Are the Three Festivals Still Obligatory?

— 11th of Mattan, 179 JE —

This is a loaded question, and my view of the matter has been updated (not completely changed, but refined) by further study, and will be updated in the next edition of Seventh Month Revival. In short, I do not believe that it was ever commanded that the festivals must only be celebrated by legal agricultural rituals, only that typical rituals were added to them, just as they were to the Sabbath and the seven annual holy days. But let me explain this in full, based on a close study of the actual words in Leviticus and how apostolic Christians applied the commandments for three festivals.

The first thing to realize when studying this is that there is a distinction between the three festivals (chagim) and seven appointed times (moedim) that many have missed.

Appointed times are worship times. I don’t see the times themselves as being types or antitypes. Time still exists and there are worship portions for each cycle—morning and evening of the daily, Sabbath of the weekly, New Moon of the monthly, and the seven holy days of the yearly, with one being a ‘Shabbat’ (the tenth day of the seventh month).

Time originates from Creation; and morning and evening, along with Sabbath, are explicitly mentioned. And in Gen. 1:14 the word “appointed times” (moedim) is used for the others, which can specifically refer to the annual ones but broadly to them all, as can be seen when comparing the beginning of Num. 28 with the rest of the chapter and the next. So, the concepts of time, Sabbath, and moedim are from Creation. Some have argued that the moedim in Gen. 1 could be something else; however, the context is time and GOD’S Creation; so, contextually, it makes sense, especially given the wording of the beginning of Lev. 23, where JEHOVAH defines moedim as belonging to Him, even stressing the point, when translated correctly as follows:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, ‘Appointed times of JEHOVAH which ye shall proclaim as holy proclamations; these are Mine appointed times.’”

verses 1-2

The fact that moedim are given in Creation, and the stressing that they are His, leads me to believe that the moedim in both Genesis and Lev. 23 are referring to the same thing. And then in Psalms I find moedim tied back to Creation again:

He made the moon for appointed times.

Psalm 104:19

I also find the principle of ‘rest’ in Creation, in that GOD rested from His works. True, there is no command in Genesis for us to rest as well, but I believe we should see the books of Moses as a whole and that some concepts introduced in Genesis will be explained in his other books.

And then I look to the future and find the existence of the New Moon and the Sabbath.

“From one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me,” saith JEHOVAH.

Isaiah 66:23

The annual moedim are left out, but earlier in Isaiah, where it seems to be referring to the New Jerusalem given language of permanency, it says:

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed times: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

Isaiah 33:20

[As a side note, I think the phrase that occurs many times in the OT—’ohel moed’—could rightly be translated “tabernacle of appointed times” (with the singular ‘moed’ put for plural being a Hebraic concept found in other Scriptures).]

As far as the three festivals (chagim), they do not appear until the time of the Exodus and are not defined as times but as celebrations; in fact, I think ‘celebration’ is a very fitting translation into English. What was being celebrated, most directly, was the national origin of Israel, which no longer exists, as well as the local harvests, which are not universal. Now, does that mean that the festivals Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and Tabernacles were temporary for the nation of Israel? I see it differently than I have before; and I now would have to say ‘No’, but I must qualify this as I have updated in the book, because the answer could still be ‘yes’ depending on how the festivals are being defined.

The principle in the Torah of celebration, three times a year at specified times—I believe this applies. Just how we Christians celebrate them is not legally mandated, though, being that the rituals anciently done were based in Israel at the sanctuary; but, we can clearly see throughout the book of Acts, which covers decades of history, the existence of festivals named by the ones of the Torah, and observances of them. And then there is Colossians 2:16 with the trio of appointed times (annual, monthly, weekly), where the Colossian brethren were being judged for not practicing ascetic dogmas (the context of that chapter) at those times.

Let me try to break this down further, by giving an example in the Torah, and why I think the apostolic Christians were observing Christian festivals (celebrations of the MESSIAH) and not Jewish celebrations of their nation and agriculture:

“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is a Festival of the Unleavened Bread unto JEHOVAH seven days: ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy proclamation: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto JEHOVAH seven days: in the seventh day is an holy proclamation: ye shall do no servile work therein.”

Leviticus 23:6-8

And here it is implied that Paul tarried to observe a Festival of Unleavened Bread in Philippi:

And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.

Acts 20:6

Was Paul with the Jews where the national festival was mandated to be kept? No. This is Philippi. Was he doing a literal fire offering? No. Then he was not observing the Jewish festival of legal rituals (sacrificing a lamb, eating unleavened bread, making a wave offering for barley and other corporate agricultural sacrifices). Then what was he doing with the Philippians, given that the celebration had the same name within the bookends of the same two holy proclamations, or appointed times?

I believe the key is how the festivals are worded in Leviticus 23. There is no definite article before “festival.” It literally can be translated as “a Festival of the Unleavened Bread.” Again, I believe the principle of celebration applies as does the principle of Unleavened Bread; hence, the following new covenant application:

Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened: for our Pesach also hath been sacrificed, even the MESSIAH; so that we may celebrate the festival—not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8

I no longer believe that celebrating a festival can be spiritualized, especially given that there are records of Paul celebrating festival, such as here, where he is referring to Pentecost:

“I must by all means celebrate this coming festival in Jerusalem.”

Acts 18:21

Obviously, this is an actual celebration. So, putting all the pieces together, the Christian festival would be held according to the same appointed times, but the unleavened bread (whether physically eaten or not) is spiritual. Hence, the Christian Festival of Unleavened Bread is about celebrating how the MESSIAH, our PESACH, makes us unleavened of sin. Likewise, Pentecost can celebrate the spiritual Pentecostal truths pertaining to the MESSIAH and memorialize what happened on that day after the cross.

Such Christian festivals are not types, unlike the Jewish ones that Sister White called types several times in her writings. She was describing the festivals as observed with the legal rituals. But having a Festival of Tabernacles (which she also advocated for) is a command of its own. The rituals associated with them in the Torah are separate commandments and should be treated as such. Thus, this new understanding harmonizes the Old Testament commands, with the New Testament examples, and Ellen White statements. With everything carefully defined, everything now makes sense!

So, I believe there is a biblical basis for observing festivals at the actual appointed times (versus what Catholicism counterfeited) but without the ritual ceremonies being mandated as in the typical celebrations and that these celebrations and time out to rest are for our moral benefit, as seen fit by our CREATOR.

The fall appointed times are associated with spiritual realities that take place in the last days, whereas Pesach and Pentecost can be celebrated more as memorials, though there are also future fulfillments of even these (such as the seven last plagues relating to Pesach and a future Pentecostal outpouring of latter rain). So, I personally do not buy into the concept of celebrating only that which is future. It is my conviction that the weekly and annual times that GOD made holy are still holy, and that morning, evening, and New Moon are still times for special worship, but how we celebrate in the Christian era has changed. Nevertheless, we should indeed celebrate as has been set forth for us in both the Old and New Testament Scriptures.