CELEBRATING CHRIST – OUR FEAST

“Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a SHADOW of things to come, but the SUBSTANCE is of CHRIST” – Colossians 2:16-17

We can learn a great deal about CELEBRATING CHRIST – OUR FEAST by meditating on the prophetic significance of biblical feasts. God gave certain feasts to point Israel’s spiritual fathers toward Christ (Col.2:16-17). These festivals were shadows to the Reality – our Saviour Jesus Christ. The seven major festivals of Old Testament Israel were, in calendar order as follows: Passover, Unleavened Bread, First fruits, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles or Ingathering). After the exile, the Jews added memorial days for the fall of Jerusalem, Purim, and the Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah). In addition, Israel observed the Sabbath every week and the feast of the New Moon every lunar month.

These festivals were communal, commemorative, theological, and typological. They were communal in that they drew the nation together for celebration and worship as they evoked the shared origin and experience of the people. They were commemorative in that they kept active the testimonies of what God had done in the exodus and during Israel’s wilderness sojourn. They were theological in that the observance of the festivals presented the participants with lessons on the reality of sin, judgment, and forgiveness, on the need for thanksgiving to God, and on the importance of trusting God rather than accumulating and hoarding possessions. They were typological in that they envisioned a greater fulfilment of the symbolism of the feasts. It is not surprising that each of the major feasts is in some way alluded to in the New Testament.

On the other hand, the festivals could become futile rituals as reflected in Isaiah 1:13-14: “Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies – I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them.”  Christians are not under obligation to celebrate the Jewish feasts. The Bible prescribes liberty: “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks” (Rom.14:5-6).

The author of Hebrews warned his audience, ex-Jewish Christians, many who whom were still clinging to their old ways, professing believers who were tempted to go back to the Temple and the Old Covenant shadows, that to go back is to deny that Christ has come.  He endeavoured to show in chapters 7-10, that the Mosaic ceremonials were no longer applicable: “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship” (Heb.10:1 NIV). The biblical feasts were types and shadows that pointed to Christ. God Himself ordained these feasts for the good of His people. However, Christ is greater than the shadows. We do not keep the feasts by keeping the feast. Instead we keep the feasts by clinging to Christ – HE IS OUR FEAST!

We have peace with God by trusting in the finished work of Christ alone. To add anything to that is to fall into a false gospel. Our absolute dependence is on Christ’s finished work. What matters is that we know Him and the power of His resurrection (Phil.3:10). The Redeemer to whom the Old Testament feasts and rituals pointed now lives in our hearts. There is no k we need to observe in order to stand approved before our heavenly Father. Knowing our standing as sons of God should make every day worth celebrating!