1 Corinthians 2
Yet there is a wisdom that we are speaking to those who are mature enough for it. But it is not the wisdom of this world or of this world’s leaders, who are in the process of passing away. On the contrary, we are communicating a secret wisdom from God which has been hidden until now but which, before history began, God had decreed would bring us glory. Not one of this world’s leaders has understood it; because if they had, they would not have executed the Lord from whom this glory flows. But, as the Tanakh says,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard
and no one’s heart has imagined
all the things that God has prepared
for those who love him.”
It is to us, however, that God has revealed these things. How? Through the Spirit. For the Spirit probes all things, even the profoundest depths of God. For who knows the inner workings of a person except the person’s own spirit inside him? So too no one knows the inner workings of God except God’s Spirit. Now we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit of God, so that we might understand the things God has so freely given us. These are the things we are talking about when we avoid the manner of speaking that human wisdom would dictate and instead use a manner of speaking taught by the Spirit, by which we explain things of the Spirit to people who have the Spirit. Now the natural man does not receive the things from the Spirit of God — to him they are nonsense! Moreover, he is unable to grasp them, because they are evaluated through the Spirit. But the person who has the Spirit can evaluate everything, while no one is in a position to evaluate him.
For who has known the mind of Adonai?
Who will counsel him?
But we have the mind of the Messiah!
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
The past 10 days I have been doing some devotional readings that were focused on the 10 Days of Awe (the days between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur) and now we are in the 5 days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot. I’ve struggled the past couple of weeks with my attitude and my heart. Situations with my children have threatened my heart idols of control and comfort. Instead of running to Christ to be the solid Rock on which my hope is built, I have grasped for temporal comforts that do not satisfy or bring life. But the process was one I needed to walk through. In these last 10 days, days that are traditionally a time of reflection and repentance, I have had ample opportunity to repent, to confess my sins, and to seek forgiveness from the LORD and my family. While repentance should always mark the life of a believer, I love this season of the Fall Feasts, these beautiful rhythms of God that cause us to be intentionally drawn into His presence.
Yesterday I read a post from ONE for Israel about Yom Kippur which said, “First of all, it is important to note that this special day, in which God would unilaterally wipe the slate clean for the whole people of Israel, was God’s idea. It was his initiative. It was not humans coming to him, saying, “I feel bad for all the sin we’re doing, and I’m concerned that there are also things I’m not aware of that might be separating us, so please can we arrange some sort of amnesty day each year and get a fresh start?” No. This was God’s idea. It was God who was more upset about the distance between us than human beings have ever been. He loves us more than we love him. Always has, always will. Yom Kippur is God’s own device to restore the relationship between his holy self and his sinful people.In the same way, it was God who took the initiative to send his Son to die for us while we were still sinners. God instituted a day when he could be reconciled with his people: the day of Yom Kippur, which ultimately points to the day of the cross.“
These holy days, these appointed times of the LORD, have become so precious, so enriching in my walk with Christ. And Jesus our Messiah valued them too. We see multiple times in the Gospels where He is in Jerusalem to observe several of the Feasts of the LORD. And so today, because of the season we are in, these verses in 1 Corinthians just took on a slightly different perspective for me as I think about the Feasts of the LORD. I really liked the VOICE translation of verses 14-15: “But a person who denies spiritual realities will not accept the things that come through the Spirit of God; they all sound like foolishness to him. He is incapable of grasping them because they are disseminated, discerned, and valued by the Spirit. A person who walks by the Spirit examines everything, sizing it up and seeking out truth.” The fact that the feasts, the priesthood, the sacrificial system, the layout of the Tabernacle, all point to greater, spiritual realities that are fulfilled and revealed in Christ, makes me want to value and discern them, to hold them as precious and important because they are important to God and, therefore, to Christ.
I know that Paul is not specifically speaking of these feasts in the context of what he is writing about in this passage. But Paul speaks multiple times about “the mystery of God that has now been revealed” throughout many of his letters. The feasts foreshadowed the coming of Christ, the secret plan of God, to rescue and redeem humanity from the curse of sin. So I believe there is blessing in gaining wisdom about these things, and by allowing God’s Spirit in us to help us to discern their significance and how we as believers in Jesus might observe them in ways that glorify God and draw us closer to Him. Because that has always been the heart of God; to be in fellowship with the people He created. AMEN!
Living Stone 