Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:  But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 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 labor in vain. ~ Galatians 4:1-11

The believers at Galatia were being lured by the Judaizers from the spiritual truth in Christ back into an obsolete covenant.

The days, months, and years mentioned by Paul pertains to the Jewish calendar and the things which were relevant to Israel’s covenant under the law, such as the Sabbaths and Jewish feasts. Paul describes these things as both bondage and as the weak and beggarly elements of this world.

The first covenant (the Law) employed the physical things of this world to carry on a system of worship which was dependant on the priesthood, the sacrifices, the tabernacle, including all everything in it, along with meats and drinks, and various cleansing rites, etc.

These were all carnal things which were taken from the things of this world. They were only a type and a shadow of the heavenly reality found in Christ and his finished work.

While Moses was on Mount Sinai recieving the Ten Commandments, he was given the pattern for the Tabernacle, the Priesthood, and the sacrifices. The Pattern only served as an example to foreshadow the heavenly reality which would later be revealed through Christ. See Hebrews 8:5; 9:23.

The writer of Hebrews tells is, “Moses was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after…” ~ Hebrews 3:6.

In Hebrews 9 he tells us, “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sancturary.”

The service was divine in that it pointed to Christ, but it was worldly or carnal, with regards to the things it employed to carry out its function. It was only a type, made according to the pattern of the heavenly reality found in Christ.

For instance the laver in the Tabernacle was made from mirrors taken from the Israelite women. This was earthy in that it was made of something of this physical world. Yet it represented that which was spiritual, the Word of God.

The altar, the laver, the lamp stand, the table of shew bread, the incense altar, the Ark of the Covenant, and the fabric for the tabernacle were all made of the physical things of this world. In fact the gold that was used in the tabernacle was once used by the ungodly Egyptians.

It was from the Egyptians that Israel got the gold and silver and fabric that they brought as an offering in Exodus 25. They carried these things with them from Egypt, and these things were used to set up the system of worship which God gave Israel as a pattern of the heavenly things. The Tabernacle and all that was in it did not float down from heaven.

Again, the service was divine, but the things used to carry out the divine service was of this world. Now that Christ has come and brought the reality of which those things foreshadowed, the worldly things are no longer employed fof spiritual service unto God.

Though once a serviceable thing for divine service because it had to do with the former covenant, the Jewish calendar is now defunct with regards to the things of God because of the finished work of Christ!