However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 1 Corinthians 15:46
Throughout scripture, we are shown a series of physical representations of spiritual truths that are later revealed as what they actually are. Those representations are foreshadows, and they provide physical object lessons of spiritual things, making the spiritual real substances easier for the human mind to grasp.
That “physical foreshadow-to-spiritual real substance” construct is one of the reasons that many christians don’t understand that all of scripture is a single volume. The belief that many christians have about scripture perverts the Almighty into being schizophrenic, which is why, when christians are shown truths from the Holy Spirit revealing the details of spiritual real substances in their physical foreshadows, many christians make the illogical accusation that one is “old testament,” or “mixing old testament and new testament.”
Generally, the Old Testament presents physical foreshadows of spiritual real substances that are later revealed in the New Testament. Again, it is all one volume, inspired by one Holy Spirit.
Many christians, when shown the physical foreshadows as the object lessons they are, immediately retreat into their christian “safe space” of “We’re not under the law,” or “That’s old testament, so it doesn’t apply to us today.” Those who claim such things simply have no spiritual understanding, so they cannot see how the physical is a mirror of the spiritual, and the physical foreshadows are given to us for instruction into those spiritual things.
One of those foreshadows that Yah gave to His children is His system of Sabbaths (weekly and feasts), which comprise a single body of ordained memorials that not only all point directly to Messiah Yahoshua, they also reveal the Father’s prophetic calendar.
Not understanding who the true Jew is (Romans 2:29), many christians immediately dismiss those foreshadows as things that were meant only for the ancient physical Jews, when they are actually given to the true Jews, who are spiritual in nature, not physical. They are those who are sealed by the Holy Spirit, which is the new covenant of marriage (“ketubah”) given to Messiah’s bride on the Feast of Weeks (Acts 2).
Additionally, the physical foreshadows Yah gave us that detail the path to the bride’s salvation are typically rejected outright by christians, because their counterfeit version of salvation is not based on Yah’s path to salvation, but on man’s decision (“accepting Christ,” or some other unscriptural euphemism) and declaration of his own salvation, apart from any actual involvement of the Holy Spirit (which is not even possible).
Messiah’s bride, who are the true Jews, comprise the spiritual real substance of Y’isra-el, who are those who will eternally “rule as God,” which is what the name Y’isra-el means. Those who are Messiah’s bride (those who have the covenant—the seal of the Holy Spirit) will rule and reign in heaven because of her “one flesh” relationship with the Lamb, who is the King of heaven.
Not understanding what is physical foreshadow, what is spiritual real substance, and how they are correlated is a major factor in the spiritual blindness that pervades christianity. Unfortunately, when christianity was invented after all the New Testament apostles had died, and then codified by Constantine in the 4th century, many of those physical foreshadows that provide discernment in the Spirit’s truths were rejected, abandoned, and even outlawed.
Now, how is it that someone can both claim to know the Father, and also remain hostile to the things He calls His? How is it that someone can claim to follow Messiah, but also remain in enmity toward those foreshadows His Father gave that all point to His Son Yahoshua (Colossians 2:17)? And, how is it that someone can claim to have the Holy Spirit, having never being confirmed by Him personally, or believe in Him, but also reject the Holy Spirit’s truths, which stand in direct opposition to all of the false teachings in christianity?
The quick answer is . . . they can’t. And, that is the risk of peril that comes from embracing the counterfeit, while rejecting the real thing.
For more information: Circumcision and Spiritual Reproduction