The ceremonies and rites of the Old Covenant were fulfilled and perfected by Christ in the New Covenant. The split within Judaism was forseen in the OT.


In order to better understand Christ and His fulfilling the OLd Covenant as Moses promised He would in Deut. 18:15, let's understand the historical parable of the Good Shepherd as it relates first to Zecharias 11: 4-17 and then to Christ.

Zacharais' experience as a shepherd became a living parable of the Christ, the Messias.

As a true and compassionate shepherd, Zacharais replaces a group of evil shepherds who are the crux of the problem not the sheep. (Christ also had harsh words for the chief priests and scribes.) 11:7, Zacharias cares for his sheep. (Here we see the love of Christ for His sheep. THis love was the motivating factor for His Passion, as Christ too was doomed to be slain by His intense love.)

But people aren't satisfied with Zacharias as the shepherd and so he is bought off with 30 shekels of silver v. 12-13. (this is the connection with the betrayal of Christ by Judas for 30 peices of silver.)

V. 10, Zecharias breaks his 2 staffs, "grace" and "union" annulling the covenant which I made with the peoples. THis symbolizes the covenant between God and Judah. During Daniel's 70th week, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, the OLd Covenant Temple sacrifices were annulled for good, biblical Judaism was no more and a New, Everlasting Covenant with New Jerusalem was established.

V. 14, Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel." Judah was the believing remnant of the holy bloodline of Israel, Israel was the unbelieving majority. This symbolizes the breaking of any tie of unity between the believing and unbelieving remnant of God's people. No longer would God concern Himself with a holy bloodline. The New Covenant will be primarily spiritual rather than physical as it was with the OLd. As Christ stated from this point on, His family will be those who hear Him and keep His commandments.


Zach. 12-14 tells of Daniel's 70th week, on Aug. 10, 70AD, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Also, in Malachais we read, "I (God) will put you (the Levitical Priesthood) out of my presence...You have corrupted the covenant of Levi...The LOrd whom you seek will suddenly come to His Temple..Then I will draw near to you for judgment...Then those who feared the LOrd..I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him (we know that not a single Christian died when Jerusalem fell..they had already fled to the mountains)...Behold the day comes when all the arragant and evil doers will be stubble."

To sum up Zacharias is clear that the Good SHepherd will annul the OLd Covenant with Israel and break the staffs, "Grace" and "Union".
Zech. Ch. 12 concentrates on the New Covenant made with New Jerusalem otherwise known as the "strong" convenant of Daniel's 70 weeks. The Chruch as the New Jerusalem comes into focus only after Zacharias envisions the Good Shepherd breaking the 2 staffs, Grace and Union.

So here it clearly shows that Zecharais predicted that the Good SHepherd would annul the Old Covenant during His first Advent. This annulling is linked with the death of the Shepherd sold for 30 pieces of silver.

There is no where in Scripture that tells us that God will reinstate the Old Covenant along with its ceremonial blood sacrifices.




The instutution of Sunday for "holy convocation" in the New Jerusalem is foretold in Zacharais 14: 16-19. The worship of the New Jerusalem will center on "the feast of booths". This is the only festival mentioned during the "day of the Lord". ONe unique feature of this feast was the holy day it observed. Normally the OT Jews kept the 7th day of the week, Saturday as the Sabbath. But the day of rest during the feast of booths was the first day of the week, Sunday. Lev. 23: 33-36. This is amazing truth hidden in Zacharias that helps us understand why the Chruch worships on Sunday, the first day of the week. We understand this becasue it's the day Christ rose from the dead, and the Chruch was born on Pentecost.

And consider this---the feast of booths commemorated the exodus of God's people from the slavery of Egypt. And this same theme had already appeared in Zech. 10:11. The APocalypse expands upon the connection between the Old COvenant exodus celebrated in the festival of booths and the New Covenant exodus from spiritual Egypt in 70AD.

Ezekiel 44:1 Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looketh toward the east; and it was shut.

2 And Yahweh said unto me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel, hath entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.

3 As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before Yahweh; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

4 Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and, behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh: and I fell upon my face.

5 And Yahweh said unto me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of Yahweh, and all the torah thereof; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every egress of the sanctuary.

6 And thou shalt say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus saith the Adonay Yahweh: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,

7 in that ye have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add unto all your abominations.

8 And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things; but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.

9 Thus saith the Adonay Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners that are among the children of Israel.

10 But the Levites that went far from me, when Israel went astray, that went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister unto them.

12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and became a stumblingblock of iniquity unto the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, saith the Adonay Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity.

13 And they shall not come near unto me, to execute the office of priest unto me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, unto the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.

