Five Miles to Hooterville
In the 1980s my wife and I lived in Mexico with our three small children. Due to visa regulations we were required to leave Mexico for about 72 hours every 6 months. After one trip to exit Mexico, we found ourselves in west Texas. This was before the days of Google Maps on our cell phones. (Long before cell phones, too.) I had used an atlas to show me how to take what I thought would be a shortcut.
I found myself driving our gas hungry van in a desolate area. There were no towns in sight. There were no signs at all. I had no clue to where I was. I had three small children in the van, which was getting low on gas. The roadway was hardly wide enough for two lanes which made me think that this road possibly led to nowhere at all.
Flashback
[I remember our first trip a couple years earlier to the Rio Grande Valley, on the border of Texas and Mexico. We drove our Dodge Omni from Minnesota. The national speed limit in those days was just 55 mph. It was such a long trip to the northern Texas border. When we saw the sign on I-35 welcoming us to Texas, all five of us in the little car cheered. “We're here! We're here!”
Three days later.......
Three days later we finally arrived at the Mexico border. I was so tired I could barely function. I had no idea that Texas was so huge. And so empty. It felt like there were thousands of miles of flat nothing.]
Fast Forward
Fast forward to my story again. I had no idea where we were. Our van was nearly out of gas; below E on the gauge. All of us were so thirsty. It was so hot. We did not dare use the air conditioning. It would take a little extra gas that we could not spare. I didn't know if I should go back the way I came or continue on. There are no sign of civilization in any direction. I could not see any road sign. I was now driving about 25 mph to try to save our remaining gas, if any. I expected the van to quit running at any time. I expected to get out of the van and be greeted by flocks of vultures. My dear children did not deserve such a brutal end to their little lives.
Suddenly, I thought I saw something that snapped me out of my negative end of life imaginations. It looked like there was “something” ahead a ways by the side of the road. At 25 miles per hour I didn't think we would ever get close enough to see what it was. Finally, I thought it was a sign. Yes, it was a road sign. I still could not read it, though. A little ways further and I could almost see it. Yes!
Hooterville 5 mi
(I seriously cannot remember the actual name of that little town.) Everyone cheered. I think I was almost in tears to see an indication of possible rescue from our desperate situation. I hoped this small town had a gas station.
In fact, there were two gas stations. I felt a relief that you cannot imagine. My children did not have their little carcasses eaten by vultures. What rejoicing! I filled the van with gas. We were able to get some water. Do you know what I did next?
I got everyone back in the van and we headed back out to the sign. I drove the 5 miles in reverse, of course. We parked in the ditch next to the road sign that saved our lives. We built a shrine next to the it with a big banner that read Worship the Sign with Us that Brings Salvation. We still live there in that same ditch to this day.
??
I hope everyone realizes that last paragraph was not serious. However, our situation was very serious. I have never been so glad to see a road sign. That little sign told us that help was not far away. It told us that our concern was almost over. I cannot express how much I was thankful to God for that little sign by the side of the road.
The reality is that after I filled up the van with gas, we kept going in the same direction as before. I never saw that sign again. And I do not intend to ever see it again. It served its purpose. I was very glad for it. But I did not ever think to go back and kiss it.
Wouldn't it have been foolish if I had gone back and parked by the road sign that told us of the upcoming civilization? We do not really ever do that today, do we?
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. (Col 2:16-17)
Suppose you see a person's shadow coming around the corner of a building. If the position of everything is just so, you can see the shadow coming before you can see the person causing the shadow. Wouldn't it be foolish to fall on the ground and kiss the shadow while ignoring the person?
Suppose you had a good friend with a blue pickup truck. A blue pickup pulls into your driveway. Wouldn't it be odd if you ran to embrace the hood of the truck and ignored the person?
Wouldn't it be curious if you (as a Gentile who did not grow up with the Mosaic law) religiously observed the sabbath, yet ignored what Christ accomplished in His work, providing a rest before God.
The Israelites were told that the sabbath was a covenant and a sign (Ex 31:16-17). This sign points to Messiah. It was observed for literally centuries, pointing to Christ Who was to come. Until then, the sign of the covenant was kept prominent. God considered this a very serious thing. Failing to observe the sabbath involved the death penalty. Why? Because it was a sign pointing to Christ. When the body came (Jesus), that was casting this shadow or sign, the sign was to be displaced by the long awaited reality. To worship the sign AND ignore the reality that it pointed to, is unthinkable.
Sabbaths pointed weekly to the work of Christ and what He would accomplish. Feast days were annual reminders of the things God was going to do when the right time came. Moses, Joshua, David, and others were types of Christ Who was to come. The tabernacle, the temple and the sacrifices were like signs that spoke of the mighty work that God promised He would perform.
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Gal 4:4)
When the right time came, God sent Christ. Until that time, the Law of Moses kept the signs alive by this unique nation, Israel.
I am not suggesting that Jewish persons should stop being Jewish. If they are Jewish believers in Jesus as Messiah, they have grown up in a culture of signs, types, and shadows. However, what I am saying is that Gentile believers must stop leaving Christ in order to worship the signs (which they have not been raised under).
[Yet, we are not to be judged if we keep one day above another. If the day is special, YOU keep the day and do not expect everyone else to do so. It is sin if you do not keep a day that you deem special. It is also sin for you to judge someone who regards every day alike.
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. (Rom 14:5)
Strange how our “personal convictions” have to be observed by everyone else. It is almost like we are not sure about them. Keep your personal convictions to yourself before God and leave everyone else alone. They also will stand or fall before their own Master (Rom 14:4).
Of course, it is difficult to keep the sabbath by yourself. It was given to an entire nation (Israel) to keep them unique among all the other nations. It was also time-specific (approx 1500BC-30AD). Even so, there is no prohibition against observing the sabbath.]
Sept 19, 2023