I think the point is - nothing is new, it is just refreshed. :) (if that is what you are talking about :)) - New is a word used to separate the Grace of Christianity from the legalism of the old...

There is nothing “new” under the sun, Lassie. If you remember to think of the Torah as a symbolic expression of Yahweh’s Plan, then it all becomes clear (sort of :-)

A miqra or convocation (that is, a “calling out,”) is said to be proclaimed (qara: to call out, recite, read aloud, proclaim, or summon) by the moed’im—the appointments—of Yahweh. (See Leviticus 23:2). These moed’im include the Sabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Atonements, and Tabernacles (to use the common English names), as well as the Sabbatical year and Jubilee. So these ten scheduled appointments Israel was instructed to keep with Yahweh define (or, if your will, proclaim) that which is being called out.

The Greek counterpart puts the same thing in a different light. The ekklesia is the “called out” of Yahweh. It is described as the “body of the Messiah,” which is revealing, for the word translated “body” (soma) stresses the reality of the thing: the object itself, as opposed to the shadow it casts. The ekklesia, then, is the corporeal substance of that of which the miqra is “only” a reflection or shadow—a symbol.

In truth, the out-calling of God has been around since Adam and Chavvah were “called out” of the world, a world into which their sin had banished them. Yahweh continued calling out men and women in the age of the patriarchs, but it wasn’t until the time of Moses that we got a clear glimpse of what the out-calling (as a composite entity set apart from the world) looked like. And even then, what we saw was only a reflection—a mirror’s image of the reality to come. Now, ever since the fulfillment of the Moed of Weeks (Pentecost), we finally have a direct view of Yahweh’s called-out assembly. But it’s still hard to see, because there are so many people standing in close proximity masquerading as the real thing. Sometimes I wish Yahweh would just issue white hats to everybody who’s answered His call. But fortunately, it’s not our place to judge people’s hearts, to decide whether they have truly answered Yahweh’s call or not. My personal propensity is to rewrite the bumper sticker: “Love ‘em all, and let God sort it out.”

But there are still three moed’im left on Yahweh’s schedule. This tells us that He is still in the process of gathering out from the world those who are His. He’s not done yet. We have brothers and sisters who haven’t even been born yet. All we can really do is try to make sure God’s call—His still, small voice—can be heard clearly through the noise of the world.

kp