Biblical Feasts

Many Christians are familiar with Biblical holidays but how many know about God’s HOLY-days? Most of us are aware of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost but what do we really know about God’s HOLY-days and what they are?

Many modern day Christians get confused when they are told that these feasts, even though they are from the Old Testament, still have a valid influence on them as Bible-believers today. How is this possible? Did Jesus not come to fulfil them and take them away? Some say it is critical that we keep these feasts to the letter while others believe they are merely “shadows” that doesn’t deserve mentioning. But what does the bible say? Is there still a place for them and what do they mean? The answer may surprise you…

There are 7x Biblical feasts or Holy-days and Jesus already fulfilled 4x of them – in the most detailed way! (1) Passover, (2) Feast of Unleavened Bread, (3) Feast of First Fruits and (4) Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. Further more – the Bible supports that He will fulfil the last 3x in the same detailed manner: (5) Feast of Trumpets (6) Atonement and (7) Feast of Tabernacles… Lets have a look at what God’s Word has to say…

The feasts were first given to the people of Israel before they entered the promised land and God called them: “…My feasts.” (Lev 23:2) and consecrated them as HOLY. The Hebrew word used here is the word: MOED [מוֹעֵד] meaning: Appointed time/meeting place and is the same word used in Gen 1:14 when God created “signs & seasons”. God in His wisdom gave the people of Israel signs or prophetic rehearsals as to what He intents to do in the future. These 7x feasts (or 8 if you count Sabbath), point to what will happen concerning the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ and how they could recognise Him when He comes. Year after year, century after century, they would rehearse these appointed signs over and over and over… never fully grasping their significance – until that one fine day when He sat with His disciples and instituted the Last Supper… the very event that would lead to the first feast being fulfilled by way of dying on the cross for our sins. The perfect Passover Lamb! Some did miss the obvious but many saw the signs and BELIEVED!

Signs are per say not the destination – it merely direct or point us to it. For example: when we travel to our beach house in Cape Town, we follow the signs to Cape Town and when we get to the sign that says: “Cape Town 5km” – we don’t stop there and start unpacking for our holiday… NO, we drive the 5km to Cape Town and then the 2km to our beach house. That is our destination! Col 2:16-17 says: “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Here Paul is explaining that the main focus is not the keeping of the feasts but our faith in Christ! It doesn’t mean that the sign posts are not important… but it simply means that they point to the place or Person of importance… Jesus fulfilled 4x of the 7x feasts to the letter – proving that He is/was the Messiah. Why would He fail to also fulfill the last 3x feasts to the letter…?

In Eccl 3:1-10 Solomon writes that there is a time and season for everything. Attending a meeting at the wrong time can be devastating. Also using a wrong calendar can mean that you are out of sync with the person you are meeting. Satan wants the church to miss God’s appointments by giving them a different calendar. If the church misses the dress rehearsals of God, they might miss the next three very important events on God’s calendar…