Paul and the Feasts of the LORD

breytonhartge SG

The Apostle Paul was by far the most learned of all the apostles. He was a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee and had received his education from the most learned and respected rabbi in the world in his day, Rabbi Gamaliel. Paul was his top student.

Peter wrote about Paul, "His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position." (2 Pe 3:16-17)

Peter mentions ignorant people, who distort Paul, and then warns his readers against being carried away by the error of lawless men. There was a strong rumor about Paul already in those days that he was teaching not only Gentiles, but also Jews, to turn away from Moses (Ac 21:21). Rumors can be very hard to stop. For almost two thousand years Paul's letters have been misused in the church to teach that the Law has been abolished.

It is very important to understand that this is to distort Paul. In Acts 21 we see how James in Jerusalem addresses this issue and tells Paul what he should do in order to stop the rumors about him and show everyone that he is not teaching these things. He ends by saying, "Then everybody will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law." (Ac 21:24) Paul was not a lawless man who did away with the Law of Moses.

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The Law Is a Shadow of Things That Are Coming

It is important to look at what Paul said about the Feasts of the LORD. Let's first look at Colossians 2:16-17, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."

These verses have been used by ignorant, lawless people, to say that Christians should not have anything to do with the Feasts of the LORD that were given in the Law. But is this really what Paul is saying, or is this a typical example of distorting Paul as Peter warned?

Paul is first of all saying here, just like in the Book of Hebrews, that the Law is a shadow of what is real in Messiah. "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming not the realities themselves." (Heb 10:1) The word "only" in this verse is not in the Greek text. It is a word that biased English translators have added to the sacred text.

Notice also that it says that the Law is "a shadow of the good things that are coming." The Law is not just a shadow of good things that came two thousand years ago when Yeshua died on the tree. Everything in the Law was not fulfilled then. Much of the Law is yet to be fulfilled, in fact, the best is yet ahead of us. The Law gives us a shadow of these coming good things. The Law is still prophesying about the Messiah! Colossians 2:17 is mistranslated in the NIV Bible. The Greek text does not say "that were to come." The NASB translates it correctly as "what is to come."

The only way to remove a shadow is to remove the object itself, which is the Messiah. We cannot remove the Law (the shadow), without removing the Messiah (the object). Furthermore, without shadows a picture lacks depth. It is only two dimensional and lifeless. We need the Law to see the full depth of our Messiah, his salvation and what is yet to come! We must not do away with the Law. Because the Feasts are a shadow of what is coming and what is ours in the Messiah, they belong to all who believe in him. We should observe them without letting anyone judge us for it.

breytonhartge SG

Obedience but Not Legalism

What Paul is warning about in the passage above from Colossians 2 is not the Law, but legalism. He is warning against people who make the Law itself the reality. Paul is saying that we should not let anyone condemn us by how we observe Sabbaths and religious festivals, as if our salvation was hinging upon obeying certain rules about these things. We are free from such legalism, because our Messiah has purchased our salvation for us with his blood. But this does not mean that born again people from the nations should not observe the Feasts of the Lord! That is a typical anti Jewish distortion of what Paul meant.

One year ago, as we were honoring the Eternal by fasting during the Day of Atonement, he spoke some powerful, life changing words to us. He said, "This is MY Feast. It is a Feast about me. It is an appointed time to meet with me. Why are Christians who believe in me and say that they love me, so ignorant and careless about my Feasts?"

The Feasts are part of the Law, which in Hebrew simply means God's teachings and instructions. The Law teaches us about the Messiah and about our salvation in him. Not one word is without meaning. Friends, how can we expect to succeed if we reject God's teachings and instructions? God is the best teacher in the world. But how can we reach maturity if we reject His teachings?

The only instruction for the Feast of Trumpets, is that it is supposed to be a Sabbath day of rest when we are to stop what we are doing and blow shofar horns. Shofars do not even sound pleasant. They have a piercing, kind of wailing sound. What is that good for? It is an annual reminder of that one day the shofar will blow from heaven and the Messiah will come. It is "a shadow of the good things that are coming."

"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Th 4:16-17)

God wants us to be ready, and the church is dishonoring God by ignoring his Feasts, which he has appointed, to teach and instruct us about the Messiah. Instead the church has come up with its own feasts, such as Christmas (patterned after the celebration of the birth of the sun god on December 25) and Easter (patterned after the worship of the goddess Ishtar), which are not in the Bible, but instead have their background in idol worship. God clearly says in the Law,

"be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.' You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates." (De 12:31)

Notice that God does not say that we must not worship foreign gods. Of course we should not do that. But here it says that we must not worship the Lord, YHWH, in the same way that the heathens worship their gods. We should keep God's Feasts and not try to honor Him with any manmade feasts originating in idolatry.

