“Tis’ the season!”
Wait, aren’t the holidays over?
Ah, but they are just beginning. You know what I love about the biblical feasts/holy-days? While they aren’t all technically “feasts”, there are 7 celebrations and two of them span a week!
Talk about who knows how to throw a good party. That would be GOD.
How my family got to where we are is a long, long, involved journey, but one I am finding out many besides us are taking. The long and the short of it is that the feasts are in the bible, and xmas and easter as they stand…aren’t. It’s a can of worms you’re welcome to open on your own. I can’t be responsible for your life’s traditions & belief system turning upside down. Only my own.
However, I can tell you how rich and interesting the biblical holidays are, and that the first 3 in the 7 series are upon us!
An Introduction
I don’t want to lay it all on you at once, so we will start with the first 3 spring days that are back to back. It is likely, if you grew up in the church, that they will sound familiar.
1. Passover
2. Unleavened Bread
3. First Fruits
Passover starts the series, on the 14th of the first month. There are differences in how people who celebrate the feasts track these holidays, but mostly, if you look it up on google, there’s a general understanding (not that the majority is always right! ‘Cause sometimes it’s not. But we’re keeping it simple).
It was (and is still) celebrated as a memorial of the Passover & Israelite exodus out of Egypt, but for those who believe in the Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ), you get to see how these days also played an important role in ushering in the Messiah, and how paying attention to the fall feasts will bring to light some of the “end times” debacles.
Back in good ol’ Leviticus (one of my personal favs), YHWH calls his feasts days “moedim” or “set times,” considered to be “holy convocations” or “rehearsals”, that the LORD gave Moses to give the Israelites to observe. He set the dates and some guidelines to follow regarding them and said to celebrate them. What is actually commanded to happen on these days is minimal.
eg. Passover, & unleavened bread (somewhat rolled into one): getting rid of leaven in your place, eating unleavened bread, stop working on the first and seventh day of the festival (see Leviticus 23 for the rundown). Pretty easy stuff. As far as the sacrifices go, since there’s no temple, it would actually be against the law to offer any sort of sacrifice in your backyard and what not, so don’t bother trying. In fact, we can’t “legitimately” observe these holidays, so considering them as memorials, or rehearsals is a better way of looking at it.
Now, as it would happen over thousands of years, there have accumulated some traditions surrounding these festivals (the traditional pesach meal for example). They are great! They can be fun and very meaningful, and full of wisdom. But lets just remember they are man made traditions, ok? However the feasts themselves are God-made and I believe of a lot more importance than we give them credit for.
How the First 3 Feasts Weigh-in with the Church
Not to limit this to the first three - as they all are important to the Church! But for the beginning, lets look at why the first 3 feasts carry importance to the church today (aside from the fact that it's in the beginning of the Bible and the rich heritage of the Christian faith!):
1. Yeshua (Jesus) died on passover (the passover lamb, right?)
2. Yeshua was in the ground by the day of Unleavened bread (leaven is often likened to sin - he was buried although had no sin)
3. Yeshua was the “First Fruits” of the resurrection on the feast of First Fruits (my intent is not to offend, but no, easter and First Fruits are not the same).
Remember, these were days that the Israelites had already been celebrating for forever, and Yeshua is making his biggest moves on the days his Father said to rehearse on. Rehearse for what? Could it have possibly been rehearse for this? His son’s death & resurrection?
Just sayin’.
Imagine if they’d forgotten about the festivals altogether for some man-made tradition long before Yeshua came along…the actualization of these first three feasts would have been entirely missed!
What’s even crazier is how the latter four festivals sync up to the return of the Messiah and things to come. The parallels are fantastic.
Wheels turning?
So the idea is nice, but in all reality, it’s hard to give up long held traditions. If we even want to, how can it be done? Especially with older kids?
Granted my husband and I started this journey pre-kids, but I can tell you with certainty - it’s a weaning process. For all involved. The good news is, while I recall christmas memories with warmth and happy times (my parents did great christmases!), I don’t miss it now, nor am I nostalgic about not raising my kids in the same traditions. I must never have a particular attachment to easter because that one I weaned from easily. I’m more excited than anything, now that we have kiddos, to instill some longstanding Feasts of the Lord traditions with our little ones (lighting the candles on Chanukah was a hit with our almost 2-year-old this year).
Since we are replacing our inherited traditions (christmas and easter) with the moedim, we are going through a huge learning curve. We are failing, learning more, accomplishing, creating and mostly just rolling with it. We don’t pretend to have it all figured out - we’re total nubes, wondering how much tradition on the Jewish side of things we should include (since we aren’t religiously Jewish, but they’ve been celebrating the feasts for ages, so they have some nice ways to celebrate), or should we just make it our own? Following of course, the basic outline of Leviticus 23.
Kid-Application
If you’re worried it won’t be as fun, don’t be! The feasts are most definitely family-friendly.
A messianic buddy of ours does some educational & fun activities with his family…In the ten days leading up to passover he puts red dye in water vessels (water turns to blood), uses black out blinds (darkness), has ice fights (hail), etc. all to commemorate the plagues before passover.
There are always traditional games like cleaning the leaven out of the house and then having pops and the kids go around searching like detectives with a light and feather to sweep up “missed” (purposefully left) bread crumbs. I think we will be giving this one a try this year.
I’ve seen crafts like building houses of matzo (could put red licorice over the front door).
Even just watching Prince of Egypt as a family after a commemorative passover meal every year sounds nice!
There are many ways to make it creative and meaningful for the whole family, and each feast of the Lord has so much depth, history, & relevance to a follower of Christ. More than we realize - more than we’ve been taught.
Above left: Planetsmarty
Above right: Coolmompicks
Real Talk
I get kind of bummed out at the fact that these feasts are universally ignored by *most* (not all) Christian teachers. But the tides are changing because people are curious. Others are seeing inconsistencies in our traditions vs. what’s in the bible. I’m seeing it happen around me, and it’s exhilarating to see others searching these things out for themselves (I’m not the only one! *sigh of relief*). If you're one of them, there are tons of resources. Keep looking. Keep searching. It's an endless, awesome adventure!
For those on the search for information on the feasts, here are a few links & books to get you started:
-A lovely set of sermons on the feasts of the Lord by Mark Biltz
-Some history and alternative thoughts on christmas & easter
-A great book detailing the feasts, their memorial & their fulfillment (or future fulfillment)
-This book about Torah and it's relevance to Christians
Shaloha!
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