QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE JEWISH FEASTS

Source: https://www.biggkuntryfaith.com/home/archives/04-2018

In the last days, Jesus reminded us that we have to deal with many flawed teachings. 

         After reminding His disciples about the leaven (teachings) of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus went on to denounce them as 'brood of vipers' and 'serpents.' (Matthew 23). Instead of reading the Tanakh as the Word of YHWH, these religious leaders were depending on the scores of Midrash, Talmuds and Mishnah that interpreted -- and added more man-made rules -- to the Scriptures. 

        Unless we ourselves are grounded in the Scriptures, we will be swayed by all winds of doctrine that go contrary to the teachings. 

      I have been asked about the Jewish feasts. But before I proceed to with the answers to some of these questions, I think it is very unkind for some to label me as anti semitic just because I expose the fallacies of their teachings. 

      For these people like Chuck Missler who like to label others as anti-semitic, I want to refer them to Amos 5: 21--24 as this is what Adonai Himself said:

I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

“Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.

"Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

“But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

(1) What are the Jewish feasts? 

      There are seven major Mosaic feasts altogether, with at least another two being celebrated in the civil calendar (Hannukah and Purim). 

      Although proponents of the Jewish feasts often quote from Leviticus 23, the chapter has to be interpreted in the light of the other Scriptures such as the mandate given to the Gentiles after the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) and in the light of Paul's admonition to the Colossians and other Scriptures. 

“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28-29)

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossian 2:16-17)

       If you are reading the Torah in Moses' time, you will not understand that the feasts were a mere shadow (σκιὰ) of what is to come. 

       The concept of the feasts as being σκιὰ would never have entered the minds of the Jewish rabbis, but for Paul and us, because Christ who is the substance (σῶμα) already came, what was meant to be a mere shadow is no longer relevant. The feasts in the Torah had served its purpose to point Jews to Christ. 

      Dealing entirely on the New Covenant, Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 wrote:

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

        For this reason, for us who are now under the New Covenant, with Christ having fulfilled all the requirements under the Torah, yet found to be blameless and offering His life as the Pascal Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) for all who place their faith in Him, the grace that we now enjoy is capable to draw us into a deeper relationship with our Father who is in Heaven. It is no longer in some forms of religious feasts or rituals that were once practised by people under the Torah.

       There is no reason, therefore, for the hype that is going around teaching people that they must go back to the Torah and observe the feasts that were meant to point to Christ. 

        For those who quote Leviticus 23 and have become very engrossed with the Jewish feasts, without a careful understanding of the whole Bible (both Old and New are one), let me quote as well what God said about the Jews who were following the Mosaic traditions (Amos 5:21-24): 

I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

“Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.

"Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

“But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

        Even God spoke against the Jewish feasts, and He was not anti-semitic. Therefore, there is no reason to resort to branding anyone as anti-semitic when we speak up against some flawed teachings.

(2) Christ said He did not come to abolish the Torah, but to fulfill it; therefore, should we continue with the traditions taught in the Torah, one of which is the keeping of the Jewish feasts? 

      My question is: There are 613 commandments in the Torah. If you want to keep one, you should keep all 613 commandments. If not, will you not come under the CURSE OF THE LAW!

      To the Galatians who wanted to follow the Torah (the Law) after receiving the gospel by grace, what did Paul say in Galatians 3:1-14? Paul spelt it out very clearly that people who want to pursue the "works of the Law are under a curse."

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”  However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us — for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE” — in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

        If you read Leviticus without reading the book of Hebrews which refers to Jesus as the Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (no longer under the Levitical Priesthood), you will be like the people referred to by Paul when writing to the Corinthians: 

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:14)

       Because of Christ, when we read the Tanakh today, we understand it from a different perspective from the rabbinic Jews. We see it from the New Covenant. If we are now a new wineskin, we should be filled with the Spirit, not the Torahic traditions perpetuated by the Jewish rabbis. It is Christ who lifts the veil away from those of us who are now under the New Covenant, so that we can now understand the purpose of the feasts in the Torah and how this purpose is accomplished by Him. 

