The Appointed Feasts Of The LORD!
These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. (Lev 23:2)
This is the Thirteenth post from Chapter 8 of Friends With God: God’s Friendship With Israel And The Church. In this chapter we are exploring the relationship, similarities, and differences between the Old and New Covenants.
Previous posts in this series can be found here.
God’s Festivals Kept In Both Covenants
The previous posts in this series explained that scripture constantly reiterates the many similarities between these two great covenants of God, so much so that Jews and Christians in the first century often observed the Sabbath and the Biblical Holy Days together in the Jewish Synagogues.
These Holy Days are God’s festivals, they are not exclusively for the Jews:
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
These are the feasts of the LORD,
which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations,
even these are my feasts.
(Lev 23:2)
While they were given by God to Israel, they are not the feasts of Israel, but they are the feasts of the LORD.
All the laws we keep are the Laws of God, not Jewish or Christian laws. (Gen 26:5, Exo 16:28, Eze 44:24, Heb 8:10, Heb 10:16)
These feasts were given by the Lord, they were not made up by the Jews. They are also the Feasts of The Lord, not of the Jews. They are not exclusively the Jews’ feasts, that only they can keep.
Yet some Jews claim that non-Jews should not keep “their feasts”, and they have developed the concept of “Noahide Laws”, which falsely claims that non-Jews are required by God to not keep the Sabbath and God’s Festivals, even under penalty of death!
In this they fulfil what Jesus said of them:
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. (Matt 23:13) ESV
This unscriptural Noahide Law teaching is explored in detail in Appendix 16 of Friends With God, which is to be published separately on this substack.
The Spiritual Law Of God
The Laws of God transcend the mere physical application, which is what the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, and Jews who teach the Noahide laws today, both focus on.
However, God’s laws are for all people, and have both a physical meaning, such as the festivals being at the time of harvest, but also a spiritual underpinning, such as reaping the harvest of souls unto eternal life:
Say not there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
And he that reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit unto life eternal:
that both he that soweth and he that reaps may rejoice together.
(John 4:35-36)
In the Old Covenant all people, Jew or Gentile, could keep all the Festivals of God, except the Passover, which only those who were circumcised could keep. (Exod 12:48-9)
Yet the Passover is today able to be kept by all Christians, be they of Jewish descent or gentile genealogy. The only circumcision that is required in order to keep the Passover for Christians is “circumcision of the heart”:
For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
(Rom 2:28-29)
Circumcision of the heart is obviously a spiritual requirement, for those in both the Old and New Covenants, as discussed in detail in this earlier post in this series.
The Christian Passover
Christians are now able to keep the Passover. They don’t need to be circumcised, nor is it required for them to keep it in Jerusalem. This is evident when Paul tells the Corinthians to keep the Passover in Corinth:
… Know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.
For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:
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.
(1Cor 5:6-8)
When Paul says “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.” he is talking about keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which starts the day after Passover, and continues for seven days.
Paul was writing to a gentile audience many years after Christ died, so anything that was “nailed to the Cross”, (as many preachers claim include the Feasts of God) was well and truly known about. Therefore, the keeping of the festivals of God by gentiles was encouraged by Paul, but they were to be kept with a deeper spiritual understanding “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”.
As Christ is our Passover, Christian Jews and Christian gentiles can keep the Passover together wherever they live. The Old Covenant required that all the festivals were to be kept in Jerusalem and sacrifices were to be made at the Temple. (Deut 12:9-14) Yet Paul is telling gentiles to keep the Passover and Unleavened Bread in Corinth. This is one of the major changes in the New Covenant.
This ability to keep the feasts away from Jerusalem became more significant when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70AD. After this occurred unconverted Jews could not keep the Passover, as they had no place to offer the Passover lamb. Yet Christians Jews, were able to keep the Passover, and all the feasts, outside of Jerusalem. However, they could not offer sacrifices, as they could be offered only at the Temple.
