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"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
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Epistle of Paul to the Colossians  V

Fred R. Coulter—November 27, 1993

Now we are continuing on in our series in the book of Colossians, which (as we saw last time) Colossians 2 was the most difficult chapter in the book and perhaps one of the most difficult chapters of the writings of the Apostle Paul outside of the book of Romans. Now let’s review just a little bit. Let’s understand that everything that is said in Colossians, the second chapter, then is built upon everything that is said in the first chapter. And the entire problem that they had at the church at Colossae was that they were being inundated with false teachers who were coming in bringing philosophy. And we saw that how the second chapter was built upon an A/B kind of construction where as: ‘A’ is for God and ‘B’ is for man. Now let’s review the verses again which are for man/which are for God.

Let’s come to Colossians 2:2; this is ‘A’—for God:

  • “That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together…” and so forth.
  • “…in Whom are hid…” (v 3)
  • “…the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ…” (v 2)
  • “…in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (v 3)

And as we mentioned last time, this would be the most appropriate place, in fact, if the doctrine of the trinity were ever taught in the Bible, it would almost be demanded to be added here; because if the ‘mystery of God’ contains the Holy Spirit as a person or a form of a third being in a triune Godhead, then it would have to be mentioned in v 2. And it should read then: “…unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ”—and it doesn’t say—and of the Holy Spirit. So this is a good proof by negation or the lack of having it there that the doctrine of the Holy Spirit is not true as taught in most nearly every other church. So v 3 says: “In Whom… [that is God the Father and Jesus Christ] …are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Now v 4 is ‘B’: “Now this I say so that no one may deceive [beguile] you by persuasive speech.” Now why would they be beguiled or deceived? And of course, the word ‘beguile’ means to deceive with enticing words—and they sound good. Then he again reaffirms that they are in Christ. Let’s come over here to v 6: “Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, be walking in Him… [not in the beguiling words of men.] …Being rooted and built up in Him, and being confirmed in the faith, exactly as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving…. [Now notice the ‘B’—contrasting what men would do.] …Be on guard so that no one takes you captive through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ” (vs 4-8).

Question: What is the trinity called? It is called a tradition, is it not? Yes, it is. Now there are many traditions in philosophy that people follow, as we will see. But notice again it is comparing their status in Christ, as they have been built up in Him and established in Him as compared to men who are coming around and trying to spoil them. Spoil means to hunt down as a prey or an animal seeking to kill someone, through philosophy, ‘philosophia’: the love of wisdom and vain deceit, which then are the fables and the tales and “the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world”—and those rudiments of the world are guided by demons and “not after Christ.”

Back to ‘A’ again: “For in Him”—God—It goes back to God and Christ (v 9)—then all the way down through v 15, has to do with what God has done. “For in Him [Christ], dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…. [And that could be all the fullness of Deity, the fullness of what it is to be Divine is found wholly in Christ bodily.] …And you are complete in Him… [Which then also refers to Christ, which then goes back to the mystery of God the Father and Christ.] …You are complete in Him… [That is a profound statement! We will come back and review that again here before we are done.] …In Whom you have also been circumcised with the circumcision not made by hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (vs 9-11). Which is then accomplished by baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

That is why, then in v 12 he goes right on: “Having been buried with Him in baptism… [That is the circumcision of Christ, to take away the hardness of the heart, to take away the things that human nature is and to be converted and transformed by the renewing of your mind with the power of the Holy Spirit.] …by which you have also been raised with Him through the inner working of God, Who raised Him from the dead. For you, who were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh…” (vs 12-13). Now, everyone is dead in sin, until they accept Christ, everyone is dead in sin. Why? Because the ‘wages of sin is death.’ The only way you can get rid of sin is by repentance and baptism.

  • You can’t get rid of past sins by being better today.
  • You can’t get rid of sins that you do today by doing good works tomorrow.
  • You cannot be made right before God by what you do or by the prescriptions of what other people tell you to do, which follow philosophy and do not follow Christ.

“For you, who were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh…” (v 13). Which then again is another proof that the congregation at Colossae was Gentile and was not Jewish. There is no circumcision/uncircumcision controversy in the book of Colossians; and this becomes very important when we come to v 16, because it is claimed by those who come to the book of Colossians with preconceived notions about what they believe and what it is saying, make the claim that they were told in v 16, not to keep the commandments of God, having to do with eating and drinking and the Sabbath and the festival, etc. They were told that was a command to not do it, but we will see that that is a complete, absolute, incorrect interpretation of that verse.

Now let’s come back to v 13 and we will finish it up here: “…For you, who were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has now made alive [quickened (KJV)] with Him… [Now how is that done?] …having forgiven all your trespasses…. [And as we saw last time, all trespasses means all the sins, everything that has caused sin, now being Gentiles in the past, and following philosophy in the past, their past religion caused them to be ‘dead in their sins.’ So he makes it very emphatic here.] …having forgiven all your trespasses. He has blotted out the note of debt against us with the decrees of our sins, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it away, having nailed it to the cross” (vs 13-14).

And as we saw last time, the only thing that was nailed to the cross was Jesus Christ, Who represented sin and the little sign over His head, which said King of the Jews. Nothing else was nailed to the cross. Most of the Protestants believe that this says, because it says blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, they think that this means that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ blotted out, did away and nailed to the cross, the commandments and laws of God, so therefore, they do not have to keep them. And as we saw, that is a complete, erroneous interpretation of this. The blotting out of handwritings or the Note of Debt, have to do with the sins that were caused by the commandments and doctrines of men, as we will see in just a minute.

