Focal Point

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Study the Old Testament, but when you study it, look for the anticipation of Christ because it's everywhere. As we look in those passages that discuss the tabernacle, the temple, or the sacrificial system, if you look carefully, you will see the fact that all of these inextricably and without exception, all of these ceremonies lead us back to a picture, a composite of Christ.

Guest (Male): Theaters will often show clips of a future flick before screening the actual movie. It's never the complete film, just a preview of coming attractions. Today on Focal Point, we're in the midst of a study looking at Old Testament ceremonies once practiced by the people of God. With the arrival of Jesus, however, those previous expressions of worship are seen for what they were: previews of something greater. Pastor Mike calls the message, "Why don't we have to keep all those Old Testament ceremonies?"

Pastor Mike Fabarez: We've been studying the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews has been helping us to understand that the Old Covenant's been replaced with the New Covenant. It might be good to refresh your memory and take a look at the last few verses of chapter eight, specifically the last verse of chapter eight, which is most important for us.

Here is a statement about the transition from the old to the new. After stating this prophecy from Jeremiah 31, in verse 13 he says, "By calling this covenant new, he," that is God, "made the old one obsolete." What is obsolete, he says, is aging and will soon disappear. So the new one's good, it's a keeper. The old one, what do we do with this? What do we do with the Old Testament?

That's really been where we've gotten to if we say that didn't work, the priesthood, the temple, all of that is outdated, just Christ. Why don't we just carry around New Testaments? Why is it we take time with the old? To answer those questions well, we need to take a step back and get a big picture of everything we've learned so far in the book of Hebrews.

Be assured, and we should be completely assured, that Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant. He fulfilled it. The summary of the Old Covenant was this: do right and God will bless you. Do wrong and you'll incur his punishment. We said that's simple, but it's hard. It's impossible. We can't always consistently do the right thing.

Well, here we're saying Christ came and somehow fulfilled the Old Covenant. He actually did everything that was required in the Old Covenant to live up to all the expectations and all the rules of the Old Covenant. Be assured, Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant. Didn't Christ say that when he said in Matthew 5:17, "Don't think I came to abolish the law. I came to fulfill it, complete it, satisfy it, accomplish it"?

He says there's not a bit of it, not a jot or a tittle, a serif or a yodh, a bump on a letter or the smallest Hebrew character that's going to go away until all of it is completed and accomplished. His ministry, because this is the focus of chapter nine, his ministry fulfilled all the ceremonial rules. Here's why he fulfilled them all: because they were only parables of him.

A parable is a story told alongside the truth to correspond to it, to point to it. He says all of these ceremonies, all the truths of the tabernacle, the holy place, the outer place, the lampstand, the showbread, all of that was an example, an illustration, a parable of Christ. That's what he's claiming here. All of that is a parable.

Therefore, by a mere ministry, an existence of doing what he's doing in chapters seven and eight of Hebrews, fulfilling his calling as High Priest, he has fulfilled all the ceremonial picture parables of him. In that regard, all the ceremonies are done. They're fulfilled, they're satisfied, they're accomplished.

But the real important part that we seem to focus on more often, and we ought to because it's integral, it's the foundation to our salvation, is he not only fulfilled that part of the Old Covenant, he also fulfilled all the ethical and moral demands of the Old Covenant. Isn't that what it was all about in Deuteronomy? Do the right thing and you will live and be blessed. I want to be blessed, but I don't do the right things.

So not only did Christ, by way of his ministry, fulfill the parables and pictures of him, he also fulfilled all the ethical demands of the law, which is: you should never lie, you should tell the truth. You should never covet your neighbor's camel; you should be content with what you have. Think of all the ethical demands of the law. We don't keep them perfectly, but Christ came and did that for us.

In fulfilling the Old Covenant, Christ fulfilled it all. He also, by his human conduct, fulfilled all the moral rules. Here's the great thing about salvation: he can now credit that to us. Isn't that what salvation's all about? God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. A sinless one can now credit his sinlessness and his perfection to us, and all of our sin gets laid on him.

He did everything right. That was his moral conduct. Now, let's get this really clear, in the finer points of theology: Christ just didn't fulfill the moral law or the ceremonial law; he fulfilled them both. All the laws of the Old Covenant, he fulfilled. One by virtue of his ministry, he fulfilled the picture. One by virtue of his conduct and righteousness, he fulfilled the requirements, the ethical requirements.

Therefore, we can say the Old Covenant has been completely fulfilled. There is nothing in the Old Covenant that still needs to be done when it relates to the ceremonies or the morals. It's been accomplished. In that regard, we can say it's obsolete because it's been fulfilled.

