IV. What are some of the arguments for observing Old Testament feast days in modern times?·
Argument A: The Battle of Armaggedon (Revelation 16:16) is a battle over whose Holy Days we should keep, Gods or Satans. This is a stretch. Yes, the Hebrew meggido is from the Hebrew word moed best translated as appointed meeting (Leviticus 23:2, 4, 37; Numbers 29:39). The emphasis is on time. And yes, har-moed in Isaiah 14:13, most often translated mountain of congregation, or mountain of assembly, does focus on the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.
But, to stretch these renderings of moed into mount of festivals is unwarranted. And then to project this new phrase into a last-day issue over who is on Gods side or Satans side is another unwarranted leap.
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Argument B: Nowhere does the Bible say that the feast days were only for the Jews. The response is obvious: nowhere does the Bible say that Feast Days were for the Christians after Jesus lived and died. Much to the contrary!
It is more than interesting John, the last of the apostolic writers, referred to the Feast Days always as Jewish celebrations (see 2:13, 6:4; 7:2, 11:55). Never as Christian celebrations! Although Paul referred to them, he looked at the Feast Days as occasions for preaching the gospelsee G.
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Argument C: When Daniel predicted that an apostate Christian power would think to change times and laws (Daniel 7:25), we should recognize that times comes from a Chaldean word meaning seasons. Thus, Gods intent for His people to keep His original feasts would be attacked even as the seventh-day Sabbath has been attacked. Here it is asserted that times (seasons) and laws are all of Gods Holy Days and would all be attacked by apostate powers (initiated by Satan).
However, zinnim (Aramaic for fixed time) has no reference to Feast Days. In Daniel 1:21, the same Aramaic is used describing how God alone has the prerogative to change times. The emphasis is always on a set time, not on feasts days.
Argument D: In Genesis 1:14, God made the sun and moon to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons (moed), and for days, and years. When one unfortunately and without foundation translates moed to be festival, there is no end to speculation. Of course, the moon had much to do with the beginning of some of the Feasts, but the emphasis is on the set time for feast itself, not in respect to its observance. For instance, the first month of the Jewish year begins on the first new moon after the spring equinox when the first sliver of the moon can be seen.
Moed is often used to express the appointed time; that is, the season, the time of the year when birds migrate (Jeremiah 8:7; Genesis 17:21) or when the grapes are ready to be harvested (Hosea 2:9). Moed is never used as a mental trigger to think festival.
In Psalm 104:19, Gods creative powers are described: He made the moon for the seasons. In practice, the moon determines the fixed times called months. In other words, the moon serves a sign of the passage of time.
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Argument E: Whenever the Old Testament mentioned statutes we should think festivals and thus festivals are to be in effect forever.
The Old Testament outlines three forms of laws(1) the Ten Commandments, (2) the sacrificial services, including ceremonial feasts, and (3) the statutes. Most people are aware of the distinction between the Ten Commandments and the types and ordinances in the sacrificial system. Few are clear regarding the purpose of the statute.
In 1875, Ellen White wrote a remarkably clear article for the May 6 issue of the Review and Herald magazine. In it she reviews the purposes of each of these three forms of laws:
From the creation the [1] moral law was an essential part of God's divine plan, and was as unchangeable as himself. The [2] ceremonial law was to answer a particular purpose of Christ plan for the salvation of the race. . .
The law of types [ceremonial laws] reached forward to Christ. All hope and faith centered in Christ until type reached its antitype in his death. The statutes and judgments [3] specifying the duty of man to his fellow-men, were full of important instruction, defining and simplifying the principles of the moral law, for the purpose of increasing religious knowledge, and of preserving God's chosen people distinct and separate from idolatrous nations.
The statutes concerning marriage, inheritance, and strict justice in deal with one another, were peculiar and contrary to the customs and manners of other nations, and were designed of God to keep his people separate from other nations. The necessity of this to preserve the people of God from becoming like the nations who had not the love and fear of God, is the same in this corrupt age, when the transgression of God's law prevails and idolatry exists to a fearful extent. . . .