So it comes all the way down through v 15, now let’s finish it off and this is the one then which is referring to God and what God is doing or the ‘A’ part of the structure of Colossians the second chapter. “After stripping the principalities and the powers…. [Now who were they? They are the evil powers of this world.] …He made a public spectacle of them, and has triumphed over them in it…” (v 15)—and the ‘in it’ refers to the crucifixion and the resurrection and the whole life of Christ. Now after he goes through from v 9 to v 15, showing how they got to their condition as Christians, that it was through Christ, that it was through baptism, that it was through the forgiveness of sin, which Christ can give, that they have the circumcision made without hands, that they were raised from the watery grave to walk in newness of life…

Then he comes to v 16: “Therefore, do not allow anyone to judge you...” Now what does that statement mean? It means just what it says, do not let any man, who is what?—v 4: trying to “beguile you with enticing words”; v 8: trying to deceive you with “philosophy and the traditions of men.” So these were the men who were coming in and judging. What were they judging? Well, they were obviously judging their behavior. And as Gentiles, uncircumcised in the flesh, in keeping the things which are mentioned here, which come in the rest of the verse, they were astonished that these disciples, now following Christ, had given up their philosophy, had given up their way of pagan religion and were now following the laws and the commandments of God. And they were astonished that they were following the commands of eating and the commands of drinking, that they were keeping Holy Days, that they were calculating things by the new moon rather than by the sun, and that they were regularly keeping the Sabbath.

So we have to ask the question then, what does it say, what does v 16 not say? It does not say, do not keep, it does not say that. It does not say, therefore let no man keep eating and drinking, or a Holy Day or new moon or Sabbath day. It does not say that! It says: “Therefore, do not allow anyone to judge you…” And how are people judged? Well, people are judged by comparison. What were these evil men comparing their new behavior to, now that they were Christians and had forsaken the pagan way, what were they comparing their behavior to? Philosophy, the commandments of men.

Now, let’s go to another part of ‘A’—which then shows why we are to let no man do this. Let’s come to v 18, again: “Do not allow anyone...” Now notice we have v 4, we have v 8, we have v 16, now we have v 18: “Do not allow anyone to defraud you [or deceive you out] of the prize by doing his will in self-abasement… [and a voluntary humility then is taking the vows of asceticism; taking the philosophical—and we could almost say severe Buddhist way would be more like anything that we would understand today—in the pagan religion. And it says]: …by doing his will in self-abasement and the worship of angels, intruding into things that he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his own carnal mind.”

So you notice the comparison all the way through. Now let’s just finish these next verses and then we will go back and we will understand from v 15, 16 on and complete the second chapter. Now it says that if you are worshipping angels, which we will go into in a little detail here—v 19: “And not holding fast to the Head… [Who is the Head? Christ. So in other words, these were all the things:

  • which were taking them away from the calling of God,
  • away from the Truth of God,
  • away from the commandments of God,
  • away from the laws of God,

so that they would get involved in this philosophical, voluntary humility and the worshipping of angels. Now that is called the New Age movement today, where they have channelers, where they worship demon spirits. When you do that, you get your mind off of Christ.] …And not holding fast to the Head, from Whom all the body, being supplied and knit together by the joints and bands, is increasing with the increase of God. Therefore, if you have died together with Christ… [How are you dead with Christ? You are dead through baptism, you are buried with Him.] …if you have died together with Christ from the elements of the world… [Then which comes right back here to v 8, ‘the rudiments of the world’ are what? Philosophy and vain tradition of men.] …Therefore, if you have died together with Christ from the elements of the world, why are you subjecting yourselves to the decrees of men?” (vs 19-20).

Now let’s go back here to v 14: “He has blotted out… [That is the whole operation of Christ through baptism and your calling.] …blotted out the note of debt against us with the decrees of our sins, which was contrary to us… [What were those ordinances? Well, the ordinances, let’s come back to v 20: …why are you subjecting yourselves to the decrees of men as if you were living in the world?…. [Now here are the ordinances which cause sin, because they were contrary to the laws and commandments of God.] They say, ‘You may not handle! You may not taste! You may not touch!’…. [and then up here worshipping of angels.] (v 22): …The use of all such things leads to corruption… [which means they have no lasting, eternal value or function. Why?] …according to the commandments and doctrines of men” (vs 14, 20-22).

So the handwriting of ordinances were those things which were the commandments and doctrines and teachings of men, which established the pagan religion of philosophy—and from that they had been called. And from that operation of what is called, in philosophy, enlightenment—which we have in various religions: Masonry, Buddhism, Islamism, Catholicism; all of those are based on the philosophies of this world. And what happens is that, it is useless after you have done those things and they are useless before you even do them, because they have no lasting, eternal value, they have no standing before God, in Christ.

Verse 23: “Which indeed have an outward appearance of wisdom… [Again: ‘sophia’—from which we get philosophy.] …[They] have an outward appearance of wisdom… [they appear to be intelligent] …in voluntary worship [will-worship] of angels… [Now will-worship then are those mental things which make you smarter, which make you greater, which then gives you the will to walk on coals, to spike yourself with nails and all of this sort of thing. The punishment of the flesh, the voluntary humility in will-worship, where they take a vow of celibacy, where they go on pilgrimages or whatever it may be.] …and self-abasement, and unsparing treatment of the body, not in any respect to the satisfying of the needs of the flesh”—which means it does not stop. It does not control the carnal flesh and the drive of sin.