14 Yet will I make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service thereof, and for all that shall be done therein.

15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me; and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Adonay Yahweh:

16 they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.

17 And it shall be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.

18 They shall have linen tires upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat.

19 And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments wherein they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, that they sanctify not the people with their garments.

20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.

21 Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her that is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow that is the widow of a priest.

23 And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

24 And in a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to mine ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my torah and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

25 And they shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister that hath had no husband, they may defile themselves.

26 And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon unto him seven days.

27 And in the day that he goeth into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin-offering, saith the Adonay Yahweh.

28 And they shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and ye shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

29 They shall eat the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

30 And the first of all the first-fruits of every thing, and every oblation of everything, of all your oblations, shall be for the priest: ye shall also give unto the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thy house.

31 The priests shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or beast.

Ezekiel Chapter 45
1 Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto Yahweh, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand reeds, and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the border thereof round about.

2 Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred in length by five hundred in breadth, square round about; and fifty cubits for the suburbs thereof round about.

3 And of this measure shalt thou measure a length of five and twenty thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy.

4 It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, that come near to minister unto Yahweh; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.

5 And five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth, shall be unto the Levites, the ministers of the house, for a possession unto themselves, for twenty chambers.

6 And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, side by side with the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

7 And whatsoever is for the prince shall be on the one side and on the other side of the holy oblation and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy oblation and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward; and in length answerable unto one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border.

8 In the land it shall be to him for a possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9 Thus saith the Adonay Yahweh: Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; take away your exactions from my people, saith the Adonay Yahweh.

10 Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.

11 The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the ephah the tenth part of a homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.

12 And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.

13 This is the oblation that ye shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley;

14 and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a homer;)

15 and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel; -for a meal-offering, and for a burnt-offering, and for peace-offerings, to make atonement for them, saith the Adonay Yahweh.

16 All the people of the land shall give unto this oblation for the prince in Israel.

17 And it shall be the prince's part to give the burnt-offerings, and the meal-offerings, and the drink-offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin-offering, and the meal-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.

18 Thus saith the Adonay Yahweh: In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish; and thou shalt cleanse the sanctuary.

19 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering, and put it upon the door-posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court.

20 And so thou shalt do on the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye make atonement for the house.

21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

22 And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin-offering.

23 And the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt-offering to Yahweh, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a he-goat daily for a sin-offering.

24 And he shall prepare a meal-offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

25 In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, shall he do the like the seven days; according to the sin-offering, according to the burnt-offering, and according to the meal-offering, and according to the oil.

Ezekiel Chapter 46
1 Thus saith the Adonay Yahweh: The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

2 And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate without, and shall stand by the post of the gate; and the priests shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate: then he shall go forth; but the gate shall not be shut until the evening.

3 And the people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Yahweh on the sabbaths and on the new moons.

4 And the burnt-offering that the prince shall offer unto Yahweh shall be on the sabbath day six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish;

5 and the meal-offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal-offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

6 And on the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish:

7 and he shall prepare a meal-offering, an ephah for the bullock, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

8 And when the prince shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go forth by the way thereof.

9 But when the people of the land shall come before Yahweh in the appointed feasts, he that entereth by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth straight before him.

10 And the prince, when they go in, shall go in in the midst of them; and when they go forth, they shall go forth together.

11 And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meal-offering shall be an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

12 And when the prince shall prepare a freewill-offering, a burnt-offering or peace-offerings as a freewill-offering unto Yahweh, one shall open for him the gate that looketh toward the east; and he shall prepare his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings, as he doth on the sabbath day: then he shall go forth; and after his going forth one shall shut the gate.

13 And thou shalt prepare a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt-offering unto Yahweh daily: morning by morning shalt thou prepare it.

14 And thou shalt prepare a meal-offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour; a meal-offering unto Yahweh continually by a perpetual ordinance.

15 Thus shall they prepare the lamb, and the meal-offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt-offering.

16 Thus saith the Adonay Yahweh: If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, it is his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance.

17 But if he give of his inheritance a gift to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince; but as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons.

18 Moreover the prince shall not take of the people's inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession; he shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people be not scattered every man from his possession.

19 Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which looked toward the north: and, behold, there was a place on the hinder part westward.

20 And he said unto me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass-offering and the sin-offering, and where they shall bake the meal-offering; that they bring them not forth into the outer court, to sanctify the people.

21 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.

22 In the four corners of the court there were courts inclosed, forty cubits long and thirty broad: these four in the corners were of one measure.

