Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you

 

Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you

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(Galatians 4:8-11)『Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.』

To become a slave again means to keep the elementary education (the law of Moses). It refers to the observance of the days, months, festivals, and years of the law. Of course, it will include other things in the law. The act of keeping elementary education (the law) makes the meaning of Jesus Christ's death on the cross in vain. In Proverbs 26:11, “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.”

They say that they have escaped from the law and have entered grace, and keeping the law again is like a dog's foolish behavior. In 2 Peter 2:22, the apostle Peter made the same expression. 『But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her her wallowing in the mire.

This is what Peter said to the false teachers. In 2:20, “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.”To be entangled is to be bound by the law again.

Israel, under the rule of Pharaoh, was in affliction, and they cried out to God. In Exodus 2:23, “And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.”God called Moses and said, In Exodus 3:7, “And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 3:9-10, “Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.”

Thus, through the Passover Lamb, the people of Israel were brought out of Egypt. And they witnessed the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea. However, when they entered the wilderness, when the people ran out of food, they longed for Egypt and expressed their dissatisfaction with the content of Exodus 16:3. However, God gave them delicious food from heaven. When the people arrived at Mount Sinai and went in to receive the tablets of the covenant from God, Moses did not return after 40 days, so the people made a golden calf idol.

In Exodus 32:1, “when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. Stephen spoke of this in Acts 7:39-40: “To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, 40 Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. It means that the hearts of the people were turning to Egypt. So, in Exodus 32:28, “And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.”

And before the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, 12 spies were selected, one from each tribe, and entered into Canaan to spy out. Forty days later, the ten spies reported, "If we enter Canaan, we will die." Joshua and Caleb said, "If you enter, you can possess the promised land." But all the people believed the words of the ten spies and wept. In Numbers 14:1-4, “all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.And all the children of Israel murmuring against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

The hearts of the people were still Egypt. The people cried out to God for labor and delivered them out of Egypt, but they are about to return to Egypt. Out of about 2 million, all but two are going back to Egypt. As the people were about to strike Moses and Aaron with stones, God appeared and said in Numbers 14:23-24. 『Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land wherein to he went; and his seed his shall possess it. Moses asked God to spare the people, so God allowed all the people who came out of Egypt (the old people) to die in the wilderness, and only children and those born in the wilderness (Saeraam) were allowed to enter Canaan. So, all the people (except children) who left Egypt died in the wilderness for 40 years.

Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant, the Law, and gave freedom to the people, but the Israelites said they would keep the Law. Even today, believers have heard the gospel by grace in the church and have been set free in Christ, and they bring the law back. This is like the Israelites in the past looking back to Egypt. You have died to the world in Christ, and you are looking back at the world. You have died about the law, but you are looking back to the law again. This is what it means to remember Lot's wife. Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.

Also in Luke 9:62, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Looking back means they put their minds to the world. Those who have been set free by the gospel are like those who want to return to the law. Those who wish to return to the law are again locked up in sin. The free man wants to go back to the prison of the law