After the destruction of the Temple, Christian Jews and gentiles were able to come together to keep the Festivals of God, as they did not need the temple, but were able to keep these festivals wherever they lived. Christians were then the only people keeping all these festivals of God, including the Passover. This is a major element of the Christians’ role as the new representatives of the Kingdom of God, thus fulfilling what Jesus said:
The kingdom of God shall be taken from you (the Jews), and given to a nation (the church) bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Matt 21:33-46)
These festivals explain the plan of God from the Christian spiritual perspective, as well as from the physical Israelite perspective. More detail on keeping the Christian Passover is provided in Appendix 8, which will be published separately on this substack site.
Historical records of the early Church, clearly show that many Christians continued to keep these festivals for hundreds of years after they were banned by Rome. (See Appendix 9, which will be published separately on this substack site) As discussed in Chapter 7, it was only when Constantine became a Christian, that in 325AD the dates for keeping the festivals of God were changed, and enforced, by “the Holy Roman Empire”.
Those Christian groups that continued to keep the Holy Days and the Sabbath, used the calendar identified in scripture to determine the Holy Days. (See Appendix 13, on the Hebrew Calendar, which will be published separately on this substack site) Today, due to a renewed understanding of the importance and meaning of God’s festivals, there is a revival amongst many Christian organisations to keep God’s Annual Holy Days and to understand the Hebrew Calendar.
The Gospel Of John- "a feast of the Jews"
Some people may ask “Why does John in his gospel, use the term "a feast of the Jews", rather than the Feasts of God? (John 5:1, 6:4)
Is this an issue for Christians who keep the feasts? Perhaps, but so is the fact that Jesus and the Apostles are shown to be keeping the Passover (and other feasts) a problem for Christians who do not keep God’s festivals. (Matt 26:17-19 Mark 14:12-16 Luke 22:7-15, Acts 2:1, 18:21, 20:16, 27:9, 1Cor 16:8)
The Gospel of John is often different from the other Gospels. While this variation provides a different perspective, it can also tend to confuse some issues. John for example appears not to identify the last meal Jesus had with his friends as being the Passover, nor does he mention the bread and wine of the New Covenant at this meal. But, on the other hand, John’s is the only Gospel to mention the foot washing at this meal (John13:1-17) and he alone records Jesus saying we must eat his flesh and drink his blood. (John 6:43-59)
We need to be willing to keep searching, seeking, knocking and asking, and God may eventually reveal the answers to these, and many other issues, in scripture. (Prov 2:1-5) We certainly won’t know all the hidden secrets of God in this life. (1Cor 13:12) We therefore need to determine for ourselves, with prayer and study, how and why we keep these Festivals of God today.
The Spirit And Intent Of The Old Covenant Laws
In the previous posts in this Chapter of Friends With God, we started to look at the ten times that the term “New Covenant” is mentioned in scripture. The tenth time it is mentioned is:
Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament (covenant); not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. (2Cor 3:6)
There is nothing being done away with here, it is rather an emphasis on the intent, or spirit of the law that Paul is making.
Similarly, Jesus’ sermon on the Mount expands on the intent of the law regarding adultery, murder, divorce, oaths, and love (Matt 5:18-45) Yet the intent of the law of God had never been hidden, for it was always clearly spelt out in the Tenth Commandment:
You shall not covet your neighbour's house. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's. (Exo 20:17)
This Tenth Commandment can be seen as the spiritual foundation of the previous five commandments.
There are minimal changes to the Old Covenant laws in the New Covenant, although they are generally made more comprehensive- for now they are explained in terms of not just our actions, but also our thoughts that lead to those actions. The laws are not negated in the New Covenant, but rather their application is greatly strengthened by it becoming more personally assessed by the individual.
It was, however, the literal letter of the law that had been emphasised by the Jewish authoritarian leaders, as that was what they could see and thus enforce. Not only did they teach the Law of God literally, but they also taught and enforced it without justice, mercy and faith being used in its application and interpretation.
By enforcing the law in this way, these leaders exalted their prestige and power, and their authoritarian rulership, which enabled them to further oppress the people such that they could even take the houses away from poor widows!:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore you shall receive the greater damnation. (Matt 23:14)
While the Tenth Commandment could not be enforced by the authoritarian leaders, they did however use it to undermine the unlearned people’s self-respect by identifying them as being “basically wicked people”- as discussed in Chapter 2 of Friends With God. Without having self-respect we won’t develop the self-control necessary to take individual responsibility to change our ways, and thus draw nearer to God in a personal relationship.
