Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Good morning. It is Wednesday, March fourth,
twenty twenty six. Hello, my name is El David Harris.
I am your host, and this is your Daily Portion
where we give you God's word every single day, and
today is no exception. We are continuing in our Lesson
study series uniting Heaven and Earth, christ in Philippians and Colossians,
and our caption for today is shadow or Substance. It's
a question shadow or substance. We'll get into that in
just a moment, but first I like to say welcome
to everyone joining us, especially those joining us for the
very first time. I'm asking you to please go over
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Pick up the Your Daily Portion Life application guide, and please,
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continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's pray, Father, thank
you for this day and giving us yourself the genuine
article and not leaving us with the shadows. In Jesus name,
I pray Amen and a man again. So I think
we have looked at these passages a few times in
the last couple of weeks, or at least had a
little bit of a look at them. And I have
said some things to you already that I think we
should already have clarity for. But in Colossians chapter two,
verses sixteen through nineteen, unfortunately, among the faith communities of God,
we have all of these arguments, and I'm like, wow,
but the language is so clear to me. But let
me just say, spiritual things are spiritually discerned I'm going
to use you. I'm going to give you a word
that maybe it's not necessary for me to give, but
I just figured i'd give it to you as a bonus.
This is what theologians use people who are going through,
you know, theological programs, and it's called exegesis. It's not
in my notes. It just clicked in my mind, though, exegesis.
Look it up. Exitgesis ex e g ei ge g
si s okay, exogesus. And basically that means when we
go into the scriptures, we are looking for what is
actually there, as opposed to isogesus, which is I want
to impose what I'm thinking on the scriptures. So in
this case we're going to exegete not really, but a
little bit the text. Let's start with Colossians, chapter two
and verse sixteen. Let's see what's actually there. Okay, let
no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink,
So you would have to read the context of the
text and compare scripture with scripture. Okay, long story short,
Let nobody judge you therefore in meat or in drinks.
So immediately you should be asking yourself, well, what are
we talking about here? Are we talking about, like not
allowing anybody to judge me about what I'm eating or drinking. Well,
you could ask that question and arrive at that destination
if you didn't read the rest of the text. Or
in respect of a holy day. Oh wait a minute,
so the eating and drinking likely are related, or the meat,
excuse me, and drink using the words that are in
the text, the meat and drink must also be attached
to holy days. Well, I'm not sure. Or new Moon.
Oh wait a minute. Yeah, so the meat and drink
Holy Day and New Moon must all be related. Or
Sabbath days. Well, they're all related. And then the Bible
says which are a shadow. So it's like, okay, so meat, drink,
Holy Day, New Moon, Sabbath days plural shadow of things
to come. That must mean that they're all related. Well,
where do we get meat, drink, Holy Day, New Moon,
Sabbaths as shadows all in one package? That's simple. Let
the Bible explain itself. In the sacrificial system, there are
meat offerings, drink offerings, Holy days plural, New moons plural,
sabbath days, ceremonial days, ceremonial sabbaths plural. Well, how do
we know what we're talking about because they're a shadow
of things to come. And when you get the entire
conversation very clearly, here we see that there were some judaizers,
some people who were still trying to hold gentiles and others.
If you want to say to account, to say you
have to even though Jesus already gave his life for us,
even though Jesus has come to fulfill the ceremonial laws,
I need you to still offer meat offerings. I need
you to still offer drink offerings. I need you to
still celebrate and observe those holy days that are ceremonial
in nature, and new moons and sabbath days that are
ceremonial in nature. All through the book of Leviticus we
see all of these details, and God is saying through Paul,
ceremonial practices are not to be used as a measure
for your connection with God, not after Jesus came, not
after he fulfilled that. And so lesson number one is
Paul is addressing ceremonial practices and not the moral law.
So here's a little insight on this. I've already said it,
but let me say it some more. Paul's use of
therefore ties the instruction directly to his prior argument about
what circumcision physical circumcision, You got it, physical circumcision. Ceremonial ordinances,
ritual requirements that were pressing gentile believers to conform to
those Old Testament practices. And so the categories listed follow
the Old Testament ceremonial calendar pattern found in HOSEA, chapter
two and verse eleven. These practices belonged to the sanctuary
system that did what pointed forward to Christ. They were
a shadow of things to come. What was the things
to come? Jesus Christ coming to fulfill all of what that?
What that had to do with? No more priests, no
more priesthood, no more ceremonial days, no more sacrificial system.
Because the true and genuine article is actually here? And
so what is the action step? Study the scriptures carefully
before exccepting claims that blur the distinction between ceremonial symbols
and God's eternal moral law. I left out something because
I was trying not to be too cerebral, but I
think I already was, so I might as well say
it to you. The Ten Commandments law are They're not
a shadow. The Ten Commandments are not a shadow of anything.
They're not a shadow or a type of anything. They
are the genuine article. They are the transcript of the
character of Christ. It's still we don't have a license
to murder. We don't have a license to disrespect our parents.
We don't have a license to sect somebody who's not
our spouse. Did I just say that word commit adultery?
That's the way I should have said it. We still
don't have a license to be tail bearers and liars.
We don't have a license to have other gods before God.
I feel like I said this the other day, and
it bears repeating. We don't have a license to covet
our neighbors anything, or to break the seventh day Sabbath.
We don't have a license. It's not a shadow. The
law is not a shadow of things to come, the
Ten Commandments law. Okay, okay. So the second lesson, as
we come to a swift close, is to that shadows
point forward. Christ is the reality. And we know from
the next text in verse seventeen, these are only a
shadow of things to come, not the reality, which is Christ.
So here is the insight a shadow has no independent existence.
It depends on the real object. The ceremonial laws, festivals,
ritual sabbats for shadow Christ's work, his saving work. So
once Jesus is here, and he is, we say bye
bye shadows. And don't try to judge me, because I
have the substance which.
Speaker 1: Is thanks joins. Friends, always remember we cannot live by
bread alone, but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with
El David Harris, make it a great day. Yeah,