What does "you observe days and months and seasons and years" mean (Galatians 4:10)?

“Ye observe days and months and times and years.” (4:10)

The law of Moses was completely fulfilled in the Lord Jesus in His Person and work. The shadows given in the Old Testament pointed to Christ (e.g. Rom.10:4) but here the Galatians were going back to the shadows which had been fulfilled, they were turning their backs to the sun and looking instead to the moon. The Epistle to the Hebrews shows this in great detail. This is what they were doing by “observing days, and months, and times, and years,”they were replacing the One who had fulfilled all the shadows by going back to those things that had earlier, before the Lord came, pointed to Him. The days, for example, would be keeping the Sabbath, the months would be the new moon, the times would be the different festivals as we have in Leviticus 23 and the years would be the sabbatical year every seven years or the year of jubilee. They wanted to put themselves under all these regulations.

Who would have suspected that keeping the sabbath day, the seventh day of the week, the day commanded by God in the law, was so evil a thing? Yet, it was just this that frightened the apostle Paul about the Galatians. It meant slavery under the law; that is what made it so evil. To what did Paul refer by the "months"? I believe that is the same as the "new moons" of which we so often read. See 2 Chronicles 2:4; 8:13, etc. We know much about them in China, and how they are celebrated. God condemns all this. The "seasons" would refer to the Jewish feast days. See Leviticus 23. The years would refer to the sabbath year. See Leviticus 25:1-8.

Verse 10. "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." As a proof of their disposition, he now cites an example of their practice. They were observing diligently obsolete Levitical ordinances, instead of by faith gazing, in satisfied and restful trust, on Him to whom those ordinances testified. But a question here arises, Was it then wrong positively, on their parts, to regard those earlier observances? The answer must undoubtedly be yes. As Gentiles who had never borne the legal yoke, they were both wrong and foolish to desire it; wrong, because the covenant of works was made with the circumcision only, and God now speaks no longer by His servant, but solely by His Son; and foolish because of the hideous contrast between the free grace and its resulting glory into which they had been called, and the miserable bondage to which they were ignorantly wishing to return. A believer of the circumcision might pardonably adhere to the customs of his forefathers, yet under a warning caution from the Spirit of grace (Rom. 14:3, seq.); but for a converted heathen to embrace them was to manifest a fundamental ignorance of the grace in which he stood, and to dishonour the royal law of liberty by which God's lasting peace, as the fruit of His own righteousness, had been proclaimed in the gospel of salvation to his soul.

"You observe days and months and seasons and years" (v.10), the formalism calculated to draw attention to themselves, and involving the assumption that more righteousness was required of them at some times than at others. Such actions subtly sanction unrighteousness on "ordinary" days. What witness of this pervades Christendom today! There are holy days, holy seasons, attended by great pretensions of spirituality, which is thrown to the winds in ordinary life, and even in wild feasts just preceding the holy days. This great inconsistency results in the mockery and contempt of the world and the inevitable judgment of God. Such things caused the apostle to fear that he had labored with the Galatians in vain

"But then, on the one hand, not knowing God, you were enslaved to the ones by nature not being gods; now, on the other hand, having come to know God, rather indeed having become known by God, how are you turning back again (to rest) on the weak and poverty-stricken principles, to which you are wishing to be again enslaved anew? Days you are scrupulously observing, and months, and seasons, and years. I am frightened about you, lest perhaps I have toiled without reason for you.

(Vv. 8-11.) Having described the liberty of believers in this Christian day, in contrast with the bondage of the children of God under law, the Apostle appeals to these Galatian saints as to their folly in turning from such blessedness to the bondage of the law. Time was when they "knew not God" and served those who, even nature should tell them, "are no gods." By grace they had been brought into the liberty of knowing God as the Father, and yet more, to be known of God as sons. How great then the folly of bringing themselves into bondage by turning back to the weak and beggarly elements of the world. They were observing days and months, and times and years, as if blessing could be secured by the observance of an outward ritual which the natural man, whether Jew or heathen, could carry out. It is true that in the Epistle to the Romans the Apostle exhorts Gentile believers to have forbearance towards a Jewish believer who might still cling to the observance of special days and the refusal of meats. But here he shows that for a Gentile to return to the system that observes certain days and ceremonies will involve a return, not only to Judaism, but to the idolatry of heathenism.

