The weekly (7th day) Sabbath, Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, Last Great Day–finding ourselves throughout the year faced with these “Jewish” Holy Days, it behooves Truth seekers to determine if, as we are assured from pulpit and podium, these festivals were indeed “nailed to the cross” and have no part in the life of the New Covenant Church, or if the church has been deceived once again by Satan (Rev. 12:9). As with all things concerning Bible Truth, God reveals His Truth to those who care enough about it to search for it. He tells us in Isaiah 28:9,10,13 that He gives wisdom (only) to those who search His Scriptures “… precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” Let us do exactly that.

Orchestrated by Satan, the Counterfeit Church has as one of her cardinal principles the eradication of God’s Holy Days and the deification of the devil’s holidays–heathen celebrations in which the various divisions into which the church has divided herself (1 Cor. 1:10) unwittingly pay homage to Tammuz, the pagan sun god. Observance of Satan’s annual celebrations, combined with the observance of his Sunday Sabbath, are a few of the universal “signs” of the Institutional Church. Since the fourth century she has been identified globally by her celebrations of the Sunday Sabbath, Christmas, New Year, Valentines Day, Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Easter and Halloween–heathen holidays all. The ultimate question is: Did God create His Holy Days for Israel only, or does He command the New Covenant Church to continue to observe them until the end of the age? As with all things pertaining to eternal life, let us lay the proper groundwork in our search for God’s Truth.

In Genesis 1:1 we are told that God (Elohim-“Gods”-Father and the Word-Jn. 1:1-4) created the universe and everything in it. Scripture reveals that the Word Who became Jesus Christ was the actual creator Who operated under the direction of the Father. Part of Their creative act involved heavenly bodies: “And God (Elohim) said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament … and let them be for seasons ….'” In both Hebrew and Greek the word “seasons” is rendered “festivals”–an appointment; a fixed time; an assembly for an expressed purpose. Several editions of the Bible, as well as numerous Jewish scholars render the word “seasons” as “festivals.” Note that THERE WERE NO JEWS ON EARTH AT THE TIME OF THE CREATION, nor would there be for many centuries when the first “Jew” was born–Judah, son of Jacob/Israel. Note also that the seasons/festivals were created for all of mankind–not Israel in general or the Jews in particular. Having established that the Lord created the heavenly bodies, for whom (all of mankind) and for what purpose (to mark set times for weekly and annual seasons/festivals) let us establish exactly Who was mankind’s “LORD” Who established the first season/festival–Passover–in relation to those heavenly bodies.

In Hebrews 3:6-4-4:14 God is speaking to the New Covenant Church through Paul. In 3:8,9 GOD warns the people not to harden their hearts toward HIM as THEIR FATHERS HAD DONE IN THE WILDERNESS when they “… tempted ME, and saw MY works for 40 years.” In 10,14 HE adds: “I was grieved … I swore in MY wrath that THEY would not enter into MY rest.” Who was the “HE,” “ME” and “MY” referred to in this passage? And who were the THEY Paul was referring to? God answers using two passages. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 He tells us who THEY and ME were. “… I would not have you (the New Covenant Church) ignorant how that OUR (ISRAELITE) FATHERS … drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was CHRIST.” In Acts 7:38 God referred to those Old Testament Israelites (THEY) as His “church in the wilderness” whose human leader was Moses. Note it: the Rock that brought Israel out of Egypt and led her throughout her 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Desert was the One who would one day come to earth as JESUS CHRIST. The One who led Israel in her wilderness wanderings was not God the Father as we are erroneously told.

As is noted in Hebrews 4:2, both Old and New Testament Churches received the SAME GOSPEL. Here Paul is referring to Israel (3:7-19) who had rebelled against God following her extraction from Egypt. In 4:2 we find Paul saying: “For indeed THE (not a) GOSPEL was preached to US (the church) as well as to THEM (Israel in the wilderness-Acts 7:38). We are told in Matthew 4:23;9:35 that it was JESUS Who preached THE GOSPEL to the Jews of the Holy Land–the same gospel He had taught their ancestors in the wilderness. The gospel Jesus taught the Israelites in the physical wilderness of Sinai is the same gospel His ministers teach in the spiritual wilderness of today’s world. This same God (the Word/Jesus), called “the Scripture” (the Word-Jn. 1:1-4), preached the same gospel to Abraham (Gal. 3:8). NEITHER THE GOSPEL NOR ITS SPEAKER HAS CHANGED.

In that “No man has seen God at any time” (Jn. 1:18), while thousands saw Jesus of Nazareth during His 33 years of human life, we must conclude that it was the God/Word/Scripture Who became Jesus Christ Who created the “seasons/festivals” for mankind during creation week, Who was later seen by Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel. In Leviticus 23:1 we are told that “the Lord” spoke (face-to-face-Exo. 33:11) to Moses “… concerning the FEASTS/FESTIVALS OF THE LORD ….” We have established that the Lord of the Israelites was the Word Who came to earth as mankind’s Savior and Who was seen by tens of thousands. And considering that He is the “Lord Who does not change” (Mal. 3:6), Who is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8), we must conclude that His will (the gospel) has not changed since he created the seasons/festivals for all of mankind forever. We will now discover why He created the festivals. To be continued. L.J.