       Christ is the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Have you thought this: Why in the book of Hebrews, an entire chapter (Hebrews 11) is devoted to the theme on faith alone, if not to tell the believing Jews that they have to place their faith in Jesus instead of trying to follow the Torah?  

       What does this mean? Christ has already fulfilled the requirements under the Law. We do not read the old covenant (the Law or Torah) without interpreting it in the light of what Christ has done and fulfilled. Others have also written about this.

 

         On at least two occasions, Paul wrote to the churches about the Jewish feasts. The first was to the church in Colossae which I have quoted earlier. The second is to the Galatians which is consistently expounding on the dangers of people who try to follow the Torahic traditions of keeping the Jewish feasts:

However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. (Galatians 4:8-11)

        From idolatry, Paul, speaking as a Jew himself, did not want these Gentile believers to be sucked into the Judaistic teachings that they must observe the Jewish "days and months and seasons and years" as though they were subject to the Torah. 

       In the Jewish cultures, there are new moons (רשׁה חדשׁ), ordinary as well as the seven high Sabbaths or weeks (σαββάτων) linked to the Mosaic festivals in a year, the practice of circumcision and the kosher food system, that Paul feared the Galatians and Colossians were starting to follow. 

        He himself had defended the gospel that came to us by God's grace through faith, not works of the Torah. For this reason, we go to the next question.    

(3) Is it wrong to participate in the Jewish festivals? 

       A better question to ask is: "Did Jesus, or any of the apostles including Paul later teach the disciples to observe the Jewish festivals?" 

        While Jesus Himself was circumcised according to the Torah, and He went to the Temple during the Jewish festivals, He never for once taught His disciples that they must continue the traditions of the Torah or instructed them to celebrate the festivals and teach the other nations to observe them. 

        We now know these are nothing but a foreshadow of things to come, that is, pointing to Christ. The rabbinic Jews who read the Tanakh today would still be mystified by the real purpose of the Jewish feasts that they are still keeping.

         Instead of teaching them to observe the Yom Kippur (Atonement), we see Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper which has perpetuated for over 2000 years and it is still being practised today. The simple act of partaking of the unleavened bread and wine has been continued to this day instead of putting another lamb on the altar. The church has perpetuated this Lord's Supper which Jesus had taught. 

          Just as the Lord's Supper will no longer be relevant when Christ returns, the Jewish festivals which pointed to Christ during the Old Covenant, are no longer relevant for the Church; after all, the mystery has already been revealed when Christ accomplished the works of the Torah, having been made the Sacrificial Lamb on the Cross. 

       For this reason, Paul asked the Galatians: 

So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Galatians 3:5

        We, who are saved by grace through faith, are to live by the Spirit, not by the Torah. In the last days, we are told that the Spirit will inscribe on the hearts of flesh the Torah. 

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

       This is why, in every born again believer, there is an inate desire now to live a life that is holy and pleasing to the Lord which was intended for by God when the Torah was given to Moses. However, because of the weakness of flesh, no one was able to meet the requirements under the Torah except Christ Himself, it is now in the New Covenant this 'spirit of the Law' that surpasses the 'letters of the Law.'

       Note what Paul wrote in Romans 6:14:

"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

        If we are no longer under the Torah, why then do we attempt to even go back to the feasts and other Jewish traditions or practices which pointed to Christ? Has Christ not come? Once again, we go back to Galatians 3:1-5: 

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

         Having said that, if you live in a city where there are Jews, it is understandable that you want to observe how they celebrate the feasts, if invited. This is done for educational purposes rather than as religious festivals that we intentionally incorporate into our church life. 

       Churches have to be warned against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees as such flawed teachings have already crept ִִinto our churches. In the hype for anything Jewish or Israel, not everything Jewish is compatible with our faith. 

      In fact, our grafting -- or some try to use the term, alignment -- is into Christ, who is the True Vine, not into the House of Israel (John 15:1-5). As children of Abraham, we are now co-heirs of the promise given to Abraham together with the remnant of the Israelites who are redeemed by God's grace by faith.