Ceremonial Law

Acts Chapter 15: The Ceremonial Law (The Annual Festivals, and their Relevance to the Christian Church.)

The council of Jerusalem, which is recorded in Acts fifteen, is definitely an in depth research and deliberation into whether or not the Gentile Christians were under the same obligations as were the Jewish believers. Within this examination, the apostles had to ask some questions that turned them away from the traditional Jewish way of thinking. Were the Jewish believers really under the ceremonial obligations of the law?

It appears, according to the beginning of the chapter, that a contention in regard to circumcision and the Law of Moses had arisen among the believers in Antioch. Some taught that except these rituals be adhered to, one could not be saved. This perturbed Paul, and he went to Jerusalem specifically to address this problem to the apostles there for an official decision about what must be required of the Gentiles before they were accepted as brethren. The council was attended by the apostles and elders, and representatives from the churches.

James, as the one presiding over the council, stated the final decision of the council; that they would ask

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When man fell by transgression the law was not changed…the Promise of a Savior was given, and sacrificial offerings pointing forward to the death of Christ as the great sin offering were established. That which they shadowed forth had come to pass, and those who were living under the gospel dispensation had been freed from their observance. “Jesus capitalized on the water ceremony of the Feast of Booths, which had a rich, messianic symbolism, to reveal Himself as the true source of living water. ” This implies that, since type hasn’t completely met antitype in these feasts, we are still to observe these yearly ordinances as a commemoration of what Christ did for us, as well as to look forward to the complete fulfillment of each feast’s meaning in Heaven. “The gospel of Christ sheds light upon the Jewish economy and gives significance to the ceremonial law. The Passover marked the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and “Passover became the first and most important day of the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread. ”26

There were ceremonies that happened in the tabernacle, too, during this time. The annual festivals began with the Passover, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and these were followed by the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost. ”36

Each festival, as a part of the sanctuary service, and a part of the Jewish economy, is a part of the ceremonial law that Jesus came to make clear to us.

The religious significance and nature of these feasts made them such that they were not always observed with celebration. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

Since Satan is the originator of sin, the direct instigator of all the sins that caused the death of the Son of God, justice demands that Satan shall suffer the final punishment…So in the typical service, the yearly round of ministration closed with the purification of the sanctuary, and the confessing of the sins on the head of the scapegoat. The Passover was instituted on the night when the Israelites were delivered from Egypt. The Passover was a type of Christ, while the unleavened bread was a type of the sincerity and truth that Christians are to have in their lives.

It is clear that the Passover passed away with the death of Jesus, along with the whole system of types and ceremonies that made up the Jewish economy.

Approximate Word count = 5080
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page double spaced)

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