| Also See The Seven Feasts of Israel Understanding Prophecy and Typology and Moses’ Law or Christ’s Law
This question seems to be having a bit of a revival these days. Some in the Hebrew Roots movement have gone overboard, claiming that Christians who do not observe the Sabbath and Festivals of the Old Covenant are "lawless." Lets get one thing straight right up front. Keeping the Feasts according to the Torah REQUIRES OFFERING ANIMAL SACRIFICES. There is no avoiding this conclusion. And, any changes to the festivals by rabbis to accommodate the fact that there is no longer a Temple or Levitical priesthood, or, any changes by Messianic Christians to accommodate the fact that the New Testament says Christ's sacrifice has ended the animal sacrifices, makes it impossible to observe these feasts according to the Torah. What we are left with is a lot of man-made tradition as a substitute to what God commanded. Some of these traditions include things like substituting eggs for the Passover lamb on the Seder. How is this any different from people using "Easter eggs?" Synagogue worship on Sabbath was never commanded by God. According to the Torah, all males must travel to Jerusalem 3 times a year to worship on the festival seasons. That was the worship God commanded in the Torah. No Jew or Messianic Christian on earth observes the feasts according to the Torah. And, there is a very good reason for this. The Temple was destroyed exactly 40 years [one generation] after Jesus began preaching, and the Levitical priesthood, which is necessary to observe the festivals, has been lost. So, how do Jews and Messianic Christians observe the feasts instead? Simply by following man's traditions, established by rabbis who flatly rejected Jesus as the Messiah.
Also See The Atonement ...How can we account for a Jewish religion with no substitute atonement compared to what Moses had directed in the Torah?…
Let's see what the New Testament has to say about observance of the Old Covenant that God made with Israel on Mt. Sinai. Is that covenant our covenant? That is the crucial question. Heb 8:6-13
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--
9 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.
10 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
11 "None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
12 "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."
13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
(NKJV)
Yes, the first covenant, made on Mt. Sinai, when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, is OBSOLETE. It has VANISHED AWAY. It has been replaced by the New Covenant. Notice, in the above passage that the New Covenant would NOT BE ACCORDING TO THE MT. SINAI COVENANT. That is, it would be entirely different. [See Moses’ Law or Christ’s Law] Of course the Jews will not accept this concept. [Nor will some Christians]. So, to ensure that Judaism was IMPOSSIBLE to practice, God allowed the Temple to be destroyed. The Temple was the heart of observance of Judaism. When Jesus was on the cross, the first sign of the vanishing away of the Old Covenant occurred when the veil of the Temple was ripped from top to bottom. This was a horrifying event in Judaism. But, it demonstrated that the way into the presence of God no longer was accomplished by an elite priesthood, and by observances of Feasts and sacrifices. Heb 9:8-14
8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience--
10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
(NKJV)
This passage makes it clear that the Temple / Tabernacle Feasts and sacrifices were TEMPORARY "UNTIL THE TIME OF REFORMATION." Obviously, this is not speaking of the Protestant Reformation, but of the time of Christ, who was the once-for-all sacrifice, to end all sacrifices. It is by His death and resurrection that the Old Covenant is taken away, and the New Covenant is put into effect. Heb 10:6-9
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure.
7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come-- in the volume of the book it is written of Me-- to do Your will, O God.' "
8 Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law),
9 then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second.
Yes, it was necessary to take away the Old Covenant delivered to Moses, in order to fully establish the New Covenant. Heb 10:15-20
15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,
16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,"
17 then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."
18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
(NKJV)
Yes, there is a NEW way to worship God, there is a NEW way for our redemption, and it is NOT according to the covenant made with Israel at Mt. Sinai. Here is what Jesus said about observance of the Jewish Feasts, and the main object around which the feasts were instituted, the Temple at Jerusalem, and without which there can be no real observance and worship according to the Old Covenant. John 4
5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. ...
19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
(KJV)
NOT IN JERUSALEM??? Yes, that is what Jesus said. And this necessarily means NO JEWISH FEASTS because ALL of the Feasts REQUIRE both a Temple, and the Levitical Priesthood. Jesus has FULFILLED the Law. He has FULFILLED the feasts in His atonement. But, in order to keep tradition alive, some are insisting that Christians need to continue to observe the feasts. Not according to the Torah mind you, because that is impossible. No, they have man-made substitutes, like eggs instead of Lamb for Passover. Well, that's about as holy as having pizza and coke for the Lord's Supper! Yet, we are told by some in the Jewish Roots movement, that if we do not follow these man made traditions, we are "lawless!" Go figure! Yes, dear Christian, if you dare to remember the resurrection of our Lord on the actual day of the week He was raised from the dead, you are a pagan, and idolatrous! Not only that, if you do not go to your local Christian Synagogue on the Sabbath to worship, you are "lawless!" Never mind that God NEVER commanded such a thing, but it was invented by the Jews on their own authority during the Babylonian captivity! However, during the first 40 years of Christianity, the Temple was still standing, and the Levitical Priesthood was still intact. Do we see the churches of the Gentiles being instructed to observe any Jewish Feasts, or even to keep the Sabbath? No! No once. Just the opposite is the case. The entire book of Galatians is devoted to the question of whether Christians should keep the Law of Moses, the Old Covenant. Here are a few highlights. Gal 1:6-8
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
(KJV) Gal 1:11-16
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
(KJV) Gal 2:11-14
11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
(KJV) Gal 2:18-21
18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
(KJV) Gal 3:1-4
1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
(KJV) Gal 3:10-13
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
(KJV) Gal 3:18-19
18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
(KJV) Gal 3:22-26
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
(KJV) Gal 4:9-11
9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
(KJV) Gal 4:16
16 Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
(KJV) Gal 4:21-5:1
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is (H)agar.
25 For this (H)agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
(KJV) Gal 5:4
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
(KJV) Gal 5:7-8
7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
(KJV) Gal 5:13-14
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
(KJV) Gal 5:18
18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
(KJV) Gal 6:2
2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
(KJV) [That is, the Sermon on the Mount] Gal 6:13-18
13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
(KJV)
As Christians, we are no longer under the Old Covenant. The Feasts of Israel were meant to point the nation of Israel to Christ. These things were the "shadow," not the substance. Does this mean the Feasts of Israel are of no value anymore? Quite the contrary. They are still witnesses to the gospel, in graphic allegory. They are rich in symbolism, and should be studied by all Christians, for a fuller understanding of the atonement of Christ, and how it relates to prophecy. Should Christians observe the Feasts? Yes, and no. Yes, if it is being done simply as a memorial, and instruction on the basis of our faith. No, if it done out of obligation or necessity. The Feasts are not a part of the New Covenant, but the Old Covenant. And, we are under no obligation to the Old Covenant. And, those who insist on Christians observing Sabbath and the Feasts are putting Christians into "the yoke of bondage," according to Paul. See The Seven Feasts of Israel |
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