Just as new heavens and a new earth have been promised, rendering it impossible to claim that ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away’ (Matt. 24:35), and as ‘the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and the earth shall be made desolate through incorruption’ (Rev. 6), so shall there be a new people of God. As Scripture says, ‘The old things passed away; behold, all things have become new’ (2 Cor. 5:17); (Is. 43:18-19). Elsewhere, it is said, ‘Whosoever is in Christ is a new creation’ (2 Cor. 5:17). Furthermore, there will be a new nation, for Christ is the beginning, followed by those who belong to Him at His return (1 Cor. 15:23). This refers to the new heavens and new earth, of which the beatitudes proclaim, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matt. 5:3-5). The entirety of creation has now surrendered to futility, awaiting redemption, as stated in Romans 8. Yet they will be freed from the bondage of decay, entering into the glory of the children of God, who shall be recognized as His sons and will stand forever before Him, their name preserved eternally, so that no other nation may replace them, as happened with the Jews.
He declares that there shall be a month of months and a Sabbath of Sabbaths, pointing toward a spiritual Sabbath emerging from the physical observances. This Sabbath is set apart for God's people, and there will be a spiritual month, when the moon, from beginning to end, will be full in its rhythm, marking a new month, which the Greeks refer to as νεοχηνίαι, indicating the start of a new month. The Greeks associate the calendar not to the solar cycle but to the lunar phases. This is the moon praised in the reflection on the true Solomon, ‘And it shall be with the sun, and before the moon of generations’ (Psalm 71:5). As depicted in the Song of Songs, it is the chosen, radiant as the dawn, fair as the moon, and remarkable as the sun (Song of Songs 6:9). Scholars studying the heavens note that the moon possesses no light of its own but shines with the sun's illumination. The side of the moon nearest to the sun remains ever full, casting no shadow from the earth, as the poet suggested: ‘And also its moon rises, borrowing its light from its brother.’ If this holds true, it could be said that the Church, enduring worldly trials and darkness, receives light anew from the Sun of righteousness, which reflects the statement, ‘And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun’ (Isaiah 30:26). The righteous, as inhabitants, will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. In these months, the restored seed of David attends the holy festivals, of which the holy one declared, ‘I have thought of eternal summers, and have learnt’ (Ps. 76:6).
We have thoroughly examined the Sabbath, which symbolizes rest, in the context of the coming of the eunuchs. Briefly, they will gather during the New Months and Sabbaths, hastening toward the seventh day, the Sabbath of true rest, succeeding the six days of creation. Regarding these celebrations, the Apostle Paul admonishes believers, affirming, ‘He who is a son is the law of the benefits to come’ (Hebrews 10:1). He also warns, ‘Let no man judge you regarding food or drink, or regarding festival days, new months, or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come’ (Col. 2:16). Therefore, if these were merely a prefiguration, so too must the entirety of the law be understood in a spiritual light, as indicated by the same apostle: ‘We are aware that the law is spiritual’ (Rom. 7:14). Even King David desired to grasp these mysteries, stating, ‘Open my eyes, and I will behold wondrous things from Your law’ (Ps. 118:18). The seen is temporary, while the unseen is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).
A brief overview cannot cover all aspects at present. For if ‘eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him’ (1 Cor. 9), how can we hope to encapsulate the entirety of the law as a reflection of the whole creation on a small tablet? When it is said, ‘All flesh shall come to worship before My face,’ it should be noted in Hebrew it reads not ‘in Jerusalem’ to challenge Jewish presumption, but rather ‘before My face’ to fulfill the Lord's proclamation in the Gospel: ‘The hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father’ (John 4:21). Furthermore, ‘God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth’ (John 4:24), as indicated by the Apostle: ‘In every place, I want the men to pray, lifting up holy hands’ (1 Tim. 2:8). ‘All flesh’ signifies not merely the Jewish people but all humanity, as presented in Scripture: ‘All flesh shall see the salvation of God’ (Is. 40:5). It is similarly stated in Joel: ‘I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy’ (Joel 2:28), and in Zechariah: ‘Let all flesh be silent before the Lord’ (Zech. 2:13). The psalmist further proclaims: ‘To You all flesh shall come’ (Ps. 64:2). In another psalm, it is asserted, ‘All the nations You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and glorify Your name’ (Ps. 85:9).
The phrase ‘the month of the month and the Sabbath of the Sabbath,’ wherein all flesh will worship God, is misinterpreted by the millenarians, who assert that those nearby will bestow their presence in Jerusalem every Sabbath; those at a distance will come each month, and those farthest will arrive yearly during the Passover or Feast of Tabernacles, as Zechariah declares: ‘They shall come up every year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles’ (Zechariah 14:16). Laughably, they interpret the concluding words of that same prophet, ‘And there shall be no longer a trader in the house of the Lord of Hosts’ (Zechariah 14:21), to mean that merchants will vanish in a thousand years because all will be born everywhere, leading to an end to commerce, particularly with the regions far off.
THEOSIS