BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN HOLIDAYS

From the West Meadow
By Pastor Wesley Higgins

Most people, when someone mentions Christian holidays, think of Christmas, Easter– perhaps Lent. But there is a growing segment of the Christian community that has been turning to the Bible to find out what days Jesus, the Apostles, and the early church observed.

What one finds is that the New Testament is full of references to days observed and even attributes meaning to these observances. Not too surprisingly, a brief study of God’ s word reveals that Jesus, the Apostles and the early church observed the same days that the Jews and their Israelite ancestors kept, the days referred to in Leviticus 23 as God’s feasts (Leviticus 23:2). Many Bible reference books will point out that the term “Feast of the Lord” literally means “appointed times of the Lord”. So, the early church worshiped at God’s appointed times.

Matthew 12 shows us that Jesus had the authority to interpret what was legal or not on the Sabbath, because He was Lord and master of the Sabbath (Matt 12:1-8). The Sabbath is one of God’s appointed times. (Lev. 23:3)

In Revelation 13:8, we find reference to the slaying of the Passover lamb. This reference tells us that the sacrificial death of Jesus, who the apostle Paul refers to as our Passover (I Corinthians 5:7) was planned before man was even created! This shows us that the Passover observance was an appointed time of God even before He brought death and destruction to Egypt at the time of the Exodus.

The apostle Paul refers to the Sabbath and festivals of God as shadows or prophetic images whose substance is Jesus Christ. What this tells us is that just as the Passover of Exodus was a shadowy reference to the ultimate Passover in which the Son of God was killed, Whose blood covers our sins, so do the other appointed times of God reveal other salvational acts of God.

Leviticus 23 points out all of the significant appointed times of God. They act as a reminder of what Jesus has already done for us and a heads-up of what still lies ahead. They remind us, among other things, that Jesus had to ascend to heaven for His sacrifice to be accepted by God on our behalf (compare Lev. 23:10-11 with John 20:17). The feast days remind us that the giving of the Holy Spirit is directly tied to the death of Jesus (compare Lev. 23:15-16 with John 16:7 and Acts 2:32-33). The appointed times of God cause us to look forward to that great trumpet blast, to the resurrection of the saints (compare Lev. 23:24 with I Thessalonians 4:13-18). In short, they remind us of God’s plan for us.

So the next time someone mentions to you something about God’s Feasts, don’t look at him too strangely–he’s just following the example of Jesus Christ, the Apostles and the early church.

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