Now let’s come back to Colossians 2:16 and let’s analyze this one considerably more so we can understand what is going on here. “Therefore, do not allow anyone to judge you… [Which means that because you are doing what is listed, you are not to let any man judge you. What is the very first thing that happens, when you start following the Word of God and you change your eating habits so you don’t eat the foods that people normally in this world accept as good? What happens when you begin to refuse eating pork and sea foods and especially down there in the Gulf Coast, boy, that is the shrimp haven of the world, you know the oysters, the clams, the lobsters and all that sort of thing and you begin not eating those things? Why? Because God is the one Who says not to eat them.

Let’s go back to Leviticus 11 for just a minute here and let’s see what the Word of God says about these kinds of foods. Let’s change that to Deuteronomy 14, because that is the parallel account. Deuteronomy 14 was given just before they went into the “promised land” and in Leviticus 11, it covers many of the wild animals which they would encounter in their journey before they got to the “promised land” so it lists many of the wild animals there that are not necessarily listed [starting] in Deuteronomy 14:1: “You are the children of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead…. [Now what is that? That, brethren, is one of those religious, philosophical practices that the pagans did. And that’s exactly what Paul as referring to back here in Col. 2.] …For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God… [Now we are also called Holy people aren’t we? 1-Peter 2:9: ‘You’re a holy nation, you’re a holy people.’] …and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth” (vs 1-2). Now is that not true of us today? Yes, it is.

Now why are we not to eat any of these unclean animals? Because we are called, because we are Holy people. If you eat things that are unclean then you are defiling the body.

  • Does God want you to be ill? No.
  • Does God want you to be sick? No.
  • Does God want you to suffer ill health because of eating these things? No.

God did not create certain things to be eaten, as we will see. Verse 3: “You shall not eat any abominable things. These are the beasts which you shall eat… [This takes care of vegetarianism as a religious, ascetic way of living. Now some people have to be vegetarians because of their health or because they have cancer or because they can’t tolerate meat or whatever the condition may be. However, this is a command to eat meat.] …These are the beasts which you shall eat; the ox, the sheep, the goat, the hart, the roebuck, the fallow deer, the wild goat… [etc., all the way down.] (v 6): …every beast that parts the hoof and cleaves the cleft into two claws, and chews the cud among the beasts, shall you eat. Nevertheless these shall you not eat of them that chew the cud, and them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, the hare, the coney: for they chew the cud but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean to you. And the swine, because it divides the hoof; yet it chews not the cud, it is unclean to you: you shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcases” (vs 4-8). Then it shows what we are to eat of the waters, everything that has fins and scales, what we are to eat of the birds, etc.

Now then, when the brethren at Colossae turned from eating these wrong things and went to eating the things that are correct, they then were being judged. And this is a good substantiation that they were following the commandments of God concerning the eating of things, which were clean or not clean.

Now let’s come to 1-Timothy, the fourth chapter, and here is one of the places in the New Testament that people turn to, to try and show that it is okay to eat unclean things, but just like everything else that many religious people do, they have an idea in mind and they pick a verse right out of the middle of the context. So they come here [to] 1-Timothy 4:4-5: “For every creature of God designated for human consumption is good, and nothing to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving, Because it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.” So therefore, all you have to do is to make sure that your pork is refrigerated and that you cook it well—so it kills all the parasites, etc.—and then you can go ahead and eat it if you ask the blessing on it.

Now again let’s go back and look at this verse and we will see that one of the major, major difficulties we have with people concerning these verses is that they don’t really read the verses before or after and they don’t dig into it to find out what it really says. Now then, 1-Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit tells us explicitly that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the faith… [Now when you depart from the faith, what are you leaving?

  • You are leaving the Word of God.
  • You are leaving Christ.
  • You are leaving God the Father.

Correct? Yes, indeed. So] …some shall apostatize from the faith, and shall follow deceiving spirits… [Now isn’t that the same topic that we are talking about in Col. 2, in a voluntary worship of angels? Yes, it is.] …deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons… [Which are what? The traditions and philosophies of men after the rudiments of the world.] …Speaking lies in hypocrisy… [And boy, are we not seeing that on a vast scale even within the Church of God. And, of course, we are seeing it on a mammoth scale in the government, speaking lies in hypocrisy, the deliberateness of their deceit and the underlying subversive, socialist plan that they are bringing upon us as a nation is almost just unreal. So here are those things come from demons because they speak lies and hypocrisy. And then you come to a certain point when you speak lies so much and I think we all know one very famous man who seems to have this kind of conscience.] …their consciences having been cauterized with a hot iron…. [They no longer have any shame in telling lies and teaching the doctrine of demons, why it is just a wonderful, natural thing to do.

Now v 3 shows some of the problems they had at that time: “Forbidding to marry; and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving… [And we have the same thing today. What is one of the biggest problems that they have in the Catholic Church right now? An unmarried priesthood. And what is one of the problems that they have with the Buddhist religion? An unmarried priesthood. Which is based then on philosophy and ‘will-worship’ to the depriving of the flesh. All right, then the next one]: …to abstain [stop eating] from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, even by those who know the truth.”

Now let’s analyze this statement here in v 3 just a little bit: …which God created to be received… [So there were certain things which were] …created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, even by those who know the truth.” …Now what is truth? God’s Word is Truth. If you believe the Truth, which is God’s Word; and know the Truth, which is God’s Word; then you go back and you find out which animals God created to be received with thanksgiving. Right? Yes. Were there certain animals that God created not to be received with thanksgiving and not to be eaten? Yes, indeed! And He tells us which ones they are and which ones they aren’t.

