God's Holy Days

Overview of
God's Holy Days

The Biblical Feasts

Why were you born? The Creator God has a plan for all mankind which leads to eternal life and eternal happiness. That is the reason why we were born. Death can be defeated, and we can live forever. Salvation is eternal life in the Kingdom of God, the Family of God; it is being saved from the wages of sin, which is death (Romans 3:23). Salvation is not earned through our own efforts, it is God's free and loving gift (Romans 3:24).

The Plan of Salvation involves seven steps, pictured by the Seven Annual Festivals. Unless we act out this plan each year, and grow in grace and knowledge, we lose sight of what the Almighty has in store for us.

STEP ONE: Jesus is Our Passover

The first step of any plan is very important. If you skip the first step, or substitute another step for it, the results might be undesirable. In God's plan the first step is of immense magnitude. It has to do with the death penalty that we have hanging over our heads. Jesus Christ died for our sins, and this means that due to each of us breaking God's Ten Commandments, we have sinned, and the penalty of sin is death unless there is someone else to die in our place.

Jesus Christ, the Creator of the heavens, the earth, and mankind (John 1:1-3) is of more value than all of His creation. Therefore, He could die for all mankind who have sinned, becoming our Passover sacrifice:

"Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.  For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." (1Corinthians 5:7, NKJV throughout)

This sacrifice is applied only after an individual repents of sin, is baptized and accepts Jesus Christ as personal savior (Acts 2:37-38). There is no other way to eternal life except through Jesus Christ; thus, the importance of this first step portrayed by the Passover memorial service of Messiah's death for our sins.

STEP TWO: Become Spiritually Unleavened

Next is the putting out of leaven during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:6-8). Putting out physical leaven for seven days pictures putting sin out of our lives every day through heartfelt desire and effort to quit sinning:

"Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened.  For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1Corinthians 5:7-8)

In addition to not eating leavened items during this period, we should actively eat unleavened bread (Leviticus 23:6), which pictures putting on Christ; that is, following His example in all that we do, and allowing Him to live His life in us.

STEP THREE: Receive Gift of Holy Spirit

Since it is impossible to obey God on our own, due to the weaknesses of the flesh and the downward pull of our human nature, we need to invoke the next step in God's plan: God's help. This is His Holy Spirit, which He gives to us after our baptism (Acts 2:38). We then become begotten sons of God.

The gift of God's Holy Spirit was first made available to mankind in general on the Feast of Pentecost, a little more than seven weeks after Christ's crucifixion and resurrection (Acts 2:1-4). This was the beginning of the New Testament Church of God.

If we utilize this fantastic gift, we can begin to obey God as we should. And it is this minute portion of God Himself in us that begins our journey toward eternal life:

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." (Romans 8:14)

Pentecost is often called the Feast of Firstfruits. You may be part of this select group if God is now calling you (John 6:44).

STEP FOUR: Return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings

The Bible often uses trumpets to signify war and destruction. The Day of Trumpets pictures the endtime, climactic war between Christ and the forces of Satan, culminating in the return of Jesus Christ as King of kings:

"Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.  And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.  His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns.  He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.  He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.  And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.

"Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations.  And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron.  He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." (Revelation 19:11-16)

There will never be such a time of war as this in all history. All life would be eradicated from the earth if not for the intervention and second coming of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:21-22).

The resurrection of the firstfruits will occur at this stage in God's plan (1Corinthians 15:52, 1Thessalonians 4:13-17, Revelation 20:1-6).

STEP FIVE: All the Earth at Peace and at ONE with God

Finally, the earth will be at one with its Creator, as pictured by the Day of Atonement, because the Adversary, Satan the Devil, will be imprisoned and not allowed to continue his self-serving rule over this earth:

"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.  He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;  and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished . . . " (Revelation 20:1-3)

All the world will then learn to follow God's way of love and peace instead of Satan's way of hate and war.

