This Spiritual Journey: Dear Lisa

This year I've been struggling with a number of things as you all know.   The summer months were so bad for me and our family as a whole were under such a heavy attack that I fell away from my Bible study and prayer life and just barely slogged through the days.  It was a difficult time, but as the anxiety attacks decreased, I realized that above all I need God.  I need to get back to my faith roots.

That said, I was not quite prepared for Rosh Hashanah.   I was not even sure I would observe it at all, but I recalled my very real longing to observe Passover and how impossible it was at the time with my home full and a four year old whose dietary mainstay is bread.  If all else fails to appeal, offer Josh a slice of bread.  I knew that we could never follow the Feast of Unleavened Bread while he was in the house and so I told John quietly that we'd observe Second Passover, thinking the family would have moved by the time it came along.  They weren't and so it too passed and then the Feast of First Fruits came and went.



Lately I've felt keenly the need to bolster my knowledge of the roots of my faith walk once more.    Today a comment from Lisa on an earlier post really tore my heart on many scores.

I am really struggling with this...wondering whether I should start keeping these days. As a Christian...the blood of Christ shed as our final sacrificial lamb and being under the new covenant and not under the Law, does this mean none of the old testament laws are kept? And if we still keep some, which ones? and how are we supposed to know? And is God pleased with our celebration of his Holy Days, or  is he displeased because it nullifies what Jesus came for? I try to research online and seem to find varying answers, with everyone interpreting the Bible differently. I am earnestly seeking God in prayer on this and would love any insight you have.

So Lisa, this is for you, as one pilgrim on a journey to another.

 If you search "This Spiritual Journey" in the search button on my side bar it will bring up many posts including the series that I did by this same title.  Please take time to look them up and read them.  I'd very much like for you to know my travels thus far in the Christian Faith.

I understand the conflicts you mentioned in your comment and I pray that my answers are helpful.  I will back up what I say with scripture first and then with  my own personal experience.  I truly believe that yes, the feasts are of as much importance to the Christian faith  as they are to the Jewish faith.

We will begin in Exodus.  God told Moses that the Israelite community was to take a one year old lamb or goat for each household (or to share if their household was small) and slaughter it.  This is the first record of God requesting that an animal slaughter be made.  Previously, animals had been killed and offered as a praise/thanksgiving offering but sacrifice was not asked by God.  It is noted in both instances (Abel and then Noah) that God found the aroma pleasing.  I believe this is because the heart of those making the offering was sincere.  The blood of the lamb was to be painted on the doorposts of the Israelites homes and they were to eat the meat that evening.   This is, of course, the Passover as seen in Exodus 12.  It is the first time God says, "Keep this command permanently..."  It was to be observed from generation to generation as a reminder of God's protection.  Are we meant to keep this feast?   I would say we are because our Christ was observing Passover the night before he was crucified!  In this instant, Jesus himself was observing Passover.  As Christians we are told each Easter about the Passover observance, though it's often dubbed "The Last Supper",  but we seldom relate to it as an observance that is at the root of our own faith.

In Exodus 34, God commands the observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.  This is generally observed by the Jewish faith immediately following the Passover.  It too is to be done as a remembrance of the freeing of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.  In this chapter also is mentioned the Festival of Weeks and The Festival of Ingathering which are both related to the agricultural harvests  of the area where the Israelites lived.  

The Festival of Weeks or Shavout is observed 50 days after Passover.  It coincides with the first Spring harvest.   Not being familiar enough with the area I cannot tell you what is harvested at that time.  In my own area, it's generally wheat that is harvested about that same time. You might notice the unique 'coincidence' of days.  Our Christian observance of the day of Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit fell upon the disciples, is also exactly fifty days after Passover.  Pente means fifty by the way.  This reveals God's hand on the Christian Church.  As Christians we are already observing this day! 

The Festival of Ingathering is also known as The Festival of Tents or Sukkot.  That is the Holy days we will be observing at the end of this month. It is related to the harvest season.  It l is believed to  have been about the time of Christ's birth, though many Christians tend to observe his birth at Christmas.

Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement which also occurs during this Jewish month of the year is mentioned in Leviticus 16:29.  This one day I will say that John and I often discuss.  It is his viewpoint that Christ died for our sins.  He was the perfect sacrifice.  His death was, in John's words, all the atonement he needs.  I have to confess that while I don't mind one way or the other, his argument is strong in my opinion.  The observance of this day is mentioned at the end of the section in Leviticus 22 which relates to the scapegoat.   

In Leviticus 23:10, we find the mention of the Feast of First Fruits.  This follows Passover and is generally observed the day after Sabbath, or in Christian terms on Sunday.  It coincides with our Easter observance.  So here too, we  Christians have taken on another of the Jewish Holy days.  Christ himself became the 'First Fruit' as this day is generally observed as his rising from the grave.

In Leviticus 23:24 we find we are commanded to keep a day of complete rest.  The footnotes in my Bible say that this is The Feast of Tabernacles.  Another scholar notes this as The Feast of Trumpets which is a separate Holy Day.  Both take place in the same Jewish calendar month following Rosh Hashanah.  

