Feasts and Festivals

Enjoying God’s Great and Glorious Gifts

(PART I).

It is true that Christians are called to suffer by mortifying their flesh of all sin, by accepting with Joy the persecution that comes against us and learning to be content and satisfied with a life characterized by hard work and simple living. This is undeniably essential to what the Christian life is supposed to be about and indeed, this lifestyle is what the lifestyle of America, the West, and the developed world in general is diametrically opposed to. Indeed, the lifestyle I am describing here is extremely difficult for Christians to even attempt in the modern world.

However, unlike many fundamentalists, hermits, and pietists of all kinds, we actually acknowledge the Scriptural teaching of God’s blessings and believe, wholeheartedly, that the joyful celebration of God’s good providence and provision is part of the Christian lifestyle and should not be refused under a pretense of superior spirituality (which is arrogance). We as Christians are to dance! We are to sing! We are to enjoy the fruits of our labors! “He gives oil to make the face shine, and wine to make the heart glad!” (Psalm 104:15)

For this reason, we oppose the idea, that in certain times and seasons, we cannot enjoy each other in fellowship and celebration that we should always eschew flavorful and enjoyable meals (1 Timothy 4:1-5), or that we should abstain from enjoying a few drinks to the improvement of our demeanor (John 2:10cf Genesis 43:34), or dancing with our spouse and children to festive music (Psalms 149:3, 150:4), or of any other liberties which might aid us in alleviating the physical and mental hardships that come as a result of living in a Fallen world (Proverbs 31:6-7cf Judges 9:13).

Of course, there is a time and season for everything, there is a time to laugh and a time to mourn, there is a time to plant and a time to harvest, a time to fast, and a time to feast (Ecclesiastes 3:4), and so feast days most certainly do not characterize the daily Christian experience, but over the course of year, they are to most definitely play a core and central role in their appropriate place and time.

We believe to prohibit the blessing of marriage and sexual pleasure is evil, we believe that to prohibit people from enjoying God’s good gifts as He created them is evil, and that these doctrines of men are the work of Satan:

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. ” (1 Timothy 4:1-5)

In this, our fasts and mortifying of sin is all the more potent. The world has an expression; “work hard, play hard,” and it teaches that a person should spend 60 hours a week away from his family (his own flesh) and then go to bar and get hammered with strangers. This is the work of the Devil.

“ Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags. ” (Proverbs 23:20-21)

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:2)

Likewise, we are to play an intimate role in the lives of our children, instructing them in Scripture:

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7)

So instead of saying we work hard and play hard, we might say we suffer hard and celebrate hard, or that we fast hard and feast hard and we do it ALL with our families and with each other. The pattern and flow of the Christian life, oscillating between the community working and suffering together and then celebrating and feasting together and bearing one another’s burdens all throughout is the goal of our community and our vision of the Christian life.

So Why Celebrate Special Feast Days? (PART II)

In addressing the objection that we are abandoning “our people” “our nation” “our traditions” and “our government,” we say this:

Who is our people?

What is our nation?

What is our tradition?

And what is our government?

Our people are Christ’s people, all those who are called according to His purpose (2 Timothy 1:9 Romans 8:28).

Our nation is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, the True Israel of God (Galatians 3:29, Romans 9:6-8).

Our government is the Mediatorial Kingship of Jesus Christ as He is enthroned at the right hand of God the Father Almighty (Psalm 2:1-12, Acts 2:33-36, Hebrews 1:1-14, 1 Corinthians 15:25-28).

Our traditions should therefore be Christian traditions.

Why are we more apt to celebrate the Fourth of July or Halloween than All Saints Day or the Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist?

The church calendar is not a “roman catholic thing” it is celebrated by all the various ancient church denominations; Eastern Orthodoxy, The Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodoxy, Old Church Catholicism; as well as various Reformation churches such as Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and even some Presbyterians (who once opposed all such)!

There is a thirst for a Christian society and a Christian calendar. Instead of pictures of George Washington hanging in our living room, why not a picture of St. John Chrysostom?[8]Why do we balk at pictures of saints and holidays dedicated to them, but accept the portraits of pagan politicians and holidays celebrating the achievements of secular governments and movements? Are we going to continue to accept “pride month” while we scoff at the Holy season of Pentecost?

If we are Christians and if every thought, every area of our life, is to be brought captive to Christ, then why not our calendar? Why should it be exempted from the dominion of Jesus Christ? Should it not be as the Reformed Theologian Abraham Kuyper once said?

