A Festival for Christ’s Followers
These festival days in the fall harvest season have important meaning for every believer in Jesus Christ our Messiah. And yet in our time few people believe in a literal return of the King of Kings. Few consider the need for observing God’s commanded assemblies. And as a result, even fewer people have a clear vision of the future.
A Glorious Inheritance
Yet, Paul, the apostle to the gentiles, encouraged these converts to keep the annual feast days recorded by Moses. Why? It was an important part of the gospel message! Paul understood this and preached the gospel of the coming Kingdom of God. In a time when he was imprisoned by the Roman authorities, Paul’s vision was of the future! And he encouraged the brethren to look to their “promised land” and their spiritual inheritance. He gave them a powerful vision of the return of the Messiah, and the glorious inheritance of the saints.
Paul the Biblical Futurist
Paul’s message brought to light all of the biblical prophecies from Moses to Daniel about the coming Messianic Kingdom. Paul was a “biblical futurist” who understood the Kingdom of God as a future reality. But he had something new to add to the message. This Messianic age was for all people. It would include all those who were “once far off” but now had accepted Christ’s sacrifice.
The Time of Renewal
And as much as the believers had been rescued from the Kingdom of Darkness at that time. They still looked to a future inheritance. This would not be reality until Christ reigned on earth and had stripped those who destroyed the earth of their power. Paul knew a literal Kingdom on earth was coming. He proclaimed this gospel message, giving hope to the brethren living under the rule of tyrants like Nero. The future of the saints and their inheritance was assured! They would reign with Christ, in the renewal, in the kingdom of the Messiah on this earth.