Now, v 4: “For every creature of God designated for human consumption is good… [Now, that would be a contradiction in fact if it meant every creature which God ever created is good for food and nothing to be refused if it was received with thanksgiving.] (Now v 5 is another qualifier for v 4): …Because it is sanctified by the Word of God… [Which then is Truth. Which then is saying that every creature which God created to be eaten is good and nothing to be refused if it be]: …is received with thanksgiving, because it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.”

So the very verse that is used to show that it is all right to eat unclean meats—and by the way, I think that needs to hang on. I think that in other Churches of God we know of, that they are going to go to the allowance of eating unclean meats. I have already heard it and one of the reasons is that we have refrigerators. And so therefore, that makes the meat clean, it is all right to eat it. Well a refrigerator does not change a condition of creation. Just remember that.

Now let’s come back to Colossians 2:16 again: “Therefore, do not allow anyone to judge you in eating or in drinking… [And we could go through the Scriptures and see that the Bible allows the drinking of wine and occasionally strong drink, but it does not tolerate nor endorse drunkenness. Now much of the philosophical teachings that are in the various religions have to do, that they are not to drink at all, which is one of those things that people will do in the form of ‘will-worship’. So here they were drinking, obviously, wine with the feast that they were having and so forth.] …or with regard to a [Holy Day] festival…”

Now if they weren’t keeping these Holy Days, how could someone judge or criticize them? It would not be possible. Remember they had no exposure to the Holy Days. Paul never went into any synagogue in Colossae to preach. As a matter of fact, it is not even recorded that he ever even went there and so since Paul went to the Jews first and went to the synagogues first, he [Paul] probably did not go to those cities where there was not a synagogue. So therefore, this is another proof that this was a wholly Gentile congregation having never known the laws of God nor followed the ways of God. Now the Holy Days are all listed in Lev. 23. And the Holy Days teach us the things that we need to know of God. Now we will rehearse those in just a bit.

“…or new moon… [Rather than using a solar calendar, they were now using the new moon as the beginning of the month, and in particularly, we have today the Feast of Trumpets, which is the first day of the seventh month.] …or the Sabbaths…[In the Greek this is the Sabbaths, which is plural, which means a weekly, on-going keeping of the Sabbath] … Which are a foreshadow of the things that are coming…” (vs 16-17).

Now let’s review for just a minute and understand why the Holy Days and the Sabbaths and these other things are a ‘shadow of the coming things.’

  • What is one of the most important things, which is coming, in the whole history of the world? Well, it is going to be the Kingdom of God—correct?
  • What are they going to be eating and drinking in the Kingdom of God?
  • Do you think that God is going to allow the eating of unclean foods in the Kingdom of God?
  • Do you think that God is going to institute Sunday worship, which is breaking and violating the Sabbath?
  • Do you think that God is going to carry forward with Christmas and Easter and New Year’s, which are all based on lies? NO!

Let’s go back to Isaiah 66; let’s look at a prophecy here—the very last part of the last chapter of the book of Isaiah—which brings us into what the Millennium is going to be. And also, it has to do with the Church, as we will see. Isaiah 66:15: “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire… [That is His second return.] …and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render in his anger with fury, and his rebukes with flames of fire. For by fire, and by His sword, will the Lord plead with all flesh… [You tie that in with all of the prophecies in the book of Revelation and the other prophecies in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and so forth.] …and the slain of the Lord shall be many. And they that sanctify themselves…” (vs 15-17). Which is by what? By worldly, earthly philosophies and religions.

Now hold your place right here and let’s go to the book of Ezekiel 8 for just a minute and we will see some of the things that were done, the practices that the children of Israel did concerning all of their abominations, which they were doing, which they were committing against God, which were all based in pagan religions, which then is pagan philosophy, because pagan religion is pagan philosophy.

Ezekiel 8:5: “Then said He to me, ‘Son of man, lift up your eyes now in the way toward the north.’ So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and, behold, northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy at the entry…. [Now this was a pagan image, which was placed right in front of the temple of God and this is called the image of jealousy.] …He said furthermore unto me, ‘Son of man, do you see what they do? Even the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? And turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations’” (vs 5-6).

Question: Where do these abominations come from? Who is the mother of all of these abominations? In Revelation 17 it is “Babylon the Great, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth”—and this is the practicing of the Babylonian religion right in the temple of God. Now are we seeing that happening again in one of the Churches of God? Absolutely.

Come over here to the last sentence in Ezekiel 8:14: “…and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz.” [Which was what? One of the gods of the Babylonians—because every abomination in religion and all the religions of the world, which are not of God, come from there, come from Babylon. And we are going to see with the amalgamation of all these religions of the world, Babylon the Great, come back home together again.

Back to Ezekiel 8:6—and He said, “Even the great abominations that the house of Israel committed here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But turn you yet again, and I will show you greater abominations. And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall.’ Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I digged in the wall, behold, a door’…. [A secret entrance.] …And He said to me, ‘Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here.’ So I went in and saw; and, behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up” (vs 6-11).

Question: Who were the seventy of the ancients of Israel? That was likened unto what we would call the Congress today. Do those in the Congress have their secret organizations to which they belong? Yes, indeed. Do they have their secret little religious practices that they practice? Yes, they do. This is exactly what it is talking about. This is all based on the philosophy, which takes men and people away from God to worship Satan.