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign overall, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”

Why not be a slave to the pattern of sunlight and stars as given by God for that purpose instead of the timeclock which emerged during the drive of conforming all society to factory work during the materialistically motivated industrial revolution?

This calendar gives us expectations and patterns of life, just as the Old Testament saints and the ancient church determined: Notice the Old Testament Feasts and their significance:

Spring Feasts

1. The Passover Feast (Exod. 12:14-18) celebrated the Passover of the death angel when the Hebrews were in Egypt. We recall that Jesus was attending the Passover feast when He was arrested.

Paul tells us in first Corinthians that Christ was our Passover. “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”(1 Cor 5:7 NKJ).

2. The feast of Unleavened Bread (Exod. 12:15-18) was also celebrated as part of the Passover period. Leaven was considered a symbol for sin. Jesus was celebrating the feast of Unleavened Bread when He took the cup and bread and said “Eat” and “Drink” in remembrance of Me.

The feast of Unleavened Bread was fulfilled in the Lord’s Supper. “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” (1 Cor 5:8 Â NKJ).

3. The feast of Firstfruits (Exod. 23:19) was celebrated on the first Sunday after Passover. This feast was fulfilled with the resurrection of Jesus. He became the first fruits of the resurrection. “But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20 NKJ).

4. The feast of Pentecost (Lev 23:15-21) was celebrated fifty days later and required the offering of two loaves. Jesus told the disciples to wait until Pentecost had come. “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1 NKJ). In the upper room God poured out the Holy Spirit on those who were present. This was the beginning of the Church (Bride of Christ). The two loaves symbolize the two groups (Jew and Gentile) making up the Church. Therefore, the Church fulfils the feast of Pentecost (Acts 1:5.- 2:4)
.

Fall Feasts

1. The feast of Trumpets (Lev 23:23-25) was the first feast celebrated in the fall. It was the beginning of the new year. “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Lev 23:23-24 NKJ). Today it is celebrated as Rosh Hashanah.

“Rosh Hashanah is a time of new beginnings. Jewish tradition holds that the creation was completed on Rosh Hashanah, and, therefore, Adam was born on that day as well. If so, then the counting of time actually began then, the first day of the first month of the first year. The first Rosh Hashanah”. Some students of prophecy believe the Jesus was born on Rosh Hashanah.

Many Bible teachers believe that this feast will be fulfilled with the second coming of Christ and the regathering of Israel (Matt 24:31). Others believe that the fulfillment with be with the Rapture of the Church. “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor 15:52 NKJ). If so, then this feast symbols the end of the Church age as Pentecost symbolized the beginning.

2. The feast of Atonement occurred shortly after the feast of Trumpets (Lev. 16:30, Lev 23:26-29). “For on that day the priest shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. Many believe that this feast will be fulfilled when Christ returns as King of Kings to judge and cleanse the nation Israel (Rom. 11:26, Ez. 20:34-38, Zech 12:1-9). “So, Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Heb 9:28 NKJ).

3. The last feast of the fall was the feast of Tabernacles (Exod. 23:16, Lev 26:23, 41-42). This feast was also called the feast of booths. They were required to live in booths in remembrance of the days after they had left Egypt.

(This section was taken from this link: The Seven Old Testament Feasts | R. Wayne Jackson (rwaynejackson.com))

The practice of commemorating the great works of God and His people is essential and by no means undermines the sanctity of the Lord’s Day (Sunday) as some have claimed. For the Sabbath requirement in the Ten Commandments is in no way a contradiction of having other holidays for feasting and rest from labor, for it were, then God would have been divided against Himself in the system he laid down in the Old Testament!

For us, to maintain a community with its own unique Christian culture we must have our own Christian calendar with times of the group willingly suffering together, and also celebrating together. This is so that we shall grow together as One Body, and A Body does all its things together, the arm does not go to celebrate Christmas while the legs stay home! The head does not fast while the stomach feasts! Thus, if we are One Body, we fast together, we feast together, we work together, and we rest together. This is the Christian life we envision for those of us who recognize that the ways of the west and the developed world are no longer compatible with the Christian way of life as revealed in the Holy Scriptures and teachings of the fathers and that there is no real future or opportunity for Christians in those countries as they move towards an ultra-secular and pagan totalitarianism.

Come and join us in raising our glasses and our hearts to Christ as we celebrate together the mighty works of God!

-Joshua Johnson