In consequence of continual transgression, the moral law was repeated in awful grandeur from Sinai. Christ gave to Moses religious precepts [statutes] which were to govern the everyday life. These statutes were explicitly given to guard the ten commandments. They were not shadowy types to pass away with the death of Christ. They were to be binding upon man in every age as long as time should last. These commands were enforced by the power of the moral law, and they clearly and definitely explained that law.
Christians who profess to be Bible students can appreciate more fully than ancient Israel did the full signification of the ceremonial ordinances that they were required to observe. If they are indeed Christians, they are prepared to acknowledge the sacredness and importance of the shadowy types, as they see the accomplishment of the events which they represent. The death of Christ gives the Christian a correct knowledge of the system of ceremonies and explains prophecies which still remain obscure to the Jews. Moses of himself framed no law. Christ, the angel whom God had appointed to go before his chosen people, gave to Moses statutes and requirements necessary to a living religion and to govern the people of God.
What have we learned? The statutes and judgments are not part of either the moral law or of the ceremonial law. They explain and enforce the moral law, but have no apparent relationship with the ceremonial law. They are not shadowy types to end at the cross; they retain their validity as long as time shall last.
Where do we find these statues and judgments? In Exodus 21 and Deuteronomy 4. They do not typify anything in the plan of salvation; they did not meet their fulfillment at the Cross. They are principles of human conduct. These principles will apply as long as time remains. We today can understand the principle regarding an ox goring someone; today we would think of a dog or our automobile that might injure someone.
Does it not seem strange that Paul and Ellen White would argue so forcefully that the ceremonial law passed away at the Cross but not say a word regarding the Feast Days that some believe now remain? Whatever evidence one may use in support of modern Feast Days, it would have to be very powerful to contradict Pauls statement that these ceremonial Sabbaths were shadows of things to come, but the substance is of Christ (Colossians 2:17). Or to contradict Ellen Whites clear statements about the temporary aspect of the sanctuary services and ceremonial Sabbaths? Or to explain why Ellen White never said a word about the modern observance of the Feast Days.
Pauls admonition to the Galatians seems appropriate: Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (5:1).·
Argument F: Because the Feasts are often connected in the same chapters with the weekly Sabbaths, they hang or fall together.
The weekly Sabbath was established long before Sinai, long before the inauguration of the sanctuary service. It is not a shadow pointing to Jesus and the Cross (Colossians 2:17). In Leviticus 23, some link the weekly Sabbath with the festivals but in a closer look we see that Moses is clearly distinguishing the weekly Sabbath from the festivals. After noting the special aspects of the weekly Sabbath (verse 3), verse 4 begins: These [the feasts now to be listed] are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
Further differentiation between the six feasts and the weekly Sabbath occurs in verses 37 and 38 after describing the feasts: These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its daybesides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord (NKJV). There is no biblical basis for arguing that the seventh-day Sabbath and the feasts belong together.
Apparently some Jewish converts were still clinging to these sanctuary ceremonies, including the need for circumcision. Further, they were divisive and judgmental toward those who had either abandoned them (Jewish believers) or failed to adopt them (Gentile believers). ·
Argument G: Paul clearly stated, long after the Cross, in Acts 18:21 that he had to hurry back to Jerusalem in order to keep this feast (Pentecost). Further, Paul wrote to the Gentile Corinthians (5:7-8) that they should keep the feast of Passover. It should be noted that Acts 18:21 is omitted in many translations because textual evidence favors the omission. (F. D. Nichols, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 367).
Of course, some Christians, including Paul, may have observed certain festivals other than the Passover for whatever reason they thought best (to use the event for a platform to preach the gospel no doubt]. But there is no indication that this became a Christian requirement for membership in the new church. After all, God was leading them step by step. They did not see immediately the passing significance of feasts that had been so precious to them prior to Jesus and Calvary.
Other reasons for Paul to hurry back to Jerusalem at the time of a Feast are obvious. Pauls avowed strategy to win both Jews and Gentiles was revealed in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22. He asserts I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are without law (not being without law toward God but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law [Gentiles
I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. This portrays his stratagem to convert Jews and Gentiles by openly fitting into their respective culture systems, without denying Christ in the process.
He knew of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and the soon termination of Jewish ritual system. Time was swiftly running out for the Jews, and it was not unreasonable that he (and other Jewish Christians looking for practical evangelistic opportunities) would seek to be present at the festivals as an opportunity to maximize their prospective audience. The Feast celebrations would be the ideal platform to proclaim Christs great antitypical sacrifice and high priestly ministrythe meaning and significance of their six annual celebrations.