Verse 12: “Then He said unto me, ‘Son of man, have you seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery?’…. [Well, let’s see, we have Masonic temples, we have Knights of Columbus temples, and we have Odd Fellow temples, and we have Elks, and we have the Moose and whatever we have, those are all included in what is discussed here in Ezekiel 8.] …Then He said, ‘Turn yet again, and you shall see greater abominations that they do.’ Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house which was toward the north; and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz…. [Right there, weeping for the Babylonian goddess Tammuz, right in the house of God! What do they always say; ‘Oh, we are delivered to do this.’] …Then He said unto me, ‘Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these.’ And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of God, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east” (vs 12-16).

So there you have it, loud and clear, right? Are there men in high places that are causing people to turn back from God to worshipping those pagan deities, which come down to sun worship? What do they do on Easter sunrise services on top of a high hill or in front of their churches? Do they not bow down and worship the sun toward the east?

“Then He said unto me, ‘Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations, which they commit here: for they have filled the land with violence, and returned to provoke Me to anger…. [And do we not have our land filled with violence, today? Is not God provoked to anger?] …And lo, they put the branch to their nose…. [That is sniffing at their own pagan religion and the branch, we just need to be very frank about it, is a phallic symbol. And that is what they are doing with their religion.] …Therefore will I also deal in fury: My eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them’” (vs 17-18).

(go to the next track)

Now let’s come back to Isaiah 66 and let’s see some of the other practices that they were doing. This is why Christ is going to come in fury, this is why Christ is going to come in power because Satan is going to have deceived the whole world. He’s going to control the whole world. He is going to lead the whole world, except those that have the Spirit of God, in rebellion against God and to fight God to destroy as many human beings as he can and hopefully to destroy God.

Now Isaiah 66:17—so God says He is going to come with fire and his sword and so forth: “They that sanctify and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst…. [This is, brethren, no less than the eco-freak movement of today, where trees are counted as having spirits and they go to the grove. And that’s where the academy of Plato originated, in the groves, where he talked to the demons. Philosophy. And what do they do?] …eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse… [So they’re eating all these unclean things. In many places, mice are considered a delicacy. As a matter of fact, in Thailand, after they have the harvest of the rice then they drain the fields and they gather all the rats, heap them into a big pile and they have a deep fried rat fest. They do! They do!] …For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory” (vs 17-18).

Then it shows that He is going to bring all of them. Now when God reforms the world, what is He going to do? Verse 23: “And it shall come to pass… [Here’s the reformation of the thing which is coming in the Kingdom of God.] …‘And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me,’ says the Lord.” There you go. Now, the reason we keep these things is because they are a foreshadowing of the events, which are coming.

Now let’s review, just a little bit, concerning the Sabbath and the Holy Days, etc. Let’s do it this way:

  • we will have past, which is Israel,
  • we will have present, which is the Church
  • we will have future, which is the Kingdom of God when Christ returns.

Passover

  • Past: For Israel. It pictured what? The passing over of the houses of the children of Israel when they were in Egypt, when God killed the firstborn of the land of Egypt.
  • Present: the Passover Lamb of God, the crucifixion of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and the passing over of our sins.
  • Future: For the Kingdom of God, when salvation, through the sacrifice of Christ will be granted to all nations and the sacrifice of Christ will be applied to all nations at that time.

Feast of Unleavened Bread:

  • Past: House of Israel, in the coming out of Egypt and leaving the bondage of slavery in Egypt.
  • Present: For the Church, coming out of sin, coming out of the ways of sin, because a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.
  • Future: When the world system will be changed so that there will no longer be a sinful civilization.

Wave Sheaf Offering Day, which is on the day after the regular Sabbath, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

  • Past, for Israel, it pictured the beginning of the harvest of the firstfruits.
  • Present, it pictures the resurrection and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior to appear before God the Father in heaven above for us.
  • Future, it pictures the opening of salvation to all people in the world.

Pentecost:

  • Past: to Israel, pictured the receiving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai.
  • For the New Testament
  • Present: Church—It pictured and still pictures the giving of the Holy Spirit for salvation to all people in general through repentance and baptism (Acts 2).
  • Future: It pictures when God is going to save the whole world by giving His Holy Spirit available to everyone in the world.

Feast of Trumpets for Israel:

  • Past: When they completely conquered the land through their warfare, overcame and inherited the promised land.
  • Present: the Feast of Trumpets pictures the birth of Christ.
  • Future: It pictures the return of Jesus Christ in the power and the authority of God Almighty and in the future it also pictures when the Government of God is going to rule over all the earth.

Day of Atonement:

  • Past: for Israel, the Day of Atonement pictured when all of their sins were forgiven, officially at the sanctuary and God would then deal with them again through the next year in spite of the carnality of their flesh.
  • Present: the Day of Atonement pictures that Jesus Christ has conquered and overcome Satan the devil, that He has carried our sins and that Satan the devil has been conquered through Christ.
  • Future: It pictures when the world will be at one with God and Satan the devil will be removed and will be bound. Now, let’s come back to the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles pictures for Israel:

  • Past: When they went into the promised land, when they had all of plenty, when the golden age of Solomon was in effect.
  • Present: It pictures that we are strangers and sojourners just as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that we are looking for the Kingdom which comes from God and that we are following God right now. It also pictures for Christ, when He lived or tabernacled among men on the earth.
  • Future: It pictures the millennial reign of Christ when the universal salvation will be granted to all of those who choose and accept it.

Last Great Day:

  • Past: The Last Great Day for the children of Israel pictured, when they had a great feast toward God because it ended living in booths.
  • Present: It pictures the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit and really there is not too much of a present time fulfillment for the Last Great Day today that is more totally into the future.
  • Future: It pictures the second resurrection, and the opportunity of salvation for all those who never had an opportunity for salvation, while they lived a first, physical life.