The problem is when we read a passage like this, we've got people that grew up in a tabernacle. They think worship means there's got to be the candles, the showbread, the incense, and this box in the middle of the room, and we pray to this particular direction. He says, "I know you all grew up with this, I know you have these experiences." Now he needs to address the ceremonies, and a lot of the New Testament does that.

Ceremonies, all the ceremonies, have been replaced with Christ. They've been replaced. Why? Because they were only parables and illustrations of him. If he came and did his ministry, our attention and our focus should move from the ceremony to the person. That was hard for the first-century Jew because they grew up looking at the ceremonies and experiencing them.

For us, it's a distant thing until someone comes and says, "Why don't you do this? Why don't you eat this food? Why don't you worship on this day? Why don't you do all these things that they did?" Then we start scratching our head. We don't do it for this reason: because in a big summary statement, everything that the ceremonies were about pointed to Christ. Now Christ is in the room.

If Christ is in the room, my attention moves from the ceremony to the person. If you're desperately in love with your girlfriend and you're looking at her picture and you're musing about your love for her, and she walks in the room, she's going to want and you're going to want to turn your attention away from the picture to the real thing. That's what we need to do when it relates to the ceremonies.

Christ comes in and replaces them. Christ comes in, takes the picture, and says, "Now I'm here." The ceremonies themselves are now passé and worthless. Is that a strong word? They're not my words; they're right out of the text. The translation in the NIV puts it a little different, but let's look at Galatians chapter five, verse six.

The topic that's really raging big in the book of Galatians is the concept of circumcision. Circumcision was one of the first and primary ceremonial things that families did, the males in their family, to show that they were part of the covenant community. He says this in verse six of Galatians 5: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."

Think about this: in the Old Testament, if you and your family didn't have the males of your family circumcised, they could not come and eat the Passover meal. You've got to be circumcised first. Get circumcised, the sign of the covenant, then you, bearing the signs of the covenant, can come and fellowship with us and eat the Passover meal.

Now he's saying the Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Christ is the Passover lamb, the lamb that takes away the sin of the world. He is here, the reality is here. Now, when it comes to the symbol, the circumcision symbol of the covenant, it doesn't matter anymore. That's what he says; it's of no value. That's another word for useless. It doesn't do anything.

Take a look at Galatians 6, verse 15. I love this phrase. We often think of it individualistically, but it really is the concept of the whole New Covenant. He says in verse 15 of chapter six: "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. It's worthless. What counts is a new creation," which is not just me. We're talking about this whole new order, the new order of things. That's what matters. Circumcision doesn't matter; it's of no importance anymore. That's a major thing because you couldn't come and fellowship with the covenant community unless you had that. Now he's saying it's not important; it's of no value.

The ceremonies have been replaced with Christ. Therefore, we need to look at the ceremonies and say they're worthless. I mean every single ceremonial rule of the Old Covenant; it's worthless, it's passé. In that regard, it's just a value statement about them. Whether it's someone pounding their Bible saying, "Look right here, dietary rules. You can't have that; you can't eat those foods." If you think that's just silly and just a bunch of fringe cult groups, listen to Protestant radio right now.

You get all these people basing their whole healthcare diet stuff on the Old Testament dietary laws. "This is how God really wants us to eat." Pass the bacon. Pass the bacon. Your rule of abstaining from the ham slab in the Egg McMuffin is worthless. You want to be healthy, great; I want bacon. The bottom line is you don't put that stuff out there like that.

As a matter of fact, don't just say it's valuable, let's go even further. There are some people that say it's required; it's necessary. Let's make this super clear: you can't require it. You cannot require any ceremonial law of the Old Testament. I'm talking about even the day on which we worship, for instance. Let me prove this to you. Colossians chapter two, verse 13.

There are those, and it's not just a fringe people that read Ellen G. White and believe in Sabbatarianism through that. I'm talking about people that are the Seventh-day Baptists. I'm talking about people that say, "Well, the Bible says it and it's right there in the Ten Commandments, so we got to worship on this day." That is part of the ceremonial rules. It is part of which day.

We've talked about this throughout the New Testament that we need to say, "Wait a minute, if that's a ceremonial rule, not only is it not passé, but you can't judge me based on that and you can't require that of me." Colossians 2:13: "You were dead," let's just get the context here. This is a great, really dramatic and poetic way it's put. "You were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature. Your flesh, this human sinful part of you that was rebellious against God, you were dead in that."

The picture here of circumcision meaning that I'm not right with God, which even the Old Testament prophets said, ultimately is a picture of something that should be taking place in my heart. But God made me alive with Christ and forgave us all of our sins, having canceled the written code, that's another phrase for this Old Covenant code, with its regulations including circumcision and what day you worship and how you should eat, that was against us, that stood opposed to us because we couldn't keep it all and that made us guilty before God.

