How Long is Forever?

There are two common responses to whether or not Christians need to follow the Torah. The first is that Yeshua fulfilled the Torah so that no one else has to any more. The other is that the Torah is only for the Jews, so Gentile Christians don't have to observe it.

For the next several posts I will be discussing these responses. While I have previously dealt with the first response, See Yeshua Fulfilled the Law,  I would like to add to it today.

Exodus 12:14 (KJV)
¹⁴ And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

This verse in Exodus is referring to Passover. Notice that it is a feast that is to be kept forever.

Leviticus 16:29 (KJV)
²⁹ And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you:

Leviticus 16 states that the keeping of Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement is to be a statute forever.

Leviticus 23:14 (KJV)
¹⁴ And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Leviticus 23 speaks about the Feast of First Fruits. Its observance is also a statute forever.

Leviticus 23:41 (KJV)
⁴¹ And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

This verse is describing the Feast of Tabernacles. Again, its observance is a statute forever.

Leviticus 24:3 (KJV)
³ Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations.

The menorah in the tabernacle was to be kept lit continually. This also is a statute forever.

Ezekiel 46:14 (KJV)
¹⁴ And thou shalt prepare a meat offering for it every morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of an hin of oil, to temper with the fine flour; a meat offering continually by a perpetual ordinance unto the LORD.

This verse in Ezekiel refers to the grain offering that was to be offered in the Temple every day. This is a perpetual ordinance. The interesting thing about this is that this in conjunction with the worship in the Third Temple, the Temple that will be in existence during the Millennial Kingdom. However, the grain offering was first proscribed in Leviticus during the days of Moses.

The picture that God is relating to us is that His Law will last forever.

What does "forever" mean? Doesn't it mean for all time? How is it possible that "forever" could mean until c 33 A.D. or until Yeshua's death and resurrection? By forcing our interpretation of "forever" to fit into our theology rather than fitting our theology to what Scripture says is backwards and has led Christianity into disobedience of the Law. This is a serious matter since our observance of God's commandments reveals whether or not we love Him and are His.

2 John 1:6 (KJV)
⁶ And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Let's think about this today and the implications of what "forever" means to us.

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