If the Apostle viewed these Galatians only in the light of what they were doing he might well stand in doubt as to whether they were true Christians, for it is not necessary to be a converted man in order to observe days and seasons. This is a solemn consideration for Christendom which has so largely fallen into the Galatian error by once again turning back to external ceremonies, and the observance of man-made holy days, with the result foreseen by the Apostle that it has largely fallen, not only into Judaism, but also, into the idolatry of heathenism in its adoration of the saints and worship of images.

As figures, which God used to bear testimony beforehand to the realities that are in Christ, they had their true value. God knew how to reconcile the employment of these figures, which are profitable to faith, with a religious system that tested man in the flesh, and that served to answer the question, whether, with every kind of help, man was able to stand before God and to serve Him. But to go back to these ordinances made for man in the flesh, now that God had shown man's incapability of becoming righteous before Him — now that the substance of these shadows was come, was to go back to the position of men in the flesh, and to take that standing without any command of God that sanctioned it. It was to go back to the ground of idolatry, that is to say, to a carnal religion, arranged by man without any authority from God, and which in no way brought man into connection with Him. For things done in the flesh had certainly not that effect. "Ye observe days and months and seasons and years." This the heathen did in their human religion. Judaism was a human religion ordained of God, but, by going back to it when the ordinance of God was no longer in force, they did but go back to the paganism out of which they had been called to have part with Christ in heavenly things.

And what were the Galatians doing now? "But now, after 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" (vers. 9-11). This may sound strong language to some, but it is the faithful language of the Holy Spirit. They were not returning to their old gods, but were going after Judaism, with its legal requirements and ritual observances. And this is called a return to idolatry! Judaism was a system set up and once owned of God, being expressive of Christ in all its parts. Indeed, souls established in grace can turn back at all times to the books of Exodus, Leviticus, etc. and find real delight in all the Spirit's unfoldings of Christ that are found there in a typical way. Viewed from such a standpoint the old order was very far removed from idolatry. But Christ having come, the substance of all is here; heavenly realities have been brought in. Consequently a Judaism perpetuated by wilful and blinded men is now idolatry. It is sensuous religion, in which flesh can engage and delight itself. Things that spoke once of Christ are now weak and beggarly elements, and the whole atmosphere is one of bondage.

Solemn words for thousands in this day! Christendom has always been more or less infatuated with its law-keeping, feast-days, and ritual in general. But now the enemy of souls seems determined to darken in this way all the light which God of late years has shed through His word, to say nothing of the partial help graciously granted at the Reformation. Men are mad after weak and beggarly elements in every direction. Such things are placed between the soul and Christ, involving darkness and ruin. So gravely did the apostle regard this movement among the Galatians that he feared lest he had bestowed labour upon them in vain. What would he say of Christendom now?

Now for the warning. "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," etc. It is plain he means the Gentiles; he does not say, when we knew not God, because the Jews had a certain knowledge of God under the law; but "when ye knew not God" clearly is about the heathen. "How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" Weigh that expression well. There cannot be a more solemn statement as regards the present state of Christendom. What does he mean by saying that these Galatian saints were returning again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which they desired again to be in bondage? They must have been perfectly shocked. Turning again to idolatry! How could this be? They might say, We are only taking up the principle of the law: do you call this the weak and beggarly elements? Why, says the apostle, when you were unconverted, you worshipped false gods — idols; but if you, Christians, go and take up Jewish principles, even these feast-days or other principles of the law, you are in principle idolaters, turning back again to that idolatry out of which God delivered you. How is this? The reason is plain. It was not that the law in itself could be idolatrous, or that God did not forbear toward the prejudice of those that were Jews. But here were the Gentile believers resorting to these legal elements. Who told them? These things had lost all their meaning, and a Gentile had nothing to do with them; they had their value as a shadow of Christ, before Christ came; but to turn back from Christ risen from the dead, to these mere shadows, was in God's sight going back to idolatry. Whenever professing Christendom takes up the law, with its external ceremonials and shadows, (quite right as all this was under the law,) and adopts them as christian worship, it has unconsciously but really fallen into idolatry.