He took it away, nailing it to the cross. Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore, here's the actual upshot of it all: don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or what you drink or with regard to a religious festival or a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

If Christ is your focus and you're a New Covenant Christian looking at Christ, then not only are the symbols passé, no one can say you should be doing that. The answer is, no, I don't have to be doing that. As a matter of fact, I think I would be offensive to God if I cluttered my life with all the pictures of Christ instead of saying those are out of the way now. My focus is on Christ himself who brings me into the presence of God. Not these temporary structures and these symbolic parables that are supposed to direct my attention to God's future provision; his provision is here. Focus on Christ.

The ceremonies themselves are passé and worthless; you can't require them. Thirdly, and this is dangerous for those people going around saying you got to keep the Old Testament rules: you dare not do them to gain God's favor. It's one thing to think they kind of enhance my walk with God; it's another thing for these people to step up and say, "God's looking at me keeping his rules and his Sabbatarian rules or his dietary laws, and he likes me more than you because I'm keeping his rules."

Here's what the Bible has to say about that. Back to Galatians four and five. There are people doing this trying to gain some brownie points with a holy God. If you try, let me say this as strongly as I can because this is what Galatians' message is all about: if you try to gain favor with a holy God by keeping ceremonial rules, you are not a Christian, and you are in danger of eternal damnation.

You have to recognize that playing with the Old Covenant ceremonies is something that may get you to think, "If I do these, God will like me." Take a look at what he says in Galatians chapter four, verse 10. He's preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to these Galatian churches and he says, "You are observing special days like the Sabbath, and months, and seasons, all these festivals, and years, like the seventh year for relieving debt or the year of jubilee. I fear for you that somehow I've wasted my efforts on you."

"I tried to reconcile you to God and now you're out there trying to keep all these ceremonial rules, these days and months and all this stuff. I think maybe I wasted my time on you guys." The point of the Gospel is to get these people right with God and save them from hell. He says, "Maybe I didn't do a very good job at that, because look at what you're doing. You're fixated on the ceremonies."

Next chapter, chapter five, verse two. "Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all." Why would he say that to these people? Because he knew their heart. Look at what was going on in verses three and four: "I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace."

He was bringing them the message of the grace of God, right into the presence of God on the coattails, on the robe hem of the Great High Priest Jesus Christ. He's saying, "Get on board," and you're saying, "I'd like that, but I'm also going to keep these rules, hoping I'll gain some brownie points with God." He says you can't do that. It's either-or. Either you ride in on the merits of Christ or, like the Galatians, you get distracted by the ceremonies of the Old Covenant. If you trust in that, he says Christ is of no value to you. Don't mess around with that.

We're not talking about the fact that you gave up bacon. That's not the issue. The issue is people that are reading the Old Testament going, "Well, here's what he says. If that's what he says, I'm going to do this because this is going to get me right with God." That's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about adults who try to take the mark of the Old Covenant so they can gain favor with God.

I'm talking about people that say, "Well, I got to keep these dietary rules and I got to worship on this certain day because that's what God says." That's not what God is asking us to do. They were pictures and symbols and illustrations of the reality. Grab the reality and leave the ceremonies behind. That's what the New Covenant is asking us to do.

So, how do we deal with the Old Testament? Stay away from it; sounds dangerous. I don't want to mess with the left side of my Bible. No, you actually should. It's good that you're carrying around the Old Testament. Let me tell you why. Luke chapter 24, the road to Emmaus. Christ had actually finished and accomplished the Old Covenant requirements.

By the way, some of you purists are going to raise your hand and say, "Wait a minute, in that Matthew passage that you quoted, he didn't come to abolish the law, he came to fulfill it, but then he goes on to say you better keep it." Yes, he did keep it. He said until all is accomplished. When was it all accomplished? When did Christ stop saying you should go up for the Passover in Jerusalem? When he said on the cross, "It is finished."

When he said on the cross, "It is finished," do you remember what God did miraculously down the street at the temple? The temple curtain ripped open, which showed what Christ did just down the street sacrificing himself for the people, the perfect lamb, the spotless lamb taking away the sin of the world. He just provided access to that place. You can try and hide it if you want; that's just a symbol of it. You can't hide the fact that Christ is taking people into the presence of God perfectly justified in their presence. He did it.

That's when all of a sudden all the ceremonies are set aside. He actually said you ought to keep it, you ought to do what the Pharisees said until all is accomplished. When was it all accomplished? When he finished it on the cross, when he did all the ceremonial things and fulfilled those just by virtue of his ministry, and fulfilled all the moral requirements of the law.