23 And there was a wall round about in them, round about the four, and boiling-places were made under the walls round about.

24 Then said he unto me, These are the boiling-houses, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.

This is millinum prophecy,in the Millinium the Levite priesthood will be restored.
Pastor Terry

I am hanging onto the text in Acts 15 'trying' to point out that your scriptural reference (Romans 14, Eph 2, etc) conclusions are NOT consistent with the context that is written.

I'm not clear what your point or question is here.

I'll agree with the writers having the same mindset but I was referring to YOU.

You are trying to interpret the scriptures from your Gentile mindset not the Hebrew mindset by which the scriptures were written.

From what I see of your postings I can see you are creeping closer since you previously said the fall feasts are still in order and you've been studying about Passover and the spring feasts. I would encourage you to continue to study Torah (ie the covenants) and gain in your understanding of scriptures.

If you could provide a link that would be greatly appreciated!

I know much about Hebrew history and of course the Hebrew scriptures. My Jewish reference books are written by Jews and I've studied the scriptures and the Jewish faith for many, many years. Lately the papers are filled with the Hanukkah observance and I read it all. I love to read about the Macabbees and how they took it all the way defeating Antiochus and his Syrian army and restoring the temple as it should be after it was desecrated. I know how this was referenced by Daniel way before it happened and I find it all amazing.

I don't try to look at scripture from a Jewish or Gentile mindset but try to look at it from God's mindset. What is God trying to tell us? How does this fit with his overall plan?

Creeping closer? To what? My study of the Jewish Feasts took well over a year and I'm finished (for the most part) in my study of these seven feasts and found them absolutely fascinating. It brought both old and new testaments together in a way I never knew existed.

I will study until the Lord calls me home. I don't study to just get knowledge tho but it's the relationship in knowing him deeper and stronger that draws me. I study to learn more about God and to help others in their understanding as well. It's a lifetime of work which will never be finished in one lifetime.



I'll try but most of my studies come from my reference books and of course scripture fitting it all together. When I can sit down and write down all my notes I'll blog about it on my site...it's sure to be kind of long.

If the feasts brought the Old and New together for you wait till you study the covenants.

I strongly suspect that studying the feasts changed your theology at least in part. Unlike most Christians they disregard all of Torah as being obsolete. You may not see yourself creeping closer but if you keep seeking you shall find.

KFC, have you had the opportunity in attending one of the feasts?



I don't expect you to understand what I am saying here. It was quite foreign to me several years back. The truth is our society is so HEAVILY influenced by the Greek most don't even realize it.

l wouldn't exactly say they brought it together for me from out of nowhwere but that it really enhanced my belief that the two parts of our bible are not at all separate but all one complimenting each other quite nicely.



I can't say my theology changed really but it certainly was enhanced, that's for sure. It brought excitement to see how it all fit together, sort of like finding treasure.

I certainly don't disregard the Torah, it's like disregarding the beginning of a movie. You can't understand the movie fully if you don't pay attention to the beginning. The beginning is very instrumental to the ending. It sets the stage so you can more fully understand the ending.



Only the Passover a few times. Do they still celebrate to the full in the states the other full feasts anymore? I have heard the joyful Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is the most mentioned feast in the bible, is still done in individual homes in NY area with the huge Jewish population. I've never had occasion to witness this myself.

Have you ever heard of Tisha B'AV? Fast of the 5th month? This day commemorates the two most tragic days in Israel's history. This was the day that both temples were destroyed and it's a time of mourning. I studied that as well with the feasts. Do you observe that?



I understand more than you think. I may not agree with you on this aspect tho. I get what you're saying, just not where you're at. I think there are two things going on here. There's the Jews POV and there's the Gentile POV and they both are parallel and one day, when Christ comes back we will meet at HIS feet as one.

AD POSTS:

Absolutely, this is what I'm thinking too.

KFC POSTS:

It seems to me that since the theology of covenants is integral to Christian identity as given by the Old and New Testaments, they should definitely be taken into consideration in understanding these various subjects that have been on the discussion table, eg Hebrew feasts, the Torah, as well as the New Testament perfecting the Old.

The following on the Covenants is reprint from Ignatious Press from the writings of a Catholic theologian, Mr. Stephen Pimentel. I'm wondering on how much we can agree?

In the biblical conception, a covenant is not a contract or mutual agreement between God and man, but an unsought gift of God to man. The covenant then is not a pact built on reciprocity, but rather a gift, a creative act of God's love. In their concrete historical realizations, the covenants of God take multiple forms. St. Paul uses "covenants" in the plural to describe God's dealings with Israel Rom. 9:4. The Old Testament distinguishes the Noahite, Abrahamic, Mosaic and Davidic covenants.