Authoritarian oppression of the majority by the “elite” of society, (be it as religious or political leadership) undermines the individual’s role and responsibilities, and also encourages the leaders’ self-aggrandisement, greed and abuse.
The law given to physical Israel was a national law, but because the individual law-keeper was required to love God and his neighbour, it therefore necessitated that a personal and individual relationship with God, and with other people, also be developed. This is the same requirement for keeping God’s law we find in the New Covenant.
Fulfilling The Law
From the above we can see that there is no major difference between keeping the Law of God in either Covenant, which is exactly what Jesus told us:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is fulfilled. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
(Matt 5:17-20)
By “fulfilling the law” he meant that he came to show us how to live these laws to the full, he showed us by being the example of how to love God and our neighbour.
He even fulfilled the law by being Baptised by John:
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. (Mat 3:13-15)
Legalism Is Not Righteousness
When Jesus said unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, he meant that the legalistic approach of the “righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees” was not actually righteousness at all, as it was of no value in helping us to enter the Kingdom of God.
It is only by following Jesus’ example in his life, which fully demonstrated the correct implementation of the law- with love, justice, mercy and faith correctly placed at the foundation of it, that we can live a righteous life and be worthy to enter the Kingdom of God. (Matt 10:38, Matt 22:8, Luke 3:8, Luke 20:35, Col 1:10, 1Thes 2:12, 2Thes 1:5-11)
Jesus ‘fulfilled the law’ by his example to us. He also taught us to live in the same way he did, by following the two great commands of love to God and love to neighbour, because: On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Mat 22:40)
Paul similarly summarized the foundation of the law as living the way of love:
Owe no one anything, except to love one another;
for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law.
For: "Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not lust;" and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." Love works no ill to its neighbour,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law.
(Rom 13:8-10)
Perversion Of The Simple Truth
Yet even these clear verses are perverted by some foolish preachers who say: “I love, therefore I am fulfilling the law and therefore I don’t need to keep the law”.
Others go to the opposite extreme- by claiming that “as love is the fulfilling of the Law, the inverse is also true that “the fulfilling of the law is love”. This inverse perspective enables them to watch how others keep the law to judge them if they are loving or not, and then they feel justified in enforcing their understanding of the law onto others!
Yet, neither perspective is correct. What Jesus and Paul are saying is that all the laws and words of the prophets are interconnected via these two simple and comprehensive commands to love God and love your neighbour
You can’t read the law that says “You shall not covet” without considering the part which says “you shall love your neighbour as yourself”. Love is the foundation of the Law of God. Without love, the law becomes a burden that leads to authoritarianism and self-righteousness.
When we have love in our application of the law, then the law becomes a blessing that results in justice, mercy and faith.
When we don’t covet what our neighbour has, but love them as ourselves, then we can rejoice in our neighbour’s prosperity, which helps us develop a deep friendship with them. Coveting, however, just produces jealousy, which leads to taking (stealing) what is rightfully your neighbours’, which obviously won’t produce any friendship with them.
Righteousness is founded on faith in God, but it also requires us to implement the law with love and mercy, which produces justice, equity, and peace- which then supports our faith in God, for we see how perfect his law is.
When we keep God’s law in love, then we have a cycle of growth- from faith to faith; as we grow in the grace and knowledge of God.
The ultimate cycle of growth is to follow the example of Jesus, with the end of this cycle being to develop in us the very mind of God. (Phil 2:5)
Righteousness In The Old Covenant
The famous “Faith Chapter” of Hebrews 11, lists many righteous people from the Old Covenant, who are identified as those whom we, as Christians, should emulate. These people would not be identified as being righteous if they had not understood the intent and meaning of the law of God.
As discussed in previous posts, we need to have the Spirit of God to actually be able to understand and interpret the intent and meaning of any of God’s laws. (Rom 8:7-9) And such determinations need to be made from our personal perspective, rather than being something that we can determine for all people, in all circumstances, for all time.