STEP SIX: The Thousand Year (Millennial) Reign of the Messiah

After Satan is put away we will enter the truly "golden era" of earth's history, the Millennium, which literally means one thousand years. Jesus and all those resurrected in the first resurrection, shall reign over the earth, bringing fabulous joy and prosperity to all humanity that survive the endtime holocaust:

"And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.  Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.  And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.  This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.  Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." (Revelation 20:4-6)

During these thousand years, many will have their opportunity for salvation (eternal life).

STEP SEVEN: The Dead are alive again

At the end of the Millennium, all the dead throughout history who never had an opportunity for salvation through Jesus Christ, will be resurrected to a second human life:

"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. " (Revelation 20:11-12; See also Ezekiel 37:1-14)

They will enter an earth which is a utopia, after one thousand years of Christ's reign, and learn the right way to live. This is their first and only opportunity to accept Jesus as their personal savior, to be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is their time to accept the magnificent gift of eternal life being held out to them.

Sometimes this last feast day is called the "Eighth Day." This is the Biblical term in Leviticus 23. If seven is the number of completion, eight is the number of new beginnings. God has wonderful plans for all of us far into the future, and those plans begin with the Eighth Day, the final step in God's Feast Days.

God's Plan of Salvation Portrayed by His Holy Feasts

God's Three Harvest Seasons

God's Word says that His Seven Annual Festivals occur during three major time periods, each of which represents a harvest:

“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year:  You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; none shall appear before Me empty);  and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field;  and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.  Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD." (Exodus 23:14-17; see also Deuteronomy 16:16-17)

FIRST HARVEST: Early Spring (March / April)

Harvest of the First of the Firstfruits of God's Children -- Jesus Christ
(1Corinthians 15:20; 1Thessalonians 4:14)

1. Passover (14th day of first Hebrew month)
Acceptance of Jesus Christ our Savior who died for our sins.

2. Feast of Unleavened Bread (Seven days: 15th - 21st of first Hebrew month)
With God's help and Holy Spirit putting sin (leaven) out of our lives after accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.

SECOND HARVEST: Late Spring (May / June)

Harvest of the Firstfruits of God's Children
(1Corinthians 15:23; 1Thessalonians 4:15-17)

3. Pentecost
Receiving of God's Holy Spirit in order to help us in our effort to obey God's righteous Law.

THIRD HARVEST: Fall (September / October)

Harvest of the Rest of the Fruits, the Vast Majority of God's Children
(Revelation 20:4-6, 11-12; Ezekiel 37:11-13)

4. Day of Trumpets (1st Day of Seventh Hebrew Month)
Return of Jesus Christ to destroy man's evil, ungodly, unrighteous system of government.

5. Day of Atonement (10th Day of Seventh Hebrew Month)
Reconciliation of God to His People after putting away the Deceiver and Adversary -- Satan the Devil.

6. Feast of Tabernacles (7 days: 15th - 21st of Seventh Hebrew Month)
Thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ on earth with man living in peace and happiness God's Way.

7. Last Great Day, or Eighth Day (22nd Day of Seventh Hebrew Month)
New Beginnings. Resurrection to human life of all the dead who never knew the truth in order for them to have their opportunity for salvation.

Festival Themes

Seven Feast Days, Seven Doctrines

The Beatitudes in the Feast Days

Seven Festivals, Seven Churches

Annual Holy Days Picture Past and Future Events in God's Plan

Holy Days among Early Believers

"Abhorred and publicly execrated by the Jews for their attachment to Christianity, and despised by the Christians for their prejudice in favor of the Mosaic law [with its weekly and annual sabbaths, kosher diet, etc.] they were peculiarly oppressed and unfortunate. Traces of this sect [the Nazarenes] appear as late as the fourth century." -- Hugh Smith, History of the Christian Church, page 72

"The Jewish Christians [Nazarenes] of Palestine retained the entire Mosaic law [with the exception of the ceremonial] and consequently the Jewish festivals . . . . In the Feast of the Passover . . . the Nazarenes eat [unleavened] bread, probably like the Jews . . . ." -- Ecclesiastical History, vol 1, chapter 2, section 30, by Gieseler

