This was a slower process than the decision to honor the Sabbath day. Growing up, my mom had the wisdom to recognize the many problems with Easter being celebrated in the Christian church, so we turned to celebrating Passover in my early teens. It seems obvious in hindsight but it took us several years before we figured out we should keep the rest of the Biblical holidays as well. So what led to the change?
For me that spark came when I started seriously reading and studying Scripture. While I have consistently read my Bible since I was a preteen, I wasn't studying or being taught all of it. If you cherry-pick the popular Christian passages of Scripture, you are going to miss a lot.* Realizing that all Scripture is breathed by YHWH and intended to instruct us (1 Timothy 3:16), I knew I needed to study the whole book to see its instructions for me. Upon reading the Bible in a year I could see that not only are these holidays mentioned, but that their thread can be seen from Genesis through Revelation. (My personal learning and conviction was compounded by my small congregation that was also studying this - surround yourself with those seeking truth and working to be obedient to the word and your life will change.) And when I saw that the thought of celebrating YHWH's set apart times was exciting! To enumerate a few reasons...
I wanted to start celebrating the Biblical feasts because:
-Scripture commands us to. Once I checked out Leviticus 23, Deuteronomy 16, and the many other verses on the feasts this was loud and clear! "This is a festival to YHWH throughout all your generations." (Exodus 12:14) I mean, really no reason beyond this is needed, right? Scripture says throw a party, so that is just cause to celebrate. If the word says to do something then it is in our best interest to do that. You don't have to be a scholar to realize that following Scripture's instructions is the wise choice to make.
-Paul exhorts believers (even non Jewish ones) to keep these feasts. Many people have told met that the Biblical holidays are strictly an Old Testament thing and not needed after the Messiah came. Apostle Paul didn't think so and expressly told believers to keep the feasts (1 Corinthians 5:8). Both the Old and New Testaments tell us to do this. Think you're not invited because you don't come from the right gene pool? Nope, this instruction is for everyone. When Paul wrote this, he was actually addressing a Greek group of believers from Corinth. His target audience wasn't Jewish people or those living in Israel, and you don't have to meet those descriptions to celebrate.
-The Messiah and his disciples kept the set apart times. Remember those WWJD bracelets? Well one of the answers to that question is, "He would keep the feasts!" We see him doing this at the last supper for Passover, traveling to Jerusalem for a feast as a boy, and in John 7 at Sukkot. The cycle of the seven set apart times would have been foundational to his life, marking the seasons and the calendar. Just as we know that fall means back-to-school, leaves changing colors, and pumpkins and apples, he would have associated fall with getting ready for the fall feasts. I love how this gives us such an idea of what his days were like...picture him putting together a sukkah before the Feast of Tabernacles or counting the omer in the spring time, and making plans to celebrate the feasts.
-There is both historic and prophetic significance to each of these times. The Biblical holidays are action packed to say the least, from the Israelite exodus from slavery to the resurrection of the Messiah; the giving of the Torah to baptism in the Holy Spirit at Shavuot. Each set apart time is so rich because it symbolizes not only what YHWH wants us to remember regarding the past, but what is to come at those times in the future. Did you know when Yahusha said that no one knew the day or the hour of his return he used an idiom for the Feast of Trumpets? We can learn so much from the feasts.
-Wanting to honor YHWH. We host birthday celebrations and engagement parties, and award ceremonies because we want to honor people. What about a few days to honor the Creator? While we can do that through other means as well, we shouldn't neglect that he asked us to observe these times.
-Conviction. I've had no problem celebrating cultural holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, workplace/career milestones, high school homecoming, the Ohio State versus Michigan football game, and even completely made up days like 'National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day'...is it too much to ask to give YHWH's days a little attention? In fact, I'd willingly jumped into all of those other days because they sounded fun and (mostly) they held some significance. What am I saying when I reject the feasts of YHWH because I don't think they have meaning or could be celebrated with joy?
-Sincerely wanting to be a doer of the word. I don't know about you, but for me there came a time when I just got sick of letting myself off the hook with excuse after excuse for why we don't actually need to keep Scripture's instructions. Life is too short to live in half-hearted compromise. And if abundant life comes through the Messiah, shouldn't I align myself with his lifestyle and value system, at least to the best of my ability? YHWH deserves more than just my verbal praise, he desires that we show our faith by our actions. Celebrating a few times a year is a doable and joy filled way to do that.
I am so thankful to be able to honor and celebrate YHWH's set apart times. It is a great joy to have the seasons of my life revolve around Scripture. I wish I could adequately tell you how celebrating the feasts has enriched my faith and understanding of Scripture, but it has been so much more than I ever imagined. 2 Peter 3:18 tells us that we are to continually grow in the favor and knowledge of the Messiah, if you're feeling like you've been stuck or stagnant, keeping the feasts is an amazing opportunity to grow! All are invited.
*That really bad habit of skipping over large portions of Scripture leaves believers in the dark on many topics, and most live in complete ignorance that there are times of year that are set apart by the Creator for specific celebrations. This is compounded by bad translations (like Shavuot's misnomer Pentecost, or heaven forbid, calling Passover "Easter," or how a mention of it being "already after Yom Kippur" in Acts gets changed to "we had lost a lot of time"). If you have a poor translation of Scripture that you don't read all of or study, you are going to miss important blocks of Scripture, including these ancient festivals we are commanded to keep.
More on the Biblical Holidays:
The Beginner's Guide to the Biblical Holidays
The Beginner's Guide to the Biblical Holidays
