Holidays. Literally “Holy Days”. If there’s one thing humans like to do it is to get together and celebrate stuff. These days we have “holidays” for just about anything conceivable, and unfortunately that includes a lot of sinful things too (see “Pride” month). Over the millennia of human existence we’ve invented a lot of days to celebrate, but unfortunately several of the most important holidays given from God have been relegated by society to only belong to a certain ethnic group.

In the Bible God instructs the Israelites on 7 (technically 8) of the most important Holy Day celebrations:

1. Passover
2. Unleavened Bread
3. Firstfruits
4. Weeks (Pentecost)
5. Trumpets
6. Atonement
7. Booths
8. The Last Day (8th Day)

Most Christians today pay almost no attention to these appointed times from the Old Testament, assuming that these pre-Christ feasts were done away with in Christ. However, the truth is that these feast days weren’t just given to the Israelites to keep them entertained – these feast days prophetically point to Christ’s first and second Advent!

1. Passover – Christ’s death on the cross as our Passover Lamb
2. Unleavened Bread – Reminder of Christ’s sinless life (without leaven) being the perfect atonement for our sins
3. Firstfruits – Christ’s rising from the grave on the 3rd day
4. Weeks (Pentecost) – Anointing of the Holy Spirit after Christ’s Ascension
5. Trumpets – A prophetic reminder that Christ’s 2nd Advent will be accompanied by the sound of trumpets and shouting
6. Atonement – A prophetic representation of the coming Day of the Lord (Judgement Day) after Christ’s return when His sacrifice will make final atonement for our sins
7. Booths – A prophetic symbol of how at Christ’s 2nd Coming we will cease dwelling in these temporary bodies and put on our permanent, glorified bodies. May also represent the coming “Greater Exodus”, being symbolic of our temporary exodus from Earth during the Millennium before Christ brings us back to the Promised Land (restored/recreated New Earth)
8. The Last Day (8th Day) – In 7 days God made us and our world. On the 7th day He rested. Likewise, after 6 days (6000 years) Christ will return, rescue the Saints from Earth and lead us like Moses to Heaven during the 7th millennium while the Earth lies in waste (rests) until the 7th millennium is finished. Then when Christ returns to Earth, destroys Lucifer and all the unrepentant sinners, then He’ll recreate Earth again into a paradise where we will live forever – the “8th Day” therefore pointing to an eternity in the Kingdom of Heaven!

How to Keep the Feasts

So now that we’ve established that there are God-appointed holidays that Christians have neglected, the next logical question is “how should we keep these feasts?” The observance of these feasts has fallen out of practice in most Christian circles today. Only in Jewish culture do we find traditional observation of these feasts. Unfortunately, most of Judaism is corrupted by thousands of years of errant rabbinical teachings (Talmud) which has resulted in a number of complex and unbiblical practices associated with the various Feast Days.

Jews are constantly concerned with following the “letter of the Law” and lose sight of the “spirit of the Law” in regards to how they observe the Sabbath and Feast Days. Christ reminds us that God does not delight in us simply going through the motions and checking things off a list of to-do’s, He wants us to repent in our hearts: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13

Keeping the Feast Days isn’t about following a list of rules and ticking off certain tasks – it’s about taking time away from your everyday life to reflect on some very deep – and specific – spiritual topics. God laid out what those topics are (see list of Feast Days above). Our job is to study how the ancient Israelites were instructed to conduct these Feast Days, reflect on the deeper prophetic meaning and symbolism associated with each Feast Day, and pray for discernment and wisdom so that we have clarity of Spirit to prepare for Christ’s 2nd Advent.

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