Since the Bible is silent regarding the keeping of Israelitic feasts after the Cross, it would also be wise for modern Christians to avoid imposing regulations and ceremonies without biblical support.
Some read into a statement from E. G. White that appears, for them, to support the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles today: Well would it be for the people of God at the present time to have a Feast of Tabernaclesa joyous commemoration of the blessings of God to them. As the children of Israel celebrated the deliverance that God had wrought for their fathers, and His miraculous preservation of them during their journeying from Egypt, so should we gratefully call to mind the various ways He has devised for bringing us out from the world, and from the darkness of error, into the precious light of His grace and truth(Patriarchs and Prophets, 540).
What is the author saying? She is lauding the blessings that the Israelites once enjoyed during this annual festival. Then, she is recommending that Christians also have occasions when in some sense they come together to celebrate the many blessings that they have received from the Lord. For many, the annual camp meetings have served this purpose as do many weekend rallies and retreats. It would be an unfortunate misinterpretation of White to suggest she is urging the Feast of Tabernacles today. The Israelite Feast was a harvest festival; the Christians harvest festival will be celebrated before the throne of God (Revelation 7). The celebration will take place after the harvest, not before.
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Argument H: After the Crucifixion and Christs Ascension, the disciples gathered together to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. If, as most Christians believe, the festivals were part of the ceremonial law that was done away with at the Cross, why did God choose to honor this Feast by sending His Holy Spirit in such a dramatic way. Obviously, the Feast was not cancelled at the Cross. Why did God choose the Jewish Feast of Pentecost to inaugurate the emerging Christian church? Because it was the best time and place where the disciples could launch their missionary outreach. Where else could they have had a greater audience with the memory of Christs crucifixion still vivid in their minds? Obviously that was Gods plan. At no other time could the disciples have made a greater impact on Jews traveling in from many countries who could carry home the good news of their Messiah.
Besides, the disciples had not had time to think through the relationship between the sanctuary types, feasts, and ordinances, on one hand, and the glorious freedom of their fulfillment in the life and death of Jesus. Many memories of Pentecost past with all their communal joy and gratitude for Gods blessings were soon to be transferred to the blessings opened up by their Lords crucifixionbut that would take time and perhaps the high-powered mind of Paul.
Another reason why these early Christians were eager to celebrate the first Feast of Pentecost after the crucifixion lies in the typical/antitypical relationship between what the Israelites looked forward to fifty days after Passover and what the disciples were beginning to grasp: Fifty days after the Cross they could expect something specialwhat, they did not know until it happened!
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Argument I:Malachi 4:4 God tells us to Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. Exactly! Moses here made a clear distinction between the Ten Commandments and the statutes. Nowhere in the Bible are the statutes given the same authority as the Ten Commandments. Much to the contrary! The statutes were given to guard the Ten Commandments (see Review and Herald, May 6, 1875 in E above).
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Argument J: The Holy Feasts, along with the weekly Sabbath, will be celebrated in Heaven (Isaiah 66:23; Zechariah 14:16). One wonders where in these verses one can find a connection with the Feasts! Zechariah is looking forward to the return from captivity and what would have happened if Israel truly had fulfilled their opportunity and mission to be the Light to the Gentiles. Isaiah is doing the same but we do not find here any reference to the Feast Days.·
Argument K: In Leviticus 23:14, referring to the Feast of First fruits (Barley harvest), the Israelites were told that the ceremony shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings (NKJV). Emphasis rests on the word forever. But often in the Bible, the word forever does not mean that whatever it is describing will never come to its end (see Exodus 27:21; Leviticus 7:36; 10:9; 17:7; Numbers 10:8; 15:15; 18:23 etal.). Fires come to their end when whatever it is consuming is burned up and thus the fire extinguishes itself. Feasts come to their end when what they point arrives, the type meets antitype, the sanctuary service meets the life and death of Jesus.
When the Saviour yielded up His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ceased and the ordinance of the Lords Supper was instituted as a memorial of the same event of which the Passover had been a type (Patriarchs and Prophets, 539).