Supposing a person were to say, I find myself very cold in worshipping God, and I want something to arouse my soul; what more proper than to have a picture of my Saviour, that as I look upon Him and the crown of thorns, I may feel more deeply His love, and have my heart's affections more drawn out to Him? That is idolatry now, if it would not have been so at any time. But there were certain of these things allowed under the legal system, because of the hardness of their heart; they had sacrifices of beasts and an earthly priesthood; but for a Gentile to turn to these things is going back to idolatry in the sight of God. The Holy Ghost presses this upon these Galatian believers, for the evil was only in the germ. If this be true, what a sin to take part in, to countenance or sanction, in any way, that which is idolatry in God's judgment! The evil is increasing most rapidly. It is not confined now to popery; but the stride which has been made of late years towards Catholic principles is the same thing. If it has any religious element at all, it is an idolatrous one, making use of certain feelings of awe in our fallen nature to make people feel more reverent in worship. That is precisely the thing that is opposed to faith. The essence of our blessing lies in the soul's enjoying Christ by the word of God — the Holy Ghost giving this enjoyment of Christ apart from everything that acts upon the natural eye or mind. For it is precisely this very abuse that the apostle here so strongly denounces, and which he calls the weak and beggarly element. What God prizes in worship would now be generally considered meagre and poor; for it supposes the absence of outward decoration and of excitement, in order that it may be the real power of the Holy Ghost acting among the saints.

"Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years." Not to do this now is the wonder. Alas! the Galatian evil is thought a proof of religion. He marks this observance, not merely as an error, but as a proof of idolatry. In heathenism these festivals were of great account; and God permitted them in Judaism because the Jews had a means of religion suited to their state and the worldly sanctuary. But now all is completely changed, and the observance of special feasts and seasons as a means of pleasing God is put down with a high hand by the Holy Spirit. "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." Is it not most solemn, that, whatever might have been the evil of the Corinthians, he never says of them, "I am afraid of you?" Had we known an assembly with so much flagrant moral evil in its midst — some, too, seeking to overthrow the resurrection, — should we not have said, there never was so pitiable a thing as their state? But the apostle writes to them in confidence, that they would be brought out of their evil. Not but that he deeply felt it, and puts before them their critical condition; but he writes to them, assured that God would touch their hearts. "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son." And then he begins to deal with their conduct after he has touched that great chord in their hearts. But when he writes to the Galatians, there is no such expression. Afterwards the Holy Ghost gives him comfort about them, but it is far short of what he feels in writing to the Corinthians. Legalism is an insidious thing, because it looks fair. When this is the case, men fancy that they become practically more holy; but the contrary is the fact. What produces true holiness is, that it is not merely the name of a day, or of an hour, or of a season, or place, but God working in the soul, both to will and to do of His good pleasure; and this, because "sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." God brings the believer into His own presence, and puts him there as a child.

Once the Galatians had served false gods (verse 8) and now they had been brought thus to know and be known of the living and true God, and known of Him in such wonderful fashion as this. Were they, after this, going to turn back to the old order of things which he characterizes as "weak and beggarly elements"? Strong language this, yet not too strong. The law was holy, just and good, yet just as the moon is a weak and beggarly affair in the presence of the sun, so is the law in the presence of the grace and power of the gospel. In the language of the great parable of Luke 15, the Galatians had been received into the Father's house and set in the son's place and not among the hired servants, and here they were with false humility going back, not exactly to the care of the swine in the far country, but to the drudgery of menials in the kitchen, as though that were the way to retain the love which the Father had showered on them!