Was it everyone, or was it just those who had the covenant (Y’isra-el)? Of course, it applied ONLY to those who had received the covenant. Physical Y’isra-el had the old covenant (Ten Commandment) and the written law (613 precepts), and true Y’isra-el (which is spiritual, not physical) is given the new covenant, which is the seal of the Holy Spirit.
Those who are sealed by the Spirit are also led by Him who is the fulfillment of the law placed within the bride. That is why those who are led by the Spirit are not under the [written] law (Galatians 5:18).
THIS IS IMPORTANT: This is the reason that a common mode of preaching in christianty completely misses the mark. When preachers rant about different sins of the flesh (drunkenness, sexual sins, coveting, lying, stealing, etc.) as things that need to be “forgiven” to receive salvation, they preach something that doesn’t even apply to those who do not have the covenant (who is the Holy Spirit).
Those who had the physical covenant were to abide by the laws of physical animal sacrifice. Those who have the spiritual covenant are to abide by the exhortations regarding spiritual sacrifice—the flesh and its deeds. To suggest that sacrificing the flesh is a means to salvation is a lie, for none of it applies to those who do not have the covenant. The sacrifice of the flesh by those who have been made righteous (have the Holy Spirit) is the basis for spiritual reward vs. lack of reward in eternity.
Sacrificing the flesh is a matter that applies ONLY to those who have the covenant. That is why Paul said that he preached Christ crucified (the Passover), because preaching things that apply only to those who have the covenant is preaching a false salvation by works. The matters dealing with practical faith that apply only to those in Yah’s family is a separate realm of teaching. Trying to convince the homosexual or the drunkard to stop those sins, apart from actually receiving the Holy Spirit, is false teaching, for the flesh is not the means to salvation.
To suggest that stopping certain sins of the flesh is required to receive salvation is a false salvation. Believe in Messiah Yahoshua and confess Him before others, then await the giving of the covenant. Once one receives the covenant, it then behooves him to live as an obedient child. The guidelines that one family maintains for practical living have no bearing on the lives of those outside that family. Yah’s instructions apply ONLY to those who are His people.
For more information: Circumcision and Spiritual Reproduction