So, let’s consider what “holidays” we as Americans traditionally love to celebrate. For the most part we have: New Year, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Hallowe’en, Thanksgiving, and Christmas… I may have left out a few, but I think those are generally celebrated across the board, even in different ethnic groups, and even sometimes by those who are from other distinct religious backgrounds, such as Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, or pagan. Taking out 4th of July which is a decidedly US-centric celebration, that still leaves us with 7 celebrations, even though I am no math major.
What would you think if I told you that God has already given us 7 holidays, some call them "Feast Days", to celebrate… ‘These are the appointed times of [God], set-apart gatherings which you are to proclaim at their appointed times.“¹ And this is what I want to think about today, the first two of those Feasts: Passover and The Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Oddly enough, most of us grew up calling these "Jewish holidays". God/YHWH called them HIS appointed times.
To paraphrase a statement from the Hebrew for Christians website: ‘God’s eternal plan for us, all the way from pre-creation until eternity, is revealed to us through the nature and timing of the seven annual Feasts of the Lord.’ Once we begin to understand the significance and symbolism of God’s Feasts, how can we settle for the watered-down traditions of man?
When we understand that Passover is a picture of how Yeshua has “marked” the doorposts of our lives with His blood, how Passover is a graphic illustration of our salvation by God’s appointed perfect lamb, how can we settle for the traditions of ham for Easter, dying eggs, or chocolate Easter bunnies, when all of those traditions originated from the worship of Ba'al and Asherah (or “Ishtar” or “Easter”) and the substituting of the true message of salvation for deceptive practices of fertility rites and the attempt to somehow conjure up the favor of man-made gods? Just do a little bit of research and you will turn up information you will probably wish you never knew, and will spoil forever looking at those innocent decorated eggs as just a harmless, fun tradition. (At least, that is what it did for me, and I am ultimately the only person I have to answer for.)
Likewise, the Feast of Unleavened Bread is another amazing picture of our deliverance from a life of slavery, and is a symbol of ridding our lives of impurity. We were redeemed “out of Egypt” in that we were rescued from a life that is influenced by the immorality of the traditions of man that lead us away from realizing all that we were created to be. Cleaning out the “old leaven” is a perfect picture of Christ’s redemption - clearing out the rotting influences of our past lives.
Yeshua became our Passover lamb. Because of this, we are new creations and by the power of His Holy Spirit, we don’t have to be slaves to our old way of living and those influences which are unhealthy or destructive. Nothing I could have ever done under my own power would have been able to accomplish that.
I'm going to save the the other two Spring Feasts, the Feasts of First Fruits and Pentecost/Shavuot for another go-round. Since this was not part of my own tradition growing up and I am still learning my way with these, I am taking my time to learn as I go more about what is merely tradition and what is meaningful and worth adopting. In the meantime, if anything I have mentioned has intrigued you, do some investigating for yourself, starting with what scripture has to say.
As mentioned previously, Hebrew for Christians is one place to start, although I do not agree 100% with every point of view on that site. Another good reference source is 119 Ministries, and The Refiner's Fire apologetics ministry also presents a concise overview of all 7 feasts.
I'm going to save the the other two Spring Feasts, the Feasts of First Fruits and Pentecost/Shavuot for another go-round. Since this was not part of my own tradition growing up and I am still learning my way with these, I am taking my time to learn as I go more about what is merely tradition and what is meaningful and worth adopting. In the meantime, if anything I have mentioned has intrigued you, do some investigating for yourself, starting with what scripture has to say.
As mentioned previously, Hebrew for Christians is one place to start, although I do not agree 100% with every point of view on that site. Another good reference source is 119 Ministries, and The Refiner's Fire apologetics ministry also presents a concise overview of all 7 feasts.
¹ Leviticus 23.4