Christ was standing at the point of transition between two economies and their two great festivals. He, the spotless Lamb of God, was about to present Himself as a sin offering, that He would thus bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to His death. As He ate the Passover with His disciples, He instituted in its place the service that was to be the memorial of His great sacrifice. The national festival of the Jews was to pass away forever. The service which Christ established was to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages (The Desire of Ages, 652). ·
Argument L: Jesus kept the various Feasts and as our Example, so should we.
True, Jesus did attend some of the Feasts at Jerusalem and for good reason. When and where else would He have a better opportunity to draw attention away from the rituals to their significance. In John 2:23, for example, When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.
In John 7 we are told that the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand (7:2). .
What did Jesus do at this time? He told his brothers that He would not be going to Jerusalem with themit was not yet His time. But later He went to Jerusalem, somewhat incognito. Knowing that He would have the opportunity to reach Jews from many countries, He made His move in the middle of the feast weekand taught. On the last day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. This was hardly the generally accepted way to worship at the Feast of Tabernacles!
What is going on here? Ellen White provides interesting insights: As the sons of Joseph made preparation to attend the Feast of Tabernacles, they saw that Christ made no movement signifying His intention of attending. They watched Him with anxiety. Since the healing at Bethesda He had not attended the national gatherings. To avoid useless conflict with the leaders at Jerusalem, He had restricted His labors to Galilee. His apparent neglect of the great religious assemblies, and the enmity manifested toward Him by the priests and rabbis, were a cause of perplexity to the people about Him, and even to His own disciples and His kindred. In His teachings He had dwelt upon the blessings of obedience to the law of God, and yet He Himself seemed to be indifferent to the service, which had been divinely established (DA 450).
From Jerusalem the report of Christ's miracles had spread wherever the Jews were dispersed; and although for many months He had been absent from the feasts, the interest in Him had not abated. Many from all parts of the world had come up to the Feast of Tabernacles in the hope of seeing Him (DA 451).
Obviously, before the Cross, at the times of His choosing and for His purposes, Jesus honored the Feasts and other sanctuary ceremonies that He Himself had given to the Israelites. Throughout His three years of ministry, however, He was, step by step, teaching the higher meaning of these ceremonies, anticipating the day when they would be superseded by their real significance at His death. Jesus knew that these Feasts all pointed in some way to His life and death and resurrection. If He kept them as regularly and as faithfully as did other Jews, His early disciples would have been thoroughly confused after He ascended. Indeed, they did see on reflection that the Feast Days were not to be observed as statutes would beif they simply remembered the example of their Lord.
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Argument M: Ellen White knew and understood the truth about Gods intention to restore the observance of the ancient feasts but she did not emphasize this truth for two reasons: 1) she always waited for others to study it out so she could confirm them in their Bible study and 2) this didnt happen because God in His wisdom knew that it wasnt the right time. Amazing assumptions without foundation!
Part of the problem lies in the reluctance of some to let Ellen White explain her own use of such key terms such as judgments, statutes, services, precepts, ordinances, laws, rituals, and ceremonies. White defines her own usage of such terms by linking them to the typical Feast Days such as the usage of two key terms 1) ceremonies and 2) types in relation to the seven days Feast of Unleavened Bread, which followed the Passover:
The Passover was followed by the seven days' feast of unleavened bread. On the second day of the feast, the first fruits of the year's harvest, a sheaf of barley, was presented before the Lord. All the ceremonies of the feast were types of the work of Christ
the unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits, represented the Saviour (The Desire of Ages, 77, emphasis supplied).
In this ordinance [foot washing], Christ discharged his disciples from the cares and burdens of the ancient Jewish obligations in rites and ceremonies. These no longer possessed any virtue; for type was meeting antitype in himself, the authority and foundation of all Jewish ordinances that pointed to him as the great and only efficacious offering for the sins of the world
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If his disciples had not needed this, it would not have been left for them as Christ's last established ordinance in connection with, and including, the last supper. It was Christ's desire to leave to his disciples an ordinance that would do for them the very thing they needed, that would serve to disentangle them from the rites and ceremonies which they had hitherto engaged in as essential, and which the reception of the gospel made no longer of any force. To continue these rites would be an insult to Jehovah. Eating of the body, and drinking of the blood, of Christ, not merely at the sacramental service, but daily partaking of the bread of life to satisfy the soul's hunger, would be in receiving his word and doing his will (E. G. White, Review & Herald, June 14, 1898, emphasis supplied).