Now that is a very, quick summary of the foreshadowing and the meaning of the Holy Days and the Sabbath. We can go back and let’s picture the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created by God as a day of fellowship, week in and week out, with His people. All the way through the Old Testament, the Sabbath was a sign of His people. Then of course, that also means the Holy Days Exo. 31:13. The Sabbath today pictures that we are entering into the spiritual rest of Christ every week. It pictures that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath and it pictures that we are to be keeping the Sabbath, week-by-week. In the future, the Sabbath also pictures the millennial reign of Christ. So all of these things are a shadow or a foreshadow of the coming events in the plan of God. Now that is why Satan wants to deceive us with philosophy and keep us from understanding those things by substituting his deceitful way for the Truth of God.

Let’s come back to Colossians 2:16 again. Now this will make far more sense when we read it again. “Therefore, do not allow anyone to judge you in eating or in drinking, or with regard to a festival, or new moon, or the Sabbaths, Which are a foreshadow of the things that are coming, but the body [is (KJV)] of Christ” (vs 16-17). Now that is a little difficult verse there, because the translators of the King James inserted in italics the little verb ‘is’ which is meant to help clarify the topic, but in helping clarify the topic, they actually confuse it and it actually has this meaning: Which are a shadow of things to come but the body of Christ, let that body judge you in observing these things instead of a man. Now that is one meaning of it. Another meaning is that: The reality of keeping these things which are foreshadows are found in the body of Christ, which is the Church. And the second one is probably the more proper understanding of v 17. These things are a foreshadowing, an advance sign of the things which are coming.

Let me read this in the Amplified Version. Let’s pick it up here in v 16 and then we’ll go on and we’ll analyze the rest of the verses and hopefully we will be done with the second chapter of Colossians today. Here is what I have written in the Amplified Version bringing to bear all of the Scriptures of the Bible and the Bible understanding to the verses to help give us a broader understanding.

Colossians 2:16: “Consequently, in the light of (all that has been written up to this point)… [and that is what the word ‘therefore’ means, and in King James it says: ‘let no man therefore’—but it should really be ‘therefore, let no man’] …Consequently, in the light of (all that has been written up to this point), do not let anyone judge you… [Now ‘judge’ has this meaning; calling you into account, or assuming censorial power over you] …in your eating or your drinking, or in regard to, or on account of your observance of a festival…[which is what it means in the Greek] …or a new moon, or the Sabbaths.” It is plural in the Greek, and when it is done that way in the plural it means an ongoing practice—the Sabbaths, on a regular basis.

Verse 17: “Which are a foreshadowing and an advance sign of the things which are coming, (actually a foretaste of the coming events in God’s plan); but (the meaning and reality of observing these things is found) in the body of Christ, which is the Church.” Now, I hope that through all of this that you really understand these verses because vs 16 & 17 coupled with vs 13 & 14 are perhaps the most difficult verses of all that Paul has written. And you can’t understand those unless you fully realize, as Paul was writing, that you are complete in Christ. Christ in you is the hope of glory, that you’re to be rooted and built up and established in Him, as you have been taught, and you are to avoid and beware of the deceptions of men, which bring you into the bondage of their demonic religions.

Now we are ready for v 18—again we have the same situation: “Let no man… [that is: do not allow anyone] …to beguile you or deceive you of your reward.” Now that’s a very interesting statement, isn’t it?

Let’s go to 1-Corinthians, the third chapter, and let’s see what he is talking about here. This talks about how we live our Christian lives, what we build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and so forth. This is the thing that is important, this is what Paul is talking about with Christ and salvation and everything that we are concerning here in Col. 2. 1-Corinthians 3:11: “For no one is able to lay any other foundation besides that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Since Christ died for our sins, rose and is at the right hand of God; since our salvation is in Him and through Him; and since Christ is in us, the hope of glory, there is no other foundation that can be laid. You cannot go back and substitute it for your own will, which is will-worship. You cannot go back and substitute it with philosophy. You cannot go back and substitute the revelation of God the Father and Jesus Christ for the doctrine of the trinity.

“For no one is able to lay any other foundation besides that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds upon this foundation… [Now if you are going to build upon the foundation of Christ, how are you going to do it? You are going to do it by the will and by the Word of God, with His Holy Spirit. Now then he likens what you could say six classifications of Christians and their works.] …Now if anyone builds upon this foundation gold… [which is the finest character as typified by fine gold.] …silver… [which then is the next most precious metal.] …precious stones… [and notice these three: gold, silver and precious stones all survive trial by fire. And as a matter of fact, gold, silver and precious stones are made better because of trial by fire. But notice the next three]: …wood, hay a or stubble…. [Now what happens to wood, hay and stubble when the fire comes? It burns up.] (v 13): …The work of each one shall be manifested; for the day of trial will declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall prove what kind of work each one’s is. If the work that anyone has built endures, he shall receive a reward” (vs 11-14). Now our works do not save us, but our works in Christ—whether it is gold, silver or precious stone—bring us a reward.

Now tie that in with Matthew 25 where it talks about what is given to those who develop with the talents that God gave them, and that is their reward. So he is saying here about the reward, now notice v 15: “If the work of anyone is burned up… [burned up in the way of wood, hay and stubble, the three inferior kinds of Christian character.] …he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet as through fire.” Now this doesn’t guarantee salvation because you have to tie that in with Matthew 25, if you go so far that you even burn up the foundation that you have because you leave it for philosophy or the worshiping of angels, then you yourself will not be saved. But he is saying that if you build on this foundation even though it is kind of crumby and it is filled with wood, hay or stubble, if your heart is right you’re still going to make it, but you aren’t going to have much of a reward.