For St.Paul, the most important of these covenants are the Abrahamic and the Mosaic, which relate to the New Covenant in different ways. While all the covenants enter into human history, the Abrahamic and new covenants share in a divinely guaranteed permanence, in contrast to the "transitory" and "provisional" nature of the Mosaic covenant. Whereas the Abrahamic covenant is "fundamental and enduring," the Mosaic covenant is "intervening" Rom. 5:20. The Mosaic Law was a form of divine pedagogy designed to "fall away once the pedagogical goal has been achieved, and the goal of the Law is none other than Christ Himself Rom. 10:4. Therefore, the Mosaic covenant is a transitory "stage in the decrees of God, which has its own time. All this St. Paul has brought out clearly, and no Christian can revoke it.

The New Covenant-----

The establishment of the New Covenant is described by the words of institution spoken by Christ over the cup during the Last Supper. In the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Matthew, Christ says, "This is my blood of the covenant", which echoes the institution of the Mosaic covenant in Exodus 24:8. A covenantal ritual of this kind establishes a blood-union or kinship between its participants. Through the covenant, God establishes a "mysterious consanguinity" between himself and man.

By declaring the cup to be the "blood of the covenant," Christ is stating that His Blood, poured out in His Passion and made really present in the Eucharist, will reestablish the bond of kinship between God and man. In this way, "the words of Sinai are intensified to an overwhelming realism." The Last Supper was fundamentally the sealing of the covenant, and to Catholics, the Eucharist is now an ongoing reenactment of this covenant renewal. The Letter to the Hebrews describes the institution of the Eucharist, in which the blood of Jesus is really offered to the Father, as "a cosmic Day of Atonement" Heb. 9:11-14, 24-26. In sacramental communion, the disciple is united both physically and spiritually with Christ 1 Cor. 6:16.


The broken covenant --------

St.Paul and St.Luke give a somewhat different version of the words that Christ spoke over the cup. Instead of the "blood of the covenant," the cup is described as the "new covenant in my blood" (1 Cor. 11:25). This passage alludes to Jeremias's prophecy of the New Covenant Jer. 31:31-34. In this prophecy, the New Covenant, never to be broken, is expressly contrasted with the Mosaic "covenant they have broken" Jer. 31:32. The history of Israel repeatedly appears in the Old Testament as a history of the broken covenant. In contrast, the covenant with the patriarchs is considered eternally valid. It is the Mosaic Law that renders the covenant conditional and subject to being broken. Moreover, the tablets of the Law, which symbolized the Mosaic covenant, have been "lost forever" with the destruction of the Temple meaning it hasn't been possible to live in accordance with the Mosaic covenant, as formulated in Deuteronomy, since that destruction. By the preaching of the prophets, "Israel knew that even though it celebrated again and again the renewal of the covenant, it could not regain the lost tablets, which God alone had the power to give and to inscribe."

It isn't the New Testament, much less later Christian theology, that first declared the Mosaic covenant to have been broken. It was the prophets of the Old Testament. Thus, the neo-Deuteronomic program advanced by the Pharisees and later adopted by the rabbis is not in accordance with Scripture, even if attention is restricted to the Old Testament. Rather, the way forward lies with the New Covenant given by God "in the flesh and blood of the Risen Christ."

In the final analysis, the Mosaic Law points from within itself to beyond itself, for Moses himself is a prophet and can be understood correctly only if understood prophetically. This is a particular application of St. Augustine's principle, reaffirmed by the CC, that the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old is unveiled in the New.

The Deuteronomic curses ------

By gravely violating the Mosaic Law, Israel had incurred the curses of the Deuteronomic covenant Deut.28:15-68;30:1. In order to perfectly fulfill the Law, Christ had to take upon Himself those curses. "Jesus fulfills the Law to the point of taking upon himself the 'curse of the Law' incurred by those who do not 'abide by the things written in the book of the Law, and do them.'" In Gal 3:10, St. Paul quotes Deut. 27:26, the summary curse of the Deuteronomic covenant, which encapsulates the longer list of conditional curses ritually imposed on Israel when the covenant was instituted Deut. 27:14-26. Because Christ took these curses upon Himself on the Cross Gal. 3:13, His death served as "the perfect realization" of the Day of Atonement.

The transitory nature of the Mosaic Law does not imply that the New Covenant lacks a law of its own, for St. Paul also speaks of "the Torah of Christ" Gal. 6:2, namely, "the dual commandment of love." So, therefore, the New Covenant calls all who accept it to "their own faithful conduct" Heb. 3:13, for Christ "imposes duties upon us and challenges us to obedience."