The Jews had prided themselves upon their divinely appointed services; and they concluded that as God once specified the Hebrew manner of worship, it was impossible that He should ever authorize a change in any of its specifications. They decided that Christianity must connect itself with the Jewish laws and ceremonies. They were slow to discern to the end of that which had been abolished by the death of Christ
in which type had met its antitype, rendering valueless the divinely appointed ceremonies and sacrifices of the Jewish religion ( The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 3, 370, emphasis supplied).
There are two distinct laws brought to view. One is the law of types and shadows, which reached to the time of Christ, and ceased when type met antitype in his death. The other is the law of Jehovah, and is as abiding and changeless as his eternal throne
. Hence the ceremonial law ceased to be of force at the death of Christ (E. G. White, The Signs of the Times, July 29, 1886,
But there is a law which was abolished, which Christ took out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Paul calls it the law of commandments contained in ordinances. This ceremonial law, given by God through Moses, with its sacrifices and ordinances, was to be binding upon the Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of Christ as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. Then all the sacrificial offerings and services were to be abolished. Paul and the other apostles labored to show this, and resolutely withstood those Judaizing teachers who declared that Christians should observe the ceremonial law (E. G. White, Signs of the Times, Sept. 4, 1884).·
Argument N: Ellen White is explicit in connecting the Feast Days with the Ten Commandments. We look in vain for these statements. Some refer to The Ministry of Healing, 277-284. These pages are explicitly emphasizing the statutes, one of the three laws that God gave through Moses to the Israelitesespecially the statutes concerning disease prevention, personal cleanliness, diet, personal discipline, health benefits of rejoicing, etc. These principles were to pervade all aspects of their lives wherever they were living.
These statutes, as we discussed above, were designed to guard the Ten Commandments. Thus, God gave to Israel instruction in all the principles essential to physical as well as to moral health, and it was concerning these principles no less than concerning those of the moral law that He commanded them to [observe faithfully] (The Ministry of Healing, 283). Statutes were never on the same level as the Ten Commandmentsthey were meant to guard and apply the principles of the Ten Commandments.
Obviously, these particular statutes would have guarded the commandment against killingboth the person and everyone else in the camp. We can easily see how these statutes would encourage young and old to develop self-control and to remember whom it is they should put first in their lives.
In summary, if Gods people had remembered the Ten Commandments given to Adam and observed by Abraham, if they had remembered the covenant made with Abraham, circumcision would never have been instituted and there would have been no necessity for the Ten Commandments to be proclaimed on Sinai. Gods people would have kept His law in their mind as Abraham did and there would have been no need for the additional statutes or directions given to Moses to guard and amplify the Ten Commandments. The ceremonial system was present in practice, unfolding in particulars, as conditions warranted, since the slaying of the first lamb in Eden and in Abels example. But the ceremonial system with its Feast Days fulfilled its purpose in the life and death of Jesus. See Patriarchs and Prophets, 364, 365.·
Argument O: The Feast Day services were devised to specifically remind us of the solemnity of the seventh-day Sabbath. It would be interesting to see what biblical instruction would be used to substantiate this argument. The reasoning seems to be that if Adventists are clear on the perpetuity of the seventh-day Sabbath, they should also be equally clear on the perpetuity of the Feast Days, which they argue are equally a package for all time.
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Argument P: The seventh-day Sabbath is a feast day and thus provides an added reason why all the other Feast Days should be observed as well in the Christian Church. This, of course, it another way to restate what has been said before. The only basis for this argument is in Leviticus 23:1-4. These four verses are re-emphasized in verses 37 and 38: after reciting the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, the singular exception to these feasts is further emphasized, besides the Sabbaths of the Lord. Verse 3 is thrown in parenthetically between verse 2 and verses 4-37 where the six Feast Days (including the Passover with the Feast of Unleavened Bread) are described. It seems that Moses wanted to make sure that the Israelites clearly understood that the weekly Sabbaths were distinct and apart from the ceremonial sabbaths and other ordinances.