No matter how well intended the motives might be, we should not be involved in any non Scriptural feast if we want to be His glorious Bride. The Bible says, "But just as he who called you is holy [set apart, different], so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" (1 Pe 1:15-16) The Word of God makes us set apart. Christmas and Easter celebrations are included in the rebellion against Moses that Paul warned about would come and prepare the way for the antichrist! Friends, this is serious!

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The Sabbath

The Sabbath is one of the Feasts of the LORD. Some refer to Romans 14:5-6 that we are under no obligation in the new covenant to keep the fourth of the Ten Commandments. Paul wrote, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God."

It is completely unthinkable that Paul could have referred to the Sabbath by writing, "One man considers one day more sacred than another." This would have meant a complete rejection of the Holy Scriptures by Paul, since they clearly establish that God considers the Sabbath more sacred than the rest. Already in the second chapter of the Bible we see that the very first thing God did right after creation was to sanctify the Sabbath. "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." (Ge 2:3)

It is remarkable that in the NIV translation, the translators add a word in Romans 14, verse 6 to make it sound like Paul had changed the subject. The word "meat" does not exist in the original Greek text. It simply says, "He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats, eats to the Lord." The most natural interpretation of course then, is that the entire passage does not talk about the Sabbath at all, but about special days of fasting which some in Rome obviously observed. Maybe it was referring to the Pharisaic tradition to fast two days a week (see Lk 18:12). This is a custom that is not found in Scripture, but we do know that the believers in the Early Assembly in Jerusalem practiced it.

When you first begin to celebrate the Sabbath in obedience to the word of God, it is a little bit different and unusual. If you are not Jewish it could be hard to overcome thoughts such as; "I am not Jewish, why should I do this? I feel like a hypocrite." Or, "I am a Christian, it feels like changing religion." The problem is that the believers should never have stopped keeping the Sabbath and you are breaking new ground after 1800 long years! It is not strange if you should feel a little uncomfortable in the beginning.

But please bear in mind: through faith in Yeshua/Jesus we have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel. By keeping the Sabbath we are simply restoring the original faith that was once for all delivered to all the saints. Why should we not do what Yeshua and the disciples did?Do we not want to be like him? We assure you that if you do not quit, it will not take long until the Sabbath becomes the greatest joy in the family during the entire week.

Not long ago we told some friends, "We have found out that if you really want to keep the Sabbath, you also have to keep the preparation day (Friday, see Mk 15:42) in order to prepare everything properly for the Sabbath." Our gentile Christian friend answered, "We as a family actually prepare and look forward to the Sabbath all week. It says, 'Remember the Sabbath day.' That is what we do all week. The Sabbath is the highest joy for us that we look forward to as a family!" Do not let Satan or religious spirits rob you of the blessing to celebrate Shabbat every week just like Yeshua did!

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Messiah, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth." Here Paul clearly tells the believers in Corinth to keep the Feast of Passover. Later on in the letter he gives more detailed instructions concerning the last Passover meal that Yeshua ate with his disciples when he introduced the new covenant and how the believers in Corinth should observe it correctly.

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The Coming of the Lord

Fasting without food or drink for 24 hours on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is not pleasant. Once again, this is an obvious lesson that God has given to teach us about His coming. We must get ready for the coming of the Lord because it will not be an easy escape! "But who can endure the day of his coming?" (Mal 3:2) It will require much soul searching and repentance to be ready.

"For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, 'If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?'" (1 Pe 4:17-1 Cool

"So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him." (2 Pe 3:14)

This is why God has given us the Day of Atonement to teach us a very important lesson about the return of the Lord. It is a day to humble ourselves before God and "afflict our souls" by fasting. Passover is about salvation. The Day of Atonement is about repentance and sanctification. We cannot truly celebrate the joy of the Lord during Tabernacles if we have not first repented before Him.

We are not to be legalistic about the Feasts of the LORD, but be led by the Holy Spirit and not let anyone judge us how we celebrate them. But to ignore the Feasts of the LORD is to ignore the Word of God and the teachings that He has given to those who believe in Him. It is actually to dishonor the Lord. It is that simple. The church has done it for at least 1700 years. It is time to repent and return to the old paths.
"Prepare the Way for the LORD"

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