"There is another sect, 'Hypisistarians,' that is, worshippers of the most high, whom they worshipped as the Jews only in one person. And they observed their weekly and annual sabbaths, used distinction of their meats, clean and unclean . . . ." -- Antiquities of the Christian Church, Book 16, chapter 16, section 2

Josephus and Festival Fellowship

"Let those that live as remote as the bounds of the land which the Hebrews shall possess, come to that city where the temple shall be, and this three times in a year, that they may give thanks to God for His former benefits, and may entreat Him for those they shall want hereafter; and let them, by this means, maintain a friendly correspondence with one another by such meetings and feastings together, for it is a good thing for those that are of the same stock, and under the same institution of laws, not to be unacquainted with each other; which acquaintance will be maintained by thus conversing together, and by seeing and talking with one another, and so renewing the memorials of this union; for if they do not thus converse together continually, they will appear like mere strangers to one another." -- Antiquities (History) of the Jews, Book 4, Chapter 8

Philo on the Sabbath and Holy Days

Philo of Alexandria, often called Philo Judaeus (c. 30 B.C. to c. 40 A.D.), was a famous classical Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, called "the first theologian." Philo was well-versed in pagan Greek philosophy, including Plato. However, Philo wrote extensively to gain the acceptance, if not the conversion, of Greeks to Judaism. He recognized the Pentateuch as having divine authority and containing all truth.

The Sabbath according to Philo

Philo concludes:

"Again, the experience of those who keep the seventh day is that both body and soul are benefitted in two most essential ways. The body is benefitted by the recurrence of respite from continuous and wearisome toil, the soul by the excellent conceptions which it receives of God as the world-maker and guardian of what He has begotten. For He brought all things to their completion on the seventh day. These things shew clearly that he who gives due value to the seventh day gains value for himself," (Special Laws, II, 260).

"On this day we are commanded to abstain from all work, not because the law inculcates slackness; on the contrary it always inures men to endure hardship and incites them to labour . . . . Its object is rather to give men relaxation from continuous and unending toil and by refreshing their bodies with a regularly calculated system of remissions, to send them out renewed to their old activities . . . . Further, when He forbids bodily labour on the seventh day, He permits the exercise of the higher activities, namely, those employed in the study of the principles of virtue's lore . . . knowledge and perfection of the mind., (Special Laws, II 60-64).

Festival Fellowship

"enjoy a brief breathing-space in scenes of general cheerfulness. Thus filled with comfortable hopes they devote the leisure, as is their bounden duty, to holiness and honouring of God. Friendships are formed between those who hitherto knew not each other . . . [and the mutual festivities] are the occasion of reciprocity of feeling and constitute the surest pledge that all are of one mind." (Special Laws, I, 69-70).

"Proselytes," or newly-joined members of the spiritual community, have equal rank with the longtime native-born members, who are to give them:

"special friendship" and "more than ordinary goodwill . . . . For the most effectual love-charm, the chain which binds indissolubly the goodwill which makes us one, is to honour the one God," (Special Laws, I, 51-53).

Philo enumerates TEN different feasts in the Law:

1. Feast of Every Day

2. Sabbath

3. New Moon

4. Pascha, "the Crossing-feast" (Passover)

5. Feast of Unleavened Bread

6. Festival of the Sheaf

7. Feast of First-products (Weeks, Pentecost)

8. Trumpet Feast

9. The Fast (Day of Atonement)

10. Feast of Tabernacles

The first, which may come as a surprise to some, Philo calls "the feast of every day." Every day, according to Numbers 28:3-4, daily sacrifices were offered in the tabernacle and later the Temple. The entire life of the wise follower of the Almighty is "one continuous feast." The wicked cannot keep a Feast.

Philo draws a number of conclusions as to the spiritual meaning of the festivals, which you can discover for yourself when you read his excellent books. Obviously, the Sabbaths had great meaning to this Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, Egypt.