Have you noticed your calendar lately? We got a new one just the other day and there is a lot of RED days, all the Sundays are in red, New Years Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day and I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Men have numerous of holidays, but did you know God has holidays? (Holy Days or annual Sabbaths) They’re called “Feasts,” and they’re mentioned throughout the Bible, both in the Old and New Testaments. They are all devoted to God and were given as a special SIGN!
Because Israelwas an agrarian community these Feasts were centered around early spring, late spring and fall harvests. It was a natural time to celebrate and give thanks to God for their bounty. We find every Feast given to Israelin Leviticus chapter 23. Lets look at the first two verses, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning thefeasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.” Notice, right off these feast days are the “LORD’S.” Not just for Israelor the Jew’s. Now verse 4, “These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.” Here we learn they’re holy convocations, meaning a sacred assembly for the people.
In verse 5 we learn, “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD's Passover.” Now Israel celebrated Passover by sacrificing a lamb, that lamb was a predecessor to Jesus Christ! John the Baptist first revealed this, “And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!”(John 1:36) Jesus kept the Passover year after year. On His last Passover, Jesus taught His disciples to celebrate with bread and wine. Years later Paul continued to teach the early church.
1st Corinthians 11:23-26:
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
Next comes the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.”(Leviticus 23:6-8) Israelonly had physical bread, we Christians are blessed with Spiritual Bread, Jesus. John 6:47-48, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life.”
To be unleavened is purity, notice Paul’s teaching in 1st Corinthians 5:7-8:
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The next Feast day is the “Feast of weeks or Firstfruits” also called Pentecost. It is described in Leviticus 23:15-22. Most readers will recall that Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit was first made available to those who would repent and be baptized. It is also known as the Birthday of the Church, read about it in Acts chapter two. This Holy Day also celebrates Christ!
1st Corinthians 15:20-23:
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
The next Holy Day is known as the Feast of Trumpets. It’s found in Leviticus 23:23-24:
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
Celebrating this Feast pictures the return of Christ and the resurrection of the saints! Matthew makes this clear: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
(Matt 24:30-31)
Notice Paul’s confirmation and assurance, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st Thessalonians. 4:16-18)
The next Holy Day is the Day of Atonement; it is a day of fasting and worship.
Leviticus 23:27, 32: “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.” Jesus Christ shed His blood for our atonement, “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” (Romans 5:11) Also in Ephesians 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
Now the last two Feasts are an eight-day celebration, the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day or Great Day of the Feast.
Leviticus 23:33, 39, 35-36, 41:
33 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath.
35 On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
After horrible wars and the Great Tribulation the Feast of Tabernacles pictures peace and the thousand year reign after Christ’s second coming. Revelation 20:6, “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” The Great Day pictures the second resurrection and the Great White Throne Judgment.
Revelation 20:11-12:
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Back to Leviticus 23, verse 3, “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.” I saved the best till the last, the weekly Sabbath! We celebrate it on the seventh day (Saturday) of each week. The Sabbath is for rest and family, a time for worship and fellowship. “And he (Jesus) said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28) Clearly the “Lord’s Day” is the Sabbath, not Sunday! The Sabbath commemorates creation and draws us to our Creator! “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (Genesis 2:1-3)
Remember at the beginning of this article I told you the Feasts were given for a SIGN. Keeping God’s Holy Daysis a sign or evidence that we are His “elect” and we know our Creator and are willing to obey Him! “I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; Andhallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.” (Ezekiel 20:19-20)
Now I’ve only scratched the surface of the significance of these Feasts and I want to clarify that we do not sacrifice animals as Jesus was our Perfect Sacrifice! Hebrews 10:10-12:
10 By that will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
We keep these Feasts first of all because they are commanded to be kept forever and also because Jesus and the early church kept them. “And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he (Jesus) entered into the synagogue, and taught.” (Mark 1:21) “Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.” (John 7:14) “But bade them farewell, saying, I (Paul) must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus.” (Acts 18:21) “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.”
(1st Peter 2:21)
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Written by:
Larry St. Clair, Deacon
A Church of God Ministry
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