So back here in Colossians 2:18 he says: “Do not allow anyone to [beguile] defraud you of the prize… [Now let’s see how they do it] …by doing his will in self-abasement [voluntary humility]… [which includes all the do’s and don’ts of men. It has to do with all of the rigorous, disciplinary things that men would enforce in a physical way upon people. And all you have to do is look at some of the Eastern, philosophical religions and you have the whole understanding of that.] …and the worship of angels…”—now these angels are not the angels of God, these are the demonic angels.

Let’s go back to Revelation 19. If a spirit comes and says worship me, you know it is not a Spirit from God, you know if a spirit comes and says; ‘I am an angel from God, worship me’—you know it is not from God. That’s how we know that the whole Mormon religion is not correct, because it is based upon the angel, Maroni; and the angel, Maroni, was the one who was Jesus Christ and became an angel. Now if you want a real twisted conglomeration and amalgamation and combination of philosophy with so called biblical sounding things, try Mormonism.

Now let’s pick it up here in Revelation 19:10—and this was after the angel gave him the vision here: “Then I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, ‘See that you do not do this!… [This was the angel that brought the message.] …See that you do not do this! I am a fellow servant of yours, and of your brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God... [not angels] …For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’”

Now let’s come here to Revelation 22:8—and let’s see the same thing again; and after John saw all these this vision, boy what a tremendous thing it was: “Now I, John, was the one who saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who was showing me these things. But he said to me, ‘See that you do not do this! For I am a fellow servant of yours, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God’” (vs 8-9). So any angel that comes along and says ‘worship me,’ is not of God, it is of Satan the devil.

Now let’s go to Revelation 12:9 and we will Satan does have his angels which, because of their fall, are now called unclean or demon spirit. “And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent who is called the Devil and Satan, who is deceiving the whole world… [that means actively doing it now] …he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.”

Now let’s go to Matthew 25—because those are the angels that want to be worshiped. Any true angel of God would direct you exactly as the angel from God directed the Apostle John there as we saw back in the book of Revelation. Matthew 25:41: “Then shall He also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels’”

Now let’s go to Matthew 4:8, and let’s see that Satan wants to be worshipped as God and even wanted Jesus Christ to worship him. “After that, the devil took Him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, And said to Him, ‘All these things will I give You, if You will fall down and worship me’” (vs 8-9). So Satan and his demonic angels want to be worshiped and one of the surest ways of losing your salvation and losing your reward is to worship angels. Now angel worship is always connected with philosophy. They even have it in the mail order books today. It is called the Rosicrucian’s, where you get their little prayer book and go into your bedroom and make it dark and you set up these candles and you go through the stages of Rosicrucian enlightenment, which brethren is no more than the old ancient Egyptian religion.

Now let’s come back to Colossians 2:18: “Do not allow anyone to defraud you of the prize by doing his will in self-abasement and the worship of angels, intruding into things that he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his own carnal mind… [And I will tell you one thing that is for sure, every time someone is involved in this kind of overt, active, spirit worship of angels and following of Satan, they get all lifted up in their vanity and they think they are greater than anyone, they have greater intelligence than any one. We are not to do that, because]: …And not holding fast to the Head, from Whom all the body, being supplied and knit together by the joints and bands, is increasing with the increase of God” (vs 18-19).

Now again we come back to ‘A’, v 20: “Therefore, if you have died together with Christ from the elements of the world… [That again is ‘A’—referring to God. How are you dead with Christ? By baptism, you die to the world.] …if you have died together with Christ from the elements of the world... [Going back and living and becoming part and parcel of the world. And is that not what one of the larger denominations of the Church of God wants to do, and is that not where it is heading? Yes, it is! And they are going to head right back into accepting all of the basic demonic philosophies of religion and that church will not be a Church of God, except in name only.] … why are you subjecting yourselves to the decrees of men as if you were living in the world?…. [which then are the ordinances of the pagan, philosophical, demonic, angel worshipping, asceticism, which was the former religion of those in Colossae.] …The use of all such things leads to corruption, according to the commandments and doctrines of men…” (vs 20, 22). [Not after the commandments and doctrines of God. Where, in the Bible, at any time, does it ever show that the commandments and doctrines of God are not to be followed? It does not. So therefore, these verses cannot, nor will they ever mean that the commandments and statutes and laws of God have been done away. As a matter of fact, I need to do a sermon on this, I will show that the laws and commandments of God transcend and follow through every covenant of the Bible. So if you want something to study on, go ahead and study on that and think on that.

Now what I want to do is just go ahead and read this in the Amplified and then I will go back and I will summarize the things which make us complete in Christ and the things we are to beware of and then we will have finished Colossians the second chapter.