The children of Abraham -----

For St.Paul, "the promise of Abraham guarantees from the beginning the inner continuity of salvation history, from the patriarchs of Israel to the coming of Christ and the Church of Jews and Gentiles."

Scripture presents salvation history not as a dichotomy between the New Covenant and those of the Old Testament but rather as a "dynamic unity of the entire history." Indeed, from the perspective of eternity, there is only "one covenant," the "eternally valid" covenant of Abraham now perfectly fulfilled in Christ.

The Abrahamic covenant was structured from the beginning to be fulfilled by Christ. In the very ritual establishing the Abrahamic covenant Gen. 15:12-21, God enacted "symbolically a conditional curse" upon Himself, offering His own life as a surety. This ritual was a "sign of the Cross of Christ, in which God vouches for the indestructibility of the covenant with the death of His Son." Thus, the full meaning of the Abrahamic covenant is revealed only when God binds his own existence to the creature, man, by taking human nature upon Himself.

For St. Paul, the children of Abraham are those in covenant with God by faith Gal.3:6-7. God's promise to Abraham of blessing for the Gentiles Gen. 12:3 is the foundation of the gospel Gal. 3:8-9. In fact, the gospel can be described as the proclamation that the blessing for the Gentiles is now coming to pass through Christ Eph. 3:6. Within covenantal history, the promise of blessing was given to Abraham and fulfilled by Jesus, who "opens up and fulfills the wholeness of the Law and gives it thus to the pagans, who can now accept it . . ., thereby becoming children of Abraham."

The CC teaches the "'full number of the nations' now takes its 'place in the family of the patriarchs.'" Christ is "the promised shoot of Judah, who unites Israel and the nations in the kingdom of God." Therefore, members of all nations enter the "People of God with Israel through adherence to the will of God and through acceptance of the Davidic Kingdom," understood not merely as a temporal political entity, but as God's rule on earth extended from heaven Isa. 52:7. In consequence, there is only one People of God, the Body of Christ, in which both Jews and Gentiles are welcome. The mission of Christ is to unite Jews and pagans into a single People of God.

St. Paul's understanding of the Body of Christ as an organic "grafting" of the Gentiles into Israel is understood by the Church as "draws nourishment from that good olive tree onto which the wild olive branches of the Gentiles have been grafted Rom. 11:1724." God prunes from this tree only those branches that refuse belief in Christ Rom. 11:20. Therefore, the Old Testament remains central to faith in Christ. "There is no access to Jesus and thereby can be no entrance of the nations into the People of God without acceptance in faith of . . . the Old Testament."

Christ must be seen not as a barrier but as the only doorway to the desired unity, for through Jesus, "the God of Israel has become the God of the nations." As St. Paul described, Jesus has united Jew and Gentile in one Body:

"For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end." Eph. 2:14-16.

This communion in Christ is not empty theological rhetoric, but an empirical state of affairs, visible wherever the Church is present.

Yes I am familiar with the 9th of Av.

This is a Rabbinically suggested fast. I do not adhere to the 5 prohibitions nor do I sit Shiva at home on this day. I usually don't fast but will spend this day in solemn. The main thing for me regarding this time is to remember his Torah and how it is important to keep HIS commands. See Nehemiah 1.

Also it is a great time to think about the third temple and observe the feasts referred to in Zech 14 during the Millennial Reign.

If you don't mind me asking, but where and with whom did you observe Passover with? Was it led by a Pastor or by a Rabbi?

KFC, I'm sure you know from your research that it is impossible to celebrate the feasts in full without the temple. However we still observe the feasts as best as we can. We do not typically celebrate Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) in booths in Colorado as it is often too cold to live in.

I would love to go to Israel for Sukkot one year and live in a booth there during the feast. Maybe next year?

Happy Chanukah!

KFC, have you ever researched how much of the Torah you are keeping and maybe didn't know it?

The Passover's I've attended were not private affairs and were all led by a Jewish person. One was a Jewish leader that came from the Jews for Jewish Organization and he put on a full Passover presentation with white linens and candles and everything.



No. What do you mean?

You mean, I don't kill and I don't commit adultery? Stuff like that? If so, it doesn't make a difference (in a way) because when you commit one infraction you break the whole thing. I was told once to look at the law as a whole. James speaks of this. Sort of like a window that has nine parts to it. When you break only one part of that window, it's still breaking the whole window as it has to be replaced as a whole.

Chanukah started this year on my birthday.

I'm not talking about the 10 Commandments, but Torah.