Well, how do we deal with it now? Christ now, after the resurrection, after he said it is finished, I'm thinking maybe he's not even going to look at the Old Testament anymore, just get busy having his apostles write the New Testament. No. In the middle of this discussion on the road to Emmaus, he turns their attention to the Old Testament again after he said it is finished.

Verse 27: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." That's why the writer of Hebrews says in chapter eight, "The Old Covenant is antiquated. Now, let's talk about the tabernacle again. And let's talk about more stuff that I don't have time for, but we'll talk about it later."

Why are we still talking about it? Just like Jesus, he's still talking about it because it all speaks of him by way of parable, by way of illustration. When we read the Old Testament, we need to look for the anticipation of Christ. We need to look for it in all the Old Testament ceremonial rules. When we look at the rules, when we look at the sacrificial system, when we look at the tabernacle, when we look at the temple, when we look at the incense, when we look at the showbread, when we look at the candles, all of those were examples.

We ought to study that years and years and years before Christ came, all of those pictures were put in place and all of them point to Christ. The Old Testament can be taught as Christian scripture because the Old Testament ceremonies are pictures of Jesus. Therefore, we don't give up on the 39 books on the left side of your Bible. We study them, we memorize passages of them, we meditate on them, we research them, we read them every year.

We do Bible studies on the Old Testament because as we study that, we will continue to see Christ pointing people through the ceremonies to the future coming of Christ. When we read that, it validates the scripture. It gets my mind and my heart focused on the intricacies and the richness and the depth and the breadth of all that Christ accomplished on our behalf.

Study the Old Testament, but when you study it, look for the anticipation of Christ because it's everywhere. As long as we're not fancifully just dreaming in every text, as we look in those passages that discuss the tabernacle or the temple or the sacrificial system, if you look carefully, you will see the fact that all of these inextricably and without exception, all of these ceremonies lead us back to a picture, a composite of Christ.

It's like those things you see now at Disneyland and other places where if you look up close, they're pictures of people and all these things. Then you step back about 10 or 12 feet and it becomes a picture of Goofy or whoever it is. Have you seen those? Up close, look at that, and the showbread and the candle and the incense and the altar and the sacrifices and the bull here and then two goats there. Wow. And then you've got birds can be offered. What's that all about?

Don't say, "Well, it's old stuff, it doesn't matter anymore, it's Old Covenant, let's move on." Spend time there and start looking for how all of that, as you step back and see all that, you see the picture of Christ in the scripture.

Guest (Male): Well, I'm certainly thankful for the Old Testament and the important truths it teaches us about God. You're listening to Focal Point in a message in Hebrews from Mike Fabarez called, "Why don't we have to keep all those Old Testament ceremonies?" Before we wrap up today's program, we want to tell you about the book Pastor Mike is recommending to complement our study. It's titled "The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament" by Edmund Clowney.

As we continue in our series about how Christ changed everything, this book will take you even deeper into the concepts we're exploring together. Clowney moves through the Old Testament, showing how the promise of a Redeemer was woven into the biblical story long before the manger, the cross, or the empty tomb. Request your copy of "The Unfolding Mystery" when you give to Focal Point. Simply call us at 888-320-5885 or go online to focalpointradio.org. Now, let me hand things back over to Pastor Mike for an update on something you won't want to miss.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Thanks, Dave. I'd like to invite you to join me September 19th through the 26th, 2026, on a Christian cruise through New England and Canada. We'll sail Holland America's Zuiderdam, known for its elegance and exceptional hospitality, to historic cities like Boston, Halifax, and Quebec City. We'll gather for devotional times in God's word, followed by thought-provoking Bible teaching throughout our journey.

Grammy-winning musicians Keith and Carly Hancock will lead us in worship. You'll enjoy the stunning autumn landscapes as we explore charming coastal villages, all while building friendships with like-minded believers. It's a unique opportunity to deepen your faith and see some of the most beautiful scenery on the Eastern Seaboard. Space is limited, so don't wait to sign up. Secure your cabin today at focalpointradio.org. Just go to focalpointradio.org to learn more.

Guest (Male): Well, I'm your host, Dave Drewie, inviting you to join us Friday as we unpack the profound question, "Does God have a plan for Israel?" Don't miss this timely edition of Ask Pastor Mike Friday, here on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. I pray today's message will help you live out your faith with truth and love. After all, that's the kind of biblical faith that changes lives and transforms a crooked culture. But if you haven't truly surrendered your life to Christ, then I'd like to invite you to get in touch. We'd love to pray with you and help you discover God's plan of salvation. Visit focalpointradio.org.

Guest (Male): Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.