Those righteous people mentioned in Hebrews 11 obviously did have God’s Spirit, and understood the intent of the law, including the necessity for loving God and neighbour. These people were counted as righteous before God. Not that they did not sin, but they repented and overcame their sin and changed their lives, just as we are expected to do as Christians today. The growth process in both Covenants is the same.
As we have seen in Chapter 3, such righteous people are foundational to God’s house, which also has Christ as the Chief Corner Stone to whom every righteous person is aligned- but this House is also: …built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone… (Eph 2:19-22)
Christ In The Old Covenant
There is no difference between these Old Covenant saints and Christian saints, indeed Christ said to the Jews:
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. (this was a bit confusing to the Jews) Then said the Jews unto him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Truly, Truly, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:56-58)
Abraham saw Christ, which shows that Christ was the God that appeared to him before the Israelite Covenant was developed some 400 years later.
Christ is also identified as the creator:
All things came into being through Him (he created it), and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him (again he created it), and the world did not know Him. (John 1:1-14)
Paul tells us that the pre-existent Christ was also the Rock that followed Israel in the wilderness:
Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers (of Israel, who wandered in the wilderness) were under the cloud (there was a permanent cloud over the people who were in the wilderness to protect them from the hot sun), and all passed through the sea (the Red Sea that opened up);
And were all (metaphorically were) baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown (died) in the wilderness. (1Cor 10:1-4)
Examples For Us All
Paul then goes on to tell us that the example of the Israelites in the wilderness should be a warning for Christians:
Now these things were (written for) our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, (Christ was in the desert with them) and were destroyed of serpents.
Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1Cor 10:5-11)
The intent of the law was obvious to those in the Old Covenant, but only if they had faith in God, and were righteous in their actions toward their neighbours.
Yet many did not have faith, despite the overwhelming number and power of the miracles they were blessed to see. Due to this lack of faith, God allowed them to die in the wilderness.
The history of the Israelites in the Old Covenant is very valuable because those in the New Covenant can learn from both their acts of faith, and their lack of faith.
Israel was supposed to be a light to the world of the righteous rulership of the Kingdom of God on Earth. However, as stated above, that role has been taken from them and given to the Christian Church that produces the fruits of the Spirit of God. (Matt 21:33-46)
Israel’s Role In The Future Kingdom Of God
Yet the role of physical Israel’s being an example to the world will be reinstated when Christ returns in the future Kingdom of God. Then there will again be a Temple where sacrifices will be offered to God.
In an extensive vision of the future Kingdom of God, Ezekiel (chapters 40 to 48) tells of the building of a new Temple, and mentions various sacrifices that will be offered. (Ezek 40:42, 44:11, 46:24)
Sacrifices, therefore, are going to be reinstated when Israel again dwells in their land, and a Temple is again built. It seems that not only Israel will offer sacrifices at that Temple, but gentiles also, as this prophecy about the future Kingdom of God clearly states:
And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.” (Isa 56:1-8)
When the Kingdom of God has been established under Jesus Christ, and the saints are resurrected with him, then Israel will again offer animal sacrifices, and so will the gentiles.
In the future Kingdom of God, these sacrifices will demonstrate how the plan of God played out over the previous 6,000 years, as well as how it will be implemented during and after the 1,000 year reign of Christ.
Love God And Love Neighbour
The New Covenant requires comprehension of, and agreement to obey, the two great commands of love to God and love to neighbour. In this way it is similar to the Old Covenant.
While understanding of these two commands was taught in the Old Covenant, it was however possible to be a person in physical Israel, who thought he was in covenant with God, and yet did not actually implement these laws of love.
The problem was that if you did not underpin the application of the law with these two laws of love, then you were liable to use the entire law in an unlawful manner, in which case you were behaving like a son of Satan, rather than a son of God! (1Tim 1:8, Matt 23:2-29, Luke 11: 39-53)
Those in either Covenant are to keep the spirit and letter of the Law. However, the terms of the New Covenant spell out in greater detail that our agreement with God must incorporate these two basic laws of love before we enter into the New Covenant.
The next and final post in this series from the chapter “Israel and The Church”, will provide a summary and overview of this entire chapter.