I love holidays. There’s something about the holiday seasons that fill me with hope each year. It breaks up our regular routine and puts the attention on something other than finances, school work, jobs, etc. Take Christmas for example.
I tend to feel so hopeful and excited during the Christmas season. It’s a time for joy and a time to re-set and let all of the worries and burdens of this world go. As a Christian, the Christmas season is a time where I remember that Jesus came into the world just as He promised, and that He’s coming back again just as He promised. It’s also a time of gift-giving, family, unity and overall cheerfulness.
I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised then, about stumbling upon God’s feast days and being filled with excitement.
God’s feast days are specific days throughout the year that God appointed for worship and celebration, and they are described in Leviticus 23. There are six biblical festivals and some of the festivals go on for days.
I started celebrating the biblical festivals last year. I remember reading the book of Esther and discovering Purim for the first time. When I saw that there was a holiday in the Bible with a clear description on how to celebrate it, I thought to myself that it would be so cool to celebrate this holiday that points us back to God. So, that’s what I did!
I celebrated with my family by reading through the book of Esther with them and eating hamantaschen cookies (which is traditional and not found in the Bible).
I believe it was some time after Purim that I started learning about the biblical feast days and how to celebrate them. Last year I celebrated Yom Teruah (also known as Rosh Hashanah) and Sukkot. It was an exciting time for me and I’m glad that I was able to create memories with my family through these celebrations.
I’m still learning a lot about the biblical holidays, but I like them for many reasons.
First, these appointed times are a foreshadowing of Christ. He fulfills every feast day, so it’s a great way to remember not only His sacrifice and resurrection, but also His return and how we will spend eternity with Him.
Second, I think it’s a great way to connect the Old Testament and the New Testament. For example, when I celebrated Passover I was able to see how Jesus is our Passover Lamb. When I celebrated the Feast of First Fruits (Leviticus 23:9–14), I recognized that Jesus is the “first of a great harvest” (1 Corinthians 15:20). Similar to Easter, I celebrate His resurrection and I look forward to the fact that because He was resurrected from the dead, I also will be resurrected to new life with Him (1 Corinthians 15:21–23).
Lastly, I like that these holidays help me to focus more on Jesus. While I usually have no problem with that on Easter (perhaps because I’m too old for Easter egg hunts), all of the traditions surrounding Christmas can be distracting at times.
While I still really enjoy Christmas, it can easily become less about celebrating Jesus coming into this world and more about finding the best gifts and feeling good. The biblical holidays have clear instructions on how to celebrate, which helps me to stay focused on Him.
And of course, we can (and should) set apart time to worship Him any day out of the week and at any time. Yet, there’s something special about the fact that God set up these appointed times. So, six times out of the year I set apart time to prepare for these feast days and celebrate with joy.
I would never tell someone that they have to celebrate God’s biblical holidays. I personally don’t believe that anyone has to. God makes it clear that the only way to be saved is through God’s Son, Jesus (Ephesians 2:8–10). And the only way to please Him is through faith (Hebrews 11:6).
No amount of observances or efforts can make God love you more or less. What I will say though, is that I have experienced a lot of joy in celebrating these biblical holidays and I’m looking forward to learning more.