Colossians 2:18: “Do not permit or allow anyone to rob, defraud or cheat you out of the prize or the reward (of the calling of God), by doing his will, the one who is wishing and desiring to get you involved in self-imposed humiliation and self-mortification, even wanting to get you involved in that religious system of philosophy, which is worshipping angels (those wicked, rebellious, hostile angels who fell with Satan, and who are now demons), intruding into and getting involved in things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up in his mind and rashly strutting in the vanity of self—in the fantasy of his own fleshly mind. And in following these practices they are holding fast or keeping their eyes on the Head (Who is Christ Jesus), from Whom the entire body [the Church], through the spiritual joints and ligaments which binds all together, are being nourished and spiritually supplied and knit together, even interwoven in Christ, and is increasing and growing with the increase and growth that comes from God (and not from the philosophies of men). Now then, consider this: If you died together with Christ (through the operation of baptism, and the spiritual circumcision of your hearts and minds) from the elements and rudiments of the world (those evil, demonic, supernatural, spiritual forces, which are driving, motivation and controlling this society), why then, as if living in the world (as if you are part and parcel of the society) are you voluntarily submitting to and subjecting yourselves to the decrees and dogmas, even the ordinances and statutes (of the philosophy of demon worship)? Such as: you may not handle. Abstain—you are not allowed to have sexual intercourse (as God intended); You may not taste—you are not allowed to partake [as God intended]; You may not touch—the superstitions of forbidden objects. All these things (these absurd, inane and foolishly imposed restrictions of men) fall into spiritual corruption and destruction by their very use according to the commandments and injunctions which are the doctrines and teachings of men, which things indeed have a superficial appearance and a skin-deep veneer of wisdom in the ritual of voluntary worship (of fallen angels) and the will-worship of self-imposed humiliation and self-mortification, even the unsparing, rigorous treatment and non-indulgence of the body—(are against what God intended); and in no way will this kind of strict, torturous regimen provide an honorable satisfaction of, or the control of the (lusts of the) flesh” (vs 18-23).

Now I am going to take this from the article that I wrote, You are Complete in Christ and toward the back of it we have a summary of all the things, which make us complete in Christ. We have also, all the things, which take us away from the completeness of Christ. So I am going to have this in my final print out that I have for the book, which I am going to do for these three epistles. So what I am going to do is just draw your attention to, and please go back and review, starting with the things, which take us away from the completeness in Christ. Now all of these are out of Colossians, chapter two.

So here are the things, which take us away from Christ:

1.     Persuasive, deceitful words.

2.     Philosophy and empty deceit.

3.     Traditions of men.

4.     Elements of the world.

5.     Allowing anyone to judge you in your Christian behavior and obedience to Christ.

6.     Doing the will of men.

7.     Humility, self-imposed pseudo humility.

8.     Voluntary worship of angels or demons.

9.     Intruding into those things, which he has not seen.

10.  Puffed up, vainly puffed up by the mind of flesh.

11.  Not holding fast the Head, which is Christ.

12.  Living to the world.

13.  Subjecting yourself to the decrees, doctrines and commandments of men.

So there are thirteen things, which take you away from Christ, and if you are superstitious in numbers, thirteen is bad.

Now the things, which make us complete in Christ:

1.     The full assurance in understanding. Full assurance means the completeness, the fullness.

2.     The knowledge of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ.

3.     In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom. Sophia, knowledge and gnosis and they are hidden in Christ and God the Father.

4.     The steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

5.     As you have received Christ, walk in Him.

6.     Having been rooted and are being built up in Him.

7.     Being confirmed in the faith as taught, which then means the full teachings of the New Testament as taught by the apostles and preserved for us.

8.     Circumcised with the circumcision of Christ.

9.     Putting off the body of the sins of the flesh.

10.  Buried with Him in baptism, the death of baptism.

11.  Raised with Him through the workings of God.

12.  Dead to your sins.

13.  Made alive with Christ.

14.  Forgiven all your trespasses.

15.  Blotting out the handwriting of the note of our sins.

16.  Nailed all of our sins to the cross.

17.  Stripped away the power from the principalities and authorities of the demonic spirits over Christians.

18.  Publicly triumphed over them in it, that is the crucifixion.

19.  Eating and drinking in accordance with the commands of God rather than the traditions and commands of men.

20.  The observance of the festivals, which are the annual Holy Days of God.

21.  The observance of the new moons in particular, the meaning of the use of the Hebrew calendar as the standard of time, rather than the pagan calendar of Rome.

22.  The observance of the Sabbaths, which means the weekly keeping of the Sabbaths on an on-going basis.

So we have finished Colossians, the second chapter, which leads us up to what we are going to learn in chapter three but the thing that is so important and vital in this, brethren, is that whenever you come to difficult Scriptures—such as we have here in Colossians 2—this is how we are to study them and take them apart bit by bit, but keep the whole vision of what God is giving us to do. So I hope not only, has this been helpful and beneficial for you but that it has been helpful and beneficial in showing you how to properly study the Bible and tackle some of these most difficult Scriptures. 

All Scriptures in New Testament from The N.T. in its Original Order, A Faithful Version

·   Exception: Colossians: Expanded Amplified Version

Old Testament Scriptures: King James Version

Scriptural References:

1)    Colossians 2:2-16, 18-23

2)    Deuteronomy 14:1-8

3)    1 Timothy 4:1-5

4)    Colossians 2:16-18

5)    Isaiah 66:15-17

6)    Ezekiel 8:5-6, 14, 6-18

7)    Ezekiel 8:6-18

8)    Isaiah 66:17-18, 23

9)    Colossians 2:16-18

10) 1 Corinthians 3:11-15

11) Colossians 2:18

12) Revelation 19:10

13) Revelation 22:8-9

14) Revelation 12:9

15) Matthew 25:41

16) Matthew 4:8-9

17) Colossians 2:18-23

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

  • Leviticus 11
  • 1 Peter 2:9
  • Leviticus 23
  • Revelation 17
  • Acts 2
  • Exodus 31:13
  • Matthew 25

Also referenced:

  • Article: You Are Complete in Christ by Fred R. Coulter

Reformatted: 3-20-09 (bo)