Each of these observances follow God's plan of salvation for His people.  Some of the festivals have indeed been completed or finished or fulfilled, depending upon what translation of the New Testament you are reading:  Passover, The Feast of First Fruits, Pentecost and the Day of Atonement.  I found a most interesting note on The Feast of Trumpets relating it to scripture in Matthew 24:40.  This leads me to believe that this feast relates to the future church and has not yet been fulfilled  The whole article was a help to me in writing out this post, but WARNING:   my computer assured me it was not a secure site.  

Last, the Festival of Dedication is not mentioned in the Old Testament, however, in the New Testament in John 10:22 it is mentioned that Christ was in the temple that day.  I daresay he was there to observe that day, as were many other Jews.  This festival is Hannukah, or Festival of Lights.  You may find many references to the celebration of Hannukah and what it means to the Jewish faith.  We do observe Hannukah in our home with the lighting of the candles.   We have also taken part in Purim when we attended the Messianic synagogue.   This observance is held in honor of Queen Esther who risked her life to save the Jewish people.  It is also a 'manmade' observance.  I do not know if Christ observed Purim but I believe he did if it was a commonly observed day by the Jews.

Missing from all of this: Rosh Hashanah, the holy day which I am currently observing.  It is part and parcel of the holy days this month and so I have chosen to observe it in my own way.

That is scripture for you.  Now let me share my personal views upon this:  That you have been made aware of and are wondering if you should observe them leads me to believe that God is impressing you to move deeper into your understanding of your Christian faith.  It was just so with myself and John.  I confess, having heard most scripture in the King James English, I was well into my forties the day it first occurred to me that my Lord and Savior was not only not from the English speaking Western world but a Jew.  That may have been clear as the light of day to others but for some reason my own understanding was not opened until that time.   As well, I vaguely recall hearing it taught that it was the Jews who killed Jesus.  It was not, by the way.  It was the Roman governor who allowed the killing and the men who held high ranking positions as priests in the synagogue were appointed by the Roman government.  Levitical priests were few and far between.  John the Baptist should have been a priest.  Instead he was out in the wilderness because the synagogues had become so corrupt.

My personal revelation of Christ as a Jew,  led us to leave the church we had helped to establish and attend a Messianic congregation.   I wanted to understand the roots of my faith, to know just how God had meant for us to worship Him.  If Jesus Christ kept the feasts and observed the Holy Days then so would I.   That was my thought then and is m thought to this day.  As Christians we are already observing some of the Jewish Holy Days in guise of our own Holy Days.  Will observing them cease now that we know this?  Or shall we simply agree that God means for us to observe these days, that they foreshadowed the Church to come?

The new covenant did away with animal sacrifice, because Christ the Messiah was hung upon a cross and died for our sin.  He took upon himself the sins of the world.  The blood he shed was the protection we gained from that sacrifice.   

The conflict comes in when we are told, often from the pulpit, that the Law is dead and is now replaced.  No.  There are 639 laws, or mitzvah,  written in the old testament Torah portion (comprised of the first five chapters of the Old Testament),  which expand upon the Ten Commandments.  If we are to believe that the law is dead then we must also believe that the commandments were also done away with.  Yet every moral man and woman of us knows that this cannot be truth.  The mitzvah all relate to two things: love God and love your neighbor, as Christ himself says in Mark 12:28-31.  He is not saying that we shouldn't follow the commandments but to adhere to them.

It is so difficult for us to embrace these Jewish holy days of faith because frankly, those who teach are often conflicted and confused, or downright wrong about their impact on our lives as Christians.  I have heard a well known pastor on one of the world televised Christian channels assure the audience that anyone who followed the feasts was rejecting Christ and would go straight to hell.   I was shocked at his vehemence. I felt with every fiber of my soul that he was wrong and had condemned himself in leading others astray.   There are pastors who are more enlightened.  John Hagee, Larry Huch, and Perry Stone are great pastors who address our faith roots.

As for following the few manmade holy days is it any different really than our observance of Christmas or Thanksgiving or Labor Day or Memorial Day?  You can find Christians who are as adamantly opposed to any such observances.   Again I say, if you find yourself wondering, I believe that God is nudging your curiosity to discover more.  That you have researched and found so much conflicting information from pastors and scholars alike does make it more difficult to know what is right.  I have always felt that in confusion, the place to turn is to God himself and ask Him to help.   It is truth that in my instance, when I'd asked God to allow me to 'go deeper' I was turned to studying the Jewish roots and to observance of first a proper Sabbath of rest and then to learning more about the Jewish Holy Days and how they related to my Christian faith.

I say follow God.  I believe, truly, that God is speaking to you and asking you to come near.

I will tell you that in our personal experience, we are often frustrated and sometimes shunned by other Christians who feel it is their duty to inform of our misguided ways.  Again, I refer to the three pastors mentioned earlier in this post and urge you to listen to what they have to say.  You are not 'giving up' Christ in studying or observing these feasts.

I hope that you found this information helpful, Lisa.  May God go with you and guide you!